"A beautiful romance that rings true"
In 1879, his brother the Earl dies so that Rhys Rhodes
the "spare becomes the heir". With his father also dying,
Rhys' half-brother Grayson accompanied by his American wife
and five children arrive from Fortune, Texas to pay their
respects. One of Grayson's brood, his stepdaughter Lydia
Westland, especially looks forward to the trip as she has
studied how to deport oneself as a lady and has written
a "book" "Blunders in Behavior Corrected" extracted from
letters that her cousin mailed her. Rhys and Lydia are immediately attracted to one another,
but she is angry when his mother the duchess goes
hysterical over her father staying at the estate as Grayson
is living proof that her husband loved someone else. Lydia
turns mortified when Rhys corrects her first blunder. As
Rhys and Lydia become acquainted they fall in love but he
believes that his scandalous past makes him undeserving of
her (or anyone for that matter) so she has her work cut
out to persuade him otherwise. Switching the locale and moving forward almost fifteen
years refreshes the Anglo-American historical romances that
have delighted readers. Besides a delightful "second"
generation story line, the return of the lead characters
from A ROGUE IN TEXAS adds a feel of seeing how old friends
that have not been seen for a while have done. LOVE WITH A
SCANDALOUS LORD is an intriguing tale as Rhys is an
interesting lead protagonist with many relationship
problems. Lydia provides a bit of comic relief with her
obsession over aristocratic behavior. Lorraine Heath
scores again with a fine Victorian-Texas romance. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted May 23, 2003
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