Actually Yes!

Would I Lie to the Duke (Union of Rakes #2) by Eva Leigh     


A young woman Jessica McGale is determined to save the family soap business. The product is of high quality, the only problem is that a fire has destroyed the plant. She and her siblings need investors.
Noel Edwards, the Duke of Rotherby heads a group called the Bazaar who each year hold a week long event looking at businesses to invest in.
Jess is resolved to attend. How she manages this is heart beatingly fascinating. Worthy of Becky Sharpe of Vanity Fair. How Jess manages to keep her ruse going provides delicious tension.
What she didn't understand was how much she'd be attracted to the duke.
Noel is besieged by sycophants and people who want something from him. The only people he trusts are his fellow members of The Union of Rakes, four men he's known since Eton.  (How they first come to know each other is nicely drawn.) The Duke trusts very few and Jessica's actions are setup for breaking that trust from the get go. Hmmm!
Of course as Jessica and Noel get to know each other the sparks fly. Endless pages of their  saucy interactions provides--well far too much information. There were moments when I wanted to say enough! In fact I found myself skipping their repetitive coupling. Can we get back to the story I'd complain to myself. When the Duke's particular peccadillo of enjoying being mastered, or should that be mistressed, I started to yawn. What do I infer from this? The man who commands wants a change of pace?
Well he gets that along with a woman who certainly lets him down on the 'truth' side of things. Do I blame her, not really she's fighting for farm and family. Still in the end I lost interest. This had the bones of a good story but when the twist was sidelined, so was I.

A HarperCollins ARC via NetGalley

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