The Rakes' progress, part 1.
Last Night with the Duke (The Rakes of St. James #1) by Amelia Grey Enjoyable characters and story. Benedict Mercer, The Duke of Griffin will go to great lengths to protect his twin sisters from the consequences of a stupid and damaging wager he and his dukely friends (The Rakes of St. James) had participated in years ago. Part of those lengths is to hire a chaperone, Miss Esmeralda Swift. That was his first battle with Esmeralda and those battles would continue. (Both Griffin and Esmerelda are stubborn). Esmeralda has her own secrets and burdens including her beloved half sister Josephine. There's a dog of great consequence included--Napoleon of course! The thing is that the Duke has strong feelings about the right behaviour due to those in his service, even if he has a great deal of difficulty mastering that as far as the delectable Miss Swift is concerned. Esmeralda definitely is not indifferent to the wretched man, but he is a Duke and she is on...