The Duchess in His Bed by Lorraine Heath

September 15, 2019
Who is that Masked Woman

https://www.lorraineheath.com/
The Duchess in His Bed, by Lorraine Heath is the fourth installment of Sins for all Seasons series. If that doesn’t ring a bell, this is the series with the Trewlove family. You remember them; they are five siblings who were raised by Ettie Trewlove. Ettie Trewlove was a baby buyer. It is my understanding that a baby buyer is someone who is paid to take the illegitimate children of aristocratic men and dispose of them. But Ettie could not get rid of four of these children. She raised them as her own. It was a hard life and she occasionally had to take in men for money so these children could survive. She has a child of her own from one of those encounters, but that story is the last book in the series. As you can imagine, there are some strong feelings the men in this family have about illegitimacy, fathers, and raising children. This story is about Aiden Trewlove, who owns the Elysium Club. The Elysium Club is for women of the ton who want to gamble, take chances, and have contact with the opposite sex. Wait a minute, didn’t I just read a book not too long ago about a brothel for women? I still have a theory that authors converge at ye’ ole watering hole and talk about their latest idea. That would explain some books being so similar. I don’t have a problem with that, I just have an issue with keeping my series’ apart.

Aiden is one of those heroes who is a strong alpha, his sensuality just oozes off the pages. I liked Aiden, and even though he lives on the darker side, he is an honorable man. He’s been watching a masked woman walk through his club. He is interested, in fact he has a big case of instant-lust. He wants to find out who she is, and what she is doing at his club. Little does he know that he’s looking at a Romanceland heroine who has a plan. Oh no, not another plan!!

Well maybe it’s not exactly her plan, maybe it’s her brother’s plan. Meet Serena Sheffield, Duchess of Lushing, the woman everyone walks all over. Here’s the deal. Serena sacrifices herself all the time for her family. She married a man she didn’t love for her family, and now that he’s dead there is a bigggg problem. Her brother has run up a bunch of debts, her two younger sisters cannot make the correct entrance into society because Serena is about to lose the stability, and money of the Dukedom. Why? Because she never gave birth to an heir. Of course, she could be pregnant. But she isn’t. Boss! The plan, the plan, the plan! Serena’s brother strongly suggest she find someone who can do the job of impregnating her. Hence her trip to the Elysium Club. She needs to find someone she can seduce, and seduce fast.

Well, Aiden volunteers, except he wants to do it his way. Slowly. Serena doesn’t have all that much time if she’s going to meet the deadline. In case you can’t put two and two together, let me tell you what the big problem is going to be for these two to overcome. Aiden absolutely does not want any illegitimate children. If he has a child, he wants to be part of that child’s life. Serena, the woman who has activated his Doodle Toad needs to have a child, and that child will be raised by only her. Well, that is a conundrum for our couple. What that means for us the reader is that there is a lot of foreplay in this book! Woo-hoo!

Once again I am torn when reviewing a book. There was quite a lot about this book that I just loved. I loved the slow build of the “love” story. The sensuality was intense between Aiden and Serena. There are a lot of choices which are made in this book. A lot of struggles and solutions which some readers may not agree with. I have to admit, I struggled with liking Serena. The things she valued were materialistic. Even though she is sacrificing herself for her sisters, her reason is she wants them to have a place in society. Money and standing in society seem to override everything else. Even when she tells Aiden the truth about her desire to have a child. Even when she admits she loves him. Even when she knows the amount of pain she is causing the man she says she loves, she still plows straight ahead with her plans. It seemed to me that Aiden sacrificed the most in this relationship. Ms. Heath wrote some powerful scenes for Aiden. These scenes showed just how much Serena’s plan was destroying him. There was a time in this story that neither one of our characters thought about what would be good for the child.

For me, this story was an emotional roller coaster. One moment I like Serena and Aiden, the next moment my mouth would drop due to their cruelty. I do sort of recommend this story, but be prepared to wonder why Aiden loves Serena. Be prepared not to like Serena, but also be prepared to enjoy seeing the entire Trewlove family again. The Trewlove is really a dark series, there’s a lot of meat in the plot line, a lot of vivid scenarios. I’m just not toooo sure I liked the heroine in this book.

Time/Place: England 1872
Sensuality: Hot