Lord Sebastian's Secret

by Jane Ashford

Overview

In spite of the arranged marriage between this duke's son and wealthy heiress, Lord Sebastian Gresham and Lady Georgina Stane find themselves in the unusual position of being in love. But can their love withstand each other's secrets?

Lord Sebastian Gresham is a battle-tested soldier and brilliant strategist. Yet all his life he's had to hide his painful secret. What a miracle it is that he's found the perfect bride. Lady Georgina Stane is beautiful, witty, and brilliantly intelligent. Sebastian is head over heels in love, proud as a peacock, and terrified. If she finds out, he'll lose her love forever.

Lady Georgina has found the perfect match in Lord Sebastian, a handsome former soldier with a brilliant mind for strategy. Prior to the wedding, Sabastian travels to meet Georgina's parents, who turn out to be rather…eccentric. Georgia fears that her perfect man will turn his nose up at her odd family and she dreads the possibility of having to choose between them.

The Duke's Sons Series:

Heir to the Duke (Book 1)

What the Duke Doesn't Know (Book 2)

Lord Sebastian's Secret (Book 3)

Praise for Heir to the Duke:

"Plenty of passion and a devastating secret in this heartwarming and compelling read."—RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars

"Fabulous romance with wonderful characters... I couldn't put this book down."—Night Owl Reviews, Reviewer Top Pick!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492621638
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	01/03/2017
Series:	The Duke's Sons , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	171,274
File size:	912 KB

About the Author

Jane Ashford discovered Georgette Heyer in junior high school and was captivated by the glittering world and witty language of Regency England. That delight was part of what led her to study English literature and travel widely. She’s written historical and contemporary romances, and her books have been published all over Europe as well as in the United States. Jane has been nominated for a Career Achievement Award. Find her on the web at www.janeashford.com and facebook.com/janeashfordwriter. If you’d like to receive her monthly newsletter, you can sign up at either of those sites.

Editorial Reviews

11/28/2016
Ashford’s third Duke’s Sons Regency (after What the Duke Doesn’t Know) introduces more delightful characters who feel appropriate to the period while dealing with challenges that resonate with the modern reader. She seasons the story with plenty of teasing brotherly warmth and good-natured hijinks in the name of love. Soldier and self-proclaimed dullard Lord Sebastian Gresham travels to the country home of his clever betrothed, Georgina Stane, and is welcomed by her distracted mother’s roving pack of pugs, an elegant guest from India brought in to indulge her father’s current obsession with reincarnation, and two younger sisters intent on pushing Georgina and Sebastian’s wedding date up in the hopes of a quicker escape to their sister’s future London household. Sebastian navigates the challenges of the Stane family with ease but fears humiliation if Georgina and her family discover that he cannot read. Ashford’s vivid characters and lively plots that drop surprise adventures in the midst of courting give the series a spirit of fun. The underlying message, that quirks and struggles should be no impediment to familial or romantic love, is conveyed with warmth and tenderness. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"A busy and steamy romance" — Kirkus Reviews

"Marvelously inventive." — Booklist

"Vivid characters and lively plots . . . The underlying message, that quirks and struggles should be no impediment to familial or romantic love, is conveyed with warmth and tenderness." — Publishers Weekly

"A comic delight. Highly recommended to Regency lovers." — Historical Novel Society

"Delightful Regency romance . . . this is one I will reread again and again. 5 Stars. TOP PICK" — Night Owl Reviews

From the Publisher

2016-11-22
They're perfect for each other—but their families aren't.Lord Sebastian Gresham has done the unbelievable and somehow landed himself the beautiful and intelligent Lady Georgina Stane as his future wife. As a younger son of the Duke of Langford, he's unlikely to inherit, so he has made a career in the military while hiding his dyslexia from everybody except his valet and trying to avoid notice. As the book begins, his happy ending is in sight: he just has to get through a few weeks with his future in-laws. This turns out to be harder than he anticipates, because even though Georgina's father, the Marquess of Pembridge, comes from a very proper noble line, he and his family are unusual. "All families had their oddities," as Georgina says hopefully, but hers has a father of intense academic obsessions, a mother who breeds and keeps pugs, and two nosy sisters. Sebastian and Georgina simply want to marry and spend a quiet, normal life together, but the weeks before their wedding keep presenting challenges. Georgina is the model of a perfect Regency heroine, with her family her only flaw, so it is in Sebastian that the book finds its true protagonist. His trouble reading and belief that he's "thick" are important to the plot, but rather than using them to elicit pity, Ashford shows that intelligence and heroism can take many forms. The plot meanders and is stuffed with several pratfalls, including an ongoing clumsy attempt to portray how the British might have misunderstood Hindu theology. But though Ashford (What the Duke Doesn't Know, 2016, etc.) has a tendency to distract from the sweet and pure romance between Sebastian and Georgina, it is their love that ultimately brings the book together and makes it satisfy. A busy and steamy romance where the conflict is a bit manufactured but the love is not.

Kirkus Reviews