The Dreadful Duke

Simple short story, please see product review page for synopsis. The story flowed well, better I think than the "Singular Miss Carrington" the preceding book to this one, were the ending just got tedious. Two things that threw me off 1) Why was our Heroine "LADY" Juliet Manchester? There was no mention that her father was a noble man, supported by the fact that her only sibling and brother was a vicar. 2) Why was the "third" son of the Duke given a courtesy title of "Viscount"? When the Heir and the spare to the Dukedom were alive and well and touring Greece!!! Other than those two mistakes, I found the book to be very entertaining and I'm beginning to get used to Historical romance novels waiting till the last few pages before a declaration of love is made. Even then the whole story flowed very nicely with plenty of humor intermingled within each chapter as well as the plentiful escapades of the twin daughters of the duke.

William Fairhaven, the Duke of Severn, the "Dreadful Duke," arrogant, proud, toplofty has made another infrequent trip home to control his two rambunctious 13 year old twin girls. Anne and Amelia are going through every governess hired for them with great speed due to their hoydenish ways. The Duke (a widower for 13 years) arrives at the family estate on a hot sticky day to find them swimming in the lake with another governess. After calling the woman a "wanton jade" he tells her to start packing and go on her way. Turning his back he orders the twins to their rooms. But it is no governess he is berating but Lady Juliet Manchester, the sister of the vicar. She has made friends with the twins and feels sorry that they have grown up motherless and their father that has left them to an army of servants for most of their lives. They have three older brothers, now at school. Anne and Amelia are restless and most of their trouble stems from boredom and loneliness. After finding out his mistake [about Juliet being a governess], Severn apologizes to her and asks for some help on dealing with the twins. He is stubborn and autocratic, expecting immediate obedience, and the twins awed by him try to comply, not out of love, but because of the tiresome punishments he imposes. (Not physical punishment, just long hours at study, etc...) Juliet feels sorry for the twins who seem to have lost their sparkle and liveliness under this strict regime. She encourages the Duke to be a little more permissive and less critical. "Most girls adore and idealize their fathers ' and then you will never again be the Dreadful Duke." -- Juliet lets slip the nickname the girls (and indeed his sons) call their father. Severn is stung by the nickname and sets out to become a better father. As his caring nature appears, they do come to love and respect him. During an incident later in the story with his son Charlie, Severn reinforces the fact that he really does love his children and just has trouble relating to them. Between learning to show his children that he cared about them, Severn sets out to romance Juliet. He is intrigued by her coolness and apathy towards him. She finally tells him she "does not like men," and he makes it his mission to find out why. Of course, inside her mind, we know that she finds Severn attractive and frightening at the same time and that some traumatic event has driven her to forgo marriage and intimacy. The twins actually are trying to play cupid with their father and their beloved Juliet and some of the scrapes they get into are their botched attempts at throwing them together. I loved the story because it flowed so well from the country into London ballrooms. The children are delightful, their difficulties and adventures believable and endearing. You come to respect the Duke along with them - he does not become less pompous but you do see his love and concern for his children and Juliet. I enjoyed the fact that this is an "older couple" which is d