An Heir of Deception by Beverley Kendall Series: The Elusive Lords #3
Published by The Season Publisher on 1 May 2012
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance
Pages: 352
Source: Kindle Purchase
Buy on Amazon 
Summary from Goodreads:
A man devastated by love After three years of carousing and debauchery, Alex Cartwright, heir to the Duke of Hastings, has put his life back in order. Having embraced sobriety for two years, he has no intention of revisiting the past or risking his heart again. But the return of the very woman who introduced him to the darkest side of hell brings not only the painful, haunting memories of bittersweet love and abandonment, but the son he never knew he had... A woman silenced by secrets Threatened by the revelation of a secret that could destroy her family’s place in society and forever tarnish a dukedom, Charlotte fled England on her wedding day five years ago. Now, although it appears that secret is safe, when Alex discovers her other secret—their son—Charlotte has an altogether different battle ahead. She must now fight one love to hold onto the other—the man whose touch still makes her burn, for the child who is her very world.
An Heir of Deception was, in my opinion, the best book in The Elusive Lords series. Charlotte is all grown up, and the lengths she went to to ensure her family’s happiness despite her own unhappiness was amazing. There were a lot of interactions with characters from prior books as well, and that was great, I love it when I like characters in a book, and I meet them again.
The secret life Charlotte had led after leaving the love of her life behind was well done, and the culprit having written the letter she received just before her wedding caught me completely off guard! Alex was the last of the elusive lords to fall in love, and he probably also fell the hardest! He had a very hard time dealing with Charlotte leaving him more or less at the altar, and when she came back, he was far from happy. Even as his body showed him that it still wanted her every time they were in a room together, he tried to tell his heart to keep far, far away from her!
Charlotte was devastated to leave Alex behind, but she truly felt like she had no other choice. Knowing first-hand how mean the gosspis of the ton could be, and what it could do to Alex who suddenly was to be the next Duke of his family, she left everything and everybody she loved behind.
Catherine did everything in her power to help her twin-sister reclaim the life she had abandoned, and to give her nephew his two parents together. Searching for the person who had managed to break them apart in the past, Charlotte and Alex slowly came to trust each other again, and although it took quite a while before Alex was able to treat Charlotte with anything but contempt, it was so sweet the way he was trying to negate the feelings he so obviously had for her.
Alex’s parents obviously did nothing to help, as they had been against Charlotte and Alex’s wedding from the very start. Charlotte’s courage was amazing, and I loved how she was so graceful in the face of all the things that went against her.
“And by God, if you run again and make me chase you – because now that I know you have my son, I will chase you to the ends of the earth this time – I’ll make sure you regret it for the rest of your life.”
“This was – is my son. A son who should be my heir. She didn’t only deny me, she denied him.” “And for this, you intend to punish them both?” Rutheford asked, in a too reasoning tone. “You must see that you’ll only be hurting Nicholas if you hurt his mother.”
The thought of the struggle for acceptance in a spurious and merciless ton awaiting Nicholas overwhelmed him with a sense of helplessness he hadn’t felt in years.
One should never feed unrequited love. Although if she were smart, she’d refuse the meal. But then unrequited love and smart were innately at odds.
Only a man with a heart of stone and ice running through his veins would not be moved by her entreaty.
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
I think I should try to read more books in this kind. I’m so difficult it’s often not for me. thanks for the great review!
It does have it’s fair share of historical romance clichés, but I really enjoyed this whole series. It was also very hot – the sensual scenes were very well written 🙂
I think I should try to read more books in this kind. I’m so difficult it’s often not for me. thanks for the great review!
It does have it’s fair share of historical romance clichés, but I really enjoyed this whole series. It was also very hot – the sensual scenes were very well written 🙂