AN EARL LIKE YOU – Caroline Linden
The Wagers of Sin , Book 1
Avon Books
ISBN: 978-0-06-267294-0
September 2018
Historical Romance

London and Environs, 1819

Lord Joshua Deveraux, sixth Earl of Hastings, was loved and respected by all as a worthy gentleman. When he died, however, Hugh, his son and heir, was shocked to discover he inherited nothing but debt and vast non-producing holdings. Not only that, all the properties were entailed so Hugh was unable to sell any of them. All must be saved for the next generations. What was he to do? His mother and sisters must not know how their husband and father had left his loving wife and daughters. And his sisters, Edith and Henrietta, are reaching their come-out ages and, as if that weren't enough, they will soon after be needing dowries. The only thing he can think to do for income is to exploit his talent at cards. By careful play and wagering at Vega's gaming club, he manages to make enough to get along until one disastrous night when he wins big and his next hand is a huge, sure winner. But suddenly it all changes, and Hugh loses big! He's soon approached by a nobody who managed to lift himself from a common laborer to an enormously rich man.

Mr. Edward Cross is able to buy anything he wants. He even managed to wed a baronet's daughter who died and left him a little girl whom he adores. He feels she deserves to be a lady and sends her to a good school and gives her anything she wants. She had a not very successful London Season, and now he has a proposition for the handsome Earl of Hastings. One the earl can't refuse if he's to take care of his family.

Miss Elizabeth (Eliza) Cross is no great beauty, but a kind and sweet girl. She lacks confidence in herself and her desirability and feels the only men she attracted during her season were after her fortune.

With a huge offer of funds and not a little blackmail, Cross coerces Hugh into a deal. He is to pretend to Eliza to be in business with her father and to court her into marriage. In exchange, Cross will buy up all Hugh's debts, forgive them, and promises a large dowry as well as Eliza's half million pound fortune of her own that will become his on their marriage.

Hugh is a good man trying to do the best for his family and successors. It's hard not to like him. Eliza has difficulty believing in his seeming attraction to her, but is sure of her own for him.

There is a good deal more to this absorbing story, and the characters are very well depicted, especially a four legged one called Willy. There is suspense, humor, and eventually a moving love affair. I highly recommend AN EARL LIKE YOU.

Jane Bowers