King of Hearts

Katherine Kingsley is a wonderful writer, with wit in her flowing dialogue, good-paced and intriguing plots, and good characterization. I thoroughly enjoyed "A Natural Attachment" and Peter Frazier, who appeared briefly in that story, now has his own in this book.Reluctantly responding to a summons by his cousin, Lord Blakesford, Peter arrives in time to bury his infamous relative, who has obliged the entire neighborhood by finally and suddenly dying. In fact, the old Lord Blakesford was so ill-liked that apparently Peter is the ONLY person willing to bury the evil man. He has also suddenly become the new Lord Blakesford.Temporarily putting up in the village hotel, he has a romantic encounter with a young woman in the moonlit garden...only to have her show up at his door the next day, seething with anger and frustration at Lord Blakesford...the OLD Lord Blakesford. His deceased cousin had taken Hannah Jane's widowed mother as mistress, then abandoned her with his illegitimate son. Now motherless and penniless, Hannah had swallowed her pride and written to the old Lord, agreeing to his deliberately cruel plan to provide for his son and send him to school--if Hannah would come and serve as his housekeeper, never seeing her brother again.Hannah suffers a shock at seeing the handsome young man now holding the title. She is overwhelmed by his apparent kindness in trying to right the wrong done to her mother and brother. Living in Longthorpe with him and joyfully reunited with her brother, she sees Peter's compassionate character and his desire to restore the lands to what they once were, and to provide for his impoverished tenants. But Peter has a difficult time winning over the tenants, who are waiting to see if the new Lord will follow in his numerous ancestors' greedy, evil footsteps.But Hannah has a secret of her own--her grandfather had been Lord Delaware, who had murdered her father and nearly murdered her mother when still carrying her as a baby. Her mother had been able to marry an older man who had always loved her, and who acknowledged Hannah as his own, but Hannah could never forget that she was illegitimate, her true father a simple footman. Drawing propriety around her like a protective suit of armor, she also holds herself away from Peter, since the new Lord Blakesford cannot marry a woman of such low background.But Peter MUST marry--his cousin's extensive fortune can only be given to him when he marries a woman deemed suitable by the executor of the will. And he desperately needs the money to restore Longthorpe.Just at that time, the annoying, spoiled and equally desperate Pamela Chandler shows up at Peter's door, determined to renew her acquaintance with the new Lord Blakesford...and Hannah, an old schoolmate of Pamela, finds herself the object of jealousy, lies and scandal...An extensive cast of well-drawn secondary characters make this an enjoyable read. You also don't need to read "