Loving A Lost Lord
Mary Jo Putney
ISBN: 978-4201-0328-1
On sale June 30, 2009
$6.99 ($8.49 Canadian)
Adam Darshan Lawford, the Duke of Ashton, is the hero of Loving a Lost Lord and looking conventional is his goal and his protection. Adam’s father was a British administrator in India, and distantly in line for the Ashton title. At that time, there were very few British women in India, so not surprisingly, many British officials took Indian wives. Adam is ten and living happily in India with his parents when his father inherits the dukedom and promptly dies, leaving Adam as the new duke.
Literally wrenched from his mother’s arms, Adam is packed off to England to be raised as a proper British gentleman. He becomes the first student of the Westerfield Academy when Lady Agnes Westerfield meets the young mixed blood duke, and sees a miserable small boy who needs love.
Adam grows into a consummate aristocrat, responsible, courteous, and a bit of an enigma even to his closest friends. Then the steamboat he has been working on with a team of Scottish engineers explodes. Adam Lawford, the Duke of Ashton, is missing and presumed dead.
But is he???
Mariah Clarke had an unconventional upbringing as the daughter of a charming gambler who moved from one house party to the next. Mariah has become very adaptable, but she yearns for a home of her own. Her wishes are granted when her father wins a comfortable estate in far northern Cumberland. As soon as they’ve settled in, her father heads south to reestablish contact with his long–estranged family—and is killed in a coach robbery.
Mariah is left alone in the world, with the former owner of her estate trying to coerce her into marrying him, which will place her life and property in his unreliable hands. Afraid that in a moment of weakness she’ll say yes (he’s not at all bad looking), she invents an imaginary husband—and finds a mysterious dark man rolling onto the beach of her estate, more dead than alive. A man without a memory—who is quite charmed by the idea that this lovely young woman is his wife.
You can imagine what happens after that! Enjoy.
Reviews:
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
LOVING A LOST LORD (Zebra, July, 09, $6.99, isbn: 978-1-4201-0328-1) by Mary Jo Putney
“The enchanting first Lost Lords novel confirms bestseller Putney as a major force in historical romance. In early 19th-century northern England, Mariah Clarke inherits beautiful Hartley Manor. George Burke, Hartley’s former owner, claims that Mariah’s father won the estate by cheating at cards and attempts to regain it by courting Mariah, who recklessly claims she’s already married. When she rescues an amnesiac man from the sea, she sees her chance to make the lie true, naming him Adam and convincing him she’s his wife.
Sensual romance heats up between the couple until Mariah reluctantly reveals the truth. When she learns of Adam’s real history, Mariah must make a terrible choice.
Entrancing characters and a superb plot line catapult this tale into stand-alone status.”
Library Journal starred review:
Putney, Mary Jo. Loving a Lost Lord. Zebra: Kensington. Jul. 2009. c.362p. ISBN 978-1-4201-0328-1. pap. $6.99. Historical
Newly orphaned and determined to avoid the advances of an unsavory, persistent suitor, Mariah Clarke impulsively invents a husband, never imagining that one will miraculously be washed up on the beach of her northern Cumberland estate. But Adam Lawford, the Duke of Ashton, has lost his memory in a steam yacht explosion, so when the lovely angel who rescues him says she is his wife, he is more than willing to believe it. VERDICT Compelling, flawless prose, gentle humor, exotic elements (courtesy of Adam’s half-Hindi heritage), and irresistible characters caught in a sweet, sensual dilemma will leave readers smiling, breathless, and anxiously awaiting the next adventure in Putney’s new “Lost Lords” series. Readers who loved Putney’s “Fallen Angels” series are in for a rare treat; fortunately, there are more delicacies to come! Putney (A Distant Magic) writes some of the most sensitive, exquisite historicals in the field; she lives in the Baltimore area.
“Sweeter than honey, and utterly ravishing; I didn’t want to stop reading. But then I never want to stop reading one of Mary Jo Putney’s novels!”
Eloisa James, New York Times list bestselling author of A Duke of Her Own