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Dating the Duke by Emma Hart
Release Date: January 18th 2022
Series: The Aristocrat Diaries #2
Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Humor
A duke and a writer walk into a bar, and the barman says—never mind. They’re in the library, and they’re not wearing any clothes. Oops.
My name is Adelaide Astley, and if there was anything remotely exciting about me to tell you, I would.
Sure, my uncle is the Duke of Leicester, and my mother bucked family tradition to marry “below” her and open a hotel, but I’m nothing but an aspiring author with a Tudor era obsession.
Oh, and I’m spending the summer tutoring the daughter of the current Duke of Worcester—who happens to be a regular in my highly inappropriate midnight dreams.
Thirty-year-old Alexander Winthrop-Bentley is so not my type, but hours of chess games and arguments over Tudor dynasties mean we’re thrown together more often than we should be. And when he shares with me that he needs a date for a charitable event, my mouth betrays me by offering myself up for the evening.
How I find myself naked in the library is another matter entirely. Ahem.
When the society papers declare us an item, neither of us have the heart to tell our families the truth. Only my twin sister and best friend know the truth, but they both agree we need to keep up the charade, even if only for the summer.
But when the end of August comes and my return home beckons, I have to ask myself a question.
Is it only his daughter who’s stolen my heart, or has Alexander done the very same thing?
Available Now in KU
My Review:
At the beginning we are introduced to Adelaide Astley, a writer who is tutoring the Duke of Worcester’s daughter for the summer. Even though her uncle is the Duke of Leicester, Bentley Manor is close to a castle than a manor house. Rich with so much history that she can’t wait to dive into as she tutors ten-year old Olympia. But it’s Alexander who keeps appearing in her dreams, even though he is her boss, she can’t stop being attracted to the single dad. He is attractive and incredibly kind to her. Adelaide has seen how he treats his staff as part of the family and she likes that about him. They also playfully banter over Tudor history and a good game of chess. Yet, she sees how everyone around him wants to set him up and offers to be his plus-one to a charity event without realizing just how much their lives were about to change forever. Now they are front news of in the society pages who have labeled them as a couple and they agree to pretend for a short while. But pretending soon turns into so much more and Adelaide has to decide if she is willing to put her heart on the line if only just for the summer is worth it or not.
As the Duke of Worcester, Alexander has a lot on his plate when it comes to his life and he has no intention of pursuing a romantic relationship as Olympia is his top priority. It’s because of that, that he hires a tutor for summer so that his daughter gets some extra guidance before she actually starts school. But hiring Adelaide has started to give him second thoughts about what he truly wants and as the two start to spend more time together, the more fond of her he becomes. Everything changes when the society pages labeled them as a couple and to prevent the press from bothering them, they both agree to be in a relationship for the summer. Soon all the stolen kisses start to feel real and being near her begins to feel like home. They are both playing a dangerous game when it comes to keeping their hearts intact, but when he realizes just much he has fallen for her, Alexander will have to convince her to them a change before it’s too late.
I absolutely loved reading Dating the Duke, it was highly entertaining and romantic. Hart did a great job transporting me to the setting of the book with her writing. I fell in love with the characters themselves, their chemistry is instant and they are able to develop a great friendship as well. They know that their time is limited and they are trying to not get their hearts involved because of that. Alexander’s mom made the book much more fun, she truly had me laughing out-loud. Olympia was a sweetheart, following on her grandmother’s footsteps when it comes to having pets in the house. The ending was emotional and perfect. I can’t believe their story is over, but we do get a glimpse of the next book in the series in the epilogue and I cannot wait to read Eva’s story next!
***I received an advanced copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own***
My Rating:
{EXCERPT}
“Why don’t you regret it?” Adelaide stalked back over to me and looked down at me. “Kissing me. Why the bloody hell can’t you regret it?”
I jerked around to look at her. “Because I don’t. Would you prefer if I lied to you?”
“No. Yes. No!” She threw her hands out. “Oh, I don’t know! Why doesn’t that matter? Why couldn’t you just say that you did? I’d never know if it was a lie!”
“Why does it matter that I didn’t lie?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. “You’re the one who said our relationship can never progress past friendship or attraction.”
“I—” She stopped, swallowing hard.
“Well?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, running one hand through her dark hair. “It’s fine. Forget I mentioned it.”
“All right, then.” I turned my attention back to the window.
“All right, then? That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?”
“I’m trying to respect your wishes, Adelaide! What the bloody hell do you want me to say?” I put down the mug and stood up to face her. “I’m not going to lie to you, and that’s the end of the matter. I respect you far too much to lie to you.”
“I wish you would have! Because now this is complicated.” She flapped her hands between us. “And it was easier an hour ago when I’d convinced myself that you were ignoring me because you regretted what happened.”
“I don’t know what I can say to change that,” I replied, holding out my own hands. “By all means, feel free to re-convince yourself of that if that makes you feel better.”
“Re-convince myself? I can’t do that!” She buried her face in her hands for a second before dropping them. “All I’m going to do is go upstairs knowing that you wanted to kiss me and because you won’t lie about it, you probably want to do it again, and all that’s going to happen from there is me going to sleep to have another bloody stupid dirty dream that’ll never happen, and—”
“You’ll do what?” My lips twitched to one side.
Adelaide froze. Although she didn’t move, her cheeks flushed a flaming red.
“Adelaide.”
“Nothing,” she said quickly, taking a step back. “Nothing.”
“Adelaide, have you been having dirty dreams about me?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
About Emma:
She is a mother, wife, lover of wine, Pink Goddess, and valiant rescuer of wild baby hedgehogs.
Emma prides herself on her realistic, snarky smut, with comebacks that would make a PMS-ing teenage girl proud.
