It was well known that he was looking for a wife, and she happens to be one of the two daughters of Dukes at a marriageable age. She remained heartbroken, until she comes face to face with the Duke of Villiers. By decree of his father’s will, his marriage was arranged to another, and he would not go against the will in order to marry Eleanor. As she is taken to task by her younger, and married sister, we learn that Eleanor has been jilted in love by Gideon, the Duke of Astley, her childhood sweetheart/lover. She is dressed rather frumpish as she can be, with an antiquated attitude to match. When we first meet Eleanor, she is attending the ball in order to raise money for the Baths (a carryover from This Duchess of Mine).

Before we head to Kent, however, we must meet Eleanor, daughter of the Duke of Montague. That search is continued in A Duke of her Own, where Villiers travels to Kent to find his twin daughters. In the novel preceding, we see Villiers decide to marry to provide a mother for his children (no less than a daughter of a duke will do), and embark on a search across England for his children in order to scandalously raise them as his own. We see a change in Villiers in This Duchess of Mine, and somewhat before when he duels for his fiance, and almost dies. A man of sense and style, Villiers is known as a perfectly dressed, perfectly fantastic Duke, giving consequence to no one who was not deserving.

He wouldn’t take the time when he was younger to worry about the consequences of his liaisons by his own admission. The man has six illegitimate children, from just as many women. Villiers is the epitome of the word rake. After seeing him pine after Jemma, the Duchess of Beaumont in every novel except for the one preceding, it was nice to finally see him get his life straight, even if it took a while to get there. Happy, because it’s the next book in the Duchess series, and sad, because it’s the last book in the Duchess series.Īt last, it’s the Duke of Villiers turn at love.

It was a happy and sad day when this book showed up on my doorstep.

A duke of her own by eloisa james