Unwrapping the Duke by Jane Charles
Tracy's Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: The Wayward Dukes Alliance, #15
Release Date: July 9, 2024 (previously published in All I Want for Christmas is a Wayward Duke Anthology)
Once upon a time Leopold Tilson, the Duke of Claybrook fell in love with Lady Bethany Grey – the best friend of Tessa, the woman he was courting. When he and Tessa agreed they would never suit, Leo turned his attention to Bethany and things seemed promising – until she pushed him into the Serpentine. When he demanded to know what he had done, she told him to call on her, but a family emergency prevented him from doing so, and by the time he returned, she refused to see him. Leaving him heartbroken and confused, even two and a half years later. But when a trip to visit family during Christmas ends with Leo wrapped in a rug and left for dead in the middle of the road, it might just be the best thing that ever happened to him.
Lady Bethany Grey has avoided Leo like the plague, especially after he never called on her to find out why she was so upset. She was going to skip Christmas with her family because she learned that he would be there. But she decides at the last minute to close her club and join the family, she will just ignore Leo as she has for the last couple of years. But when she finds him unconscious and wrapped in a rug laying in the middle of road she cannot ignore him. Forced proximity gives them a chance to sort out the past and a call from an old friend makes it impossible to pretend that they can keep their situation secret. It is clear that they will have to marry, but Bethany wonders if her heart can withstand the pain of unrequited love?
This was a well-written, nicely paced sweet second-chance romance novella. Leo and Bethany are a wonderful couple who through misunderstanding almost missed their chance at HEA, thankfully fate saw fit to give these two stubborn people a second chance. The book is filled with witty banter, an underdressed duke, long-sought answers and finally a long-awaited HEA. This was a fun, quick read that is technically a Christmas novella – but really isn't. I enjoyed this story and would happily recommend it. This story was originally published in the "All I Want for Christmas is a Wayward Duke" anthology and has ties to the Trent Family, the Tilson Family and the Wicked Widows League & the Wayward Dukes Alliance series.
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*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.
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