Lady Penelope Campion lives quite happily alone in London, aided only by an old, pretty much deaf housekeeper and surrounded by her unusual menagerie of rescued animals. There’s a highland cow, a goat, an otter, several chickens, a dog with only the use of his front legs, a whole bunch of kittens and a particularly foul-mouthed parrot. Her friends dote on her and even politely try to eat her horrendous vegetable meat substitutes without complaining or making a fuss. So when Penelope’s aunt comes to announce are demanding Penelope’s return to the family estate in the country, she’s devastated. She makes a wager with her aunt that she’ll stop being a strange reclusive wallflower, get all the animals re-homed, purchase a new wardrobe and start being seen at social engagements around town again – even balls.
Gabriel Duke grew up in abject poverty and has used his cleverness and guile to become a force to be reckoned with in London society. He’s known as the Duke of Ruin after having schemed, manipulated and used his financial savvy to ruin several important and influential families. Now he’s bought a grand mansion right next door to where Lady Penelope lives and is having it refurbished, planning to sell it for a fortune, in part because he can boast about the peers nearby. Not that he’ll ever be able to sell the house if there’s a veritable zoo of strange creatures in the neighbouring house. He demands that Penelope get rid of her animals, and since that works out well with her aunt’s already stated demands, Lady Penelope negotiates Gabriel’s help in assisting her.
Of course sparks fly pretty much instantly. Lady Penelope and Gabriel’s first meeting involves her breaking into his house in the middle of the night to retrieve her sweary parrot, and walks in on him wearing only a towel. They’re deeply attracted to one another, but Gabriel doesn’t believe he could ever be good enough for Penelope, and she’s got some trauma in her past that she needs to work through, and has never really allowed herself to feel attracted to a man before, certainly not to let go and give into her desires.
Full review on my blog.
