Rules of Seduction by Madeline Hunter

Alexis Welbourne has been living with her cousins for a while now and is grateful for their generosity. When she is suddenly left with nothing, after Lord Hayden Rothwell ruins her cousin Timothy Longworth and forces the family out of London. To avoid being a further burden on her cousins she is determined to find employment, when her greatest enemy offers her the opportunity to stay in the house she has made her own as a governess to the miscreant's young cousin.

Lord Hayden Rothwell is quite innocent of the accusations laid on his doorstep. He approached Timothy after discovering that he had been extorting funds from the bank he works at. In turbulent banking times, Hayden decides to leave his own funds in the bank, but demands that Timothy resign, leave London and payoff his debt. He promises not to reveal his crime as long as he follows the dictates he required. Timothy reluctantly agrees since not to, would have meant the gallows.

Do you think there is some gratitude in Timothy? Some semblance of shame for what he did? Not at all. Since Hayden promised to remain silent about the whole affair, Timothy decides to bad mouth him to everyone that can hear, saying that Hayden FORCED him into bankruptcy by removing his funds from the bank. Thus, leading Alexis to despise the man.

As she begins to work for Hayden and becomes better acquainted with him, she revises her opinion that he is a beast. She sees that there is more to the bank issue than was first explained and Hayden is being honorable to a fault. Now she just need to be certain that the man she has fallen in love with is the man she believes him to be.

Great Great Great tale. I love the slow, easy way Hunter takes us to the love story that unfolds for our Hero/Heroine. She also brings in several side characters that inspire strong feelings, like the Aunt and Timothy... who can we hate more...

Wonderful to get back to Hunter as we know she can be!

Grade: A