One Wicked Night by Sari Robins

It had been so long that I read a good book it took me no time in realizing this one was it! I admit it took me almost a week to crack the book open but I think it was mostly because I have had such a rotten reading month that I had lost interest in reading another 'okay' book.

I selected this book as my read for the AOM program of my Yahoo group. I purchased the book years ago when it first came out and everyone was raving about it but I kept finding new authors to put ahead of Robins, the AOM program gave me the perfect excuse to pull the book out of the TBR pile.

Lillian, Baroness Janus on her own right, has been pretending to be Dillon Beaumont's mistress for the last two years. Her 'father', Lord Cornelius Kane, wants the fortune she will inherit on her 24th birthday and is willing to go to any means to get her under his roof so he can control her. Her liaison with the Marquis protects her against Kane but also protects Dillon from having a personal secret revealed.

When Kane convinces Dillon's younger brother, Russell to go against the couple, in hopes to 'free' Lillian, they are able to frame Dillon for murder. Lillian turns to Nicholas Redford for help.

Nicholas Redford comes from a difficult life. Raised in an orphanage, he learned about honor and justice from the headmaster who cared for him as a son. He has finally established the enquiry office he had always wanted and has been put on retainer to the Queen.

Nicholas is not inclined to take the case of an obviously guilty man (they did a good job framing Dillon) and Lillian needs to show him that there is NO WAY Dillon could have murdered a woman due to a passionate love affair gone wrong. She is relying on Nick's sense of justice so that after exposing Dillon's secret he will be able to see that an innocent man is to be hung for a crime he did not commit.

I really don't want to give too much away but one of the charming aspects of this book is that there is no hidden pretenses, no misunderstandings to work through, just a straight forward love story! You know from the start why Dillon cannot be capable of the crime, you know who killed the woman, you know who is harassing Lillian, you even know that these two are destined to be together. What is left unsaid and keeps you glued is HOW TO PROVE IT ALL! There is so much physical evidence piled up against Dillon you cannot imagine Nick being able to dig out the truth, especially since Kane is far removed from the situation.

Wonderful introduction to this author, I will definitely be reading the next installment of this series which is the story of Marcus Dunn, the son of the headmaster of the orphanage from which Nick came from.

Grade:A