Duke du Jour
Lords in Time #1
Historical Time Travel Romance
The Wild Rose Press. Inc
January 15, 2018
337
Jared Langley, present-day Duke of Reston, tumbles into an abandoned fountain on his ducal estate and travels back in time to the year 1816. There, Reston servants and local villagers think him a dead ringer for his namesake and rakehell ancestor--the seventh Duke of Reston, gone missing at the Battle of Waterloo. Unfortunately, Seven got mixed up with French spies out to assassinate the Duke of Wellington, and an unwary Jared ends up in their crosshairs.
Lady Ariana Hart has loved Jared Langley, the seventh Duke of Reston, since she was twelve years old, until the night the rogue broke her heart. Given up for dead, her rakish neighbor makes a miraculous return from Waterloo--only Jared shows up a changed man and reignites all the feelings Ariana had long ago buried.
Jared is in a race against time. He must waylay the suspicions of his quirky servants and neighbors, get to Wellington before the French spies do, fix his fountain--before Seven shows up--so Jared has a way home, and definitely not fall in love with the irresistible Lady Ariana.
Reviewed by: Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
Jared Phillip Bartholomew Langley is the 13th Duke of Reston and one of the wealthiest in England. After being convinced by his mother that it was time for him to marry and have an heir he finally proposed to Edwina Montrose who was of his station only to find out that she had been cheating on him for most of the time they were engaged.
After showing her the door he was hit with a very bad migraine headache and went for a walk only this walk would eventually bring him back to 1816, the Regency Era where he was about to learn that he was known for being a no-account. He had fallen into a well and found himself being questioned by everyone who had assumed he had died at Waterloo. He found his home in ill repair and discovered that his tenants and his staff were not paid. Jared is know known as the seventh Duke and he was the only one that he had never learned about. Having found journals of the past Dukes it was seven that was missing.
In order to keep from finding himself in a mental hospital he announced that he had lost some of his memory especially of people. Since he knew the area and the home from the future that was not a problem. He knows he has to return to his time so as not to alter history but when the well gets broken he has to wait for it’s repair. In the meantime he meets his neighbor Lady Ariana Hart the Earl of Wakefield’s daughter who from first sight takes his breath away. He knows he should not get involved with her but it is something he finds hard to do.
Everything that Jared learns about seven leaves him angry and determined to fix things before he leaves. His tenants are suffering, his staff is not paid and he discovers that one of his men is none other than a half brother. His best friend Dexter is someone he does not trust and accidents keep happen that threaten his life.
He openly accepts his brother and lets everyone know who he is. His feelings for Ariana grow as he realizes that she wants him for himself and not for money, which in this era he doesn’t have, and not for his title which has been tarnished by seven’s actions. What he never expected was to discover that seven was involved in espionage and someone wants him dead before he reveals what he knows (of course he knows nothing).
This was a very sweet book with wonderful characters. It had humor, betrayals and love but no sex or explicit violence. Jared has to be careful when he speaks because the twenty-first century sometimes slips out. When he says surely his servants keep telling him that Shirley is the upstairs maid and he has to be more careful.
Does Jared find what he is looking for in the past or does he return to the future? Can he and his friends discover what the plot is to kill him and Wellington? This is a very worthwhile read especially for those who love time travel and the only reason it didn’t get five stars was due to the fact that at times I found it a little slow moving.