Historical
Loving a Lost Lord
By Dottie
Jul 1, 2009 - 9:29:17 AM

As a small child, Mariah Clarke lived with her great grandmother Granny Rose, who had gypsy blood.  After her great grandmother died, her father, a gambler, took her with him, but she did not like life on the road and the erratic lifestyle that card playing and gambling provided.  At times, she even told fortunes at fairs.  Her great grandmother taught her this skill.  Though Mariah couldn’t actually tell the future, she could read people.  As a child, she was so lonely that she imagined a twin sister Sarah, who was always loyal and always there for her.  Now, at the age of twenty-five, she can settle down in the estate her father won in a card game, along with a nice amount of money.  Finally, she is Miss Clarke of Hartley Manor.

Born in India to a highborn Hindu mother and an English father, Adam Darshan Lawford, Duke of Ashton is half-Hindu and half English.  As a young boy, he was taken from his mother to be turned into an English gentleman and prepared for the dukedom.  He was sent to the Westerfield Academy where Lady Agnes Westerfield, the founder and headmistress, became like a second mother to him and his three best friends Lord Masterson, Lord Kirkley and Lord Randall.  This is where all the angry, frustrated English boys of the peerage who did not fit the pattern expected of them were sent.  Adam and his three friends along with two other boys were in Lady Agnes’ first class at the academy and she labeled them the lost boys because they needed special care and education.  The six boys became closer than brothers.  Adam liked working with his hands.  His father had started teaching him mechanics.  Lady Agnes allowed him to continue this study. 

One day, after he was grown, he and his crew took his steam yacht out for a test run and the boiler exploded, killing most of the crew.  When news of his death reached Lady Agnes, she immediately sent the three Lords out to bring the duke’s body home.

Mariah’s father left to take care of family business, leaving her at home.  Several weeks later, the former owner of Hartley estate visits Mariah, bringing her father’s ring, the news of his death and a proposal of marriage.  However, she tells him she is already married.  Later, when loneliness sets in, she fears accepting his proposal, so she performs one of Granny Rose’s rituals to get a husband.  As she rests, she hears Granny Rose’s voice urgently telling her to go to the shore.  Once there, she sees a body floating in the water.  As she pulls him in, he is almost at the point of death.  She gets him inside, in warm clothes and feeds him.  When he finally awakens, he doesn’t even know his name.  Mariah tells him she is his wife.  He is happy that this beautiful vision is his wife.  The more time they spend together, the more they desire each other.  What will happen when he finds out about her deceit?

LOVING A LOST LORD, the first book in THE LOST LORDS series, is an intriguing, sensuous historical romance.  The bond between the lost boys is special and the extent they go to in order to find out who is trying to kill Adam shows how much they mean to each other.  Brimming with tender romance, heated love scenes, an intriguing plot, realistic dialogue, humor and a whiff of the paranormal, this book is unforgettable.  Another feature of this book is the discrimination that Adam encounters in the peerage being half-Hindu and half English.  I highly recommend LOVING A LOST LORD to anyone looking for an enjoyable read.