The marquess makes his move

D. M. Quincy

Book - 2022

The new footman doesn't seem to know his place... London's most renowned mapmaker is a woman...but nobody knows it. If anyone discovers that Rose Fleming is the power and talent behind the family business, the scandal could ruin them. Rose's secret is tested by the arrival of a handsome new footman who shows far too much interest in his new mistress. Rose battles an intense attraction to the enigmatic servant, but maintaining a proper distance isn't easy when you and temptation live under the same roof. She makes him forget he has a score to settle... Few have met the reclusive half-Arab Marquess of Brandon, who is rumored to live with a harem of beauties among his mother's people near Jerusalem. Brandon couldn...9;t care less what society thinks of him, or that his fellow peers are disdainful of his common blood, but he won't stand for being robbed. That's why he's disguised himself as a footman in the home of a respected mapmaker who cheated Brandon out of his land. But the nobleman's plans for retribution are complicated by his growing attraction for the secretive lady of the house. When Brandon uncovers the shocking truth about Rose's role in his stolen birthright, can a love born of deception really conquer all?

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Subjects
Genres
Regency fiction
Romance fiction
Historical fiction
Published
New York, NY : Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers [2022]
Language
English
Main Author
D. M. Quincy (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
370 pages ; 18 cm
ISBN
9780062986849
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Being a footman is far more difficult than Alex Worthington, marquess of Brandon, first imagined. Fortunately for Alex, posing as a servant is more of a temporary ruse than a long-term career plan. Alex just needs covert access to Roger Fleming's household to find proof that the London mapmaker has cheated him. So, if acting as a footman for Roger's wife, Rose, is the price Alex must pay to discover the evidence he needs, it is a small one indeed, especially once Alex discovers just how truly fascinating Rose turns out to be. Quincy (Her Night with the Duke, 2020) deftly illustrates just how skillfully she is changing the map for historical romance with the latest stellar addition to her Clandestine Affairs series. Featuring superbly rendered characters, some sensually charged love scenes, and a fabulously fresh plot that not only delves into the business of cartography but also celebrates the richness of Arabic culture in the Regency era, this is an incomparable delight.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Quincy's steamy third Clandestine Affairs Regency romance (after The Viscount Made Me Do It) pairs a brilliant cartographer with a marquess seeking retribution. Alex Worthington, Marquess of Brandon, and his adjoining landowners hire famous London cartographer Roger Fleming to draw up maps depicting their property's borders. But the result cheats Alex and gives his neighbor a critical piece of land, leading Alex to suspect foul play. He poses as a footman to unearth the scheme, but his plans are thwarted when he's hired to serve Roger's wife, Rose, instead of the man himself. The day before he begins, he happens to save the quirky Rose from being run over by a cart, sparking an intense mutual attraction. But Rose is married, and when Alex learns that she, not her husband, is the talent behind his cartography business, he questions her role in the plot to cheat him. Suspicion, secrets, and forced proximity makes the romance sizzle and Quincy expertly crafts an empowered heroine while staying true to the period setting. The will hook new readers and delight fans. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Apr.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

An undercover mapmaker and an undercover marquess fall for each other. R. Fleming is known to draw the finest maps in London, but no one has ever met the actual cartographer: Rose Fleming, a woman whose work secretly keeps her family's business afloat. She was raised learning mapmaking and surveying at her uncle's side, but as it's the Regency era, even though the shop was left to her in her uncle's will and she handles all the commissions, her husband is in charge of the business and their accounts. Her marriage hasn't been what she expected, but she's resigned herself to a quiet life doing the work she loves. When her husband hires a new footman, she's intrigued first by his good looks and then his candor, unexpected from someone in service. He's surprisingly forward because he isn't, as he claims, Alex, a farmer's son. He's actually Alex, Marquess of Brandon, and he's working undercover as a footman because he suspects Rose's husband has colluded with Brandon's neighbors to cheat his family out of land on their country estate. He expects a footman position will allow him to do a bit of quick snooping to find proof of the fraud and destroy Fleming, but he quickly learns both that life as a footman is harder than he thought and that Rose is much more captivating than he'd imagined. As the complex plot unfolds, Rose and Alex are drawn to each other again and again, but the secrets they are keeping from each other might turn what seems like a happy ending into a final disappointment. Quincy delivers another compelling story featuring a hardworking heroine in the third entry in her Clandestine Affairs series. She also once again explores the difficulties of living in the Regency ton while also being of Arab descent as well as the ways in which class mobility could occur (or not) in this era. But what makes the story unusually daring is that its heroine starts the story married to one man and ends it married to another, via an elegant twist that ensures she retains the empathy and respect of the reader throughout. As the story also contains a slow burn as well as several passionately intimate scenes, there's much for readers to love. A delightfully multifaceted story from a writer who continues to map out new territory for Regency romance. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.