My Daddy the Duke Book

4 Stars ~ It's been more than a decade since Dean Fraser gave up everything -- his family, his career, his inheritance -- to marry flower-child Rose, a woman found most unsuitable by Dean's father. All ties were cut, and then word came after six years, that Dean died tragically in a plane crash. So Dean's father turned to second-son Charles to fill his shoes, both as heir and as vice-president of his ad agency. Charles' whole life is wrapped up in the agency, he's a workaholic with no desire for personal commitments. Imagine the shock when Charles' father declares that he's a grandfather. Instantly, he scans his memory and does some math to see who the possible mother could be. His father lets him off the hook but is ecstatic to announce that Dean had a infant son when he died, and the boy is now five years old. When Dean died Rose moved with her son into her aunts' home and has been living less than an hour away all this time. Rose placed an ad in the local paper for a "Father Figure" type mentor for her son. Living in a household of women, Rose is concerned that young Lucas is missing a male influence. Charles' father insists that he apply for the position with a fake resume showing him to be a graduate student working on a study of children and how they relate to the world. He's to get proof that Rose is an unfit mother to take to court for the custody battle.

The instant Charles meets Rose he knows he's in trouble. Their attraction is undeniable and Lucas looks just like Dean. He wants very much to be a part of their life, and quickly they sneak under his skin and into his heart. Lucas has made him their Charlie, and all Charles can hope is that he has time to make them his before they find out who he really is. Rose sees something good in Charles, the way he is with Lucas, the way he balances the play time and the learning good lessons time. She sees him as the man he hadn't realized he was, lonely for the love of family.

I wasn't sure how Charles was going to pull off the deception. Luckily, in grand fiction style, Dean didn't really resemble his own father, like Charles did, and young Lucas took after Dean. Rose and her aunts show Charles a freedom he's never known and with Lucas he learns what unconditional love is. All his life he'd lived to please his father, and these wonderful people are showing him a life that his brother eagerly gave up everything for. Rose is a terrific heroine. She'd loved her husband and never thought she'd feel that again. With Charles there's an instant bonding, and she's flustered and feeling like a woman again. Lucas is adorable! Ms. Logan has woven this most enjoyable love story with humour, sizzling chemistry, and heart warming moments