One of the best books I've read all year! Oh the feels. Just when I didn't think this series couldn't get any better.

Darcy Burke does an amazing job bringing Lionel Maitland, Marquess of Axbridge and Lady Emmaline Townsend together. I was pleasantly surprised at when I remembered who she was. (But at the same time sad at the circumstances) I laughed… and my eyes may have leaked a little. It’s a bit darker than her normal stories but nonetheless amazing. I loved both characters from the beginning as the chemistry is definitely there.
I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment of this series, THE DUKE OF ICE.

I received a copy for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
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His reputation precedes him, but it's his heart that tortures him. Will it lead to his undoing or become his saving grace? One moment changed a man's life. One choice set in motion a chain of events that connected the lives of three people forever. Out of greed, guilt and violence comes a romance as passionate as it is heartbreaking. Lionel and Emmaline are unwitting pawns in an ugly conspiracy set in motion by a dangerous man. When the tide turns in their favor, will they survive the revelations it brings with it? Duke of Danger is an exciting twist of fate romance. It appeals to the romantic while feeding a need for adventure and seducing with passion. A big story in a tiny package. ( )

'Damn you to hell, Axbridge.'

Not a sentiment to encourage love and romance. But when Lionel Maitland, Marquess of Axbridge, kills Lady Emmaline Townsend's husband in a duel she finds that her husband has left her nothing but debts.
The 'Duke of Danger', an unfair label given Lionel by the 'wallflower' young women before they became more intimate with some of that group. To be fair they do wince when those nicknames are now mentioned in their presence,
Lionel has an unfortunate reputation for duelling. His opponents end up dead. Hence his sobriquet. Those deaths haunts him. He is a man of honor and each death eats into his soul.
His latest victim, Viscount Geoffrey Townsand, is the husband of Lady Emmaline Townsend. Unfortunately Townsend's wound turned septic, hence Emmaline's situation. Lionel is more scarred than his friends imagine by the result but he cannot reveal the reason for the duel or Townsend's dishonourable behaviour. The scandal around the event would besmirch Emmaline.
Emmaline is unforgiving of Lionel and will have her revenge, even if it as a last resort is to save herself from her parents antics.
Her parents are forcing her into an unwanted marriage with Sir Duncan Thayer, who 'was horribly unattractive, with a hooked nose, protruding front teeth, and rather fetid breath if the rumors were accurate. Worst of all, he possessed a lecherous nature. Every time she’d met him, he’d looked at her as if she wasn’t wearing any clothes.'
Lionel had given Emmaline his card and told her he would give her any assistance she needed. He was hers to command. Not that marriage had been on his mind, but for Emmaline desperate times call for desperate measures.
I must admit a soft spot for the marriage of convenience trope where angst and coldness turns to a smouldering relationship albeit assailed with doubts. How the author solves the entanglements to give us an HEA result is always fascinating.
As the plot unfolds we find that Viscount Geoffrey Townsand was up to some nefarious doings. The mystery deepens and the facts surrounding Geoffrey's actions are unexpected.
A satisfying read.

A NetGalley ARC ( )

One of the best books I've read all year! Oh the feels. Just when I didn't think this series couldn't get any better.

Darcy Burke does an amazing job bringing Lionel Maitland, Marquess of Axbridge and Lady Emmaline Townsend together. I was pleasantly surprised at when I remembered who she was. (But at the same time sad at the circumstances) I laughed… and my eyes may have leaked a little. It’s a bit darker than her normal stories but nonetheless amazing. I loved both characters from the beginning as the chemistry is definitely there.
I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment of this series, THE DUKE OF ICE.

I received a copy for my honest review. All opinions are my own. ( )

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. The Duke of Danger is the 6th book in Darcy Burke’s series The Untouchables. I have not read all of the books yet and do think you could read it as a stand alone but I do intend to read them all as I have enjoyed the ones I have read. Lionel Maitland Marquess of Axford is known as the Duke of Danger because he has been involved in 2 duels and his opponent died in the second duel. The story begins with Lionel about to fight his 3rd duel, over matter of honour and extortion.
Lady Emmaline Townsend is left widowed and destitute when her husband succumbs to his injuries from the duel, she proposes a marriage of convenience to Lionel who is guilt ridden at having killed her husband. The sizzle factor is very high, and the story is quite exciting with murder, blackmail, gossip for sale, and a conniving ex mistress. I read the book in an evening and quite enjoyed it. ( )