

The duke is annoyed at such interference, but Agatha keeps trying to persuade him that Georgiana is exactly the sort of woman he wants: Unluckily for her, her great Aunt Agatha sees George’s plan for living in the country with dogs and horses as a positive reason to suggest her as a bride to the haughty Redmond Hartley (Hart), Duke of Everingham, after he was jilted at the altar by another Rutherford girl, Rose ( Marry in Secret). When she comes into her inheritance at twenty-five she plans to buy a house in the country and breed horses and dogs, and luckily for her, her uncle and guardian, the Earl of Ashendon, is neither horrified by this nor trying to push her into matrimony. Lady Georgiana Rutherford has made no secret of the fact that she doesn’t want to get married. But with tropes, it’s all about the execution, and the best authors can turn even the most worn-out old cliché into an appealing story and for the most part, that’s what Anne Gracie manages here, crafting strong, flawed characters and an interesting conflict that kept me engaged. However, I couldn’t resist the pairing of the spirited heroine with no interest in marriage and the cold, aloof hero it’s a very well-worn trope, and to be honest there isn’t really anything new to be found here. Marry in Scarlet is the fourth book in Anne Gracie’s Marriage of Convenience series, and to be perfectly honest, after the huge disappointment that was Marry in Secret (book three), I wasn’t sure I was going to read it. But the unlikely bride and groom may have found love in the most improbable of places–a marriage of convenience. George is furious and when gossip claims she deliberately entrapped the duke–when she was the one who was trapped–she marches down the aisle in a scarlet wedding dress. Caught in a compromising position, the duke announces their betrothal. The more she defies him, the more the duke wants her, until an argument at a ball spirals into a passionate embrace. Especially a man as insufferable as the Duke of Everingham, whose kisses stirs unwelcome and unsettling emotions. Having grown up poor, Lady George has no intention of giving up her fortune to become dependent on the dubious and unreliable goodwill of a man. Lady Georgiana Rutherford–irreverent and unconventional–has no plans to marry. He’s the biggest prize on the London marriage mart, pursued by young unmarried ladies and their match-making mamas, as well as married women with a wandering eye. The proud and arrogant Duke of Everingham is determined to secure a marriage of convenience with heiress, Lady Georgiana Rutherford.
