Benjamin Wetherby, Earl of Glastonbury and heir to the Marquisate of Eastleigh, has just received an urgent letter from home. His father is dying and he must return to England at once. Benjamin is a man bound by honor and duty, to both his country and his family. So, despite his reservations, he leaves his life in New York City behind so he may find a wife and assume his role as the Marquess of Eastleigh.
Miss Phoebe Blake is finally out of mourning for her father, and just in time. She and her mother could be days away from being carted off to debtors prison, so Phoebe returns to society with the intent and determination to secure a rich husband.
Sparks fly when Benjamin and Phoebe meet, and it appears they have both found just what they are looking for. But will a dark secret keep them from finding their happily ever after?
A Gentleman Never Tells, by Jerrica Knight-Catania
You know the drill at this point. The price was right and as much as I might read other subgenres of romance, Regency is what I keep coming back to. Self-publishing has been great in that sense, because there are now so many options to choose from that I’m pretty much guaranteed to never run out.
A Gentleman Never Tells is a fairly standard entry into the genre. Benjamin Wetherby is in America, when he receives the news that his father is dying and he needs to return home immediately. His father makes the request that he marry before he assumes the title and as a dutiful son, Benjamin sets about to do just that. Phoebe, on the other hand, is desperately trying to make ends meet after the death of her father a year ago. Her mother is so grief-stricken as to be bedridden and what little funds they have are rapidly dwindling. She needs to marry well and marry soon.
They encounter each other at a ball, where Benjamin falls for her at first sight and makes arrangements to visit her the next day. That’s when he discovers, to his horror, that Phoebe is the daughter of the man who died of fever two weeks after a duel with Benjamin — a death Benjamin feels responsible for and one that precipitated his departure from England. He can hardly ignore the dire financial straits the family is in either, especially after he discovers that one of the more unscrupulous members of the ton is demanding sexual favors from Phoebe’s mother in return for holding off some of the creditors.
Resolved, he proposes to Phoebe and takes both her and her mother (and her maid) back to his father’s estate, since word comes that he is rapidly approaching the end. They are married, granting his father’s deathbed wish, and all seems well — except for the secrets Benjamin is keeping from his wife. One of which she discovers when she reads some of his correspondence in an attempt to help. Cue the normal miscommunications until the expected happily ever after resolution. (I try to avoid spoilers in these reviews, so apologies if this seems a little rushed. Then again, parts of the book did too.)
Overall I enjoyed the story as a single read but it’s not going on my reread shelf. I’m not a stickler for historical accuracy but there were a few things that threw me out of the world for a moment, the largest of which was Phoebe’s maid accompanying her to the ball as a guest. If that is something that’s important to you, this might not be the right book to dive into. Some of the side characters felt a little one-dimensional and more than one of the points that provided conflict in the book were due to irrational decisions by characters that seemed out of place or silly, with no clear motivation.
I’m not sure if I’ll pick up the next book in the series or not, but if the price is right on this one, it’s a decent enough way to pass a few hours.