The Wickedest Lord Alive

Under the alias Lizzie Allbright, Lady Alexandra Bute started her life anew after fleeing her husband on their wedding night. Eight years later, her husband, Xavier Steyne, wants to make amends in hopes that she’ll conceive an heir with him. While Lizzie wants nothing more than to have a house full of children, she’d rather do it on her own terms.

The Wickedest Lord Alive is one of those “reformed rake” tales, with the promiscuous man seeing the error of his ways and trying to find comfort in domesticity. The hero and heroine are, at times, too mismatched. It is difficult to believe that Lizzie and Xavier could ever fall in love, especially since the entire premise of the story is that Xavier was blackmailing Lizzie and Lizzie is trying to rebuff him for as long as possible. Lizzie is endlessly naive and Xavier is too detatched and world-weary for her.

The exasperating characters could be forgiven in the end, however. It was inspiring to see the hero and heroine rise above their upbringing. Secondary characters were wise, funny and not intrusive. A murder plot added a surprising and tantalizing twist.