a gentleman. He cares about women and how they are treated. Jude knows how to love. My favorite thing about Jude is that he understands Marissa and respects her wants/needs to explore the scandalous nature of sex. When Marissa needs someone to help her and save her family's reputation Jude steps in to help. Then he doesn't back down even though Marissa pushes. More than once while reading about these two I forgot this was a historical novel. The writing isn't stuffy and neither are the characters. Even Marissa's brother, Baron York, isn't as stuffy as he could be. The care and love he has for his sister comes through very well. A couple of times the book slows down and drags while the family goes back and forth trying to keep Marissa's reputation from being ruined. But all in all this is a great read. As usual, Dahl's writing jumps off the page and makes you fall in love with characters. So even if you aren't a fan of Historical Romance I still recommend this book. You'll love it anyway (I hope)! (less) I'm so pleased that I ended up loving this book so much. The first two chapters showed a very unattractive side of the heroine, Marissa, and I actually stopped reading to go clean something! I was so nervous that this book would be the one that broke my lucky streak with this author. I have enjoyed every book that I have read by this author, and