Review: This is the third book of an off-beat  trilogy in which a pair of duelling pistols play an important part.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 27, 2013
VICTOR BARTLETT, the impoverished Duke of Wedmont, wed for his wife's dowry. But the infusion of much-needed money came with a heavy price:  His wife is mad, having been made so by being savagely raped as a child.  But no one had thought to fill Victor in, and each time he attempted to bed her, her madness increased.  This last time she started a fire and died even as Victor was wounded trying to carry her out. So here we have a handsome, sensual guy who was faithful to his wife (ergo, no sex for 4 years!)and who has yet another thing to feel guilty about: Adding to his frustrations is a young American, one Leonard Hall, whom Victor sees in a gambling den and for whom he has violent sexual cravings(!). The young man is a 21-year old woman in disguise, LYDIA HAMILTON of a shipping dynasty, the wedding runaway of the title. When Lydia sensed that her American fiancé sought only to take over the business and had no love for her she fled to London.  Victor takes Leonard under his wing and realizes that he's a she only after he accidentally wounds her in a duel with those accursed Spanish pistols. Of course he doesn't think he's good enough for her, even though he can't keep away from her.  There's an unresolved problem with characters from the preceding two books as well as a subplot involving Lydia's brother, Trevor Hamilton.  So juggling these might be confusing if The Wedding Runaway is your first read.  I took my own advice and read this during the day the better to keep the plot lines and characters straight. But FINALLY the curse of the pistols is broken when Victor marries the one he shot!