Small Town Duchess
By Elizabeth Taylor George 

     I enjoyed Ms. George's previous medieval romance, The Spellbinder. She pulled me by the genuine emotions of both the hero and heroine.

     Lindsey Parker has no great expectations for her life. She is content to help her dad at the family store and to stay at home. When she loses her father unexpectedly, her life takes a definite turn in the change department. She is the only heir to the family business, and she plans on taking up where her father left off, but his will puts a crimp into her goal for the future. A codicil added to his will states that she must marry within six months of his death or the store will be sold. The newly-widowed Lord Edmond Eastwood is the only man she is interested in. She might as well hang her hopes on the brass ring at the merry- go-round in the park, for his heart is buried with his wife. Or is it?

     Edmond Eastwood is not in a trusting mood. His supposedly dead wife was alive and well the last time he saw her. Their divorce created one of the biggest scandals in London society. His arrival in provincial Pennsylvania was an escape route; his father, the Duke, ordered him to vacate his country of origin until the gossip died down. He hated his life and the small town he was entombed in; or he did until he met the naïve and refreshing Lindsey. He forsakes his own grief over his destroyed marriage to help the beautiful Miss Parker through hers. When she turns her innocent gaze on him, Edmond finds that the heart he thought was dead can still beat with something other than hate.

Ms. George's tale of romance runs true-to-form. Love never runs smoothly, but travels a path that takes a reader on an incredible journey. The conflict is enticing, and the love scene is filled with all the romance a reader could want.