A Night Like This (Smythe-Smith Quartet, #2)

by Julia Quinn

[Cocktails and Books]

Daniel Smythe-Smith, Earl of Winstead, has returned home after roaming the continent for three years hoping to stay one foot ahead of the men the Marquess of Ramsgate hired to kill him. It seems imbibing, cards and a drunken challenge of a duel are not things that should be taken seriously once you've sobered up. But men will be men and the duel went forward with disastrous results. Now back home, Daniel hopes he can put all of that behind him and be able to enjoy the family he missed while away. But instead of spending time with his family and reacquainting himself with her properties, he finds himself infatuated with his young cousins' governess.

Anne Wynter plays the roll of governess very well. For the past eight years, this is the only life she has known. Having been shunned by her family by her actions at sixteen (which really were in self defense) she was forced into the life she has now. She's found a place within her current employers home that is comfortable and she doesn't have to worry about barring her door at night. She didn't know that her current threat would come in the form of her employer's nephew, an Earl, and that the threat was to her heart.

Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. The man has a HUGE heart. After the duel gone wrong with Hugh Prentice, he admitted he was wrong and what happened was an accident, even when having to face Hugh's overbearing, crazy father. He comes home from the continent on the night of the family's musicale and hides in the back to ensure his family's "musical performances" keep the spotlight. And when he spies Anne Wynter playing the piano, from that moment you never have to guess at how much he feels for her.

Anne has a difficult road with Daniel. She only has her past to guide her in Daniel's attentions and she fears she's making the same mistake she did eight years ago by falling for a man who was too high above her station. But Daniel is charming and sweet and many times to tempting to resists. When she discovers her past has come back to haunt her, she's willing to give up Daniel and her three charges she's grown to love in order to keep them safe.

As with any Julia Quinn book, there are always some stand out secondary characters that leave you in stitches. For this story, those characters are the young Pleinsworth girls: Harriet, Elizabeth and Frances. From Harriet thinking she's the next William Shakespeare to Frances thinking she's a unicorn, the girls brightened up whatever scene they were in. They had you smiling and laughing hoping their escapades would continue.

A sweet book, with wonderful characters. Truly a pleasure to read.