My Once and Future Duke: The Wagers of Sin

Caroline Linden

Feb 2018 · The Wagers of Sin Book 1 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

What happens at the infamous Vega Club . . .

Sophie Campbell is determined to be mistress of her own fate. Surviving on her skill at cards, she never risks what she can’t afford to lose. Yet when the Duke of Ware proposes a scandalous wager that’s too extravagant to refuse, she can’t resist. If she wins, she’ll get five thousand pounds, enough to secure her independence forever.

Stays at the Vega Club . . .

Jack Lindeville, Duke of Ware, tells himself he’s at the Vega Club merely to save his reckless brother from losing everything, but he knows it’s a lie. He can’t keep his eyes off Sophie, and to get her he breaks his ironclad rule against gambling. If he wins, he wants her—for a week.

Until now.

A week with Jack could ruin what’s left of Sophie’s reputation. It might even cost her her heart. But when it comes to love, all bets are off . . .

Ratings and reviews

My One and Future Duke is the first book in author Caroline Linden’s newest series, The Wagers of Sin. This series focuses on three young girls from different backgrounds, who become friends while being students at Mrs. Upton’s Academy for Young Ladies. Each story focuses on one of the three girls and the journey to find their HEA. Our first story features Sophie Campbell. Sophie Campbell was orphaned at the age of twelve when both her parents died. Left in the care of her Grandfather who wants nothing to do with her, she’s sent away to Mrs. Upton’s Academy until she turns eighteen. On the morning of her 18th birthday, her grandfather stops paying her expenses, and Sophie finds herself entirely on her own. Jack Lindeville, became the Duke of Ware at the age of twenty-four when his father drowned. The responsibility of the Dukedom and his family has been drummed into him since his inheritance, while his younger brother has been pampered and coddled by his mother. Jack is tired of bailing his younger brother Philip out of his gaming debts. When Jack goes to the Vega Club to settle yet another debt of Philip’s, he spots Philip losing to Sophie. What an absolutely fantastic start to this series! I have to admit I adored this couple. Sophie was a fantastic heroine. She’s smart, independent, and working on securing her future. She grew up in a happy environment with two loving parents, only to be left alone under the care of her hateful grandfather after her parent’s death. As for Jack, when he walked in Vega Club and sees Sophie for the first time, he immediately knows he wants her. He’s actually shocked at how powerfully she affects him. When a wager between Jack and Sophie gets out of control, it leaves these two alone for a week together. I really enjoyed Jack and Sophie’s time together at his country estate. The chemistry and dialogue between these two were fabulous. I liked how comfortable Jack was around Sophie and how she was able to see him and treat him like a man instead of a Duke. She’s able to bring out a side of him that has been missing since he became Duke at such an early age. I loved watching these two become friends and eventually fall in love. Their romance was believable and I was rooting for them to find a way to overcome the obstacles that kept them apart. A fabulous couple along with wonderful secondary characters had me struggling to put this book down. An absolutely fantastic start to this series that I highly recommend!

When twelve-year old Sophie Graham was orphaned, her grandfather Viscount Makepeace unceremoniously shipped her off to school, and at eighteen she was on her own. At twenty four, now Sophie Campbell, she is a professional card player, halfway to the ten thousand pounds she needs to be independent, and hopefully marry a nice man. Jack Linderville, Duke of Ware, is at Vega’s to pay his brother Philip’s debts, again. It happens that the beautiful woman Jack has been ogling is partly responsible for Philip’s debts, and Jack is immediately smitten with Sophie; he is fixated on her bosom, he wants her. So Jack, who doesn’t gamble anymore, proposes a wager: five thousand pounds if she wins, if she loses, Sophie has to spend a whole week with Jack. MY ONCE AND FUTURE DUKE started off so well; the prologue is enchanting, and I loved Sophie until she behaved stupidly. She’s a professional gambler, she has been successful for years; Jack had lost all their games until his scandalous offer. I ask you, what are the odds that he would lose again? That Sophie accepts went against everything I had been told about her: the logical woman suddenly became entirely irrational, greedy, and risked her reputation; the Sophie I had encountered before would not have behaved so foolishly. This was not going to go well. I disliked Jack’s attitude: he’s arrogant, and basically buying her, although mentally he is not. He is teaching his brother a lesson … Okay, then. And I hated Jack. Sophie accepts the wager, and when she loses, she has the nerve to be offended! I mean, woman, acknowledge your loss and your idiocy, and be done with it; she had basically agreed to prostitute herself for a week, at least that’s the way I would have seen it. But Jack is so handsome. Hmmm. I thought they deserved each other and that was the purpose of the exercise, wasn’t it? The forced proximity situation had to be reinforced in another way to make matters more palatable, I suppose. Jack and Sophie talk and get to know each other, which was lovely and charming, and I don’t think it was deliberate from the author, but Sophie came off a little bit like a fortune hunter because of how she gushed over Jack’s country home. So, they talk and chat, but God forbid they should tell each other everything, or ask the questions that beg asking, to avoid misunderstandings later on. Had I been able to forget Sophie behaving so out of character at the beginning, the romance might have worked for me, but I simply could not. Especially when Sophie agrees to something later on that irked me and went against her lifelong ambition. Instead of the sordid wager, Sophie and Jack could have been made to work together to stop Philip’s gambling; my problem was that Sophie acted in greed, and not like the professional she had been, and it all felt it was only for storyline purposes. I really liked Philip, as a character in spite of his many shortcomings; he was foolish but interesting. And the poor Mr. Carter. Then there was the whole Lucinda episode that was entirely superfluous and needlessly upsetting, and one of Sophie’s school friends, Eliza’s escapades, which I suspect is to set up the next book in the series. I also hope in the final edition “vingt-un” will have been corrected to “vingt-et-un”; I can’t recall having seen that mistake before. If you like your Regency romance with steamy sex and you have no problem with the premise, you will love MY ONCE AND FUTURE DUKE, because the writing is gorgeous, the descriptions visions of loveliness, and the dialogues inspired. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When introduced to Sophie, life as she knew it is changing, dramatically. Granddaughter of a Viscount, she is being left at a school as he wants nothing to do with her, but family obligations require him, as her guardian, to see to her. Having spent all of her life to this point with her parents and hearing only negative things about her father’s family after his marriage for love to the French opera singer, she’s seeing the worst of her fears come to light in her grandfather’s anger, brusque nature and dismissive treatment. The school did, however, bring her two friends who hold her secrets closely, support one another, and meet regularly for tea and catching up. In fact, it was one of her friend’s connections that found her a position as a companion right out of school, and a small bequest from that lady allowed her to set her plan for self-support and independence in action. Now, some 12 or 15 years later, Sophie is making her living from gambling: carefully calculating odds, using her skills to quietly build toward a nest egg that will allow her an annuity or an enticing dowry. Jack, Duke of Ware inherited the title at just twenty-four, and felt the weight of expectation, his mother’s censure and his brother Phillip’s intractability since the beginning. Measured, near anti-social, and wholly consumed with the responsibilities and requirements of his position, yet another debt that Phillip incurred and can’t pay while gambling at Vega’s, a private club known for member’s discretion and the surety of debt repayment. Since Jack won’t allow the censure or talk, he pays off Phillip’s debt, and demands he not return to gamble. But, Phillip isn’t about to be told, and his fascination with Sophie brings him back – demanding she pay attention to him and gamble against him. Finding Phillip satisfactory as a friend, but wholly unsuited as more, including a gambler with his reckless disregard of skill and odds, no one is more shocked (or frankly, threatened) by Ware’s outrageous demand: a five thousand pound wager if she wins, a week with Ware should she lose. Of course, shock, anger and the little devil on her shoulder tweak her into taking the bet, and soon she is being whisked out of the club with the Duke, and driven out of London with nary a word. Oh these two are lovely! Ware’s first “love” used and abused him badly, so he’s convinced that while marriage is necessary, his will be one well-made with all thoughts to convention and a proper Duchess, not entertaining thoughts of love. Sophie has kept her ties to the Makepeace name a secret: her parents married for love, but she’s hoping for esteem, stability and security: she wants to marry but those concerns come first. She’s never thought of herself as desirable to a Duke or other member of the ton, in fact a solid middle-class opportunity would suit her perfectly. But the chemistry between them sparks something between them: soon Jack is seeing the world through her eyes: her quick wit, her intelligence and her pointed questions all have him reeling. More importantly, he’s unable to not wonder about her, think about her. Together, the two are electric, and moments between them shine until the return to London with a vow to never see one another again. A wonderful start to a new series, with a lovely tease for the next title that features one of Sophie’s best friends. Love, obligation, choices and family lost and found all play in nicely with a moment where Sophie’s reactions come solely from her hurt and heartbreak, nearly tearing the two apart forevermore. The growth of Ware from the tamped-down unemotional man wholly consumed with his responsibilities and title to his emotional awakening and recognition of the need for balance (and Sophie) in his life is wonderful, even when he missteps, his willingness to take a chance, seek advice and ignore his pleading and meddlesome mother are brilliantly shown and made this a read in one sitting title that has me anxious for the next.

About the author

Caroline Linden knew from an early age she was a reader, not a writer. She earned a math degree from Harvard University and wrote computer code before turning to fiction. Her books have won the Daphne du Maurier Award, the NJRW Golden Leaf Award, and RWA’s RITA® Award, and have been translated into seventeen languages around the world. She lives in New England with her family. Find her online at www.CarolineLinden.com.