To Defend a Damaged Duke (Regency Rossingley Book 2) by Fearne Hill

Tommy will never forgive the young lord that abandoned him to a cruel fate, and ten years later when the Duke of Ashington enters his business his resolve only slightly falters. However, a blackmailer is threatening Benedict and Tommy is determined to help him as they both are unable to forget the love they once had for each other.


From the To Defend a Damaged Duke blurb:

Benedict Fitzsimmons, the reclusive fourteenth Duke of Ashington, nurses a secret desire for his own sex he’d much prefer nobody ever found out about. Indeed, having only ever given in to his urges as a youth—and with disastrous consequences—he never imagined they would. Preferring the company of his racehorses to people, Benedict spends most of his time working on estate matters, longing for a lost love he can never have.

When an anonymous letter threatening to expose Benedict lands in his lap, he’s shocked to the core. He doesn’t have any enemies; why would anyone want to destroy him? Terrified, and with his family’s impeccable reputation at stake, Benedict joins forces with loyal friend, the Earl of Rossingley, to track down the culprit.

Risen from poverty and with a sordid past he’d rather forget, Tommy Squire has a mind dedicated to growing his business ventures and a heart shaped from stone. When the man who once broke it in a life-changing betrayal requests Tommy’s help to avoid a scandal, he finds himself embroiled in a daring scheme to bring down a blackmailer. As their plot unfolds, Tommy realises it’s more than his former lover he’s endeavouring to protect, it’s his battered heart.

This second book in the Rossingley Regency romance series turns to friends of the fourteenth earl of Rossingley, Lando Duchamps-Avery, who once again has a hand in the shenanigans set in London’s wealthy Ton society. This book can be read as a standalone.


SNik's review:

Second in series (Regency Rossingley), but can be read as a standalone. Historical. Second chance. Found family. Dual POV. 

Benedict is living a lonely life as a newly minted duke only interested in his horses when he stumbles across his first love, a man he regretfully abandoned ten years ago. After having struggled and survived his impoverished beginnings, Tommy is now a successful businessman, and has never forgiven the young lordling he once loved, until Benedict is now back in his life and needing his help with a blackmailer. 

I was thoroughly invested in Benedict and Tommy’s first brush of love that gets a second chance, and Benedict tries so hard as he still has strong feelings for Tommy. The supportive secondary cast of characters that included family and friends was a really important and wonderful part of the story and made this all seem almost possible in the historical setting. I do wish they got to know each other a little more as they were now, but there were plenty of swoony moments as they profess their feelings that have never faded. An entertaining series.


To Defend a Damaged Duke is currently available as an e-book