Art student Lucy Coover is understandably frustrated by the Royal Society's prohibition on women taking classes with live nude models, so when she literally stumbles across a passed-out, drunken, and completely naked man in an alley, she has to take the opportunity to observe his body with an artistic eye. Eventually, she uses those observations as the basis for a painting that is immediately sold to an aristocrat for hanging in her boudoir. Never did Lucy expect that the drunken man was the Duke of Weston, or that he'd clap eyes on the painting before it was even hung! This unusual situation brings the two together in a way that both feel will be to their advantage: poor Lucy can use the duke's influence to stop her aunt's shop from being destroyed for a new warehouse, while the duke can use Lucy's lower status and anonymity to search for his lost sister. But when these circumstances keep drawing the two together, their attraction becomes more and more palpable.
This is a well-researched historical romance novel with complex characters and situations, all of which seem genuinely possible, given their personalities. While the chemistry between the duke and Lucy is certainly hot, there's a lot simmering below the surface of this novel. Very good indeed!
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