He is an interesting Duke, not because he’s also a boxer, but because MacLean draws on a bunch of standard (overdone?) Duke tropes while also subverting them. Instead, let’s talk about Temple for a minute. I’m getting all worked up writing about it, so let’s stop talking about Mara. And acts like she’s doing Temple some kind of favor by righting the wrong she committed, but only if he pays her. She apologizes – kinda – but she refuses to tell Temple what actually happened (she drugged him so he doesn’t remember). A footman might well have been hanged.Īnother part of my disconnect is that Mara is not all that apologetic. Temple’s life was ruined, but he was still protected by his status.

So while that does take care of the ick factor of framing / boning her fiancé’s son, there is the unexamined fact that if a footman had been caught in her bed, covered in her blood, the consequences would have been MUCH worse. Primarily, I refer to the fact that she thought Temple was a footman or stable hand. Part of my disconnect is that the mitigating information that Mara offers in her defense makes things worse. No sympathy here, lady.” As you might imagine, I had a hard time connecting to the characters. For me, however, the answer is that what Mara did might just be unforgivable so in the moments where Mara is angsting about how she deserves all of Temple’s scorn and he shouldn’t be nice to her, I was mostly like: “Yup. Obviously, they both eventually get to the point where they agree that the answer is no. The conflict centers on the tension inherent in the question of whether or not what Mara did was unforgivable. Temple is (justifiably) furious, and so the game of revenge begins. Now Mara needs the money that her brother lost in Temple’s Evil Casino, so she reveals herself to him and offers to openly return to society and clear his name in exchange for the debt. Even though there was no body, from then on out everyone assumed that he killed her, and he has been shunned by society.

The night before she was meant to marry Temple’s father, she picked Temple up in the garden, brought him to her room, drugged him, left him in her bed covered with blood, and disappeared. This is not an exaggeration for dramatic purposes. Twelve years ago, Mara literally ruined Temple’s life. Overall: Well executed, but I couldn’t get over the initial premise

Plot: You ruined my life, and now I will have my revenge!

Read no good duke goes unpunished