NEVER A BRIDE

An aristocratic sea captain discovers he’s the heir to a duke
and agrees to help a ruined lady find a former sailor from his ship if she’ll
pretend to be his betrothed as he enters society.

After months at sea, Capt. Griffith Davies meets the remarkable
Lady Della Howlett, a duke’s daughter, but before she can explain why she’s
looking for him, he’s arrested by the Royal Naval Police. He’s released
because—and simultaneously discovers that—he’s the heir to the Duke of Northam,
who he’s surprised to find out is his cousin Frederick (“many people had
to have died in the interim,” he realizes), who is unwell. Griffith ran
away to sea to escape his amoral, privileged family, but he’s always loved
Frederick and is willing to honor the title for him and to possibly make a
positive impact on the direction of his country. Della tracks him down again,
asking him to help her find her best friend’s husband, a black man who was
previously a sailor on his ship. He agrees, but only if she’ll play the part of
his betrothed: “I have faced battleships, fearsome storms, and the most
voracious boll weevils while at sea. None of them terrify me as much as the
thought of all those unmarried Society ladies discovering there is an eligible
duke’s heir in their midst….I want you to be my guide and to let these women
believe I am already spoken for.” Della explains she is ruined, with an
illegitimate daughter, but Griffith, seeing something of a kindred spirit in
the headstrong woman, still demands the bargain. Frampton unspools a satisfying
love story between two iconoclastic characters who would have a much easier
time if they weren’t, well, themselves. So of course they’ll find
happily-ever-after with each other. A diverse, enlightened cast makes for
satisfying storytelling, and characters who both do the right thing and find
people who love them for it is a welcome message these days.

A merry, modern historical romance.