Perhaps not as good as #1 in the Dressmakers series, but this book is filled with classic Loretta Chase humor, fun characters, and a bit of adventure. Yes, Harry is a bit of a dim bulb (but he's really quite clever in his own way), and Sophie is a bit of a bossy Bess, but it's lots of fun to watch these two tangle. And please tell me that somehow, some way, poor Lady Clara will wind up with her own HEA.
Favorite quotes:
“That’s what brings in the customers: the combination of gossip and the intricate detail about the dresses, all related as drama. It has the same effect on women, I’m told, as looking at naked women has on men.”
“Go away,” he said. “Do you know you’ve almost no clothes on?”
“Never mind. I need—”
“Never mind? Listen to me, Miss Innocence. There are many things a man can ‘never mind.’ A nearly naked woman isn’t one of them.”
“Clara will break him to bridle,” Longmore said. “And if she can’t cure his wild ways, who knows? Maybe he’ll ride into a ditch or get run over by a post chaise, and she’ll be a young widow. Do try to look on the bright side.”
“Just listen,” she said. “You can’t kill him in cold blood.”
“Whyever not?”
Ye gods grant me patience. “Because he’ll be dead,” she said as patiently as she could, “and Lady Clara’s reputation will be stained forever. Do not, I pray you, do anything, Lord Longmore. Leave this to us.”
“Us.”
“My sisters and me.”
“What do you propose? Dressing him to death? Tying him up and making him listen to fashion descriptions?”
