His Lordship’s Pleasure by M.C. Beaton

his lordships pleasureNarrated by Lindy Nettleton

Originally published in 1991, His Lordship’s Pleasure is the second book in a trilogy which tackles an issue I suspect wasn’t often featured in Regency Romances back then – that of wives who were not only unhappily married, but whose husbands were cruel, violent and neglectful.

The three heroines are friends, so the books are loosely connected. In this one, Mrs Annabelle Carruthers is married to Guy, an habitual drunkard and gambler. They are deeply in debt and Annabelle’s only consolation is that they are now so short of funds that her husband can no longer afford to gamble with his peers for large sums of money and has to stick to gaming with the lower orders for lesser stakes.

Annabelle is mortified when one of the local shopkeepers refuses to extend her any more credit because his bills have not been paid – and to make things even worse, he tells her in front of the other two people in the shop, the Earl of Darkwood and his snobbish sister. The handsome earl is surprised to see a beautiful young woman in such circumstances, and offers to pay Annabelle’s bill – which embarrasses her further, as she has no intention of accepting charity. And while she knows of the earl’s rakish reputation, she can’t help wondering what it would be like to be kissed by a man who knows what he’s doing and who genuinely desires her.

At the ball given by Darkwood shortly after this encounter, Annabelle is surprised and disturbed to discover that her husband has money enough to admit him to the gaming tables. What she doesn’t know is that he was recently offered a large sum in exchange for passing on whatever information he can glean from his government and military contacts that will help a group of revolutionary sympathisers to bring about Napoleon’s escape.

When a fire burns down their house and claims Guy’s life. Annabelle has no alternative but to remove to their town house in London. But she hasn’t been there long when she is confronted by a money-lender who informs her that Guy had borrowed extensively using the house as security, and that as the loans cannot now be repaid, the house now belongs to him.

Annabelle is bewildered and frightened. She has no family and nowhere to go. Her only friend in London, the Duchess of Hadshire, is married to a man so possessive of her that he does not allow her to have any friends, and eventually, she does the only thing she can think of to do, and turns to the one man who has ever shown her any compassion – the Earl of Darkwood. She has nothing to give in return for his assistance other than herself, so she offers to become his mistress.

Darkwood is stunned at her proposition, but has no intention of taking Annabelle up on her offer, no matter that she’s incredibly beautiful and stirs his interest in a way that the young woman he is planning to marry does not. But he neglects to inform Annabelle of that fact, knowing she will view any help from him as charity if she does not feel their arrangement is a reciprocal one.

So Darkwood lets her believe he will be taking her up on her offer, and Annabelle settles into her new life in the house he has provided for her. As time passes, he becomes increasingly suspicious of the circumstances surrounding Guy Carruthers’ death. Knowing he has to be careful not to involve Annabelle, because it’s not uncommon for the wives of criminals to be found guilty by association, Darkwood uncovers a web of treason and betrayal which ultimately threatens Annabelle’s safety.

I suspect that I enjoyed this audiobook as much as I did because of the skilful way Lindy Nettleton breathes life into what is actually a rather thin story. I came away from it wishing it had been longer so as to have allowed time for the central relationship to be sufficiently developed and the espionage sub-plot to have been made stronger; as it is, it’s almost irrelevant. The issues surrounding Annabelle’s predicament could also have been more thoroughly explored, although the author does paint an accurate picture of her situation as the wife of a selfish man, and a woman who has suffered physical violence. In spite of this, though, she’s no doormat; she’s scared and facing an uncertain future, but she doesn’t wallow in self-pity or let her fears prevent her from taking action.

Darkwood is your stereotypical rakish aristocratic hero; rich and handsome, though rather arrogant and cold. He’s underdeveloped as a character, athough there are some moments where he is very perceptive and compassionate towards Annabelle and her situation, such as when he closes the gaming room at the ball to try to prevent Guy losing any more money. The assistance he extends to Annabelle after Guy’s death is far above and beyond the call of duty, especially considering he hardly knows her. He saves her life, finds her somewhere to live at his expense and pursues the inquiry into Guy’s death discreetly. But it’s rather problematic when the hero of a romance spends most of the book determined to marry someone other than the heroine and when his eventual proposal to her is actually somewhat insulting!

Lindy Nettleton has a number of audiobooks to her credit, although this is the first time I have listened to her. She acquits herself very well, differentiating effectively between all the characters and delivering the narrative at a good pace. She has a pleasantly deep, melodious voice which enables her to portray the male characters convincingly and without struggling to maintain a lower pitch. I noticed a few odd mispronunciations here and there but otherwise there was nothing in her performance that bothered me unduly. This audiobook is under six hours in length, but given the thinness of the material (as I’ve discussed above), Ms Nettleton’s performance is sufficiently accomplished and engaging as to have put some flesh on the bare bones of the characters and made me want to keep listening to find out what happened to them. If you’re in the mood for a Traditional Regency, then this might appeal, although it’s really Ms Nettleton’s narration I’m recommending, because while the story certainly has potential, it’s not strong enough to be one I’d recommend without reservation.

Note: The CD cover says M.C. Beaton, but the narrator says Marion Chesney. (Both are correct – Beaton is a pseudonym.)

Caz


Narration: B-

Book Content: C-

Steam Factor: You can listen out loud

Violence: None (implied but never takes place “on screen”)

Genre: Historical Romance/Traditional Regency

Publisher: Blackstone Audio

His Lordship’s Pleasure was provided to AudioGals by Blackstone Audio for a review.

7 thoughts on “His Lordship’s Pleasure by M.C. Beaton

  1. Thanks for the review. There are so many Chesney/Beaton titles at Audible that are unfamiliar to me, but few reviews.

    1. Yes, and depending on where you live, quite a few of the same titles have different narrators, which makes it difficult when choosing titles to review!

  2. I’ve listened to quite a few Chesney/Beaton titles narrated by Lindy Nettleton. I especially like the traveler series “miss so and so goes somewhere” I can’t remember the titles, but they were fun. The Poor Relation series is also pretty good. I really recommend Marion Chesney’s Edwardian series narrated by Davina Porter….lots of laughter. I found most of the C/B titles on Overdrive in my library’s digital catalog….there’s a ton.

    Great review Caz!

    1. Thanks, Mel. As I said in the previous comment, there are also a large number of titles which have different narrators in the UK and US, so there are even more out there! I didn’t dislike this one – it’s an interesting premise but just doesn’t go deep enough. I liked Lindy Nettleton though, so I’m going to look for more of her narrations.

      1. I haven’t read/listened to this one, but many of C/B regencies are rather “light”. A sort of “poor cousin” to Georgette Heyers genius. Some of the Chesney books are pretty lousy, but some are fun, l’ve listened to them going back and forth to work, with no stress of having to stop listening at the end of my commute. Light stuff, slightly forgettable, but fun. Lindy Nettleton is why I’ve continued to check them out…she’s really enjoyable to listen to.

        1. Heyer-lite, yes that’s exactly it. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing – Chesney has written a huge number of books, and was, I know, very popular. And as you say, it’s light-going. The thing with this is that I didn’t hate it – it just had a lot less depth than we’re accustomed to nowadays in HR, and the narration is certainly good enough to have kept me listening.

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