The law says Hugo's the heir by virtue of being born to a son, long dead, whose birth preceded the living son Matthew's birth. As he is alive and has sold out his commission, Lord Darracott must needs attend at last to the distasteful yet needful task of acknowledging the man as his heir. Sadly, Hugo's stint on the Peninsula in the Napoleonic Wars did not result in his convenient death. His, well, nigh-on-as-nasty-as-bastardy common birth to a Yorkshire mill lass appalls and disgusts their mutual grandfather.

Spirited, determined Miss Anthea Darracott is to marry her newly introduced cousin Hugh Darracott, called Hugo. My Review: Here is a charming late (1959) work by Regency writer Miss Georgette Heyer (1902-1974), whom I shall not dismiss by calling her a 'romance writer.' There is very little of romance literature in this work it is, rather, an historical novel with two characters whose marital future is in no real doubt from the get-go. But even she doesn't guess what he's capable of, until a family crisis arises and only Hugo can preserve the family's honor, leading everybody on a merry chase in the process.

His clever and beautiful cousin Anthea is sure there's more to the gentle giant than Hugo's innocent blue eyes and broad Yorkshire brogue would lead one to believe. They are convinced he will prove to be a sadly vulgar person, but nothing could have prepared the beleaguered family for the arrival of Major Hugo Darracott. When the irascible Lord Darracott's eldest son dies unexpectedly, the noble family must accept their estranged Yorkshire cousin as heir apparent.

The unknown ajax