Silk Is for Seduction by Loretta Chase

Marcelline Noirot is on her way to becoming the greatest dressmaker in all of London, she just needs one big splash from a high profile client and she has found it in the the future Duchess of Clevedon. But since Lady Clara is not officially the Duke of Clevedons bride yet, Marcelline and her two sisters create an elaborate plan to seduce Clevedon with their fashions and bring his new bride to them. Marcelline sets of to Paris where Clevedon has been the past few years, sowing his oats. She observes his habits and plans to make quite an introduction to him at an opera and her boldness captivates Clevedon immediately. When the heat gets to be a bit to much for Marcelline, she tries to make a quick exit to London but Clevedon follows her and surprises her by joining her on the return trip, which turns out to be a good thing as their ship encounters a rough storm.

Back in London, neither one of them can quite forget each other but Clevedon goes about his duty to pursue Lady Clara, with whom he has had an understanding to marry since childhood. He does bring Lady Clara to Marcellines shop and she is able to secure her high profile client that she needs. Then a tragedy happens that throws everything into a tail spin and keeps the scandal tongues working overtime. After all, how can a duke fall for a lowly dressmaker, especially while his almost fiancee is watching?

This was such a fun, fascinating read! I loved how the sisters are dressmakers and we get to see quite a bit of that and how much fashion meant to them. I loved how self confident, bossy, and caring Marcelline was. I loved how Clevedon calls Marcelline Noirot through half the book because he doesn't know her full name. I loved how Clevedon starts out the book not caring about fashion at all but grows to notice it and develop his own ideas. Now, I was a bit concerned about the cheating angle but since Clevedon is never officially engaged to Lady Clara it was a concern that did not need to be worried about. I do hope Lady Clara is featured in a story sometime as it was wonderful to see her grow into herself throughout this story and she certainly deserves her own happily-ever-after! Sigh, when Clevedon tells Marcelline his true feelings for her and her reaction to that, so heartbreaking and sweet at the same time! But as Marcelline has never revealed her true past to him, she feels it is necessary. Thankfully, her sisters set her straight and all works out in the end. I am really looking for to the other two sisters books and hope, again, that Lady Clara turns up again as well. If you are looking for a fun (I laughed quite a bit at all the batter between these two!), sexy, fascinating read, grab this one! 4 1/2 stars

I received this ebook via netgalley.com