I looked forward to A Duke Never Tells after loving the humor in Enoch’s last book, Every Duke Has His Day. This new story is cute and lighthearted but its humor didn’t always work for me and I struggled to keep up with the four main characters as they assumed different identities.

Lady Meg Pinwell is preparing for her big come out in London. She is an eighteen-year-old beauty and daughter of an earl with a generous dowry, but she worries she won’t do well in London society. She has a habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and doesn’t want to embarrass her family. She is surprised when her father announces he and an old friend of his, the Duke of Earnhurst have arranged a marriage between her and the duke’s son, James Clay, the Marquis of Duffy. When the duke dies suddenly of an illness, they have to postpone the wedding while they go into mourning.

A year later, her family gets word that James, the new duke, wants to hold the wedding in six weeks at his castle. Meg is worried because they have never met and according to the gossip pages, James is a rake. Rumors say he played faro at a madame’s house instead of attending his father’s funeral. He is said to be charming but heartless. Meg and her Aunt Clara, who is her closest friend (and only eight years older), are trying to think of a way to discover if the rumors about James are true. They come up with a scheme where they will visit his castle in disguise, pretending to be visiting estates in the area. Aunt Clara says she will dress as an heiress named Lady Sophronia and Meg will pretend to be Lady Sophronia’s maid, named Mabel Gooster.

Meanwhile, at the castle, things are in shambles. Years ago, James and his father had a falling out and James never returned. We don’t know until the end of the story what happened, but now James is twenty-nine and feeling overwhelmed as he realizes the castle is in rough shape, many of their staff are gone, and he is supposed to get married in six weeks! Elliott Riniken is James’s man of affairs and was his father’s best friend but he and Elliott don’t get along. Elliott begged James to come home and see his father for years, which irritated James because he detested his home (for reasons yet to be revealed).

When Meg and Clara come to the door, James opens it (the butler left six months ago) and when the ladies tell him they would like a tour, James doesn’t want to be bothered (he is a little drunk from a visit to the wine cellar). He tells them Elliott is the duke and he will give them a tour. At this point, we have all four of our main characters pretending to be someone else. There was some slapstick humor in this but it confused me a bit. During the tour, Mabel (Meg) sprains her ankle when the railing gives way and she falls. When the doctor tells them she can’t leave for two weeks, she and Clara don’t want to reveal their true identities! Their ruse goes on and this is where the romance takes off.

James is mesmerized by Mabel (Meg) and wants to kiss her. Meg wants to be ruined by the butler (James). There is also some kissing between Clara and Elliott. It was fun watching their relationships grow and I couldn’t wait to see how it would all be resolved.

One thing I wondered about was when Meg and Clara were planning their scheme, how they thought no one would recognize them six weeks later when they came back for the wedding. I wasn’t sure about James in the beginning but he grew on me, especially when he took action to uncover a blackmailer and thefts at the castle.

While this wasn’t my favorite of this author’s books, I enjoyed the humor and romances and the big reveal when the characters shared their true identities. I think this could be fun for readers that enjoy lighthearted historical romances.