The Discarded Duke was a decent story with an interesting setting and sense of place. Butler got caught up in the most common traditional Regency trap, though. She tried to do too much in her book, and the result is several stories that don’t quite feel convincing.

Ursula, Lady Roarke is a widow whose gambler husband left her in dire straits. She’s about to be kicked off the estate (the heir is claiming it due to entailment), and her creditors are dunning her. Her only solution is to sell her bloodstock. She has been breeding and raising horses, and they are in demand. Ursula wants to do more than just break even, however. So when Damien Danover, the Duke of Ardsley, approaches her with an offer for her horses, she wrangles an invitation to his estate, Myrmion. Ostensibly, she’s going to look over his property to see whether it is suitable for her bloodstock. In reality, she’s checking it out for herself and hoping that the duke will notice her.

When Ursula and the duke arrive, it’s immediately evident that there are a few obstacles to their plan of setting up a stable. Will Ridd, the duke’s bailiff, has been breeding sheep very successfully, and the high quality of the wool the sheep produce has led to the development of a cottage industry in the area. Essentially the whole village and the surrounding countryside depend on those sheep. Setting up a stable would necessitate the removal of the sheep and would be disastrous for everyone. Will is determined that this will not happen, and he’s willing to fight the duke with everything he has. Unfortunately, an attraction arises between Will and Ursula – an attraction that would foul up two sets of plans. Ursula needs to marry the duke for financial reasons, and Will can see that any sort of flirtation between a bailiff and a lady is doomed from the start. But can true love be denied?

Complicating the problem is the question of what exactly happened to Damien’s brother. Years ago, when Damien was only a small boy, his older brother, Tony, grew sickly and died. Or so he was told. But when he returns to Myrmion, he feels his brother’s presence and begins wondering whether his brother died or whether he’s still alive and close by. That seems impossible, but he can’t help what he feels.

The book’s best feature is its sidestepping of several clichés. This is a Regency Romance, but it doesn’t take place in London. There’s no mention of balls, routs, riding in Hyde Park, or Almacks. Almost the entire story takes place in Devon, on the duke’s sheep farm. Butler does a fine job with this setting and she creates a good sense of place. It’s easy to see why Will is so fond of it and so unwilling to leave or be forced out. Also, Ursula is a widow, but she didn’t have an unhappy first marriage. Her husband had a weakness that left her struggling after his death, but theirs was a love match. And she makes no bones about the fact that she wants the duke for what he can bring to her financially. Both Damien and Ursula know what her visit is about, and they deal with each other in an adult way. Ursula doesn’t go about flogging herself because she wants to marry for money. She’s a practical woman.

The mystery of the missing brother is well developed. Butler draws it out, and often it isn’t at the forefront, but the element of curiosity drives the book along right until the end. Unfortunately, its finish is a tad melodramatic, and then several loose ends are tied up too briskly. Also, the book ends on an off note. The last scene does not interfere at all with the HEA, but it seems out of place and the wrong tone for the end of a romance.

I have designated the book’s sensuality rating as subtle, but it really does border on warm. This book has a number of love scenes, all done in vague language, but it’s quite clear what the participants are doing. It is unlikely that these characters would be allowed to blithely pursue each others’ sexuality without some crisis of conscience and social censure. Everyone seems content to look the other way, and this seems rather more suited to the modern era than the Regency period.

The story’s biggest weakness is that it has too many romances. There are two secondary romances aside from Ursula’s with Will, and both of them were underdeveloped. Damien is an interesting character, flawed but easy to wish well. His romance needed more space devoted to it in order to be convincing, and he probably should have had his own book. All of the romances plus the mystery of the missing brother required too much page space and that detracted from the main story.

The Discarded Duke was well written and had a number of interesting elements, but the book’s busy-ness cheated the characters from the development they needed to seem real and vital. Butler has an easy style to read, though, and I would try her again.