She is on the verge of catching the bawd abducting a young woman but is prevented at the last minute by Ainswood, who mistakenly believes that Lydia, the madam, and her quarry are merely ladies of the night engaged in a quarrel. Lydia Grenville is a crusading journalist who is currently working to expose the underhand practices of one of London’s most notorious madams. He presents himself to the world as a dissolute, cynical rake who cares for nothing and nobody, but behind that façade is a grieving, angry man who despises himself, his position and his life, a man who wants so badly never to be hurt again that he pushes away everyone he cares for and walls off his emotions. In the months following his accession to the title, Vere has thrown himself into an unending round of debauchery, cut himself off from his remaining family and eschewed his responsibilities, both to his title and to his remaining wards, Robin’s two sisters.

Here, the author yet again introduces her hero in an incredibly poignant manner, and all I will say about the prologue to The Last Hellion is this – have a box of tissues handy. He never expected or particularly wanted to be a duke, but a series of tragic accidents and illnesses sees him attending a seemingly never ending succession of funerals, the last of them for his beloved nine-year-old nephew and ward, Robin.Īnyone familiar with Lord of Scoundrels will recall how skilfully Loretta Chase recounted Dain’s backstory in the book’s prologue, introducing us to an unloved child who believed himself unlovable. We met Vere Mallory, Duke of Ainswood, in that story when, drunk as a lord (!), he mistook the newly-married Lady Dain for a light skirt and was immediately pummeled into the dirt by Lord Beelzebub himself, and forced to apologise.Īinswood is the appropriately titled “Last Hellion” of the title, and comes from a long line of ne’er-do-wells. The Last Hellion is the last of the four books in Ms Chase’s Scoundrels series, which are linked via a number of recurring characters and it can perhaps be seen as a sequel to the wonderful Lord of Scoundrels.

The last hellion by loretta chase