One Night With a Rake

Geoffrey Lindsey Grayson, the thirteenth Duke of Lyndhurst, has given up on life. 18 years ago he'd been a beautiful young 19 year old with the world at his feet, but his rakish excesses have destroyed his health and his happiness, turning him into the walking skeleton known scornfully as "The Devil's Corpse".

Geoffrey isn't your typical Regency romance novel rake. He isn't just misunderstood - his past behavior has been truly evil. Cari Hislop, the author of Redeeming a Rake wrote on her website that: "A rakehell is someone really bad. A man who sleeps around may have few morals, but that doesn't make him a rake! Englishmen who earned this dishonourable title were the worst of the worst; men who seemed hell-bent on destroying themselves and as many other people as possible." (Think Johnny Depp as John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester in The Libertine.)

Hislop's unlikely hero, however, finds an equally unlikely angel who sees past his degenerate appearance to the sensitive boy hiding inside him. The widowed Tolerance Spencer is by no means the sort of society beauty that Geoffrey was seen with in his prime; she is "plain as porridge", but with a warmth of heart that captivates Geoffrey.

Determined to prove that he is worthy of her love, Geoffrey sets off on what proves to be a two year odyssey across England trying to make amends for the lives he has destroyed. His goal is to stay away from Tolerance until he task is accomplished, but what neither of them realizes is that they are having the same dreams at night, dreams in which they meet in a beautiful garden.

When she finally nodded off she found herself in a peculiar dream. Under a bright blue sky hung with fluffy clouds she was standing outside an ancient garden gate. Looking down she noted she was wearing a soft white short sleeved gown. She opened the gate and relished the feel of the soft grass path between her toes...

He’d had many strange dreams , but never one so real. He followed the path until it opened out into beautiful swathes of flowers, many he’d never seen before, but his eyes were pulled past the shrubs to the woman lying in the grass. Her white skirts were entangled around crossed ankles, her hands propped under her neck as she calmly contemplated the sky.

I thought of their dreams when I was listening to the Plain White T's Rhythm of Love.

We may only have tonight
But till the morning sun you're mine, all mine
Play the music low and sway to the rhythm of love

My heart beats like a drum
A guitar string to the strum
A beautiful song to be sung

She's got blue eyes deep like the sea
That roll back when she's laughing at me
She rises up like the tide
The moment her lips meet mine

We may only have tonight
But till the morning sun you're mine, all mine
Play the music low and sway to the rhythm of love

I like this song for a couple of reasons. As the lyrics say, Geoffrey and Tolerance only have until the morning sun to be together. There's something about the song, though, that reminds me of a flawless summer day, one where the temperature is perfect with only the slightest warm breeze to make you aware of the air around you, and there are peaceful sounds off in the distance - the way I imagine Geoffrey and Tolerance find their dream garden.


Books: Redeeming a Rake, Cari Hislop
Music: Rhythm of Love, Plain White T's