Defending the Duchess by Rachelle McCalla

5 STARS

I got this book and a few hours later I had finshed it. Now I want to read the books that are in Reclaiming the Crown Series. Defending the Duchess is the first book in the new The Protecting the Crown series that follows Reclaiming the Crown.
Julia Miller is visiting her sister the Queen Monica of Lydia. She is not used to having a bodyguard follow her around all the time. So Julia tells Linus Murati that she is in for the night. Then changes to shorts and heads out of the Palace.
Linus sees her leaving the castle on the camera but before he can get to her she has talked her way out of the grounds at the gate. Linus finally sees her and yells at her to stop. Right at that moment someone grabs her and starts taking her up the hill to where the road is.
Linus gets in a fight with the masked man and gets Julia away from him. Julia only has a hurt knee from her attempted kidnapping.
Julia is a lawyer in Seattle and before she came to Lydia someone had broken into her office. Nothing except a file cabinate was broken nothing else seemed out of place. Julia has no idea what if anything they are connected. The kidnapper mentioned he wanted a file. Then she finds out her house has been broken into and destroyed most of her possessions.
Julia decides to go back to Seattle and see her house. No one wants her to go by herself so Linus agrees to go with her.
Linus has some record of wrong doings in his teen years that were not looked into by the old Captain of the Guard but the new one did find it. Jason told Linus that if he makes any errors he will disclose his background right away.
Linus is very attracted to Julia but he knows he can not make any mistakes. He can not get to close to her.
Julia likes Linus and the more time around him the more she likes him. She feels safe with him around her. Trusts him to keep her safe and help figure out why she is being attacked.
As more murders are happening around her the more confused by everything is the closer Linus and Julia become.
This is a clean read, lots of drama,action,secret passages,car chases it makes for a story you don't want to put down till it is finshed. It is a quick read.
I was given this ebook to read in exchange for a honest review from Netgalley.
03/05/2013 PUB Harlequin Love Inspired ISBN-10: 037344530X 224 pages