Confession: I’m bored with rakes. Shocking, I know. After reading one too many stories about a breathtakingly handsome, promiscuous, gambling drunkard with a black heart and a tortured past, I craved something different. I wanted a hero who was good.

Part of why I write romance novels is to create the book I want to read. I was not going to commit 5 months and hundreds of pages to the trials and tribulations of a bored (boring) aristocrat. Instead, I created a hero who is a good man—too good, in fact! The whole plot hinges on his being too perfect, too polite, too honorable, and unfailingly a man of his word.

The Duke of Hamilton and Brandon is a notoriously upstanding gentleman. And, let’s face it, he is breathtakingly handsome. This double duke is frequently known just as Brandon. He never places wagers he won’t win, he never drinks to excess and he never makes an ass of himself over a woman (well, we’ll see about that!). Most importantly, he is a man of his word and a man of honor and thus would never ever break his engagement to the perfect Lady Clarissa Richmond even though he is swiftly falling deeply in love with Miss Sophie Harlow.

I had a lot of fun making Lord Brandon slowly unravel and come undone. I had such a delightful time writing a scene where he got drunk and made an ass of himself over a woman (really, it has to happen to all heroes). His honor and decency are the obstacles and he’s got to become more of a bad boy—while still being the good man she fell for—in order to win his girl.