Thank you for the opportunity to read A Ring from a Marquess. Unfortunately, I did not complete my reading of the book before it was archived in May 2015. I do not plan to finish the book.

I literally jumped right into Margot's book after finishing the last word of Justine's. A Ring from a Marquess has plenty of problematic elements that I probably should have loathed, but dagnabit, I could not tear myself away from this story!

With Montague dispatched, and Justine wanting nothing to do with the jewelry store where she has nothing but unhappy memories, Margot is now a businesswoman. She's had to let go of two goldsmiths wanting to marry her and take over HER business, but other than that? Things are going well. Especially since her best customer is Stephen Standish, the Marquess of Fanworth, heir to a Dukedom. Standish has a reputation as a rake, a bit of a cold fish, which has everyone from Justine to her current goldsmith warning her off. But she enjoys his visits and much flirting ensues. That is until she inadvertently sells Stephen a set of rubies that once belonged to his mother. Um, they were stolen from his mother. Needless to say, he wants revenge against the woman who played him for a fool and an indecent proposal is agree upon.

So yeah, this is distasteful in the extreme. In order to keep her independence, to save herself and her shop, Margot coughs up her virginity to Stephen. Blessedly, the truth about those stolen rubies comes to light about 30% of the way through the story. But does Stephen tell Margot this? Of course not. Instead, completely besotted, he wants to marry her. And to do that he concocts a plan with her brother-in-law to get her to agree. Margot is strong-armed into marriage to Stephen, by him, her brother-in-law and Justine. Justine doesn't come out looking all that great in this book if you haven't read the previous one. She's spent her whole life wanting what is best for her sister, protecting her - to the point where Justine was Montague's unwilling mistress. So really, Margot marrying the heir to a Dukedom? It's not like she's sending her to the gallows.

This is a couple that doesn't communicate with each other - well, at all. But Merrill, she's a crafty one. She gives Stephen a stutter. D's and P's are especially hard. And his father, the Duke, is a horrible, awful man who rode Stephen mercilessly to the point where Stephen chose avoidance and silence. When he has to speak he chooses his words very carefully (avoiding sounds that exacerbate his stutter), but preferably he prefers to rarely speak at all. Leading to his reputation of being "just like his father" - as in, a complete and total asshole. So yes, it's completely believable that Stephen would have trouble communicating with his new wife.

Ah, but these two crazy kids are perfect for each other. We just need to get them to the point where they can talk to each other. And they do, and it was wonderful and I completely wiped my mind of any niggling little issues I have with Margot feeling railroaded into marriage. Also, bless her heart, but Merrill does not whitewash the consequences of Stephen marrying a "shop girl" even if she's, by marriage, part of the Duke of Belston's family. There's also the minor fact that Margot has no plans, whatsoever, to close the jewelry shop - even though everyone, including her husband, expect her to. How Merrill resolves these issues is very satisfying and frankly appreciated, when other authors have chosen to simply sweep issues like this under the rug. The fact that Merrill did not? Gold star from the librarian!

Final Grade = B-