A Perfect Gentleman [Paperback]

Barbara Metzger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2004

Viscount Aubrey "Stony" Wellstone is at the end of his rope-and the end of his family's once-great fortune. Desperate, he tries his luck at the gaming tables, where an offer to exchange his debts for a gentlemanly favor leads to a profitable new profession...as an "honorable escort" accompanying the cream of the ton. The fiercely independent, flame-tressed Miss Ellianne Kane would normally have no use for an upper-class attendant-even one as striking as Stony-but she needs Aubrey's help. Will Aubrey prove to her that there is far more to him than want of money?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

RITA Award–winner Metzger's trifle of a Regency presents a truly charming hero, when he can be spotted through the larded-on argot of the period ("nipfarthing," etc.). Viscount "Stony" Wellstone has a glamorous title but no money to restore his ruined home and no employable skills, even though he's willing to stoop to trade. He hits upon the scheme of becoming an escort-for-hire, leaving bored husbands and fathers to their clubs while he dances, dines and charms the young ladies of London. Ellianne Kane, a banker's daughter, wouldn't normally move in Stony's circles, but money opens many doors, and she hires him to be her guide to the mysteries of society. She's looking for a husband, not for herself but for her younger sister, who wrote cryptically of a new love before disappearing from town. Naturally, Stony's initial horror at Ellianne's merchant background and her completely improper family turns to fondness, and she's similarly attracted to the staunch heart underneath Stony's foppish ways. The novel is at its best when Stony and Ellianne are braving London's ballrooms and theaters—the two have good chemistry and the plot has an Ugly Duckling charm—but readers will likely be bored by the thin mystery and its weak conclusion.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Left with no funds in the family coffers, and a young, stylish stepmother to support, the viscount Wellstone needs money fast. When a friend offers to pay handsome "Stony" to escort his wife's younger sister to a ball, a career is launched. The charming viscount becomes London's hottest Town Beau, although the women he escorts never know he's with them for a fee. Then Stony gets a note with 100 pounds from Ellianne Kane, who wants his services for her and her aunt. Ellianne doesn't want to go to balls, or associate with a rake like Stony, but she does need to find her missing sister, and Stony is her only ticket into the ton. Humor and adventure abound as this man and woman, who seem, at first glance, absolutely wrong for each other, begin to fall in love. With her likable and scrupulous rogue, no-nonsense heroine, an aunt who swears so much everyone pretends she's a parrot, and the world's most religious butler, Metzger has written another captivating tale of Regency England. Shelley Mosley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Signet; First Thus edition (October 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451210417
• ISBN-13: 978-0451210418
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,221,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a pleasant 3 1/2 star read, October 17, 2004

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Perfect Gentleman (Paperback)

Almost completely penniless and with little to no prospects or vocation, Viscount Aubrey Wellstone is at his wit's end when an unexpected career as a paid escort falls into his lap. But Wellstone is no ordinary escort: completely honourable, he doesn't believe in compromising the reputations of the ladies he has been "asked" to see about town, and so refuses to dally with any of them; and instead of crassly excepting money over the counter for a job done, Wellstone has his debts paid off in exchange. His latest client however is unlike anyone he has had to deal with before: a rich young heiress, used to running her father's bank, Miss Elliane Kane wants to hire Wellstone not so much to help launch her into London society, but to help her find her missing younger sister, Isabelle, who had gone up to London in order to make her debut a few months ago. But with the death of the autocratic aunt she was staying with, had come the discovery that Isabelle was missing. Has Isabelle run off with some disreputable scoundrel after her money? Was she kidnapped by unscrupulous villains? Is she even still alive? Unwilling to believe that Isabelle is dead, Elliane clings to the hope that Isabelle has eloped, and it is her hope to discover the name of the cad who has led her sister so astray by infiltrating London society. And to do that, she needs Wellstone's help. But how can she keep her mind on the seriousness of the situation when all she can do is moon over Wellstone's spectacular looks? And anyway it's a well known fact that Wellstone isn't in the market for a wife; and even if he was, he's bound to choose a better born, younger and less managing woman anyway -- or wouldn't he? For something in the manner in which Wellstone looks at her makes Elliane wonder about Wellstone's feelings for her afterall ...

I had mixed feelings about "A Perfect Gentleman." For me, the book made for good reading when the author was concentrating on Wellstone and Elliane -- the attraction that felt for each other, and their blossoming friendship and their efforts to keep their feelings for each other under control -- all this wonderfully accompllished. And the introduction of a set of quirky characters that include a ex-tippling-gambling-newly-discovered-religion butler, a teary young stepmother and a foul-mouthed aunt, made for enjoyable reading too. But I did think that the entire serial murder subplot was underdone and totally unsatisfactory; ditto the entire subplot involving Elliane's missing younger sister, Isabelle. Perhaps if the author had concentrated more on the missing sister subplot and given up on the serial murder subplot, one wouldn't have come away with that lack of focus feeling. Which is a shame because Barbara Metzger is one of my favourite authors, and the main plot, involving the evolving romance between Wellstone and Elliane, two nice, intelligent and likable people, who had decided completely against marriage, but who had more or less fallen in love at first sight with each other, and are in some small denial about their feelings, was a lot of fun and very engaging. So that all in all, "A Perfect Gentleman" turned out to be a 3 1/2 star read for me.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Totally Charming Regency - Superbly Zany Characters 4-1/2*, October 7, 2004

By 

M. Rondeau (West Springfield, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Perfect Gentleman (Paperback)

Brought up as a gentleman, with no marketable skills - not that a `gentleman' would actually `work' for a living - left the Viscount Aubrey "Stony" Wellstone just about at the end of his rope. He was a confirmed bachelor, with too much honor to do as other impoverished peers would do and set out to marry an heiress with a healthy dowry to bail him out of debt. As luck would have it, with his good looks, immeasurable charm, and spotless character with the ton, it occurred to one beleaguered gentleman to write off one of his IOU's if Stony would provide escort and attention to said gentleman's daughter to one of the many tedious balls and social functions that fathers with marriageable age daughters were duty bound to attend. Before he knew it, Stony's services as an eligible and willing escort was born and little by little his debts were being paid.

So busy with such a full schedule Stony had enlisted the help of two friends, one of which, purely by accident, ended up compromising the young woman. From the hullabaloo that followed, the `ton' discovered that Stony was being `paid' for these services and suddenly found himself shunned by the people who once sought him out. It was about this time the very independent Ellianne Kane was to enter his life. An heiress in her own right she was not looking for a husband, but needed Stony's knowledge of proper society to discover who might have last seen her sister who had gone missing. Ellianne initially didn't want to hire the handsome Viscount, having no use for the idle life of a gentleman and fearing that they were only attracted to her money. Stony, who had always thought himself immune to the lovely misses he squired about town, soon found himself immensely attracted to the very unique and independent would be spinster and would indeed have his work cut out in proving to her that there was more to life than money.

This book was so totally charming. Stony was not only a perfect gentleman, but a perfectly wonderful hero. The secondary characters of Ellianne's eccentric household with her Aunt Lally, her butler Timms, and Ajax, the toothless bulldog as she tried to keep Stony ignorant of the origin of the `bawdy' comments that emanated from behind closed doors was an absolute hoot! The entire book was a total enjoyment with so many humorous situations and a touching love story that I truly wanted to give it a perfect rating but the thought the lame excuse for the missing sister was too fast a wrap up and not quite believable. Bottom line - I truly did love this book with the snappy prose and wonderfully funny characters, including the hero and heroine. So my little nit-picking aside - read this book and you won't be sorry in the least! --- Marilyn Rondeau, for www.historicalromancewriters.com ---

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Almost Perfect, October 29, 2010

By 

My Three Cents (Logan, UT) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Perfect Gentleman (Paperback)

Pretty good book. The plot was kind of out there, but the characters were well-defined. Ms. Metzger's book(s) feature characters that do a lot of (wordy) introspection. Kind of slows down the flow of the book, but still and all, Ms. Metzger can write and I'll keep on reading her as long as she does.