The Unbroken Dream

“I know it’s hard for us both,” the Duke went on.  “But equally even the King himself has had to give up Mrs. Jordan.” - this is factually incorrect. William IV and Mrs Jordan's affair lasted for twenty years before ending in 1811. She fled to France to escape her creditors, and died, impoverished, near Paris in 1816. In the Drawing Room at Kew Palace on 11 July 1818, William married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. William's marriage, which lasted almost twenty years until his death, was a happy one and William is not known to have had mistresses after his marriage.

“‘Many a true word is spoken in jest’,” his friend volunteered.  “I have always been convinced that half the murders attributed to highwaymen have been performed by someone who would benefit from the unfortunate victim’s death!” - makes sense!

He enjoyed himself with beautiful married women like Lady Sybil. Yet at the back of his mind he knew that he would be shocked if his wife behaved as they did. If he was really truthful, he despised their husbands for being so feeble in not knowing what they were up to, alternatively, if they did know about it, for turning a blind eye at their low behaviour. But what, he asked himself, was the alternative? - Pot callig the kettle black....

It was where he had left it under the cool shade of a tree.  He was always very careful of his horses and he was devoted to them. - Racing horses in steeplechases etc. is not devotion. These events killed and horribly injured many horses, then till today.

His groom knew that he would never allow them to stay too long in the hot sun or wait for hours in the cold of the winter. - more considerate than what Cartland usually writes.

Because he was extremely fastidious, he had not kept a mistress, as most of his contemporaries did. He somehow disliked the idea of paying hard cash for the favours he received from any woman. - you're still paying for women when you provide gifts in such a manner...

Waiting for the cart to move away, the Duke saw that Dionne was looking, he thought, most attractive and she was laughing at something that the gardener had said to her. Then, as she turned away from him with a flounce, he bent forward and slapped her on the behind. She reached the front door and then looked back. She said something that the Duke could not hear.  At the same time she put her thumb to her nose and spread out her fingers. It was a vulgar gesture that unexpectedly disgusted the Duke. He was always most fastidious where women were concerned. - that's not "fastidious" lol. These women were behaving similarly to Rory.

Then, if he could not talk to her because she really had nothing to say, there would be some compensation in looking at her. What was more, it was just unthinkable that their children should not be exceptional. The Duke had been concerned with the breeding of horses ever since he could remember. And he knew how important it was that to breed the very best both the sire and the mare should have long and distinguished pedigrees. - that's rubbish. People are disappointments, breeding or no breeding. Queen Elizabeth's family built wealth based on the slave trade of her ancestor!

“Oleta is extremely well read,” he went on.  “You may think it rather strange, but she had a boy’s education.” - there's a ray of sunshine!

"Or maybe he was planning a steeplechase in which, being a woman, she was not allowed to take part." - steeplechases are disgusting. No one should subject innocent animals to these events.

If one believed in an afterlife and that in dying one went to Heaven, why should anyone be so gloomy about it?  Every religion she had read about believed that what the Chinese called the World behind the World was better than this world. ‘So we should rejoice when people die,’ Oleta told herself, ‘because they will be happy even if we are missing them.’ - strangely enough, that makes sense!

At the same time he was menacing her. He was large and overwhelming, like an ogre who would gobble her up.  She would no longer be herself but just another of his many trophies and one that he would not be particularly interested in. - Oleta sounds like a child...

“I shall certainly be delighted to see it.” - NOT "it" but him. Horses are sentient!

When he got there, he looked at the horses of the men who had just arrived.  They were, as he had expected, very inferior, un-groomed and clearly badly fed. - they were abused and Rory left them there. Bad!

There was so much he wanted to teach her. Equally he was honest enough to admit that there was a great deal she could teach him.. - interesting line coming from Cartland who usually creates female characters that operate like wet cardboard...

Not bad though. The male lead seemed interesting.