The Rake 
Fate has given a disgraced rake one final chance to redeem himselfby taking his place as the rightful master of an ancestral estate. But nothing prepares him for his shocking encounter with a beautiful lady who has fled a world filled with betrayal. Now he will awaken in her a passion more powerful than anything she has ever known--a passion that can doom or save them both if they dare to believe.
* 2.5 million copies of Mary Jo Putney's books in print
* Fivetime nominee Mary Jo Putney won the 1995 RWA Award for Dancing on the Wind in the Best Long Historical Category
* Mary Jo Putney has also won four RWA Golden Leaf Awards for Best Historical Novel, and the Romantic Times Award, for Best Regency Author
* Mary Jo Putney is also the author of the national bestselling Topaz romances River of Fire, Shattered Rainbows, Angel Rogue, and Dancing on the Wind
Reviews
Mary Jo Putney is another author I respect and admire so much, that she's the only other author (among a very few) that I can read after Judith Mcnaught and not loose my momentum.
The Rake was not one of her books that I particularly liked immediately after reading it for a few very personal reasons. I have to be completely enamored of my Hero, in this case I was not. I wasn't convinced he was Rake enough and he came across as weak on a few occasions when he could not control his drinking.
Not being an addict myself, I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it was for him and because of that reason, I'm willing to set aside my childish personal reason to dislike this hero.
Other than that, as usual, this is a brilliantly written novel, with brilliantly written plots (real issues) by a brilliant novelist.
She is one of the few authors I can enjoy without consciously looking for historical inaccuracies.
Her books have repeatedly been both entertaining and educational.
If you are a true fan of the Georgian/Regency/Napoleonic Era, you will not be disappointed in her work.