Wrexham, Duke of Elsmore, is awash in family obligations. With three sisters to escort about Town, a legion of cousins to look after, and aunties who insist he dance with every eligible young woman, he barely has time to manage his dukedom. When he finally carves out a moment to evaluate his family’s finances, he learns that he—and his sisters—are on the verge of a social catastrophe.
Eleanora Hatfield has an uncanny knack for numbers, but she knows from experience that dealing with the peerage can only lead to problems. Though she wants nothing to do with any titled gentleman, she reluctantly agrees to help when Rex seeks aid from her employer. What starts out as an unwanted assignment soon leads to forbidden kisses and impossible longings. But with scandal haunting Ellie’s past and looming in Rex’s future, how can true love lead to anything but heartbreak?
Hawthorne Dorning either finds a way to turn his family’s vast botanical resources into a successful commercial venture, or the estate the Dornings have called home for centuries could be broken up. He loves the land and he’s never shied away from hard work, but he knows nothing about creating perfumes or fragrances.
Margaret Summerfield has put aside her passion for scent-making to tend to the serious business of raising her little nieces. She’s no longer the girl who wandered the countryside by the hour, lost in the pleasures of nature, nor does she want to be. Hawthorne needs her help, but what does he have that could possibly tempt Margaret to entangle herself with his dreams?
Duncan Wentworth tried his hand at rescuing a damsel in distress once long ago, and he’s vowed he’ll never make that mistake again. Nonetheless, when he comes across Matilda Wakefield in the poacher-infested and far-from-enchanted woods of his estate, decency compels him to offer aid to a lady fallen on hard times. Matilda is whip-smart, she can read Duncan’s horrible penmanship, and when she wears his reading glasses, all Duncan can think about is naughty Latin poetry.
Matilda cannot entrust her secrets to Duncan without embroiling him in the problems that sent her fleeing from London, but neither can she ignore a man who’s honorable, a brilliant chess player, and maddeningly kissable. She needs to stay one step ahead of the enemies pursuing her, though she longs to fall into Duncan’s arms. Duncan swears he has traded in his shining armor for a country gentleman’s muddy boots, but to win the fair maid, he’ll have to ride into battle one more time.
Jonathan Tresham, heir to the Duke of Quimbey, needs a discreet ally to help him choose a wife from among the army of young ladies eager to become his duchess. When proper widow Theodosia Haviland rescues him from a compromising situation, he knows he’s found an advisor he can trust. Theo’s first marriage taught her the folly of indulging in romantic notions, and she’s determined that Mr. Tresham’s intended be an ideal dynastic match for him, not some smitten ninnyhammer.
When Jonathan decides that Theo should be the only name on his list of possible duchesses, she protests, though she knows that Jonathan is kind and honorable despite his gruff exterior. Theo is guarding secrets, and a ducal heir is the last person she can marry, even if she does harbor an entirely inappropriate attraction to him.
One minute, London banker Quinn Wentworth is facing execution. The next, he’s declared the long-lost heir a dukedom. Quinn has fought his way up from the vilest slums, and now he’s ready to use every dirty trick he knows to find the enemy who connived against him.
There’s just one tiny problem…
Jane Winston, the widowed, pregnant daughter of a meddlesome prison preacher, crosses paths with Quinn in jail. Believing his days are numbered, Quinn offers Jane marriage as a way to guarantee her independence and to provide for her child. Neither thinks they’ll actually have a future together.
They were wrong.
He’s a wealthy gutter rat out for vengeance. She’s a minister’s daughter who must turn a marriage of desperation into a proper ducal union. Are they doomed from the start or destined for a happily-ever-after?
For Miss Charlotte Windham, the best way to maintain her spinsterhood—and her independence—is a teeny, tiny brush with scandal. She chooses wealthy, handsome upstart Lucas Sherbourne as her unwitting accomplice. He’s intelligent, logical and ambitious. What Charlotte doesn’t count on is that one kiss leads straight to the altar.
Sherbourne has no love for Polite Society, nor is he keen on being anybody’s husband of last resort. He is attracted to Charlotte’s boldness, though—and her family’s influence. Without a title, he knows he’ll never truly be part of their world, even as he and Charlotte inch closer to a marriage that means much more than convenience. But a scheming business partner is about to test that tenuous trust, forcing Sherbourne to make a drastic choice: his wealth or his wife.
Hessian Kettering, Earl of Grampion, tried marrying in haste as a very young man and got years of marital drama to go with his endless regrets. He’s older and wiser now, and has responsibility for an orphaned ward who needs a maternal figure. Hessian is determined that his next countess will be a settled, sensible lady with a spotless reputation. Lily Ferguson seems to fit Hessian’s requirements beautifully, and if she also kisses like his most cherished private dreams, that’s no reason to doubt his choice.
As an heiress from a good family, Lily Ferguson has been subjected to the attentions of fortune hunters and fawning nincompoops for years. Because the bachelors won’t take, “Stop ogling my settlements,” for an answer, she’s developed a reputation for being difficult. Lily finds spending time with Hessian Kettering so very easy though. He likes a woman who speaks her mind, and Lily adores a man who actually listens to the ladies in his life. But what will Hessian have to say, when he finds out Lily is not the heiress polite society thinks she is?
THE COURTSHIP–Percival Windham, the Moreland spare, is politely fending off matchmakers and merry widows alike as he endures three interminable weeks at a summer house party. Esther Himmelfarb is trudging through the same three weeks at the same house party, trying to keep a handsome cousin out of trouble while she dodges proposals from gouty barons, and propositions from upstart peers. Percival is far above her touch, Esther is not at all who Percy had in mind, but some things are meant to be!
THE DUKE AND HIS DUCHESS–In this second prequel novella to the popular Windham series, Percival and Esther Windham face the tumultuous and bittersweet first years of marriage. Between an aging patriarch, a full nursery, money troubles, and political difficulties, true love is slipping from sight. Then Percival’s past delivers a double helping of trouble at precisely the wrong time, and Percival and Esther must decide whether their marriage becomes an alliance of convenience or an enduring love story.
Scottish business whiz Elias Brodie has inherited a genuine medieval castle, the title of earl, and a huge pile of debt. If he wants to preserve his family’s legacy, the only asset he can immediately sell is a parcel of Maryland countryside he’s never laid eyes on.
In all her years working the land in Damson Valley, Violet Hughes has never seen a genuine Scottish earl, though her first glimpse of one is mighty impressive. Elias is charming, a hard worker, and excellent, um, company, but then Violet learns that he’s determined to sell the largest farm in the valley to a no-good, polecat of a developer. What’s a kilted laddie to do, when he must choose between his true love and his legacy?
Scottish whisky distiller Magnus Brodie has a problem: His long-anticipated bicentennial batch of whisky has been sabotaged, and he needs the skills of an expert to prevent disaster. He’s been approached by the Logan brothers about buying their Montana distillery, and if that’s the only way Magnus can secure Bridget MacDeaver’s services as a “cask-whisperer,” he’ll do it.
Bridget refuses to sell the distillery she inherited from her grandpa, even if her brothers claim that’s the last hope they have for saving the Logan Bar Ranch. When an old enemy threatens everything Bridget holds dear, her only ally is the man who’s determined to steal her grandpa’s legacy—and her heart!
