Aydra Richards

Wrongfully accused of the murder of her husband, Geneviève Amberley, the Duchess of Venbrough, buried her past before it could bury her. In the twelve years since, she has reinvented herself from runaway duchess into Jenny Laurent, the manager of an exclusive ladies’ club. No one is looking for a criminal in the woman she has become, and the murderous duchess is so far in the past that she might as well truly be dead and buried—or so she believes. To Sebastian Knight, there is nothing quite so interesting as a mystery to be solved, and the woman who calls herself Jenny Laurent is the most fascinating mystery he has ever encountered. She is his latest obsession—an enigma so tantalizing, so alluring, that he cannot help but to make himself known to her. An affair with the perceptive Mr. Knight is the last thing Jenny needs, but she finds herself charmed by his candor and his persistence—even if his unique talents make him the most dangerous man in all of England to a woman like her. He could very well burn her carefully constructed façade to ashes…and destroy her in the process.

Lady Diana Beaumont has a fiancé—in theory. In practice, she’s languished at the edges of ballrooms for years, waiting for her absent betrothed to fulfill his obligations to her. But the Earl of Weatherford has eschewed polite society for a decade, and Diana is weary of waiting. If he will not come to her, then she will go to him, and put an end to their sham of an engagement at last.Ben Gillingham is an earl—in theory. In practice, it’s been nearly a decade since he has called himself anything other than plain Mr. Gillingham. Cut off by his father years ago, he is now only a simple laborer with a young daughter to provide for. A daughter whose origins make it impossible to bring her out in society, whose education is sadly lacking, and whose hellish behavior will see them ruined if he cannot find someone to watch over her while he works to secure a better life.When Diana arrives at his door to demand his assistance in breaking their engagement, Ben sees opportunity. He agrees to give her what she demands, if she will mind and educate his daughter. But as threads of attachment begin to bind them, an end to their engagement no longer seems quite so desirable. Can their unexpected love weather the obstacles still in their path?