The Grace of a Duke

Book excerpt: Time heals all wounds ... but what of those left by love? Having barely survived the fire that killed his family, Joshua Wainwright reluctantly begins his reign as the new Duke of Chichester. He is still recovering from his burns when he joins his best friend and estate manager Garrett McElliott at Wisborough Oaks, the family seat near Kirdford in Sussex where the fire occurred. With repairs and reconstruction underway and a backlog of estate business to complete, the very last thing Joshua can abide is the sudden appearance of Lady Charlotte, the daughter of the Earl of Ellsworth. Once betrothed to Joshua's older brother, Charlotte has spent her entire life training to be the Duchess of Chichester. Now that the man she was supposed to marry is dead and her twenty-first birthday is near, Charlotte is determined to marry Joshua, for despite the horrific scars that require him to wear a mask over one side of his face, she has secretly loved him since her coming-out. The duke has no idea it was Charlotte who arranged for his medical care and transport to London after the fire. Given his scars and the gossip mongers in London who refer to him as "His Grace with half a face" he is determined to spare Charlotte from having to marry him, even if she feels duty-bound to do so. But Charlotte, hiding a hideous scar of her own, will do whatever it takes, including seduction, to secure a marriage to the man she loves in "The Grace of a Duke."