Title The Duke’s Lady
Author C.K. Mackenzie
Genre Regency Romance
Publisher Emelia Publishes LLC
Book Blurb
One Scandal + One Scandal = Love?
Lady Tish Carhart wanted nothing more than marriage. Not because she longed for a family, but because she longed to be free of her mother’s constant complaining. If Tish had to hear about her brother’s elopement or her sister’s marriage to a lowly viscount one more time, they might never find her mother’s body. But between Patrice’s dissatisfaction and the scandal her father left with his rather dramatic death, finding a husband isn’t as easy as it looks.
He weathered his own scandal; he didn’t need another.
Vincent Birtwistle, the Duke of Hawtrey, needed a rich wife, and fast. House falling apart around him, creditors knocking on his door, debtors’ prison looming in the not-so-distant future? It all might be manageable if it weren’t for the fact that most people believed he murdered his father—not that the old man didn’t deserve it. With scandal nipping at his heels and his staff threatening a revolt, Hawks doesn’t need a wife with scandal of her own.
But Tish Carhart made a compelling argument.
She held a substantial dowry, a willingness to work at restoring his estate, and a mind that attracted him as surely as her beauty. Falling in love with her was easy. But scandal was never far away.
Will this newest one tear them apart? Or bring them closer together?
Excerpt
“Why me?” The question surprised him, but Hawks supposed it was reasonable to ask. “You could’ve married anyone of your choosing.”
“I chose you,” she pointed out with another small grin.
He snorted in laughter. Huh, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed. “I’ll give you that. However, I’m sure there were at least a dozen others who graced your list.”
She walked silently beside him for a while as they passed beneath tall trees along the lake. The wind didn’t hold back. It slammed into them, reddening her cheeks and the tip of her nose. Seized with an unfamiliar sensation to protect her, he silently moved to her other side, doing his best to block the wind off the lake.
“Would you believe I didn’t exactly plan that?”
He snorted again. “Very much so.”
She spared him a glance and absent smile. “My mother is difficult.” She blew out a breath and sighed. “That’s putting it kindly. She’s loud and brash and doesn’t care who she talks about. When Landon and Esme came back married, we were thrilled. Patrice was horrified. Never mind that Landon clearly worships Esme, who is a wonderful woman. She is the daughter of a shipping magnate.” She looked at him and added dryly, “The horrors.”
“Right.” He nodded. “Conrad Shipping, yes?”
“Hmm.” She stopped at a boulder, leaning against it as she looked out over the lake. “Patrice perpetuated the most awful rumors about Rett—ah, Henrietta—when she married Wingate. She said they married so quickly because Rett was pregnant. Our own mother, spreading such lies.”
The anger in her voice brightened her eyes and drew him in. He had no close relations, his father had seen to that. Hawks barely remembered his mother but here, in the cold November day, with Lady Tish beside him, he recalled that his mother had several siblings. Aunts and uncles he had never been in contact with, and until now never really thought of contacting. Perhaps it was time he remedied that.
Seeing Tish’s fury over the way the marchioness and the viscountess had been treated told him more about her character than a dozen rumors. It also made him wonder what having siblings of his own, or even cousins he could speak with, might be like. How different his life would’ve been once be cut off contact with his father.
“So you decided that marrying the Disgraced Duke of Hawtrey might—what? Fend her off?”
She didn’t laugh, though she had to have heard the nickname whispered about the salons of London. Even he had, and Hawks didn’t venture out to many places. Not anymore.
“I decided our marriage would offer me the chance to explore my own reasons. I didn’t lie when I said it offered a purpose.” She held his gaze, some of her anger draining from her face, cooling in her eyes. “Did you not believe I didn’t ask about your father?”
Hawks stiffened. “Ask what? Though I suppose if we’re to marry next week you have the right to.”
“I know you aren’t responsible.” She said it so decisively, so simply, he merely blinked at her.
“How do you know that?” he demanded, the words harsher than he wanted.
“I have connections.” She waved that off with one gloved hand, as she had the talk about his father—even the talk about hers. “Well, Landon does, and Marcus was most accommodating.”
Narrowing his eyes, Hawks waited. “Dare I ask?” he drawled.
“You met him, or at least that’s my understanding. Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Hilton.”
That name again. “I haven’t yet.” He offered a pointed look. “Things have been rather rushed these last days, have they not?”
She grinned, that quick, impish smile. “Rather,” she said just as dryly. “I asked—all right, perhaps ‘badgered’ is a better word—Marcus to verify your alibi.”
“Of course you did.”
“Of course.” She sniffed and watched him with that steadiness she wore around her like a shield. He hadn’t caught it the other night, too stunned by the turn of events, but he saw it now. The way her hands curled into her skirts, her chin rising just enough, shoulders back as if bracing herself. “I wasn’t going to propose to just any man, and certainly not one responsible for his father’s murder.”
“Dare I ask how Hilton verified this?”
“I’ve no idea. He’s the master. I’m merely Landon’s sister. However he assured me that though rumors around London pointed to you, sneaking in the house, leaving hastily, that you were safely entrenched in your club beating nearly everyone at cards.” She waved that off, too. “Honestly, though, I hadn’t really planned on proposing an alliance between us that night. And apparently Marcus had already looked into you.”
Turning back for the house, he let that new information sink in. So this Hilton had already cleared him of wrongdoing in the old man’s death, doubtlessly before Strachan invited him to the ball. A small piece of the responsibility he’d carried with him since learning about his father’s death unraveled.
“Did this Hilton discover who did kill him?” She met his gaze, eyes bright in the cold wind, cheeks pink from it.
“He didn’t say,” she admitted. “And I didn’t ask. I simply wished to know your character.”
Well, for all his annoyance at that, he didn’t blame her. “What did you discover?”
“You care about your tenants and servants, you haven’t sold off any property to dubious landlords for a quick payment, and your household still hasn’t spread one word about you.” She nodded decisively. “That in itself is most admirable. On paper, we suit perfectly.”
“And in life?” He shook his head as the half-finished house came back into view. “In life, I find there are too many unexpected changes.”
“I think—well, yes.” She held his gaze again as they stopped just before the steps that led onto the patio in front of the family parlor. Hawks gestured for the front of the house instead, wanting a few more moments with her. “I think it’s important we face those changes together. I’m not saying this marriage, which is very much of convenience, will ever be a love match. But I do hope it can be one of respect and understanding.”
He remembered the way Strachan and the marchioness stood together. As if it were the most natural thing in the world. Neither had known of Lady Tish’s plans, and yet they’d stood together, united in the face of whatever happened. Hawks found he wanted that.
“I think I’d like that.”
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Author Biography
Hello! I’m so glad you’re here. I’m a Regency Romance author, dog lover, French fry connoisseur, and explorer of new and interesting teas. I recently lost my beloved corgi after almost 14 years together and am now exploring becoming a foster dog mom.
But let’s talk books!
I’m a Regency Romance author with a taste for a hint of intrigue and mystery. I have several series planned and can’t wait to share them with you! As happens with most things in my life, once I start a story the secondary characters demanded attention. So in addition to the main Legacy stories (4 families, 4-5 siblings each) I also have shorter stories of those side characters.
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