Laurie Benson - Regency Surrender - Powerful Dukes - An Unsuitable Duchess / An Uncommon Duke

LAURIE BENSONis an award-winning historical romance author and Golden Heart® finalist. She began her writing career as an advertising copywriter, where she learned more than you could ever want to know about hot dogs and credit score reports. When she isn’t at her laptop avoiding laundry, Laurie can be found browsing museums or taking ridiculously long hikes with her husband and two sons. You can visit her at www.lauriebenson.net.

Regency Surrender: Powerful Dukes

An Unsuitable Duchess

Laurie Benson

An Uncommon Duke

Laurie Benson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08523-6

REGENCY SURRENDER: POWERFUL DUKES

An Unsuitable Duchess © 2016 Laurie Benson An Uncommon Duke © 2016 Laurie Benson

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

About the Author LAURIE BENSON is an award-winning historical romance author and Golden Heart® finalist. She began her writing career as an advertising copywriter, where she learned more than you could ever want to know about hot dogs and credit score reports. When she isn’t at her laptop avoiding laundry, Laurie can be found browsing museums or taking ridiculously long hikes with her husband and two sons. You can visit her at www.lauriebenson.net .

Title Page Regency Surrender: Powerful Dukes An Unsuitable Duchess Laurie Benson An Uncommon Duke Laurie Benson www.millsandboon.co.uk

Copyright ISBN: 978-1-474-08523-6 REGENCY SURRENDER: POWERFUL DUKES An Unsuitable Duchess © 2016 Laurie Benson An Uncommon Duke © 2016 Laurie Benson Published in Great Britain 2018 by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental. By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher. ® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries. www.millsandboon.co.uk

An Unsuitable Duchess An Unsuitable Duchess Laurie Benson

Dedication I’ll always be grateful to my wonderful editor, Kathryn Cheshire, for giving me this opportunity and for helping me bring Julian and Katrina into the world. Thanks for your guidance and support. You’re the best! And thank you to everyone at Mills & Boon Historical, especially Linda Fildew, Nic Caws, and Krista Oliver for all that you’ve done for me. Thanks Courtney Miller-Callihan, for having my back and for just being you. To the history bloggers and the people who answered my historical questions, thanks for making research fun. Lori V. and Lisa D., this book might not have been written if it weren’t for the two of you. Thanks for encouraging me to put this story to paper and for not running the other way when I asked you to read it—a number of times. I love you both! To Jen, Mia, Marnee, and Teri, thanks for riding this roller coaster with me and for being such great friends . Thanks, Mom, for teaching me that I could do anything if I put my mind to it. To my boys, you mean the world to me. Thanks for never complaining when deadlines have me ordering takeout for dinner. And thank you to my husband for always believing in me and for proving that love at first sight really is possible. Finally, thank you kind reader for picking up this book. I hope this story makes you smile, and you enjoy this brief armchair vacation in Regency-era London.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

An Uncommon Duke

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three