The Duke's Alliance

Miss Grace DuPont has no wish to marry. However, her father is determined to gain entrance to the drawing rooms of the ton and believes his wealth and Grace’s beauty will be enough to attract an aristocratic suitor. Lord Bennett Sheldon is the perfect match for Grace - whether the gentleman wants her or not.

Lady Madeline Sheldon has no intention of making a precipitous marriage. However, she has no objection to visiting Lord Grey Carshalton and his grandmother when the opportunity arises. His lordship is only recently returned from the Peninsular where he was serving as an intelligence officer. Grey isn't looking to set up his nursery – he’s more concerned with discovering the identity of the person dogging his every move. Because Grey is certain that someone is trying to kill him and he believes it to be associated with his time in the military.

Mrs Mary Williams, a colonel's widow, arrives at Silchester Court with Miss Elizabeth Freemantle, who has been brought up as her sister. But Beth is actually the Duke of Silchester's cousin and he is her guardian. When the duke is called away to his estates in the North, Lord Aubrey, the duke's youngest brother, finds himself designated to oversee the London debut of both his sister, Lady Giselle, and his lively cousin, Beth. Mary is only four years older than Aubrey, but she is more worldly and well-travelled and worries that he might lead Beth astray.

Lady Madeline Sheldon and her cousin, Miss Elizabeth Freemantle, are given permission to visit Bath if they agree to take Lord Rushton's daughters with them. The two girls have been running wild in London and it is believed that a change of scene will be of benefit to them. But Beau, the Duke of Silchester, soon comes to regret his decision to allow his youngest sister and cousin to leave home supervised only by his man of affairs..

When Lord Peregrine Sheldon, an intelligence officer for Wellington, is reported missing, presumed dead, his family and friends in England fear he is lost to them forever. Unbeknownst to everyone, Perry is alive, but has been seriously injured in a fall and is unable to see. He also has no notion of who he is, or what he is doing in the foothills of the Spanish mountains. He is a stranger to himself in a strange land. His only comfort is his beautiful rescuer, Sofia, an English girl living in a Spanish hill village. Sofia takes Perry to her mother's home where she nurses him back to health.

Tired of being at everyone’s beck and call, Beau, the Duke of Silchester decides to masquerade as plain Mr Edward Sheldon for a few months in order to pursue his love of composing and playing piano music. At five and thirty he is convinced he will never marry but all this changes when he meets Lady Viola Fenchurch and her delightful children. Viola, a widow, is equally convinced that she will never remarry after enduring an abusive marriage. She isn’t looking for love, but despite her reservations she finds herself falling in love with Beau.