The Duke's Secret Heir

When Ophelia Radcliffe, recently widowed and quietly desperate, crosses half of England to knock upon the door of Gideon Somerville, Duke of Ashvale, she brings with her a toddler named Edmund—a boy with dark Somerville hair, a cleft in his chin, and absolutely no place in the legitimate world. Three years earlier, she and Gideon shared one reckless, unforgettable night before duty and pride drove them apart. She married another man to save her family. He retreated to his title and his silence. Now her husband is dead, the money is gone, a blackmailer has her letters, and the only card she holds is the child neither of them dared acknowledge. Gideon did not expect her. He did not expect the boy. And he most certainly did not expect the white-hot mix of fury, longing, and something uncomfortably close to tenderness that strikes him when he sees them both standing in his rain-soaked entrance hall. To silence the blackmailer, protect Edmund's future, and salvage what remains of Ophelia's honour, Gideon proposes a marriage of convenience—a rational arrangement between two reasonable adults who feel absolutely nothing for each other. Or so they tell themselves. Set against the glittering backdrop of the London Season, this is a story of old wounds reopened, secrets that refuse to stay buried, and two people who must decide whether duty and dignity are worth more than the love they once walked away from.