Part of Series
A spellbinding Regency romance! Perfect for fans of Georgette Heyer, Mary Balogh, Jane Aiken Hodge and Jane Austen. Sparks fly between an accident-prone young woman and a sardonic duke… 1806, England With her father disinherited, young Hetty Latimer has been left without a dowry. Having given up hope of ever marrying, she spends her days secretly creating pictures to help supplement her family’s income. While out gathering wildflowers for her project, she stumbles across Theo Devenal, the new Duke of Charlton. With the duke’s sardonic humour and Hetty’s sensibility, sparks immediately fly and a mutual attraction blossoms. However, disaster strikes when the two are caught in an apparently compromising position by Hetty’s furious father. Unwilling to exacerbate his wrath, Theo and Hetty do their best to avoid each other, but their paths continue to cross. And each time, Theo is obliged to rescue the accident-prone Hetty from trouble. Although conscious that he is expected to marry high, the duke soon finds his feelings for Hetty intensifying. Chafing against the strictures of his exalted position, he now must decide whether he is prepared to flout convention and follow his heart… DISASTER AND THE DUKE is the ninth book in the Brides By Chance series, an enchanting set of Regency romances set in Georgian England. THE BRIDES BY CHANCE REGENCY ADVENTURE SERIES: BOOK ONE: In Honour Bound BOOK TWO: A Chance Gone By BOOK THREE: Knight for a Lady BOOK FOUR: A Winter’s Madcap Escapade BOOK FIVE: Marriage For Music BOOK SIX: Damsel to the Rescue BOOK SEVEN: Widow in Mistletoe BOOK EIGHT: His Auction Prize BOOK NINE: Disaster and the Duke BOOK TEN: Taming of the Vulture
Author
An avid reader from an early age, Elizabeth Bailey grew up in colonial Africa under unconventional parentage and with theatre in the blood. Back in England, she trod the boards until discovering her true métier as a writer in her thirties, when she fulfilled an early addiction to Georgette Heyer by launching into historical romance. Eight years and eight books later, Elizabeth joined the Harlequin Mills & Boon stable, fuelling her writing with a secondary career teaching and directing drama, and writing plays into the bargain. With 18 historicals published, Elizabeth turned to other genres, producing two titles (Fly the Wild Echoes and For One More Tomorrow) in the cross-genre literary/paranormal field as well as a suspense novella (Silence of a Stranger). She has several short stories available too and a guide for writers on editing. Continuing her foray into other genres, but returning to her favourite historical period, Elizabeth turned to mystery. She placed her female sleuth in the late Georgian world of intrigue, elegance, aristocrats and rogues, where privilege rubbed shoulders with the harsh realities of making ends meet. While Ottilia moves in the upper echelon of Society, she is thoroughly at ease in the lower, which allows Elizabeth to cross boundaries with impunity. These novels are now published with Sapere Books and the list continues to grow. Sapere also publish her Brides by Chance Regency Adventures, a series dedicated to the countless women who could not ordinarily hope for romance and marriage: poor relations, dowerless females, those who did not "take", orphans. In a word, the classic Cinderella heroine. Now retired from teaching, Elizabeth concentrates on writing and promotion, with a sideline in running an assessment critique service for writers.
