ALTHOUGH SHE MARRIED WITHOUT LOVE, ALICE MAY YET DISCOVER SOMETHING ABOUT ROMANCE.... Lovely Alice Lacey was a true Incomparable, and her marriage to the Duke of Ferrant was the event of the Season. Few realized, however, that she was secretly in love with another—so much so that she confided her feelings to a clever talking mynah bird who deemed it fit to announce these intimacies right at the couple's wedding! The gossip mongers were relentless. Her marriage was cold and impersonal, and her new husband was rumored to be taken with another woman. Before she even realized what was happening, Alice discovered that the man she had thought she loved was something other than what he seemed, and the man she had married was something far more than she'd hoped. Her one resort was her last one—to convince the man she had wed that they were in love....

SHE WAS BY ALL RIGHTS A MERRY WIDOW, YET SHE FEARED HAPPINESS WOULD NEVER BE HERS... Matilda, Duchess of Hadshire, was a virtual prisoner of a cruel husband who romanced his mistress under her nose. Her only joy was dreaming of the handsome Earl of Torridon—for he, too, was trapped in a horrid marriage and longed for love and happiness. Though she secretly wished for his death, Matilda never imagined the guilt that would plague her when the illustrious duke was befittingly murdered by his own lightskirt! And when she turned to Torridon for comfort, she discovered a few surprises in store for both of them....

WHAT A PRETTY PICKLE SHE'D GOT INTO—AND IT TASTED MORE SOUR BY THE MOMENT! Blessed with beauty, Mrs. Manners never bothered with the lesser skills of grammar and spelling. So, in order to entrap a second husband, namely the dashing Duke of Denbigh, she needed Miss Verity Bascombe. Surely the modest chit would be honored to write her love letters. Poor Verity! Her old schoolmate was as selfish as ever. But the lovely girl's gilded pen soon had the duke most intrigued by the poetic Mrs. Manners! But alas, what began as a tiny deception became troublesome indeed—for Verity soon found herself enamoured of the handsome duke herself!

WHAT ARE A VICAR'S WIFE AND A YOUNG INNOCENT DOING WITH SUCH AS LADY DACEY? The ton could only speculate how a pair of turtledoves would cope as the guests of the scandalous Lady Dacey. Surely she would attempt to corrupt them an act that both Pamela Perryworth and Honoria Goodham would welcome in their rigid, joyless lives. Though Mrs. Perryworth is married most unhappily and the young Honoria has a cloying tendency to read scripture, the purity and loveliness of both ladies inflame the senses of two notorious rakes. Mr. Sean Delaney loses his heart at first sight of the fair Mrs. Perryworth, while the disreputable Duke of Ware is quite disturbed by the innocent Honoria, who dares to tempt his jaded heart....

The marriage between the handsome, dashing Duke of Westerland and beautiful Miss Frederica Sayers seemed like a logical one—until the duke discovered that his duchess could not be tamed, and the lovely duchess found that she would rather lose her spotless reputation than her beloved duke!

Lucy meets the charismatic Duke of Habard at a ball and imagines being released from her marriage to a dissolute playboy whom, he reveals, was paid by her parents to marry her.

AS FAR AS MATRIMONIAL PROSPECTS WERE CONCERNED, LUCY BLISS WAS TOLD SHE'D MAKE AN EXCELLENT CLERGYMAN'S WIFE. Her mother, however, had loftier aspirations for her lovely younger sister Belinda. Belinda would marry a duke. More specifically, the Duke of Wardshire. Lucy was truly horrified. "Lucifer" Wardshire! Why, he was rumored to be as wicked as the devil, with orgies and mistresses—and worse! As the London Season unfolded, Lucy couldn't decide who was more abominable, her vulgar mama or the arrogant yet disconcertingly handsome duke. No matter, Lucy vowed to go to any lengths to protect her sister, even if her mission should take her into the very arms of the devilish duke himself....