A Spinster for the Untamable Duke

A SPINSTER FOR THE UNTAMABLE DUKE A Historical Regency Romance Novel HAZEL LINWOOD CONTENTS Before You Start Reading… Love to Read? 1. The Season Opens 2. Rumors about the Duke 3. Rose has an accident 4. Who is Miss Browning? 5. The Twins Protest 6. Tea before the Talbots’ Ball 7. Dancing with the Duke 8. Cousin Leonard Returns 9. The Gentlemen’s Club and the Ribbon Shop 10. Promenading 11. Walking with the Duke 12. Trouble at the Garden Party 13. The Duke Steps In 14. Another Ball 15. Whom Can Rose Trust? 16. The Dowager Duchess’ Dinner Party 17. Rose and Mark in the Garden 18. After The Party 19. The Duke Arrives 20. Rose Decides 21. Where Is Rose? 22. The Confrontation Epilogue Extended Epilogue Preview: A Secret and a Duke Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three About the Author BEFORE YOU START READING… Here is a prequel that will help you understand and visualize the story inside my book better. https://go.hazellinwood.com/J4cGnpam Many of my readers requested it and that's why I am giving it away for free! I believe you will LOVE IT! It’s not mandatory to read it, but it will be really helpful if it's your first time with this book. LOVE TO READ? Did you know that there’s a special place where you can chat with me and with thousands of like-minded bookworms all over the globe?! Group name on Facebook: Cobalt Fairy’s Voracious Readers Click here https://go.hazellinwood.com/Q3RnTjoh to join me and I guarantee you, you’d wish you had joined us sooner! Let’s connect, right NOW! Just click on the image above! ⇧ ABOUT THE BOOK He could have any woman he wanted except for her… As a spinster, Rose pours all she has into finding the perfect matches for her sisters. That means no man with a questionable reputation is allowed anywhere near them. Not even the most charming duke she has ever seen… The most eligible bachelor of the Season, Duke Mark, has never met a woman that can keep his interest. Until a bold spinster starts haunting his every thought... Even though Rose avoids him like the plague, Mark is determined to do anything to win her over. Unti Rose disappears without a trace, and he soon realizes no one can be trusted… CHAPTER 1 THE SEASON OPENS “How can you be so sure that the duke will be present at the ball tonight?” Martha said, eyeing her twin sister who was sitting opposite her in the carriage. Alice, the mirror image of Martha, waved a hand rather dismissively in the air. “Everyone says he’s coming, so it must be true!” Rose stifled a chuckle as she listened to the conversation of her sisters. They were so young, only eighteen years old. Too young to have learned yet that just because everyone in the ton said a certain thing, it did not mean that it was true. But she supposed that they would learn in time, just as she had, over the course of the last four years since her own debut into society. She could not blame them for being excited, though. Lady Rivers’ ball was an institution in the social calendars of anyone who was anyone. In fact, it was the highlight of the year for many people in polite society. And as their carriage trundled nearer, the streets around them becoming more built up as they neared the center of the city, Rose could almost feel the anticipation in the air. Even she was a little excited, she forced herself to admit. On behalf of her sisters, of course. Alice craned her neck to look out of the window. “I think we are nearly there!” she squealed. “Oh, I cannot wait to see the duke.” Rose bit her lip. This was going a little far now. “Alice, dear,” she said gently, “what would people think if they heard you speaking of the duke in that way? You must remember that it is not correct for a young lady to seem too eager to make the acquaintance of any gentleman in particular. You know that, I should not need to tell you.” Alice sniffed. “Of course, I know that. I promise I will not act too excited when I do see him. I shall be quite demure and proper.” She fluttered her eyelashes to demonstrate the point. “Really, though,” Martha said, “how can you be so sure that he will be there? We have scarcely heard a word of him in society for months now.” “He has been traveling. That’s what Anne Talbot told me, anyway, when I saw her in the glove shop last week,” Alice said. “And everyone says that he is looking for a wife, at long last!” “Alice!” Rose said, rather sharply. “You must not talk of such things in public.” She felt a tremor of anxiety for her sister, now. Could she be depended on to behave herself at the ball or would she disgrace herself in some way? Alice scoffed. “We are not in public yet, dear sister,” she replied, gesturing with a gloved hand around the confines of the carriage. “You do not trust me to behave myself in company at all, do you?” Alice glared at Rose with her bright blue eyes. Rose puffed out her breath and paused before answering. “Of course I trust you,” she said slowly, although that was not quite true. “But we know nothing about this duke. We know nothing of who he is, nothing of what sort of a man he is.” “He is a duke!” Alice retorted. “What more do you need to know?” “A man’s position in society says nothing about his character,” Rose said, her tone steady. “He might have gone traveling abroad for such a long time to escape some scandal. Debts, maybe.” “Surely if there was a scandal, we would have heard about it,” Martha cut in. “You always say, Rose, that the truth will come out eventually.” Rose turned