The Duke and His Spinster

THE DUKE AND HIS SPINSTER A STEAMY HISTORICAL REGENCY ROMANCE NOVEL SALLY VIXEN CONTENTS Before You Start Reading… Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Epilogue Extended Epilogue Preview: The Forsaken Duke Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Also by Sally Vixen About the Author BEFORE YOU START READING… 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?! Join Cobalt Fairy’s facebook group of voracious readers 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 “She was a true spitfire, in every sense of the word. How fortunate that His Grace liked to play with fire..” The only way Amy can remain a spinster is to abide by her father’s rule: accept all offers this Season. If she only manages to push all suitors away without him realizing, she will finally be free. And she holds many tricks up her sleeve… Duke Evan takes great pride in having never been rejected by a woman. But he must prove he is not like his cruel father, and he doesn’t see women as objects: he must spend at least two weeks with a lady, without even touching her. And a feisty spinster like Amy is the perfect candidate… Amy has the perfect recipe to make any gentleman run away screaming: become overly-attached, embarrass him in front of his friends, name all your future children the second time you see him… But Evan never backs down from a challenge. Until a stolen kiss changes everything… CHAPTER 1 "Dearest, do tuck your head back in or you shall catch a cold!" Amy smiled a little before conceding to her aunt's wishes by drawing her head away from the window of their carriage and allowing the curtain to drop back into place. She, along with her father and Aunt Dorothy, were on their way to attend the ball held by the Countess of Glendale—yet another one of the endless functions she must be subjected to as an eligible female of the ton. "I just do not see the point of prancing about in balls and soirees," she sighed, irritation edging her tone. Her green eyes, normally shining with intelligence and wit, held a trace of scorn in them for the very event she was about to attend. Her father, the Marquess of Irington, let out a soft sigh and shook his head at his daughter's words. Amy had already acquired a reputation amongst the ton as a rather... difficult woman, and it was becoming increasingly arduous task to find a suitor for her. Or even just a man who would not be so intimidated by her rapier wit and even sharper tongue. "Oh, poppycock!" her Aunt Dorothy muttered. "We all know that you have no intention of ever getting wed, my dear girl." Amy grinned in a rather unrepentant manner. "Precisely." "But," the Marquess told her in a firm tone, "you cannot just back away from a task without exhausting all possible options for it." Amy narrowed her eyes slightly at that. "Whatever do you mean, Papa?" "I meant," he enunciated clearly, "that it has already become very clear to us that you intend to become a spinster and I will allow it…" Amy felt her smile growing wider on her face. "...as long as you consider the men who will approach you this Season," he finished. She felt her world tilt and sway at her father's words. "What?" "I believe that you are a rather intelligent young lady, but let me make it clearer," the Marquess of Irington smiled benignly at her. "You are not to refuse any suitor who wishes to pay a call to you, nor will you attempt to dissuade anyone from doing so." "But... but," she sputtered, "I will go mad trying to hold an intelligent conversation about the latest fashions and the weather which is all a 'proper lady' is expected to talk about!" "I am most certain there is at least some sane fellow in the whole of London who would appreciate a lively and intelligent conversation." The Marquess paused and added, "I most certainly would. It was why I was so taken with your mother, you know—she was the only one in that entire ballroom to talk to me without boring me to tears." Amy had heard the story of how her mother, the late Marchioness of Irington, captured the heart of her father so many times that she had learnt it by heart. Unfortunately, she had already come to the conclusion that the story of her parents was more of an exception rather than the norm in the ton. Most of the men she encountered were all rather disappointing—and those were the ones she could mostly tolerate! The rest did not even bear mentioning. She glanced up at her father suspiciously and found him looking at her with an unwavering glint in his eyes. It would seem he truly was set on this...this arrangement if she could call it that. "You really will allow me to become a spinster?" she asked him. "Only if you agree to my conditions." "And what if, at the end of the Season, no suitor wants me for a wife?" "My dear daughter," the Marquess smiled at her, "the many fops you are acquainted with might not be as astute, but I doubt that the whole of England is filled with such men." She crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips. Her father had never lied to her before or gone back on his word. He truly believed she could