The Loveless Duke

THE LOVELESS DUKE A HISTORICAL REGENCY ROMANCE NOVEL PATRICIA HAVERTON CONTENTS A Sweet Gift For You Before You Start Reading… Are you an avid reader? 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 Epilogue Extended Epilogue Preview: His Scarred Duchess Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Also by Patricia Haverton Loved this book? About the Author A SWEET GIFT FOR YOU Thank you for supporting my efforts. Having you beside me on this wonderful journey means everything to me. As a Thank You gift I have one of my full-length novels here for you. The Last Lady of Thornhill Manor is only available to people who have downloaded one of my books and you can get your free copy by clicking this link here. Once more, thanks a lot for your love and support. Patricia Haverton 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! ⇧ ARE YOU AN AVID READER? If you loved this novel, click here to choose from a variety of books like this one by this author! Just click on the image above! ⇧ If this wasn’t your cup of tea, you can select another trope more to your liking here! ABOUT THE BOOK “I can’t marry you knowing you will never love me in return” Lady Alicia has all but cultivated her reputation as a bluestocking. A fact she regrets now, that she is in desperate need of a match. A match to save her and her family… Richard, the Duke of Galpin, refuses to fall in love. Even as his mother nags him daily, he knows where his priorities lie. Still, when he realizes the stunning, opinionated lady he met at a ball is in need, he devises a plan to help them both. They agree to marry on one condition: neither one is allowed to fall in love! When Alicia realizes she cannot keep that vow, she has a choice to make: marry him without saying a word, or speak and lose him forever… CHAPTER 1 “Richard, are you listening to me? Because I really think this is the perfect opportunity for you.” Richard Blackmore, the Duke of Galpin, was not listening. Rather, he was musing that some men had mothers who lived in the countryside, where they were blissfully too far away to meddle. Richard, alas, was not one of these men. “Of course I’m listening, Mother,” he lied. Generally speaking, he was glad to have his family nearby. He loved his mother quite dearly and was glad the spirit of the Season was helping to shake off some of the shadows of grief that she had carried around with her ever since his father had died five years prior. He even took some pleasure in squiring about his mother and his sister Harriet to various soirees, musicals and other Society events. “Everyone will be here, that’s all I’m saying. Lady Morton is a consummate hostess, and no doubt all the eligible ladies will be in attendance, or at least all the ones who matter.” This caught Richard’s attention and snapped him out of his reflection. “The eligible gentlemen, you mean.” His mother shot him a surprised look from where she clung to his arm. She held him in a vice-like grip as if she feared he might try to escape. “Of course I don’t mean gentlemen, Richard. What on earth are you talking about?” And suddenly, Richard realised she was at it again. “Mother,” he said. They were entering the thick of the party now, so he kept the note of warning in his voice low. “We have talked about this. This is Harriet’s season.” His mother scoffed, “Don’t be ridiculous, Richard, of course it’s still your sister’s season. It’s just that this is an opportunity that you shouldn’t waste, either.” “I am not looking for a bride—” He cut himself off. He was already becoming irritated, and this was not the place. Besides, it wasn’t as though his mother was paying him any mind. “You are a duke, Richard,” his mother was saying, even as she nodded to various ladies with the regal gentility that befitted her status as a dowager duchess. “Yes, Richard,” murmured Harriet from where she held, considerably more gently, onto his other arm. “Hadn’t you heard? You’re a duke.” Richard flashed his sister a look of reproof that lacked any real heat, and Harriet’s polite smile slipped, for just a moment, into a wicked grin. Their mother ignored their banter. “And a duke,” she continued, “has responsibilities.” “Do you think she’s about to talk about land management?” Harriet asked her brother innocently. “Tenancy agreements?” Richard supposed it was ungentlemanly to tell a lady to shush in public, even if the lady in question was one’s younger sister. Harriet seemed determined to take advantage of this. “A duke must marry. And if you must marry…“ “Not land management, then,” Harriet said. Richard prayed for patience. “…then I don’t see why you shouldn’t take my advice and court Lady Margaret. Your father and I had a very happy marriage, you know, so I do know what I’m talking about.” “I am not looking for a wife,” Richard said again as if perhaps the dozenth time would stick. “And I am certainly not looking for a love match.” He spat the words as if they tasted of poison. Deborah Blackmore ignored her son’s tone. If it wouldn’t have been terribly unladylike, he thought she might have rolled her eyes. “Don’t be absurd, Richard,” she chided. “Everyone wants what your father and I had.” Not everyone. “Lady