The Portrait of a Duchess
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- £1.99
Publisher Description
The scandalous women of the SOCIETY OF SIRENS are back with an explosive secret…their ranks include a duchess in disguise
Once upon a time she married in secret…
An activist painter of radicals and harlots, Cornelia Ludgate dismisses love and marriage as threats to freedom. But when an inheritance gives her the chance to fund the cause of women’s rights—on the condition she must wed—she is forced to reveal a secret: she’s already married. To a man she hasn’t seen for twenty years.
Oh…and her husband is a duke.
A horse breeder with a clandestine taste for revolution, Rafe Goodwood never expected to become a duke. But now that the title is his, he is plotting to shock the ruling class with ambitions of reform—and reveal the infamous Cornelia is his duchess. That just presents one problem: he must not fall in love with her—again.
Now they must resist the temptation to rekindle an affair...
Although determined not to sacrifice her principles for passion, Cornelia is still drawn to the man whose very being threatens her independence. Hurt too many times, Rafe can’t risk love again—especially with the woman who once shattered his heart. But a conspiracy to upend the inequalities of the aristocracy bring Cornelia and Rafe closer, forcing them to finally decide what—and who—they hold dear.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Peckham joyfully revisits the society-flouting women of Regency England's Society of Sirens, moving away from the heavy gothic tone of the first installment, The Rakess, to introduce portraitist Cornelia Ludgate. Mixed-race orphan Cornelia was raised as the Duke of Rosemere's ward until she was compromised at 18 and fled a forced marriage for Italy to build an art career. Only one man knows that her flight was built on an (extremely implausible) Gretna Green elopement—Rafe Goodwood, her white groom, now elevated to Rosemere's dukedom by a string of Spinal Tap–worthy fatal mischances befalling all other possible heirs. When Rafe knocks on Cornelia's door after 20 years apart, Cornelia perceives him as an unwelcome reminder of monogamy's strictures. Moreover, he's presumably a Tory, embodying everything that radical Cornelia loathes. But he carries news of an inheritance (with strings) and owns a lavish estate perfect for staging Society of Sirens shenanigans. In short, he's both risk and reward, and Cornelia doesn't hesitate to grasp opportunity—and its pleasures—with both hands. Her principled glee in demolishing social norms brings a welcome breath of fun to this series, and Rafe's hidden depths make him a worthy love interest. Readers will be swept away.
