Never marry for love, it's the worst reason of all...
Finding herself under the unlikely guardianship of the kind but shambolic Duke of Holbrook, Tess Essex is suddenly faced with her duty: marry well and marry quickly. Once that's taken care of she can arrange matches for her three younger sisters: Annabel, Imogen and Josephine.
But just when everything looks like it might be in order Tess's own fiancé gets cold feet and one of her sisters elopes with a reckless young lord...
And is Tess really as sensible and proper as she thinks she is? Lucius Felton is a rogue whose own mother considers him irredeemable but he is delicious and obscenely wealthy...Surely she can't really be contemplating marriage to one of London's most infamous rakes?
Absurd as it seems Tess fears she may have fallen utterly and completely in love...
Eloisa James is a professor of English literature, specializing in Shakespeare. She teaches at Fordham University in New York City, and lives in New Jersey. Oxford University Press published her academic book in 2000. Eloisa's books have been translated into Dutch, Russian, German, Polish, French and Spanish. She is the daughter of poet Robert Bly (winner of the American Book Award for Poetry) and short story author Carol Bly. Eloisa’s godfather was the poet James Wright, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his Collected Poems. Among those poems – and one of Wright's most beloved – is a poem written for his goddaughter, Mary Bly (aka Eloisa James).