Showing results by author "Alexa Aston" in All Categories

A dutiful army officer who shuns intimacy. A selfless beauty ready to start living for herself. A chance meeting in the street that leads to love. When Major Spencer Haddock’s father dies, he returns to England as the Earl of Middlefield. He seeks a typical ton marriage, where his wife will provide him with an heir and possibly other children and then they go their separate ways. He intends to find his countess quickly and not waste time at boring social affairs.

A confident Colonel Winston Cutler finds himself a sudden duke when the brother he loathed perishes in a fire. Win returns to London, only to find he has two by-blow nephews to care for—and their specialty is running off their latest governess. Reserved Seraphina Nicholls returns to England after being stuck in Canada due to war with the Americans. Sera is slated to attend a house party, where she hopes to make a match with a man who is quiet and loyal. Instead, she finds herself volunteering to act as a governess to a neighboring duke's rowdy nephews.

Major Everett Wayland is stunned when his brother is murdered, making Ev the Duke of Camden. The shy duke meets a matchmaking beauty of the ton who, while unsuited to be his duchess, promises to help Ev find an appropriate woman to become his wife. Lady Adalyn Goulding is not easily intimidated and is a leader in polite society, occasionally matching couples together. Her cousin, Tessa, has made a love match and has a baby, causing Adalyn to rethink her stance on marriage. When she agrees to find a stodgy duke a bride who is dignified and unapproachable, Adalyn has no idea what she’s in for.

Major Owen Hasbury returns from the Napoleonic Wars as the new Earl of Danbury. He’s ready to enjoy life and make love to as many women as he can before settling down and siring an heir. His attitude irks his two closest friends, men who have come into recent titles and made love matches. Louisa Goulding has a reputation as a bit of a bluestocking. She has served as her father’s hostess since her mother’s death years ago and has been an active part of the meetings in their home with her father’s War Office colleagues, giving her little time for social events.

Lieutenant-Colonel Percival Perry maybe be reserved, but he is an outstanding army officer. When Percy receives news of his brother's accidental drowning, he is forced to sell his commission and take up his title as Marquess of Kingston. Nightmares of the war plague Percy even as he longs for a wife and family. When he meets an attractive, spirited woman, he can barely speak and knows he made a poor impression upon her.

Reed Davenport is a womanizer enjoying a carefree life until his beloved father dies. Now Viscount Boxling, Reed takes his responsibilities seriously, including providing an heir. He turns to the Duchess of Camden, famed for her matchmaking skills, and puts himself in her hands, hoping he will find not only his viscountess—but love.

A rule-following viscount who becomes a sudden duke . . . A young woman who loses her parents and turns to music for solace . . . Two people who want very different things from life . . . Lord Henry Vaughn witnesses the deaths of his father and grandfather and becomes the new Duke of Linberry. A decent, kind, and responsible man, Henry knows after this double tragedy that it is important he take a wife and provide a ducal heir since death can come calling unexpectedly. Lady Sophia Sawyer loses both her parents closely together and mourns them the requisite year.

A brutal attack leaves Major Devin Hunt missing two fingers. Unable to fire a gun, he sells his commission and takes refuge with a former fellow officer who has now become a duke. His friend offers Devin the opportunity to become the estate's steward and forge a new life. Lady Julia Birmingham loses both her parents just before she makes her come-out. Her half-brother, who never considered her family, banishes Julia from her childhood home, and she is forced to earn her living, eventually becoming the governess to the Duke of Woodmont's nephews.

Emery Jenson came to Wildwood ten years ago with her parents, hired to be the estate's steward and housekeeper. She has taken on more responsibility as her father's mind grows weak and now runs the ducal country seat. When the new duke shows up, she schemes to hide her father's deficiencies, believing the Duke of Winslow won't remain long.

Lady Samantha Wallace has been in love since childhood with her brother’s best friend, the Duke of Colebourne, but George only sees her as a little sister. She weds a viscount who is George’s opposite, only to find herself trapped in a miserable marriage. When she becomes a widow, she is held against her will and finally escapes, vowing to live life her own way and never be controlled again.

Phoebe Smythe, countess of Borwick, suffers a tragic miscarriage when she learns her husband and young son have been killed in a carriage accident. The grieving widow retreats to an isolated cottage on the coast of Cornwall, where she finds a smuggler who’s washed ashore, blood leaking from a bullet wound.

After returning to London from his Grand Tour, serious-minded Jeremy St. Clair, the Marquess of Sather, attends a ball and meets a luminescent beauty who draws him out of his shell. They share a searing kiss - her first - and though he never planned to wed, Jeremy desires to make this young woman his. But his life takes an unexpected turn when he leaves her that night.

A duke broken by a terrible secret.... Lady Elise Ruthersby is with child when her husband is killed, and the family awaits the birth to see who will be the new earl. A daughter arrives, relegating Elise to the status of a servant as she becomes the unpaid governess to her two nephews. Weston Wallace, the Duke of Treadwell, learns a devastating secret about his fiancée the night before their wedding, causing him to break their engagement. He becomes London’s most notorious rake, with a rule that he only beds a woman once.

Life radically changes for Arabella Jennings, the daughter of an Oxford don, when her father becomes the Earl of Barrington. She’s an intellectual who would rather be discussing Shakespeare’s works but now finds herself navigating the vicious waters of Polite Society.

Sebastian Cooper, Marquess of Marbury, chooses to leave England and fight in the Napoleonic Wars for a decade. He comes home to find his father has died and assumes his role as the new Duke of Hardwick. When Lady Hadley Hampton’s parents die, she is made a ward to the Duke of Hardwick, a man estranged from his only son. She reads Sebastian’s letters aloud to her guardian and over the years falls in love with the dashing war hero. Sebastian fights his growing attraction to Hadley, believing she deserves much more than the broken, scarred man he has become.

AD 1340 - After his treasonous father’s execution, Landon de Blays is raised alongside his cousin, the future King Edward III. Landon constantly fights to prove his own loyalty to the crown and becomes England’s youngest knight. Rewarded for bravery in battle, the king gifts Landon with a title and estate, something he’s longed for over the years as much as restoring his family’s good name. Cassiana Campion raises five brothers and nurses her ill father while managing Briarwood, her family’s estate.

Major Elijah Young never met his father, the Duke of Bradford, who believed his young wife betrayed him and gave birth to twins sired by another man. Now, two deaths have changed the trajectory of Elijah’s life—and he is the new duke. Elijah vows never to wed and father children, wanting the ducal line to end with him.

Eight titled peers who never expected to become dukes do just that—and are attracted to females whom Polite Society does not believe worthy of the title duchess, due to their desires to be more than typical ladies of the ton. But these sudden dukes choose to forge their own paths with the remarkable women who are already doing just that—and the resulting love proves that trusting one’s heart is always the right choice.

Wyatt Stanton served as a spy for Wellington until he receives word of his brother's death. Reluctantly, he returns to England as the Duke of Amesbury and to Amberwood, a place he once loved and was banished from after his brother falsely accused Wyatt of burning down the family stables with over two dozen horses inside. His soul seared by war, the man who lived for danger must now become a member of Polite Society and find himself a duchess so he has an heir.

Aaron Hartfield is forced to leave the army and return to England to claim a title he never wanted when his brother is killed in a scandalous duel. Hart's friends convince him to attend the season in order to find himself a duchess and provide an heir—but he has no interest in making a love match. After a disastrous come-out, bluestocking Olivia Knight retreats to her uncle's vicarage in the country for five years. With his death, she returns to London and finds her father and loathsome cousin planning to choose a husband for her.