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Author Note

      This ebook novella is the introduction to my new Regency quartet, Dangerous Dukes.

      All of the books in this miniseries are set in the time immediately before, during and after Napoleon’s escape from Elba, and the chaotic hundred days that followed that escape.

      Bad as well as dangerous, these fearless dukes all wage war against the Corsican in their own unique way, some openly, some not so overtly, and they somehow all manage to meet and fall in love with the woman meant just for them! Fiesty and independent heroines, who are a perfect match for these Dangerous Dukes.

      Books three and four will appear in 2015, preceded by another ebook prequel.

      I realize that actually makes six Dangerous Dukes in all, but once I started writing the series I just couldn’t seem to stop at four!

      Enjoy!

      MILLS & BOON

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Dedication

      Peter, my forever hero.

      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       Title Page

Author Note

Dedication

Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       About the Author

       Extract

       Copyright

Chapter One

      February 1815 Worthing House, London

      ‘Forgive me, Lady Armitage, but for a brief moment I was sure I heard you request that I tutor you in the art of making love to and with a man before you take a lover!’

      Julianna remained unmoved by the hard and derisive smile that accompanied Marcus Wilding’s drawled dismissal of such a notion ever being possible. ‘There is nothing wrong with your hearing, Your Grace. Except perhaps for me to add that I made a statement of intent, rather than a request,’ she added with the same determination she knew to be evident in the sharp tilt of her chin.

      The Duke of Worthing’s brows rose up beneath the rakish fall of his ebony hair as he now regarded her with icy and pale green eyes through narrowed lids. ‘“A statement of intent”?’

      Julianna was not fooled for a moment by the mildness of the duke’s tone, or the relaxed way in which his long and elegant length lay sprawled in the chair opposite her own in the blue salon of his London home. She was only too aware that this particular gentleman was at his most threatening when he appeared to be at his most reasonable.

      He and her own brother, and three of their closest friends, were not known in society as The Dangerous Dukes because of their pleasing and easygoing natures. Nor were they named such solely on the basis of their reputation on the battlefield. Their exploits in the bedchamber were equally as scandalous. Enough so that most of society’s marriage-minded mamas knew better than to allow their daughters anywhere near the rakish bachelors. And Julianna had good reason to suspect Marcus Wilding was the most dangerous of them all.

      Not that she cared a whit about his reputation; remarrying was the very last thing on her mind where Worthing, or any other gentleman, was concerned.

      Nevertheless, she was still glad that she had refused to relinquish her black cloak to the duke’s butler on her arrival. That garment was succeeding not only in covering her completely from shoulders to ankles, but also in hiding the trembling of her gloved hands beneath its voluminous folds. Her pale grey bonnet, unfortunately, only concealed the vibrant red of her hair, and not the pallor of the face beneath its brim.

      A face that Julianna now forced to appear calm and composed as she looked across at Marcus with unflinching dark grey eyes. He had been a friend of her brother, Christian, and so she knew this gentleman well enough to know he was perfectly capable of exploiting any sign of weakness. ‘A statement of intent,’ she confirmed evenly.

      ‘Indeed.’ He continued to look at her with those pale green eyes between dark lashes that were wickedly long and thick,

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