AustLit

'Relieved widow Marianne has vowed never to let a man have power over her again after surviving a hellish marriage. Determed to maintain her independence, she refuses to let her scheming nephew turn her into an unpaid governess for his daughters and takes refuge with Ellen, Countess of Havers at the countess’s first house party.

'Alexander Rotherhithe, Marquis of Glenkellie, never stopped loving Marianne despite the way she broke his heart by marrying another man. Finding her available again and setting her traps for more unwary young men, his anger flares - until he finds out the truth about Marianne’s marriage.

'Can Alexander accept the truth that she never intended to betray him - and can Marianne look past her fear and dare to love again?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Fainting at the feet of the handsome, extremely eligible young duke she is introduced to at her first London ball is the single most humiliating experience of Diana Creighton’s life. Learning she’s been nicknamed The Fainting Flower by the ton’s young bucks means her prospects aren’t likely to improve any time soon, so when Diana and her sister Clarissa are asked to accompany their aunt and her new husband on their honeymoon trip to Italy, they jump at the opportunity.

'It’s the trip of a lifetime, the chance to escape the humiliating gossip and the machinations of her matchmaking mother. But when one of the first people she encounters in Venice is the very same arrogant duke who caused her troubles in the first place, Diana realises she can’t run far or fast enough to escape.

'Although… Will Balford doesn’t seem nearly so stuffy and arrogant, away from the stifling expectations of the Ton. Possibly she doesn’t really want to get away from him after all…'

Source: Publisher's blurb.