DARING DUCHESSES

       They’ll scandalise the Ton

      Back in society after becoming widows,

      three duchesses dare to contemplate the

      wicked delights of taking a lover …

      Except they haven’t bargained on the

      gentlemen who rise to the challenge being

      quite so gloriously devilish!

      SOME LIKE IT WICKED

      December 2012

      SOME LIKE TO SHOCK

      January 2013

      Also read Sophia’s story

      SOME LIKE IT SCANDALOUS

      November 2012 Historical Undone!

       AUTHOR NOTE

      Welcome to the second story in my world of the Daring Duchesses. The introduction to these two books appeared in the Historical Undone! eBook, SOME LIKE IT SCANDALOUS, which told Dante and Sophia’s story.

      This book is about Pandora and Rupert.

      The stories of these three duchesses, and the men with whom they fall in love, have been especially fun to write. The women are all so different, and their background stories equally so, yet their friendship, although newly formed, is one that they all know will endure. Just as they know the love each one finds with the gentleman of their dreams will last a lifetime.

      Enjoy!

      About the Author

      CAROLE MORTIMER was born in England, the youngest of three children. She began writing in 1978, and has now written over one hundred and fifty books for Harlequin Mills & Boon^®. Carole has six sons: Matthew, Joshua, Timothy, Michael, David and Peter. She says, ‘I’m happily married to Peter senior; we’re best friends as well as lovers, which is probably the best recipe for a successful relationship. We live in a lovely part of England.’

       Previous novels by the same author:

       In Mills & Boon^® Historical Romance:

THE DUKE’S CINDERELLA BRIDE*

      THE RAKE’S INDECENT PROPOSAL*

      THE ROGUE’S DISGRACED LADY*

      LADY ARABELLA’S SCANDALOUS MARRIAGE*

THE LADY GAMBLES**

      THE LADY FORFEITS**

      THE LADY CONFESSES**

*The Notorious St Claires

**The Copeland Sisters

      You’ve read about The Notorious St Claires in Regency times. Now you can read about the new generation in Mills & Boon® Modern™ Romance:

       The Scandalous St Claires:

       Three arrogant aristocrats—ready to be tamed!

      JORDAN ST CLAIRE: DARK AND DANGEROUS

      THE RELUCTANT DUKE

      TAMING THE LAST ST CLAIRE

      Carole Mortimer has written a further 150 novels for Modern^™ Romance, and in Mills & Boon^® Historical Undone! eBooks:

      AT THE DUKE’S SERVICE

      CONVENIENT WIFE, PLEASURED LADY

SOME LIKE IT SCANDALOUS†

† Daring Duchesses

       Did you know that these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Some Like It

      Wicked

      Carole Mortimer

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      To Peter, With All My Love

       Chapter One

       May 1817—Highbury House, London

      ‘Do smile, Pandora; I am sure that neither Devil nor Lucifer intends to gobble you up! At least … it is to be hoped, not in any way you might find unpleasant.’

      Pandora, widowed Duchess of Wyndwood, did not join in her friend’s huskily suggestive laughter as they approached the two gentlemen Genevieve referred to so playfully. Instead she felt her heart begin to pound even more rapidly in her chest, her breasts quickly rising and falling as she took rapid, shallow breaths in an effort to calm her feelings of alarm, and the palms of her hands dampened inside the lace of her gloves.

      She did not know either gentleman personally, of course. Both men were in their early thirties whereas she was but four and twenty, and she had never been a part of the risqué crowd which surrounded them whenever they deigned to show themselves in society. Nevertheless, she had recognised them on sight as being Lord Rupert Stirling, previously Marquis of Devlin and now Duke of Stratton, and his good friend, Lord Benedict Lucas, two gentlemen who had, this past dozen years or so, become known more familiarly amongst the ton as Devil and Lucifer. So named for their outrageous exploits, both in and out of ladies’ bedchambers.

      The same two gentlemen Genevieve had moments ago suggested might be considered as likely candidates as lovers now that their year of mourning for their husbands was over …

      ‘Pandora?’

      She gave a shake of her head. ‘I do not believe I can be a party to this, Genevieve.’

      Her friend gave her arm a gently reassuring squeeze. ‘We are only going to speak to them, darling. Play hostess for Sophia whilst she deals with the unexpected arrival of the Earl of Sherbourne.’ Genevieve glanced across the ballroom to where the lady appeared to be in low but heated conversation with the rakish Dante Carfax, a close friend of Devil and Lucifer.

      Just as the three widows were now close friends …

      It was sheer coincidence that Sophia Rowlands, Duchess of Clayborne, Genevieve Forster, Duchess of Woollerton, and Pandora Maybury, Duchess of Wyndwood, had all been widowed within weeks of each other the previous spring. The three women, previously strangers, had swiftly formed an alliance of sorts when they had emerged from their year of mourning a month ago, drawn to each other by their young