A Most ImProper Dutchess

<p>**She played the perfect widow.</p><p> He returned with the truth that could destroy her.</p><p> Together they'll burn society to the ground.**</p><p> </p><p> London 1881. Eleanor Winthrop Duchess of Ashworth is the picture of propriety-beautiful composed and utterly alone in her gilded cage. Two years after her husband's suspicious death she hosts a memorial ball to mark the end of her mourning... and the beginning of her rebellion.</p><p> </p><p> But when Julian Thorne-her late husband's disgraced protégé and the only man who ever saw *her* not her title-walks back into her life Eleanor's carefully constructed facade begins to crack. Soon they're entangled in a web of opium smuggling political blackmail and a secret syndicate known only as *Hermes*-one that silenced her brother and may have killed her husband.</p><p> </p><p> As danger closes in and scandal erupts across London's drawing rooms Eleanor must choose: preserve her reputation... or risk everything for truth justice and a love she never dared imagine.</p><p> </p><p> **From bold new voice Abi Thomas comes a sensual suspenseful and fiercely feminist debut that redefines the Victorian romance-where the real scandal isn't desire... it's daring to be free.**</p><p> </p><p>*Perfect for fans of Bridgerton's heat Sarah MacLean's heroines and the gothic intrigue of Laura Purcell.*</p><p><br> </p>