The Duchess He Never Wanted
(2026)(The first book in the Unwanted Duchesses series)
A novel by Emma Dusk
‘He agreed to the marriage to spare her the scandal but he hadn’t agreed to want her.’
Edmund Blackwood, Duke of Wycliffe, has spent a decade earning the name society gave him. The Ice Duke does not lose his temper, does not lose at cards, and has never once been observed to lose his head over a woman. It is a reputation he built deliberately, and it has served him extremely well.
Lady Araminta Stratton has survived five Seasons on wit and careful calculation, refusing every man who looked at marriage and saw ownership. She has nothing left but her independence. Her father gambled away the rest.
Then a betrothal neither of them agreed to is announced across a crowded ballroom, and by morning there is no way out that does not ruin her.
So she sets her terms. Separate chambers. Authority over his household. And the freedom to build the school she has been planning since she was seventeen. He signs every one of them, which is the first thing about him she cannot explain.
What neither of them anticipated was the connecting door. Or how many nights they would both lie awake on either side of it.
But the woman who was once meant to be his duchess has not forgotten what she lost, and she has found a man willing to be paid for a single well-timed scandal. One ruined reputation is all it will take to undo a marriage that was never supposed to matter to either of them.
He married her because he had no choice. Staying married to her is going to cost him everything he built to keep himself safe.
Deliciously steamy, slow burn to searing. A standalone historical romance with a guaranteed happily ever after. Book 1 of The Unwanted Duchesses.
No cheating. No cliffhangers. Just a heartwarming happily ever after.
Also available with Kindle Unlimited!
Genre: Historical
Edmund Blackwood, Duke of Wycliffe, has spent a decade earning the name society gave him. The Ice Duke does not lose his temper, does not lose at cards, and has never once been observed to lose his head over a woman. It is a reputation he built deliberately, and it has served him extremely well.
Lady Araminta Stratton has survived five Seasons on wit and careful calculation, refusing every man who looked at marriage and saw ownership. She has nothing left but her independence. Her father gambled away the rest.
Then a betrothal neither of them agreed to is announced across a crowded ballroom, and by morning there is no way out that does not ruin her.
So she sets her terms. Separate chambers. Authority over his household. And the freedom to build the school she has been planning since she was seventeen. He signs every one of them, which is the first thing about him she cannot explain.
What neither of them anticipated was the connecting door. Or how many nights they would both lie awake on either side of it.
But the woman who was once meant to be his duchess has not forgotten what she lost, and she has found a man willing to be paid for a single well-timed scandal. One ruined reputation is all it will take to undo a marriage that was never supposed to matter to either of them.
He married her because he had no choice. Staying married to her is going to cost him everything he built to keep himself safe.
Deliciously steamy, slow burn to searing. A standalone historical romance with a guaranteed happily ever after. Book 1 of The Unwanted Duchesses.
No cheating. No cliffhangers. Just a heartwarming happily ever after.
Also available with Kindle Unlimited!
Genre: Historical
Used availability for Emma Dusk's The Duchess He Never Wanted