Melissa Taverner has literary ambitions and the fixed determination to remain an independent spinster. Lord Henry Cary, fourth son of a duke, appears to be a conventional diplomat – until Melissa realises that he is not at all what he seems. Before she knows what is happening she is not only friends with the really rather decorative gentleman, but she is embroiled in his hazardous secret world. Even so, she sees no reason why she cannot continue in her independent way of life, even in the face of scandal. And then Melissa finds herself asking the last question she ever imagined would pass her lips …

Louise is the author of over seventy historical romances and several history non-fiction titles, all set in the “long” Regency period. After a career in public libraries she took early retirement to write full time. She now lives on the North Norfolk coast with her husband and a garden full of bossy pheasants. Travel is a major love of hers, always with her laptop to hand in case inspiration for a book strikes.