Her Stepmother Sent Her to the Duke as a Joke – He Offered Her a Chair Before He Said a Word

of the carriage ride in the rain, the threadbare cloak, the four shillings in her pocket. She thought of the joke her stepmother had played, designed to destroy her. It had been a cruel joke.

But as Alistair’s lips pressed into her forehead, warm and fiercely protective, Norah decided she quite liked the punchline.