Mésalliance
Reluctantly shopping for a wife, the Duke of Rockliffe has simple requirements: someone with enough poise to chaperone his sister Nell, who won't bore him senseless in the process. He can't find both in one woman, until a house party he's dragged to introduces him to Adeline Kendrick, whose acid tongue and unconventional looks provoke him far more than any conventional beauty ever has.
Adeline comes with an unfortunate family, including a spoiled cousin and a genuinely sadistic uncle, which rules her out as a serious prospect. But a scandalous turn of events forces Rockliffe's hand, pushing him toward exactly the kind of socially awkward marriage, a "mésalliance", that a duke is supposed to avoid at all costs.
Part of Stella Riley's Regency-set Rockliffe family series, the novel pairs a famously imperious hero with a heroine sharp enough to match him, wrapped in the series' trademark witty banter.
A composed, sharp-tongued duke reluctantly seeking a wife who won't bore him, and finding one he doesn't expect in Adeline Kendrick.
An acid-tongued, unconventionally alluring woman whose deplorable relatives make her an unlikely match for a duke.
Adeline's manipulative and sadistic uncle.
Rockliffe's sister, whom he is chaperoning at the house party where he meets Adeline.
