The Duke's Stolen Bride

Marian Langley needs money for her family, who are poor and depending on her. Her answer is a scandalous one: she will become a courtesan so skilled and in such demand that she can name her own terms and keep charge of her body and her future. What she lacks is a teacher.

She takes the proposal to Nathaniel, Duke of Warrington, known in London as the Depraved Duke. He pays for his pleasures and asks for nothing beyond them. Marian wants him to train her without taking her virtue, and the idea intrigues him enough to agree.

The lessons in seduction soon run past what either of them planned, and Nate finds his control slipping. Then a man blackmails Marian into an engagement that would end her freedom. Nate acts on impulse and carries her off, though he has never meant to marry again.

The question left standing is whether he can offer the real marriage Marian insists on. This is a historical romance between a rake and a woman who negotiates for herself, with a sensual thread running through the tutoring. It is the fifth book in Sophie Jordan's Rogue Files series.