Welcome to a matriarchal Regency England where laws are made in the House of Ladies, titles are passed from mother to daughter, and women know what they want in the bedroom.
BY ZORA DUFFERIN
FIRST IN THE SPADES SERIES: Lady Duke
“Lady Duke” is a gender-flipped Regency Romance where Louise Harrington, Viscount Linden, is in immediate need of a suitable husband, but instead finds herself falling for the handsome village carpenter.
MEET THE SPADES
QUOTES
Excerpts from "Lady Duke"
“I am going to give you a timeline,” the duke stated. “You have dawdled for nine years, and you would dawdle forever without a limit. You will be wed and with child within a year.”
“A year!” Louise exclaimed, shocked out of her resolution to stay stoic.
“A year,” repeated her mother calmly. “Or you can expect no more handouts from me.”
It was not long before a glimpse of her estate appeared between the trees. The trees parted and Louise could see the thatched roof and wooden bracing on the top half of the home. Archibald trotted down the lane, and Louise pulled him to a stop at the gate to take in the house that gave the village its name. It was a solid manor home, built in the middle ages with Kentish ragstone, surrounded on all sides by a square moat. One would not describe it with words like “grand” or “elegant” but rather words like “squat” and “impenetrable.” Seeing it now reminded Louise of how eager she had been to leave Ivy Hatch when she went off to boarding school at thirteen.
Louise hopped off Archibald and came to pet his nose, then felt a prickling between her shoulder blades. She looked over her shoulder to find Mr. James watching her.
He was standing beside the water pump, some small puddles at his feet providing evidence of his recent ablutions. Louise did not have to look farther than the man himself, though, to see that he had recently been… washing. The dratted man was wet.
“Then I will see you at the assembly. Good day, Mr. James,” she said with a wide grin, walking backward for two paces before spinning around again.
“Good day, my lady!” he called after her. He watched her walk away, her stride quick and enthralling. What was he doing? He hardly ever participated in village affairs, but one word from Viscount Linden and he was smiling into her eyes, agreeing to whatever she asked. He was in deep, deep trouble.
And he had no idea what he was going to wear!
“He said my dear lady, it would be my honour. That man!” Louise exclaimed. “I do declare, Kitty, that I don’t know how I keep my feet under me when I’m kissing him. My knees turn to jelly and I all but swoon in his arms.” She flopped back on the sofa and covered her face with a cushion. “I swear I shall burn right up if I don’t bed that man immediately.”
She felt the sofa depress beside her as Kathryn moved to sit next to her and pried the cushion away from her face. She was grinning widely at her.
“So you’ll bed him, just as Mélanie suggested. Then you’ll tell your staid, married friend all about it so she can live vicariously through you.”
Louise tossed the cushion at her and straightened.
“I will do no such thing!” she exclaimed with put-on haughtiness. “Some things are private.”
ABOUT ZORA DUFFERIN
Zora Dufferin is the pen name of best friends turned writing partners, Lara Mrkoci and Lauren Acton.
Lara and Lauren met at age 15 in London, Ontario, and bonded over their love of good books, cute boys, and tea with scones.
Now based in Toronto, Lauren is a professor of performing arts at Centennial College and Lara is an actor, and a television editor for shows such as “The Great Canadian Baking Show.”