A Duke Always Has a Secret

The London season, when the aristocracy descended upon London for its grand balls, garden parties, and other salacious meetings behind closed doors. Where ladies draped in glittering jewels and beautiful ballgowns tried their best to attract the attention of London's most eligible and wealthy bachelors. Those same bachelors did their best to avoid the matchmaking mothers who would like nothing more than to see them firmly caught in the parson's trap. The scandal sheets were filled with exploits of the men and women that dared to skirt propriety.
A heartbroken Catherine Gray, sister to the Duke of Hawksford, has fled London to join her aunt in Brighton. Determined to have her own adventures, Catherine's antics caused quite a stir and when she ends up in scandal sheets as well, her brother summons her back to London much to her chagrin. Catherine knew she would have to return eventually to London. She was the sister to a wealthy and powerful duke and would need to marry one day, but after the events of last season, she was not as eager as she should be to return to the midst of London's elite ton.
Lady Catherine Gray had loved her brother's best friend, Michael Shelbourne, Duke of Leicester, another one of London's infamous rakes, since she was a young girl. She had tried to catch his eye at every turn and thought that her first season would be the time he finally noticed her. Unfortunately, she discovered that Leicester may never return her affections. Now, she would begrudgingly return to London, completely free of her infatuation with the duke and ready to prove her affections for Leicester were the musings of a young girl.
At least that was the plan, but it seems that fate had other ideas.
Michael Shelbourne, Duke of Leicester had known Catherine Gray for most of her life. When she returns to London and refuses to acknowledge him, he is confounded by her behavior. She was more beautiful than he remembered and now faced with the possibility of seeing her with another, he realized he had made a terrible mistake.
Trying to win back her affections is harder than he imagined it would be, and Catherine is not the same woman he knew before. When a dangerous secret comes between them, will the connection they have to each other be enough to overcome the perils ahead or will he lose her again, this time for good.