The Hush, Duchess! Series by Emmelyn Starlington

He’s London’s most celebrated scoundrel. She’s the one woman immune to his charm. It’s a match made in hell, and the King has just ordered it to happen. Adrian Hawthorne, the Duke of Blackmere, has built his reputation on two a devastating smile and a talent for turning scandal into performance. The ton calls him the “Kissing Bandit,” a title he has earned in the boudoirs and on the balconies of every great house in London. His life is a magnificent game of conquest, and he has never lost... moreHe’s London’s most celebrated scoundrel. She’s the one woman immune to his charm. It’s a match made in hell, and the King has just ordered it to happen. Adrian Hawthorne, the Duke of Blackmere, has built his reputation on two a devastating smile and a talent for turning scandal into performance. The ton calls him the “Kissing Bandit,” a title he has earned in the boudoirs and on the balconies of every great house in London. His life is a magnificent game of conquest, and he has never lost. Until he kisses the wrong woman. After a single, reckless kiss with a prince’s fiancée, Adrian’s spectacular career as a rogue comes to a screeching halt. A royal decree is to save his reputation and avoid a lifetime inspecting the royal sewers, the Duke must marry an unimpeachable lady within the month. Suddenly, the most sought-after man in England is a pariah, shunned by every respectable family in the peerage. His only option is Lady Celia Whitby. A woman so proper, so plain, and so profoundly silent, she is less a person and more a walking portrait of quiet dignity. She is the perfect, boring solution to his scandalous problem. But Adrian’s problem is only just beginning. His wedding night performance, a masterpiece of seduction designed to melt the iciest of hearts, is met with a polite, "Thank you, Your Grace. Are we finished? " His legendary charm shatters against her wall of calm indifference. His every grand gesture fails. His most passionate assaults are met with the placid, observant gaze of a naturalist studying an interesting but unremarkable beetle. Trapped in a passionless marriage in private and forced to perform the role of a "smitten duke" in public, Adrian is a man on the brink of madness. He, who lives for the applause of a blush or a gasp, is being driven to obsession by the one woman who refuses to react. He must break through her silence. He must get a response. He must conquer the one woman who doesn’t seem to know a game is even being played. But what happens when a scoundrel’s desperate quest to get a reaction accidentally becomes a mission to win his silent wife’s heart? less

The “Kiss Bandit” is married—but his honeymoon is over before it even begins. Adrian Hawthorne, Duke of Blackmere, has finally achieved the he has made a fragile, passionate peace with his quiet, stunning wife Celia. But the morning papers explode with a headline that ruins everything. A famous actress, Isabella Dubois, claims that the duke once promised her his heart—and may have left her with a living consequence of their affair... moreThe “Kiss Bandit” is married—but his honeymoon is over before it even begins. Adrian Hawthorne, Duke of Blackmere, has finally achieved the he has made a fragile, passionate peace with his quiet, stunning wife Celia. But the morning papers explode with a headline that ruins everything. A famous actress, Isabella Dubois, claims that the duke once promised her his heart—and may have left her with a living consequence of their affair. Overnight, London's most popular charmer becomes the most hunted man in town. His reputation is in tatters, the Crown threatens exile, and his mother demands that he quickly set things right—by staging a love marriage so convincing that it will stifle the gossip. There is only one his wife. Celia meets the chaos with uncanny calm. In the ballroom, she is ice. In the bedroom, she is fire. Adrian can't decide if she's punishing him or driving him mad. Desperate to prove his innocence—and win back her attention—he devises his boldest plan a new ducal duty he calls “The Midnight Lessons”—a curriculum of private, scorching lessons in the art of passion. He will teach his wife how to behave like a woman in love. Unfortunately, his “student” turns out to be a silent, stunning expert who destroys his lessons kiss by kiss. Now the duke faces his most ludicrous dilemma a scandal he cannot refute and a wife he cannot outwit. He came to teach her passion. .. But in the end, she may be the one teaching him a lesson. A duchess, a duke, and a curriculum of chaos. The midnight lessons were meant to save his reputation—not ruin his self-control. less

He’s a rake, ruined. She’s a wife, relentless. This isn’t physical therapy. It’s a conquest. Adrian, the Duke of Blackmere, is the most notorious stud in England. Or he was. After a “friendly” horse race against his rival, Prince Leopold, ends with a suspicious and devastating fall, Adrian is left… compromised. The doctors whisper the the injury to his “noble parts” is so severe, he may never be able to perform his full ducal duties again. The Blackmere line, it seems, will end with him... moreHe’s a rake, ruined. She’s a wife, relentless. This isn’t physical therapy. It’s a conquest. Adrian, the Duke of Blackmere, is the most notorious stud in England. Or he was. After a “friendly” horse race against his rival, Prince Leopold, ends with a suspicious and devastating fall, Adrian is left… compromised. The doctors whisper the the injury to his “noble parts” is so severe, he may never be able to perform his full ducal duties again. The Blackmere line, it seems, will end with him. His pride is broken, his rivals are circling, and his new, unreadable, and terrifyingly quiet wife is being entirely too polite about his… ahem… “shortcoming. ”. But the world, which sees Lady Celia as a tragic, untouched bride, is wrong. Celia is an observer, and she sees not a tragedy, but a problem to be solved. She is done being polite. She is done waiting. If her husband is too broken to take charge, she will. Her “recovery sessions” are sensual, strategic, and, most terrifying of all, scheduled. What begins as a gentle re-education in pleasure (and basic anatomy) quickly escalates into a series of advanced lessons involving locked doors, silk cravats, and a level of dominance that has the duke wondering just who, exactly, is conquering whom. But Prince Leopold’s “accident” was just the beginning. The enemy doesn’t just want Adrian humiliated; he wants the Blackmere line ended for good. As the real danger closes in, Adrian must surrender his last scrap of pride to the one woman who can put him back together. But he’ll have to survive her “therapy” first. A sizzling, high-heat romp where the only thing more dangerous than the villain… is the Duchess. less