When a wounded soldier and self-proclaimed "beast" finds unlikely friendship with a headstrong and unconventional beauty, they quickly find themselves weaving a tale as old as time…   Despite a hero’s return to England from the Napoleonic Wars, Wesley Audley isolates from the ton. Deep wounds from the horrors of combat—and the despair of a broken heart—left him scarred. As he struggles to cope and resume his place in Polite Society, Wesley is quick to cut himself off from everyone…except for Ellie Balfour.    Independent and strong-willed, Ellie has dreams of captaining her own husband-free life and a penchant for meddling in other’s business. She knows befriending Wesley is a risk but Ellie can’t bear to see his heartache. Nor can she seem to silence all the temptingly intimate thoughts his nearness provokes.    But Ellie is yet to face a battle she can’t win—and Wesley’s heart is worth the fight. If only her campaigns ever went to plan… Praise for Christi Caldwell “Ribboned with subtleties about gender roles and class expectations that make this novel both thoughtful and delightful all at once.”—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author on Along Came a Lady   "Christi Caldwell's crisp, sparkling writing is infused with emotion, passion, and a belief in the healing power of love. This is terrific Regency romance!"—Amanda Quick , New York Times bestselling author "Emotional, funny, and filled with passion—everything I want in a romance.”—Lorraine Heath, New York Times bestselling author of The Duchess Hunt on Along Came a Lady “What historical romance is meant to be. I devoured every word. Christi Caldwell has become one of my favorite authors.”—Laura Lee Guhrke, New York Times bestselling author  "A charming, romantic love story that shows Regency romance isn't just about dukes and duchesses and love isn't just for the upper classes."—Maya Rodale, USA Today bestselling author on Along Came a Lady "A must-read for both fans and newcomers to Caldwell’s work.”— Library Journal “Packed with familial warmth and peppered with humor…An endearing romance.”— Kirkus on Desperately Seeking a Duchess Christi Caldwell is the USA Today bestselling author of the Sinful Brides series and the Heart of a Duke series. She blames novelist Judith McNaught for luring her into the world of historical romance. When Christi was at the University of Connecticut, she began writing her own tales of love—ones where even the most perfect heroes and heroines had imperfections. She learned to enjoy torturing her couples before they earned their well-deserved happily ever after. Christi lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she spends her time writing, and being a mommy to the most inspiring little boy and empathetic, spirited girls who, with their mischievous twin antics, offer an endless source of story ideas! Chapter 1 London, England One year later My dearest Wesley, I know I once said there was nothing more beautiful than a blue, cloud-filled sky. I was wrong. There is something far more magnificent . . . knowing I share that sky with you. Whenever I wish to feel closer to you, I just look up. Lovingly Yours Perched on the window seat, her knees drawn up to her chest, Ellie shifted her focus from the rain slanting in sideways sheets upon the pavement, a deluge that left her stuck indoors, to the couple curled up beside one another on the green button-back velvet-upholstered Chesterfield sofa. Cailin lay with her head on Courtland's lap and her legs flung over the rolled arm, reading from a letter, while Courtland remained with one hand stroking the top of his wife's head, and the other holding whatever title it was on fossils that so fascinated him and Cailin. Ellie forced her gaze away from the bucolic tableau they presented: a happily married couple, with the young wife's belly gently rounded from where their first babe rested. Courtland and Cailin had been gracious. Certainly more gracious than she deserved, or than her machinations had merited. But Ellie had been obliged to acknowledge one sad truth-her relationship with the pair had been forever altered. Following his marriage, and the pained lecture he'd doled out after he'd learned the truth about Ellie's involvement in his ruination, he'd stopped joining her in her gameplay, and instructed her to cease looking at the world as a battlefield plan there for Ellie to arrange. And that proved the greatest regret of her life. It shouldn't matter. Ultimately, in the end, all children were forced to hang up their scabbards and put away their wood pistols and swords and swap those pretend games for all that came with real life. Absently, Ellie traced a fingertip over the window. ". . . what is it, love? You've those frown lines you get here," Courtland was saying as he touched the place between Cailin's eyebrows. "When you are upset." With those quiet murmurings, his words revealed an intimate knowing of the woman he'd