Dukes and Secrets: Book 1
Publication Date: July 20, 2023
Brooding Duke. Notorious rake. Driven by grief. Forcing his enemy’s daughter into marriage for revenge. About to lose his heart.
Vengeance. Preston Seaton, the Duke of Grandhampton will bring down the man who killed his brother through any means necessary. So when Lord Neville Beckett auctions off his daughter’s hand in marriage to pay his debts, Preston makes a bid Beckett can’t refuse—evidence of murder.
Dreaming of a career as an artist, Penelope welcomes her future as a spinster. So when her father accepts the proposal of a man who despises her, she longs to flee. But she cannot abandon her poor, old father to his destruction. Moving into the powerful duke’s huge mansion, she wonders if she will ever escape this cold, dark prison.
Convinced Penelope played his brother for a fool and got him killed, Preston has no intention of losing his heart. But the sunny artist is soon filling his home with light and joy. Could a forced marriage forged from hatred ever lead to true happiness? And can Preston forgive himself for desiring the only woman his brother ever loved?
Penelope Beckett is the center of attention at the exclusive first ball of the London season at Almack’s, but why? This is Penelope’s third season, and without having received attention during the first two, she can’t imagine what has brought about this change. Enter Preston Seaton, the new Duke of Grandhampton, who singles Penelope out not only at the ball but later makes his intentions known when he thwarts Penelope’s father, Lord Nevelle Beckett’s plans to auction his daughter’s hand by outbidding all others with something in a red leather folder.
Sound intriguing? All Duke and Bothered by Mariah Stone is just getting started.
Preston Seaton despises Penelope Beckett just as much as she seemingly does him. Penelope’s connection to Preston is having been friends with Preston’s older brother, Spencer, until his untimely death. Preston holds Penelope in contempt and swears, at all costs, that he will make her father pay for Spencer’s demise.
Lord Beckett’s gambling has left him deeply in debt, and his creditor is demanding payment. Preston has learned from an informant that Lord Beckett paid to have his brother “roughed up” in an effort to dissuade his attentions to Penelope. Unfortunately, the incident went too far, and Spencer was killed. Preston holds proof of Lord Beckett’s complicity in the scheme and uses that as the winning bid for Penelope’s hand. He has no intention of loving her, only making her pay for how he believes she led his brother on with her uncaring manipulations and wiles.
Through the plot’s twists and turns, feelings start to change, but following one setback after another, Preston and Penelope wonder if they will ever be able to truly trust one another or if they’re fated to live separate, loveless lives.
While the plot of All Duke and Bothered is quite interesting, the writing would have benefited from an editor truly familiar with the Regency Era who would have recognized and eliminated the slips and usage of modern-day phrases and terms that would have been unknown to these Regency Era characters.
Likewise, the many intimate moments are heavy-handed and crude and would have better served the flow of the story if the characters’ passions and desires had been tempered and conveyed more tastefully.
All Duke and Bothered is a far-ranging Regency romance where Penelope and Preston circle, wary of each other, unaware they’re both hiding behind defensive walls, while their inner longings seek true love, openness, and vulnerability. 
When time travel romance writer Mariah Stone isn’t busy writing strong modern women falling back through time into the arms of hot Vikings, Highlanders, and pirates, she chases after her toddler and spends romantic nights on North Sea with her husband. Mariah speaks six languages, loves Outlander, sushi and Thai food, and runs a local writer’s group. Subscribe to Mariah’s newsletter for a free time travel book today!
