For my readers who asked for the next generation of the Kents: thank you for dreaming with me and hope you enjoy!
And for my besties: “sisters first” will see us through!
About the Book
Olivia and the Masked Duke
(Lady Charlotte’s Society of Angels, #1)
© Grace Callaway, February 2021
ISBN: 978-1-939537-50-8
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Spirited debutante Lady Olivia McLeod has two interests: solving mysteries and winning the love of her rescuer and secret crush, the infamous Duke of Hadleigh. When Livy joins Lady Charlotte Fayne’s charity for young ladies and discovers that it is a front for an investigative agency, she is thrilled. Livy dedicates herself to solving a deadly case; little does she realize that the path to danger will also lead to her heart’s deepest desire.
Notorious widower Ben Wodehouse, the Duke of Hadleigh, has only one goal in mind: redemption. After his tortured past, he seeks salvation behind a mask, channeling his dark demons toward helping others. The last thing he wants or deserves is innocence. Yet temptation taunts him by transforming the little girl he once saved into an alluring vixen. A dozen years younger than him and the daughter of his friend, Livy is everything he cannot have…and everything he needs.
Will Olivia and Ben succeed in defeating a menacing foe? Will succumbing to their forbidden desires lead to their happily ever after? Find out in this slow burn, friends to lovers romance filled with adventure!
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Let the adventures begin…
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue
VIP Newsletter Bonus
Author’s Note
Notes
Also by Grace Callaway
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.
-Rainer Maria Rilke
1
1841, Strathmore Castle, Scotland, Estate of the Duke and Duchess of Strathaven
By hook or by crook, I am going to win, twelve-year-old Lady Olivia McLeod vowed as she left fresh tracks in the snowy field. Then the boys will have to admit that girls are just as clever, or cleverer, than they are.
It was the day before Hogmanay, the Scottish celebration of the New Year, and Livy’s parents, the Duke and Duchess of Strathaven, were hosting a party at the country seat. Friends and family had gathered to join in the festivities, including all of Mama’s siblings. Livy adored her aunts, uncles, and cousins from the Kent side of the family; when they were around, a rollicking good time was guaranteed to be had.
Indeed, Livy’s older cousins had designed a “treasure hunt” to amuse the children. A trail of clues led to a prize: a tin crown painted gold and decorated with paste jewels. Whoever retrieved the crown would be declared the winner of the contest and king—or queen—for the day.
The prize was a worthy one. Especially since Livy had overheard her younger brother Christopher and some of his cronies betting on which one of them would be king.
“Obviously, no girl is going to beat us,” the boys had all agreed.
Obviously? The fire of competition had ignited in Livy’s chest. Then and there, she’d resolved to make the boys eat their words, and there was one surefire way to do it: she would win.
Her goal would have been easier to accomplish had her bosom friends Glory and Fiona been there. Since the girls weren’t scheduled to arrive until after the new year, however, Livy had to tackle the task on her own. When the first clue had been distributed at breakfast, she’d gone straight to work. She’d solved the riddle, which led to the stables. There, she’d found the second clue, which took her to the billiards room. Whilst everyone had partaken of luncheon, she had hunted down the next slip of paper hidden in the strings of the pianoforte:
Find me behind the page that never ages.
She’d wasted hours in the library, searching through books for the mysterious page. Her pulse had quickened when she heard two of her male cousins outside in the hallway; were they about to catch up to her? Luckily, she was saved by the tea bell. At the tinkling summons, the boys scampered off to fill their bellies, leaving Livy to contemplate the riddle in peace.
As she’d rifled through a book of medieval poetry, the realization had struck her. She’d dashed to the gallery, stopping in front of an oil painting. The portrait showed a knight in leather armor, his metal helmet carried by an adolescent boy—his page. The page’s youth had been forever preserved in glowing paint.
Livy had slid her hand between the gilt frame and the wall, triumph surging as her fingers encountered a scrap of paper. Pulling it free, she’d unfolded it and read the scrawled words:
Felicitations, intrepid explorer. You hold in your hands the final clue:
Like Narcissus, I am captivated by my own glitter,
As I hang, suspended between earth and sky, where the wind is bitter.
Livy had hurried to her chamber to don her forest-green mantle, shoving the matching hat with a white plume over her chestnut curls and slinging a leather satchel she’d purloined from her brother across her shoulder. Exiting through the kitchens to avoid being seen—she had no desire to tip off her competitors—she’d managed to snag
