'A Lady with unexpected interests and few prospects, a Duke with a vow to keep, a Christmas House Party, an accidental meeting, a plot to compromise, a trail of feathers, a love born of defiance.
'Lady Charity Pemberton is prone to being blunt, and does not fit in all that well with society – she would rather ride or walk across the countryside, and indulge her habit of collecting feathers. When she finds herself invited to a Christmas house party, at which it is rumoured the Duke of Oakmoor will choose a bride, she is quite certain that he would never consider her. Her mother holds out greater hope – for their family finances are fragile, and Charity needs to marry well.
'Rafe Livingstone, the Duke of Oakmoor, made a vow to his mother a year ago, to choose a woman to marry by the following Christmas – a Christmas which is now but two weeks distant. Surrounded by the most recent batch of eligible young ladies who have been invited to his house party, his deadline for making a choice is looming. So far, none of the ladies inspire his interest. But, when out walking early one morning, he rounds the bend in the lane and collides with a lady he has not seen before, he is intrigued, despite himself.
'As Charity and Rafe discover more about each other, they are faced with the fact that someone, amongst the other young ladies, is plotting for her own advantage… and is quite willing to do whatever it takes to attract Rafe’s attentions, including discrediting her rivals.
'Can Charity overcome her own doubts, and act in time to prevent her reputation, or the Duke’s, being ruined?
'Will the Duke recognise, in time, that whilst Charity is nothing like the woman he expected to marry, she is everything that he wants?
'Will a trail of feathers bring them together, or be the leverage which forces them apart, forever?'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
