Windi Lamb

The Hand She Was Dealt​

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Hugh doesn’t want to become his father, yet this marquess finds certain aspects of his life resembling the man he grew to hate for ruining his mother and his life. He has his eyes set on the duke, the source of his father’s failings and the reason for his mother’s trauma.

After pushing a moneyless baron into a corner, the duke intends to take the man’s daughter as a prize. When asked to step in and save the lady from a fate similar to his mother’s, Hugh can’t resist. But Claudine Pearl isn’t just any woman, and she stands between Hugh and his flawed beliefs about marriage and love.

Claudine hates society and all the stupid rules that go along with it. She wants independence and a man who won’t strong-arm her into an unhappy marriage. It was sheer luck that her childhood friend is now her fiancé, but like everything else, her father’s gambling habits risk ruining everything. Claudine finds herself as a prize whether she likes it or not, and a certain marquess thinks she is free for the taking.

Now, under the same roof, a solitary man with reservations and a woman without a plan must wait out the time it takes for Claudine’s father to pay off the rest of his debts. But the duke gets what he wants, and he wants Claudine.