Dukes By the Dozen

He slipped it onto her finger. “Cora Bradley, will you marry me?” He raised her hand to his lips to place a kiss to the ring. “Not the duke, but me. The man who loves you.”

Her heart was so full that she had no idea how it was able to keep beating. But it did, even as another tear slipped free. She rested her hand against his cheek, the ring shining in the sunlight.

“I wanted him to be you,” she admitted in a trembling whisper, unable to speak louder through the happiness that consumed her. “So much…” She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her cheek against his, sharing her heart’s last secret. “I love you, John. I love you.”

Then he kissed her, finally giving her the embrace she’d craved since the night of the masquerade—the one from the man whose name she now knew, a name she couldn’t wait to take as her own.

TWO MONTHS LETTER, they went together to the tree and pinned one last note to its trunk. Then she placed the old spoon ring onto the nail, not needing it now that it had been replaced just that morning by a gold wedding band.

To whomever comes across this note…We found this ring on the path, and then we found love. We dearly wish the same for you. Give it to the one you love, and let love open your hearts to a lifetime of possibilities. Together.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

As you probably realized, this novella is a Georgian adaptation of You’ve Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, which was itself a late 20^th century retelling of a by-then familiar story. Two people expressing their love through their letters is a story for the ages, to my knowledge stretching back to Eloise and Abelard in the 12^th century. A modern twist on the old story turned the two lovers into rivals. This was the version presented by Hungarian playwright Miklós László, whose 1937 play, Parfumerie, was the inspiration for the 1940 movie starring Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan, The Shop Around the Corner. In 1949, the play was turned into a movie musical, In the Good Old Summertime, starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson, and later into the Broadway musical, She Loves Me, in 1963, and finally into You’ve Got Mail in 1998.

No matter the time period or location, whether 1990s New York, 1930s Budapest, or 1800’s England, the essential lesson remains—the heart knows that the heart wants, and sometimes we only need to step out of its way to let love come.

Hello, my dear reader!

I hope you enjoyed spending time with Cora and John, because I had such a fun time writing their story. The hardest part? Figuring out how to turn the equivalent of modern-day emails into early 19^th century anonymous notes. But I think it all worked out just lovely, don’t you?

If you enjoy romances with hidden identities, you might enjoy the most recent books in my award-winning Capturing the Carlisles series. The Carlisle cousins are caught up in a web of treachery and treason in HOW THE EARL ENTICES, and the only person who can save them is a dead woman. And in WHAT A LORD WANTS, Evelyn Winslow’s need for adventure puts her into scandal—and into the arms of a notorious Italian painter, only to discover that he isn’t at all as he seems.

Society balls, dashing men, adventurous heroines, treachery at nearly every turn, spicy sex, and a spot of tea…what more could you want in a Regency romance?

Happy reading!

♥ Anna Harrington

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MUST LOVE DUKE

NOVEMBER

HEATHER SNOW

PREFACE

Lady Emmaline Paulson is destined to land a duke—at least that has been the expectation since she was a cherub faced babe. But she has no wish to live her life in a gilded cage, always on display. Besides, she already has her Duke—an adorable Cavalier King Charles spaniel pup she rescued from the Serpentine with the help of a handsome stranger.