9781451633283

#1 New York Timesbestselling author Johanna Lindsey delivers a dazzling tale of a desperate debutante whose family hires an innovative matchmaker to marry her offstarring Amanda Locke, sister to dashing Rafe Locke, from the "elegantly sensual" ( Booklist) The Devil Who Tamed Her! London society has its very own Cupid. Renowned horse breeder and occasional matchmaker Devin Baldwin pairs eligible young ladies with suitable gentlemen based on his theory of animal magnetism. Lovely Amanda Locke, the daughter of a duke, is everything a nobleman could desire, yet she enters her third Season still searching for a match. Gossipmongers' tongues are wagging, and her mystified family is considering drastic measures to find her a husband. But the insufferable advice of Devin is the last thing Amanda wants. When an earl passionate about horses becomes the target of her husband hunt, Amanda knows it's time to overcome her fear of riding. Her sister-in-law Ophelia hastens the romance along by arranging riding lessons, and Amanda is soon taking instruction from infuriating Devin Baldwin. Astonishingly, in her daily encounters with Devinwho treats her as an ordinary young woman, not a prize to be won at the marriage martAmanda experiences passion for the first time. Now, her search for a match takes her in an unexpected direction as she finds herself falling in love with Cupid himself.

Johanna Lindsey (1952–2019) was world-renowned for her “mastery of historical romance” (Entertainment Weekly), with more than sixty million copies of her novels sold. She was the author of nearly sixty nationally bestselling novels, many of which reached the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list. Lindsey lived in New Hampshire with her family.

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Chapter One

LADY AMANDA LOCKE SIGHEDas she gazed at her reflection in the oval mirror. Sitting at the vanity in the comfortable room she’d been given at her cousin Rupert’s house in London, she imagined she saw a wrinkle at the corner of one eye. She gasped. Did she? She leaned closer. No, just her imagination and the light, but it wouldn’t be long before it wasn’t. She had just turned twenty! Thetonwould be calling her an old maid soon—if they weren’t already.

She sighed again. Her maid, Alice, pretended not to notice as she pinned the last blond lock of Amanda’s coiffure into place. That wouldn’t have stopped Amanda if she felt like being vocal about her melancholy tonight, but she didn’t. Alice had heard it all and heard it often. Amanda’s whole family had heard it all, and she had a large family. But shewastired of complaining about such a sorry state of affairs, she just couldn’t help it sometimes.

Her first London Season shouldn’t have been such a disaster. It was supposed to be a roaring success. She had expected no less. Her family had expected no less. She was a beauty, after all, even quite fashionable with her blond hair and powder-blue eyes, and she also had the aristocratic bones that ran in her family. She wasalsothe only daughter of Preston Locke, the 10th Duke of Norford. That alone should have had the proposals streaming in. And no one had doubted that she would outshine all the other debutantes that Season two years ago, herself included. But then no one had been prepared for the infamous Ophelia Reid, who had debuted that same year, and no one, not even Amanda, could compare to Ophelia’s dazzling beauty.

It was almost funny, Amanda thought as she looked back on it, how jealous she’d been of Ophelia, so jealous that she’d spent most of that first Season stewing about it and thus ignoring the young men who had tried to get to know her. So really, she could blame that disaster on herself. But of course her emotions got out of hand, especially when she found out her own brother, Raphael, was also falling under the ice queen’s spell.

Ophelia hadn’t even been likable back then! Amanda recalled wondering how her brother could be so dense just because Ophelia was a raving beauty! Ophelia was manipulative, a liar, and spiteful to boot. Anyone with two eyes could see it, which meant every man in London that year wasn’t utilizing both of his eyes, Amanda’s brother included!

Rafe did fall in love with Ophelia, he did marry her, and he did tame the shrew. There was nothingnotto like about the Ophelia her brother had married.

That had all been part of Amanda’s first disastrous Season in London. Last year she’d tried to take her brother’s advice to heart and just let love find her. She’d had fun doing so, maybe too much fun. Relaxing, just enjoying herself and the many entertainments, she’d found that she actually liked some of her beaus, could even call them friends now, but not one had ever pulled at her heartstrings. So before she knew it, her second London Season was over and she still hadn’t found a husband.

Now, at the beginning of her third Season in London, she was quite desperate.Somethingneeded to change this year because she obviously wasn’t going about husband hunting the right way. She wasn’t as silly and flighty as people thought, but even she knew that she gave that impression sometimes.

“You’re bored already this Season, aren’t you?” Alice said as she stood behind her.

Amanda frowned as she met the maid’s eyes in the mirror. Was the problem that simple? Bored all day long, and then when she finally had something to do in the evenings, she was so pleased she overreacted, behaving a bit more effervescently than she ought to?

She didn’t try to deny it. “It’s different here, not a’tall like at home in the country, where I’ve got so much to occupy me.”