The Duke’s Midnight Secretary. The Ravensmere Arrangement, #1

He hired her to guard his secrets. He should never have let her become the most dangerous one. Elise Hartwell has no fortune to soften the world, no powerful family to shield her from it, and very little patience left for gentlemen who confuse desperation with surrender. When Dominic Ashbourne, Duke of Ravensmere, rescues her from disgrace, Elise expects the usual remedies of men born above consequence: a cold warning, a discreet payment, perhaps enough charity to send her away before morning.
Instead, he offers her a position in his household. Private secretary. It sounds respectable in daylight. It becomes something else entirely after midnight. Dominic requires a woman with intelligence, discretion, and enough nerve to manage the letters, ledgers, invitations, and dangerous little secrets that pass through his library. Elise requires wages, protection, and a locked door between herself and the men who have already mistaken her vulnerability for permission.
The arrangement ought to be practical, sensible, and perfectly controlled. Unfortunately, Dominic Ashbourne's control is not nearly as reliable as his reputation suggests. By day, Elise sits across from him with ink on her fingers, sharp answers on her tongue, and an alarming talent for seeing through him. By night, she crosses the threshold of his bedchamber and learns that the coldest duke in London is anything but cold where it matters.
Their rules are clear. No promises. No jealousy. No foolish dreams. But rules are poor protection against want, and tenderness is even more dangerous than desire. Each stolen night makes Elise harder to dismiss. Each morning makes Dominic less able to pretend she is merely the woman who manages his papers. She learns the weight of his secrets. He learns the sound of her pleasure. And somewhere between the library desk and the midnight hush of his bedchamber, an arrangement begins to look perilously like devotion.
Neither of them is ready to name it love. And in a duke's house, the things left unnamed are often the first to be taken away. The Duke's Midnight Secretary is a steamy open-door Regency romance featuring a powerful duke, his clever private secretary, forbidden desire, secret nights, dangerous tenderness, and a love neither of them is prepared to survive.