Book excerpt: One dark night she meets her fate in the arms of shadowy duke... Fleeing a cruel stepfather, Harriet Russell escapes into a stormy night, relying only on the mercy of servants to help her. Her coach overturns, leaving her and her driver injured. Seeking help from whoever lives nearby, she stumbles between a set of gates guarded by fierce demonic gargoyle statues. As she enters the shadowy, haunted lands belonging to the Duke of Frostmore, she’s afraid of meeting with him, but she must in order to help her driver. Harriet comes face to face with the duke, she understands why he’s called the Devil of Dover, with his fierce sensual magnetism and his frightening temper. He’s beautiful, tempting and dangerous... He made a mistake once by falling in love and death followed... After the tragic deaths of his wife and brother, Redmond Barrington, the Duke of Frostmore, wants to be left alone and has barred all strangers from his lands. When an injured young woman begs for help, he finds himself reconsidering his vow of solitude as Christmas draws near. Harriet is as unwilling to trust in love as he is. What begins with a terrifying tension between them soon becomes something else entirely, a sensual passion that frightens him with its intensity. The more time he spends with her, the more Redmond wonders if fate might give him a second chance to chase away the ghosts of his past.