Book excerpt: The third sizzling novel in New York Times bestselling author Karen Hawkins’s Duchess Diaries series, featuring three unruly sisters and their headstrong godmother with a penchant for matchmaking. Scarred in the terrible accident that took his wife, gruff Lord Kirk has hidden himself from Society. When he meets his neighbor, Dahlia Balfour—a young beauty who shares his love for poetry and books—he realizes she is the one woman who could make him forget the past. But how can such a recluse attract the eye of an enchantress? Kirk appeals to his godmother, the Duchess of Roxburghe, to help him become the dashing, well-dressed hero of Dahlia’s dreams. Arriving at a house party given by the Duchess, Dahlia is unprepared for the change in her neighbor. Suddenly, she is seeing him in a whole new light. When he captures her lips with an ardent kiss, she realizes he could be her romantic hero, but then a jealous rival twists an inadvertent comment she makes. Now Dahlia must persuade Kirk that she’s not just a pretty girl feeling pity, but a passionate woman who sees past painful scars into the soul of the man she’s come to love.