Lord Love a Lady aka Defiant Damsels 1-Nobody’s Lady

A London deb and a military hero meet at a ball and fall in love. (sigh) They succumb to passion out of wedlock, but due to unimaginable circumstances they are tragically separated. Of course, she suffers the consequences while he goes on to inherit a dukedom.Years later, a chance meeting reveals the truth of the past and yet the impossibility of a future together. Can they surpass love’s barriers the second time around?THE DUKE -- After managing a dukedom and serving in the House of Lords for nearly a decade, Michael Cortland has finally become betrothed to the perfect lady, Natalie Spencer. While traveling to London for the 1824 parliamentary season however, a highway robbery leaves him stranded and mired in mud. All of his strategic plans are called into question when his first love happens along to “rescue” him.THE WIDOW -- Thankfully widowed after enduring a forced marriage for eight years, Lilly Beauchamp is returning to London to present her stepdaughter to society. Unable to resist, she finds herself aiding the man who betrayed her years ago. As the facts behind their estrangement emerge however, blame shifts and passions are reignited.Amidst political and social intrigue, Lilly discovers her inner strengths while Michael reconciles a gentleman’s honor with his heart’s desire and his conscience. Falling in love all over again, new challenges face the star-crossed lovers. There is a choice after all, but do they have the strength and courage to choose each other? Dukes don’t need help, or do they? Michael Redmond, the Duke of Cortland, needs to be in London—most expeditiously—but a band of highway robbers have thwarted his plans. Purse-pinched, coachless, and mired in mud, he stumbles on Lilly Beauchamp, the woman who betrayed him years ago. Ladies can’t be heroes, or can they? Michael was her first love, her first lover, but he abandoned her when she needed him most. She’d trusted him, and then he failed to meet with her father as promised. A widowed stepmother now, Lilly loves her country and will do her part for the Good of England—even if that means aiding this hobbled and pathetic duke. They lost their chance at love, or did they? A betrothal, a scandal, and a kidnapping stand between them now. Can honor emerge from the ashes of their love?