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Devil Riders #6
A Bride For Marcus
Marcus, the handsome Earl of Alverleigh, is London’s most eligible bachelor—yet he’s vowed never to marry for love. Bitter experience taught him it only brings pain.
Tessa, his lively childhood friend, is now twenty-four and twice widowed, left destitute by her ruthless brother and the laws that prevent women from financial control. Fiercely independent, she refuses to be controlled again—until she’s on the brink of a third forced marriage.
Marcus rescues her with a practical offer: a sensible marriage between old friends. No passion, no risk—just safety and companionship. Tessa hesitates—her freedom is precious—but scandal forces her hand.
On their honeymoon, can the guarded earl and spirited widow rediscover each other? Will laughter, old memories, and long-buried affection bloom? And can what started as practicality and duty become something tender and true?
A delightful Regency romance in the tradition of friends-to-lovers and marriage-of-convenience favorites. If you love Anne Gracie’s gentle humor, emotional depth, strong heroines, and heroes who learn to trust their hearts, this heartwarming standalone will leave you smiling.
Tessa, his lively childhood friend, is now twenty-four and twice widowed, left destitute by her ruthless brother and the laws that prevent women from financial control. Fiercely independent, she refuses to be controlled again—until she’s on the brink of a third forced marriage.
Marcus rescues her with a practical offer: a sensible marriage between old friends. No passion, no risk—just safety and companionship. Tessa hesitates—her freedom is precious—but scandal forces her hand.
On their honeymoon, can the guarded earl and spirited widow rediscover each other? Will laughter, old memories, and long-buried affection bloom? And can what started as practicality and duty become something tender and true?
A delightful Regency romance in the tradition of friends-to-lovers and marriage-of-convenience favorites. If you love Anne Gracie’s gentle humor, emotional depth, strong heroines, and heroes who learn to trust their hearts, this heartwarming standalone will leave you smiling.
350 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 25, 2026
About the author
Anne Gracie
97 books1,548 followersI've always loved stories. Family legend has it that I used to spend hours playing in the sand pit, with a dog on either side of me and Rocka the horse leaning over me, his head just touching my shoulder, while I told them stories. I have to say, dogs and horses are great audiences, apart from their tendency to drool occasionally. But people are even nicer.
In case you imagine we were a filthy rich horse-owning family, let me assure you we weren't. The horse period was a time when my parents entered a "let's-be-self-sufficient" phase, so we had a horse, but no electricity and all our water came from the rain tank.
As well as the horse and dogs, we had 2 cows (Buttercup and Daisy and one of them always had a calf), a sheep (Woolly,) goats (Billy and Nanny) dozens of ducks, chooks, and a couple of geese, a pet bluetongue lizard and a huge vegie patch. I don't know how my mother managed, really, because both she and Dad taught full time, but she came home and cooked on a wood stove and did all the laundry by hand, boiling the clothes and sheets in a big copper kettle. Somehow, we were always warm, clean, well fed and happy. She's pretty amazing, my mum.
Once I learned to read, I spent my days outside playing with the animals (I include my brother and 2 sisters here) and when inside I read. For most of my childhood we didn't have TV, so books have always been a big part of my life. Luckily our house was always full of them. Travel was also a big part of my childhood. My parents had itchy feet. We spent a lot of time driving from one part of Australia to another, visiting relatives or friends or simply to see what was there. I've lived in Scotland, Malaysia and Greece. We travelled through Europe in a caravan and I'd swum most of the famous rivers in Europe by the time I was eight.
This is me and my classmates in Scotland. I am in the second front row, in the middle, to the right of the girl in the dark tunic.
Sounds like I was raised by gypsies, doesn't it? I was even almost born in a tent --Mum, Dad and 3 children were camping and one day mum left the tent and went to hospital to have me. But in fact we are a family of chalkies (Australian slang for teachers)- and Dad was a school principal during most of my life. And I am an expert in being "the new girl" having been to 6 different schools in 12 years.The last 4 years, however, were in the same high school and I still have my 2 best friends from that time.
No matter where I lived, I read. I devoured whatever I could get my hands on -- old Enid Blyton and Mary Grant Bruce books, old schoolboys annuals. I learned history by reading Rosemary Sutcliffe, Henry Treece and Georgette Heyer. I loved animal books -- Elyne Mitchell's Silver Brumby books and Mary Patchett and Finn the Wolf Hound. And then I read Jane Austen and Dickens and Mary Stewart and Richard Llewellyn and Virginia Woolf and EF Benson and Dick Francis and David Malouf and Patrick White and Doris Lessing and PD James and...the list is never ending.
This is me posing shamelessly on a glacier in New Zealand.
This is me in Greece with my good friend Fay in our village outfits. The film went a funny colour, but you get the idea. I'm the one in the pink apron.
I escaped from my parents, settled down and went to university.To my amazement I became a chalkie myself and found a lot of pleasure in working with teenagers and later, adults. I taught English and worked as a counsellor and helped put on plays and concerts and supervised camps and encouraged other people to write but never did much myself. It took a year of backpacking around the world to find that my early desire to write hadn't left me, it had just got buried under a busy and demanding job.
I wrote my first novel on notebooks bought in Quebec, Spain, Greece and Indonesia. That story never made it out of the notebooks, but I'd been bitten by the writing bug.
My friends and I formed a band called Platform Souls a
In case you imagine we were a filthy rich horse-owning family, let me assure you we weren't. The horse period was a time when my parents entered a "let's-be-self-sufficient" phase, so we had a horse, but no electricity and all our water came from the rain tank.
As well as the horse and dogs, we had 2 cows (Buttercup and Daisy and one of them always had a calf), a sheep (Woolly,) goats (Billy and Nanny) dozens of ducks, chooks, and a couple of geese, a pet bluetongue lizard and a huge vegie patch. I don't know how my mother managed, really, because both she and Dad taught full time, but she came home and cooked on a wood stove and did all the laundry by hand, boiling the clothes and sheets in a big copper kettle. Somehow, we were always warm, clean, well fed and happy. She's pretty amazing, my mum.
Once I learned to read, I spent my days outside playing with the animals (I include my brother and 2 sisters here) and when inside I read. For most of my childhood we didn't have TV, so books have always been a big part of my life. Luckily our house was always full of them. Travel was also a big part of my childhood. My parents had itchy feet. We spent a lot of time driving from one part of Australia to another, visiting relatives or friends or simply to see what was there. I've lived in Scotland, Malaysia and Greece. We travelled through Europe in a caravan and I'd swum most of the famous rivers in Europe by the time I was eight.
This is me and my classmates in Scotland. I am in the second front row, in the middle, to the right of the girl in the dark tunic.
Sounds like I was raised by gypsies, doesn't it? I was even almost born in a tent --Mum, Dad and 3 children were camping and one day mum left the tent and went to hospital to have me. But in fact we are a family of chalkies (Australian slang for teachers)- and Dad was a school principal during most of my life. And I am an expert in being "the new girl" having been to 6 different schools in 12 years.The last 4 years, however, were in the same high school and I still have my 2 best friends from that time.
No matter where I lived, I read. I devoured whatever I could get my hands on -- old Enid Blyton and Mary Grant Bruce books, old schoolboys annuals. I learned history by reading Rosemary Sutcliffe, Henry Treece and Georgette Heyer. I loved animal books -- Elyne Mitchell's Silver Brumby books and Mary Patchett and Finn the Wolf Hound. And then I read Jane Austen and Dickens and Mary Stewart and Richard Llewellyn and Virginia Woolf and EF Benson and Dick Francis and David Malouf and Patrick White and Doris Lessing and PD James and...the list is never ending.
This is me posing shamelessly on a glacier in New Zealand.
This is me in Greece with my good friend Fay in our village outfits. The film went a funny colour, but you get the idea. I'm the one in the pink apron.
I escaped from my parents, settled down and went to university.To my amazement I became a chalkie myself and found a lot of pleasure in working with teenagers and later, adults. I taught English and worked as a counsellor and helped put on plays and concerts and supervised camps and encouraged other people to write but never did much myself. It took a year of backpacking around the world to find that my early desire to write hadn't left me, it had just got buried under a busy and demanding job.
I wrote my first novel on notebooks bought in Quebec, Spain, Greece and Indonesia. That story never made it out of the notebooks, but I'd been bitten by the writing bug.
My friends and I formed a band called Platform Souls a
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 26, 2026
A sweet regency romance. Not as strong as the other novels in this series, but I'm glad Marcus finally got a story of his own. And the heroine Tessa seems custom-made for him. She stirs his protective instincts, as no pampered society miss could do. A kind and naive woman, used and abused for years by her unscrupulous father and brother, she urgently needs a protector. And Marcus becomes her knight in shining armor. Furthermore, because Tessa had been neglected and abused all her life, she sees beneath the surface of Marcus's cold, unemotional exterior to his kind heart.
The only disappointment of this book was the absence of all Marcus's brothers. None of them made an appearance, for legitimate reasons, but still. I missed them.
The only disappointment of this book was the absence of all Marcus's brothers. None of them made an appearance, for legitimate reasons, but still. I missed them.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Another beautiful story one of the best authors I do love a good regency and Anne Gracie does them so well and we have been awaiting for this one for a long time and finally Marcus has his story and it was worth the wait, I loved it, I loved Marcus and Tessa come along and meet them, although part of a series it can be read as a standalone.
Marcus Earl of Alverleigh is a most eligible bachelor but he is never going to marry he learnt enough from his parents’ marriage so that is not for him he has heirs in his brothers that will be enough, he is known as dull and quiet and that suits him well, that is until he reunited with an old friend someone he has not seen for many years his old neighbour and forest exploring friend Tessa Blaxland.
Tessa now Lady Hewitt has been widowed again and her brother Edgar has her back in London to do his best to marry her off again to pay his gambling debts she is known as the ice widow but this time she is refusing Edgar’s push to marry another old man, something that she is determined to never do again, she want her freedom, when at a ball she meets up with her old friend Marcus they had had so much fun together when they were young but her reputation is ruined and she keeps him at arm’s length.
But when Marcus steps in and rescues her things change with rumours spreading through the ton, Marcus offers her a convenient marriage of friendship and companionship, no passion, no love can she refuse and let her reputation be tarnished more and even worse what about Marcus’s reputation, maybe this will be good for both of them after all they are friends.
On their honeymoon though they are open and honest with each other and Tessa soon learns what making love is all about and Marcus’s walls are breaking down, could this be a match made in heaven, friends to lovers and a HEA so beautiful?
This is just the best story, fun, witty filled with humour but emotional and moving with such awesome characters, who cannot love Aunt Maude and Barney, Billy, Joey and Flora I laughed, I smile I cheered them on and felt for Tessa in so many ways but she stayed strong and so caring and Marcus what a hero he is the best, he knows how to love after all. I do highly recommend this one, sigh worthy and just what I needed.
My thanks to the author for my digital copy to read and review.
Marcus Earl of Alverleigh is a most eligible bachelor but he is never going to marry he learnt enough from his parents’ marriage so that is not for him he has heirs in his brothers that will be enough, he is known as dull and quiet and that suits him well, that is until he reunited with an old friend someone he has not seen for many years his old neighbour and forest exploring friend Tessa Blaxland.
Tessa now Lady Hewitt has been widowed again and her brother Edgar has her back in London to do his best to marry her off again to pay his gambling debts she is known as the ice widow but this time she is refusing Edgar’s push to marry another old man, something that she is determined to never do again, she want her freedom, when at a ball she meets up with her old friend Marcus they had had so much fun together when they were young but her reputation is ruined and she keeps him at arm’s length.
But when Marcus steps in and rescues her things change with rumours spreading through the ton, Marcus offers her a convenient marriage of friendship and companionship, no passion, no love can she refuse and let her reputation be tarnished more and even worse what about Marcus’s reputation, maybe this will be good for both of them after all they are friends.
On their honeymoon though they are open and honest with each other and Tessa soon learns what making love is all about and Marcus’s walls are breaking down, could this be a match made in heaven, friends to lovers and a HEA so beautiful?
This is just the best story, fun, witty filled with humour but emotional and moving with such awesome characters, who cannot love Aunt Maude and Barney, Billy, Joey and Flora I laughed, I smile I cheered them on and felt for Tessa in so many ways but she stayed strong and so caring and Marcus what a hero he is the best, he knows how to love after all. I do highly recommend this one, sigh worthy and just what I needed.
My thanks to the author for my digital copy to read and review.
March 28, 2026
Wonderful addition to the Devil Riders series
This Anne Gracie book is delightful. It has the quirky, fun, clever writing and characters I have come to expect and the graceful story with just enough of the unexpected to keep the pages turning. I also enjoy the historical and geographical accuracy.
In this sixth and long-awaited Devil Riders book, Marcus, the oldest and most reserved and aloof Renfrew brother gets his story and his bride. He met Tessa when she was a child and he a youth and enjoyed her company. In the intervening years Tessa has been married and widowed twice to much older men and her life has been ruled by first her father and then her brother. During that same period Marcus has solidified his role as the detached and remote, but extremely eligible, earl. When they meet Marcus is worried that there is something not quite right in Tessa’s situation but she warns him off and wants independence. As Marcus makes an effort to figure out what is going on the two tentatively move toward renewal of their friendship eventually, through twists and turns and delightful side characters, the HEA is assured.
Lady Gosforth, the Renfrew brothers’ aunt, is in this book and her character is delightful and adds to their story. Daisy Chance and her establishment also figure in this book.
This Anne Gracie book is delightful. It has the quirky, fun, clever writing and characters I have come to expect and the graceful story with just enough of the unexpected to keep the pages turning. I also enjoy the historical and geographical accuracy.
In this sixth and long-awaited Devil Riders book, Marcus, the oldest and most reserved and aloof Renfrew brother gets his story and his bride. He met Tessa when she was a child and he a youth and enjoyed her company. In the intervening years Tessa has been married and widowed twice to much older men and her life has been ruled by first her father and then her brother. During that same period Marcus has solidified his role as the detached and remote, but extremely eligible, earl. When they meet Marcus is worried that there is something not quite right in Tessa’s situation but she warns him off and wants independence. As Marcus makes an effort to figure out what is going on the two tentatively move toward renewal of their friendship eventually, through twists and turns and delightful side characters, the HEA is assured.
Lady Gosforth, the Renfrew brothers’ aunt, is in this book and her character is delightful and adds to their story. Daisy Chance and her establishment also figure in this book.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Full disclosure, Anne Gracie is a friend who gave me an ARC..
I got a sneak peek at Anne’s latest Regency in her Devil Riders series, the story everyone has been waiting for, the eldest brother and earl, Marcus. Cold, unfeeling, unromantic, all business. . . of course he falls hard! And the woman who catches his interest has been used and misused for so long, that she doesn’t recognize the true man behind the proper one. This is pure Anne Gracie, with warm cozies and excitement and dogs and cute kids and beautiful blossoming romance. Oh, and did I mention lovely houses and food and tidbits of history and. . . It’s all here. Sink in and enjoy!
I got a sneak peek at Anne’s latest Regency in her Devil Riders series, the story everyone has been waiting for, the eldest brother and earl, Marcus. Cold, unfeeling, unromantic, all business. . . of course he falls hard! And the woman who catches his interest has been used and misused for so long, that she doesn’t recognize the true man behind the proper one. This is pure Anne Gracie, with warm cozies and excitement and dogs and cute kids and beautiful blossoming romance. Oh, and did I mention lovely houses and food and tidbits of history and. . . It’s all here. Sink in and enjoy!
May 9, 2026
I loved this book. I was hooked from the minute Marcus and Tessa met as children. But their idyllic friendship suddenly ends when Tessa's father and brother decide to use her as an "asset." Fast forward ten years—now Marcus is the Earl of Alverleigh and Tessa is "The Ice Widow," renowned for marrying elderly men—not once, but twice—who soon die. Marcus is definitely not looking for a wife and Tessa has vowed never to marry again, but circumstances intervene. Can a marriage of convenience become a love match?
April 13, 2026
Great finish to the series
A Bride For Marcus is a wonderful ending to the Devil’s Riders series. Tessa and Marcus were perfect for each other. Edgar was an incredibly evil brother. I really wanted him to suffer. Anne Gracie writes family relationships so well. Her characters handle the trials they face with grace and dignity. I love all her series and re-read them for the lovely feeling you have at the end. Don’t hesitate, read her!
A Bride For Marcus is a wonderful ending to the Devil’s Riders series. Tessa and Marcus were perfect for each other. Edgar was an incredibly evil brother. I really wanted him to suffer. Anne Gracie writes family relationships so well. Her characters handle the trials they face with grace and dignity. I love all her series and re-read them for the lovely feeling you have at the end. Don’t hesitate, read her!
March 25, 2026
Waiting was rewarded
I loved the Devil Riders series and had always hoped for Marcus' story. This exceeded my expectations. Having Daisy and Flynn making an appearance was icing on the cake.
I was in the doldrums with reading when this came along. This book was everything I wanted.
I loved the Devil Riders series and had always hoped for Marcus' story. This exceeded my expectations. Having Daisy and Flynn making an appearance was icing on the cake.
I was in the doldrums with reading when this came along. This book was everything I wanted.
March 28, 2026
A delightful end to the 6 Devil Riders!
This had many of the same exciting scenes as the first 5 books, with a delightful slowly building romance, some scary parts, and a wonderfully satisfying ending. Looking forward to re-reading all six books, comforted in knowing all will end well!
This had many of the same exciting scenes as the first 5 books, with a delightful slowly building romance, some scary parts, and a wonderfully satisfying ending. Looking forward to re-reading all six books, comforted in knowing all will end well!
April 2, 2026
I was searching for a purely historical novel that would fully immerse me in the Regency era, and this book truly delivered. It offers a sweet and wholesome romance while allowing the heroine the space to heal and grow in a natural, unforced way. I would highly recommend this novel to any lover of historical fiction.
April 2, 2026
loved it
There is a reason why Anne Gracie is one of my favourite authors. She always fleshes out whatever story she is telling and makes it more than just another regency romance. This was a good tale and the characters were both likable and believable.
There is a reason why Anne Gracie is one of my favourite authors. She always fleshes out whatever story she is telling and makes it more than just another regency romance. This was a good tale and the characters were both likable and believable.
April 2, 2026
Lovely story
So happy to read the story for Marcus. As with all of Anne Gracie's books the characters are well developed and the stories easily unfold. Loved this book. But what about a Christmas or other Holiday novel to bring the families together?
So happy to read the story for Marcus. As with all of Anne Gracie's books the characters are well developed and the stories easily unfold. Loved this book. But what about a Christmas or other Holiday novel to bring the families together?
April 6, 2026
a Great Story! A little different with an unusual ending
A delightful story with lots of positive vibes and some challenges - I really liked the independent thinking, one of my favorites!
A delightful story with lots of positive vibes and some challenges - I really liked the independent thinking, one of my favorites!
Review of advance copy received from Author
I waited 14 years for this book. Very happy to say it was everything I had hoped for...and more.
Full review to come.
Full review to come.
March 26, 2026
FINALLY!
Thank you for the time, effort and care you took to craft fitting tale and end to Marcus’ story. It was a pleasure to read.
Thank you for the time, effort and care you took to craft fitting tale and end to Marcus’ story. It was a pleasure to read.
March 29, 2026
Wasn’t expecting a new Gracie especially for this series but it’s a nice sweet ending
March 29, 2026
enjoyable
Best book I have read in awhile . I always enjoy Gracie Books . I would gladly recommend this book .
Best book I have read in awhile . I always enjoy Gracie Books . I would gladly recommend this book .
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews