The Mistress

Ruthless Regency Dukes #2

by Carole Mortimer

Six Dukes, bound together by their friendship and loyalty to The Crown. Then one of them is killed at the Battle of Waterloo, splintering the friendship of the five left behind, as they blame themselves and each other for their friend’s death. Until they learn he didn’t die in battle at all, he was murdered. The search for the killer begins!

Alaric Montrose, the Duke of Melborne, has his quarry in his sights, but very quickly realises that the best way to learn if this is the man responsible for the death of Alaric’s friend, is to seduce the man’s mistress.

Except that mistress is immune to all Alaric’s attempts at seduction.

Obviously stronger measures are needed if he is to succeed in his current mission, and there are any number of ways in which he might achieve that goal.

Blackmail the information out of her.

Kidnap her and hold her as his captive until she tells him what she knows of the situation.

Step up his efforts at seducing her.

Or, and this really was Alaric’s preferred solution, he could do all three of those things by blackmailing, kidnapping, and seducing her.

Whatever it takes, Alaric will know the truth, and Grace Sunderland will be the one to provide that information.

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical

143 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 29, 2022

About the author

I have written almost 250 romance novels in contemporary and Regency.

I am a USA Today Bestselling Author and recipient of the 2015 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014 I received a Pioneer of Romance Award from Romantic Times in the US and in 2012 I was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II for my 'outstanding service to literature'.

I am very happily married to Peter with six sons, and live on the Isle of Man

Reviews

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jees, this was so good. Loved the characters and the storyline. Alaric, the Duke of Melborne, was a tad obsessive of Grace. Found it a bit dark, but so enjoyed reading this. At times I did feel sorry for Grace, and found Alaric ruthless - he basically kidnapped her. Obviously a HEA.
I couldn't put this down. I have always loved CM books. 5☆

[Aou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked h.

[Balthazor · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read a lot of carole mortimers books. They are a guilty pleasure for me. I do like a dominant hero in her book.
I however did not like this book. I did not understand the heroine’s love for the hero. I am not sensitive when I read this type of books. Carole Mortimer always balance the edge of concent. This one was for my kind of rapey. The heroine said no several times and the hero did not back down.
The hero constantly degrades the heroine while telling himself he feels love.” No sir, you are creepy and should have been the villain in this tale”. The groveling was not enough the hero should have gotten a sound beating.
You see the same kind of theme in recency sinners. I have read them all. In the recency sinners there are more explicit sex than in this book. I cannot explaine why this hero in this book crosses the line for me far more than the heroes in recency sinners. I have the same feeling about this hero as I had about Caleb in capturing Caleb ( knight security 3) that story also was kind of rapey to me. From forced sexual relationship to “ ohhh I am in love with you”. I really wanted to yell “ noooo” to the heroine “ please say no”.
I deleted this book at once from my phone. I own and have read 50 of her books, but this was a waste of my money
I really hope Carole Mortimer up her game because her books are getting worse. Up to the release of this book I reread some of her earlier books to be in the right mindset, but this series does not live up to her earlier form.

[Ltlmer2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hated how icky this one felt. He decides he wants her before she even meets him and proceeds to stalk, torment, bully, decieve, abduct, and sexually assault her. Claims even though she protests, her body says different or coerces consent. I am not often bothered by abduction or dubcon, but this one showed pretty much no redeeming, vulnerable or loveable moments in the hero that would allow her to fall in love with him and yet, despite how horrible he has been to her, she suddenly decides she is madly in love with him and submits to his forced attentions. He only feels bad once he realizes she is not the other man's mistress and is a virgin (because it would have been okay to treat her that way otherwise?!?!?) He is basically a psychotic stalker who wins her by Stokholm syndrome. I just want to get this one out of my brain because it angers me how it played out.

[Pickle · Rating 5 out of 5]

ALARICK AND GRACE - IS SHE HIS MISTRESS - IS HE THE ONE ?

ALARICK - DUKE OF MELBORNE
Was the next DUKE sent to find out who may have killed their friend Plymouth at Waterloo.
His assignment was to get close to Grace who they believe is the mistress of their target.

GRACE the ADOPTED DAUGHTER OF A VILLAGE PRIEST
Grace had recently returned to London where two nights a week she was have meetings with George the man they suspected of killing their friend the Duke of Plymouth.

I LOVED THIS - LIKE THE WAY THE DUKES GET TOGETHER AND PLAN THE NEXT ASSIGNMENT.
QUITE STEAMY IN PARTS.
GREAT CHARACTERS AS USUAL ON TO NEXT BOOK

[Zena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Story!
Gosh! It has taken me a while to clear the decks so I could read this book – and what a delight it was.
The story gets fiery as Alaric goes after information about who is responsible for his friend's death.
Things really get quite hot and steamy between him and the Mistress of a suspect and there is such a twist in the tail - which I just loved!
The story was great, the writing of it was easy to read, the characters were cleverly brought to life and I now need to get stuck into the third book in this series, much, much sooner.

[Susanne M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jumping To Conclusions

Alaric needs to find who murdered one of his best friends. Based on information given to him and his other 4 friends, Redding was on the list of possibilities. Grace becomes someone if interest simply by association to Redding. Hence the beginning to jumping to conclusions. Overall this is a fast paced intriguing story with plenty of passion, no cheating or cliffhanger and you get the beginning of a happy ever after. Enjoy 🤓

[June Karen Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Number two of the series where five dukes seek the English Officer who killed their friend at Waterloo. The Duke of Melbourne intends to seduce the mistress of his target. However things don’t go exactly to plan
Romance, steamy interludes and a lot of wrong assumptions. This is a great read Looking forward to the next in the series

[Julie ambrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruthless regency dukes 2

The second story in this series , the Ruthless Dukes club are trying to find out who murdered one of there friends and while searching they meet the women of there dreams .
An enjoyable read if not a bit predictable .I always enjoy Carole’s stories .

[Sharon landry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Love this series so far. Was shocked when I learned George was Grace's sister. I will Recommend this series to my book friends. Great writing by an awesome author Thank a you Carole Mortimer for another great book. Now on to the The Widow

[Patricia Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific

Such a sweet read. The characters were great. Too fast of a read. Wishing it was longer. A definite must read. Get your copy today.📚😍📚😍📚😍📚😍📚😍📚

[Cathertine S Coates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written excellent for can't wait for book no.3

Excellent Story, all written. Cannot wait for next book in the series. Carole Mortimer never let's one down thank goodness.

[Debra Loewen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

This is a nice afternoon read. I enjoyed the heroine was as strong as she is...makes for an interesting read

[Fabiola Chenet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not very convinced by their love and I didn't like the way the hero makes the heroine tell her secrets

[Mrs Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great kept you guessing what was going to happen next,

[Lady Nilambari Reads HR · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was funny, no funny ha-ha, but far-fetched funny. I just want to find out what happened to the dead or maybe not-so-dead duke!