The Art of Love

What happens when a Duke is mistaken for a Viscount—on purpose? Add that to two Michelangelo sketches, hidden passages, vanishing and reappearing art, threatening messages, conniving art collectors, arrogant academicians, a Bow Street agent, a lovelorn couple, and an elderly prankster. It’s enough to give a Duke a headache.

Three years ago, Bella and Aidan were in love. But Bella proved too valuable to the war office, her talent for cryptography unmatched, so through lies and manipulation, war office agents destroyed Bella’s and Aidan’s belief in each other. Emotionally ripped apart, love turned to hate. After the war, Bella receives documents that reveal the truth. They were pawns, their love a casualty of war! Now, could they start anew? Jaded by war, Bella feels second chances are fairy tales. Besides, the spymaster is pressuring her to resume cryptography for a new secret service.

Lancelot Nowlton, Viscount Lakehurst, writes gothic novels. The widow Lady Cassandra Tidemark, Marchioness of Darkford, is living a gothic nightmare. The young marchioness is haunted by nightmarish visions of a past she can't escape. The memory of her husband's death, shrouded in a ritualistic mystery reminiscent of Sir Francis Dashwood's notorious Hell Fire club, casts a chilling pall over her life. By chance, Cassandra reads a bestselling gothic novel penned by the elusive ‘Anonymous’ that describes what happened that night.