He Doesn't Get Mad
By beloved USA Today bestselling author Joanna Shupe, the fourth installment in the “Fifth Avenue Rebels” series about a secret affair between a free-spirited heiress and an uptight duke which turns more passionate than either could have imagined.
Lovers
Enemies Nellie Young and the Duke of Lockwood first become reluctant allies, until that gives way to friendship and, ultimately, love.
Finale
The “Fifth Avenue Rebels” Series wrap-up brings the Duke of Lockwood to Gilded Age New York where he must suppress his darkest desires to find the perfect bride.
Narrators
The audiobook of The Duke Gets Even features separate voice actors for hero and heroine. Kit Swann and Timothy Campbell truly bring these characters to life. Listen to Timothy’s Chapter 1 excerpt.
From Readers
What's Inside
To escape the shackles of marriage, Nellie Young purposely ruined her reputation a long time ago. Now she dedicates herself to hedonistic pleasures only, like kissing a handsome stranger in the ocean under the moonlight…
To save his estate, the proper Duke of Lockwood must marry the perfect bride—wealthy, with an unblemished reputation. While in New York he’s the perfect gentleman, and no one knows he’s suppressing his darkest desires. The last thing he needs is another scandal.
Except Nellie sees through Lockwood’s charade, straight to the real man underneath. This uptight duke is far more than he lets on, and she can’t resist him. Their secret affair turns scorching, far more than either expected. And when his beautiful rebel finds an unconventional cause, Lockwood has to decide if he’s willing to sacrifice everything to keep her.
Chapter 1
“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
—Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island
June 1895
Mermaids existed.
At least Andrew Talbot, the eighth Duke of Lockwood, was fairly certain of it. At the moment a creature with long limbs and red hair was most definitely splashing in the frothy waves near the beach. If not a mermaid then a naiad, perhaps.
Though he hated the ocean, he’d come out after dark to swim in the chilly, murky water of the Atlantic, his body requiring the bloody exercise. He hadn’t expected to see anyone else. Who was out frolicking at this time of night, if not a mythical creature?
Bare legs flashed in the surf. A shapely arm followed. He continued to tread water, unable to look away. Then a form rose up in the foam, and long red hair flipped backward. A woman. A naked woman. He was entranced.
Well, we did it! *high five*
I had so much fun writing Nellie’s book, which has been rolling around in my head for a few years now. And Lockwood is just… . . . (sigh). I love him so much.
A few historical notes and explanations. Settle in!
The Gilded Age saw an unprecedented reversal of women’s reproductive rights. Until the middle of the 19th century, abortion was legal and viewed as a private medical procedure. Madame Restell, a “female physician,” was the premier abortionist in NYC. She offered up preventative powders, female monthly pills, and other abortifacients. She performed surgical abortions, and also opened up a boarding house where clients with unwanted pregnancies could give birth in anonymity. She facilitated the adoption of infants. And she was popular enough to afford to live in a Fifth Avenue mansion.
Enter Anthony Comstock. An anti-vice crusader, U.S. Postal Inspector, and founder of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, Comstock lobbied Congress to make it illegal to distribute “obscene, lewd, and lascivious” material through the U.S. mail. The incredibly broad and subjective Comstock Law was quickly used to prohibit the mailing out of any birth control, marriage manuals, anatomy textbooks, or information about abortion. This was eventually widened to make it illegal to directly provide, discuss, or hand out information on birth control. Even for doctors. Comstock made it his personal mission to take down Madame Restell, and he was successful.
Joanna Shupe is the queen of historical bad boys!
Shupe is a TRUE QUEEN OF FILTH, expert at spinning heartfelt love stories alongside tantalizingly wicked scenarios.
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