The Duke of Cups by V. C. Lluxe

When Miss Hyacinth Thomas’s carriage is stopped by highwaymen, she doesn’t expect to be maneuvered into a murder plot.

The situation is complicated. She has connections to the Comte Champeraigne. The highwaymen want him dead. Normally they wouldn’t have leverage to force her hand, but they have seen that her jewels are fake. They know she isn’t who she says she is. She has only been pretending to be a British heiress.

The highwaymen aren’t who they say they are either.
One of them is the Duke of Dunrose. He’s horrible in every way. A playboy and a drunk who looks like an elfin princeling and won’t stop calling her ‘love.’ He’s carelessly arrogant, elegantly masculine, intriguing and beguiling, and entirely the worst person she’s ever met.

She hates him.
Truly, she does.
And she’s sure that being maneuvered into a scheme to poison the detestable comte isn’t going to change the way she feels about Dunrose. It certainly won’t bring them closer.
Definitely not.

This dark historical romance touches on trauma, abuse, and contains some violence. Easily-triggered readers should take care. This book can stand alone, but will be best understood after reading the other books in the series.