Acknowledgments

Early in 2018, Sarah MacLean gave a talk on conflict to the RWA NYC chapter. She joked at one point that she didn’t know why there weren’t more submissive dukes in historical romance. My first thought was that I could not write a “submissive” hero. My second thought was why not? What unconscious assumptions was I making? A little research proved once again that the world is far more complicated and fascinating than personal experience allows. Markham is an earl, not a duke, and he’s on the mild end of the submissive scale, but seeing the world through his eyes cracked my heart open. My thanks to Ms. MacLean and RWA NYC.

I’m very grateful for the detailed critiques I received from Bliss Bennett, Judith Laik and Jess Russell. I’m so, so excited to be a part of a critique group with authors I so deeply admire. I’m equally grateful for the brilliant suggestions and support from Entangled editor Erin Molta. I’m certain it must have looked like this book would never come together. And I wouldn’t have made it through the final weeks of mad writing without my husband Richard (aka Chef of the Future) and my weekly check-ins with Madeline Iva (aka of-course-you-can…now-get-back-to-work-Madeline).

Most of all, I’m grateful for the readers who reached out and told me they were anticipating Markham’s book. Those notes kept me going.