Pistols at Dawn, Your Grace — Sandra Sookoo

A man rejected by society and cursed for life... Alexander Laurence Hayes—6th Duke of Everington has a horrible secret: he's forced to become a beast each night. But when he stumbles upon a secret gentleman's club in London that caters to men of his affliction, perhaps he'll finally have some answers. It matters not that a meeting with a beautiful woman might have sparked his desire, he has more urgent interests than bedding her. Perhaps. A woman who dreams of love but is skeptical of magic... Eleanor Riverton is not easily given to fancy. The sister of a Bow Street Runner, she relies on facts not fairy stories. So when she's chased through the Mayfair streets by what she assumes is a wolf and then meets a man who claims he's a duke in the same night, her curiosity is triggered. The fact he is stark naked and gorgeous makes no difference, or that her first instinct is to shoot him. Possibly. Opposites attract while fear and hope collide... With the new knowledge that experiencing the kiss of true love will break the curse, Alexander sets out to charm the woman he'd chased. While attraction flares hot and immediate, his beast won't go down without a fight, and Eleanor is livid when she discovers the duke's secret. Only by working together will they gain the freedom they both seek… unless they kill each other first. Definitely.