The Duke's Hammer

Garahan has no time for love, but his heart has other ideas? James Garahan, one of the duke's private guard, has had his head turned many times by a comely face in his thirty years. Not once has a lass touched his heart?until the night he walks into a tavern in the bowels of London and sees a battered angel in need of rescuing. Melinda Waring is alone and homeless. She struggles to find work, but employers see her pronounced limp, from a childhood injury, as a weakness. With no other...
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Garahan has no time for love, but his heart has other ideas? James Garahan, one of the duke's private guard, has had his head turned many times by a comely face in his thirty years. Not once has a lass touched his heart?until the night he walks into a tavern in the bowels of London and sees a battered angel in need of rescuing. Melinda Waring is alone and homeless. She struggles to find work, but employers see her pronounced limp, from a childhood injury, as a weakness. With no other choice, she accepts an offer to work in a tavern in exchange for room and board. The conditions are deplorable, and the constant jeers from patrons, intolerable, but she has no choice but to stay. The next time Garahan sees her, she has bruises on her wrists and cheek. When she is cornered in the back room of the tavern, he whisks her to safety. For the first time in his life, Garahan listens to his heart, and willingly hands it over to the brown-eyed lass with work-worn hands. Melinda is drawn to the handsome-as-sin Irishman with the broad shoulders and big heart. She tries to ignore the pull of attraction, but cannot resist his dark brown eyes and dimpled smile. Can he see past her imperfections to her heart? As the lass is healing, Garahan must uncover a new source of vicious slander, and threats of scandal, aimed at the duke's family. Leaving Melinda in the care of the duke's London staff is the last thing he wants to do, but Garahan has a vow to keep and a duty to perform. When she is reported missing, Garahan vows to bring her back and never let her go! Danger stalks in the night, but it will have to elude The Duke's Hammer before he will let harm come to those he has sworn to protect with his strength, his honor, and his heart.