Pride of Duty: Unexpected Love in a Marriage of Convenience

Her secret life is about to be upended by the new ship’s surgeon. He resents his latest posting Willa Morton’s lived the last ten years of her life as “Wills,” assistant to her Royal Navy surgeon father. Their subterfuge works well until he collapses and dies from a heart attack. Dr. Cullen MacCloud’s father has used his court position to maneuver him onto a ship of the line, away from his friends on the West African Squadron. Will, the deceased surgeon’s son, is a sullen sprout, but Cullen’s stuck with him. Since the posting is temporary, what could go wrong? Despite Willa’s resolve to remain her own person, she and Dr. MacCloud are forced into a marriage of convenience. She’s so intent on avoiding a painful wedding night, that she’s caught off-guard by his rules of engagement. He’ll never force her. She has to come to him…and only in love. Cullen is annoyed by her assumption that he’s a Highland brute but has come to respect her many talents as a surgeon’s assistant. They have a long voyage down the Atlantic to Napoleon’s prison lair to resolve their differences. What if these two have more in common than they think? Will a thin blanket hung across the middle of a tiny cabin be enough to protect against the desire smoldering between them? Pride of Duty is the romantic, adventure-filled second entry in the Royal Navy series, “Men of the Squadron.” If you enjoy warm, slow-building romance in a marriage of convenience, enemies to lovers, and open door sensuous romance tropes, then you'll love Andrea K. Stein's tales of high seas romance.