title: The Secret Mistress
author:  Mary Balogh 
description: Starred Review. Regency romance doyenne Balogh (A Secret Affair) pairs a staid young nobleman with a vivacious debutante in this top-notch tale. When the headstrong Lady Angeline Dudley, sister of the wealthy duke of Tresham, is accosted by the rakish Lord Windrow, she immediately falls for the ordinary-looking gentleman who intervenes. Her rescuer, Edward Ailsbury, is the earl of Heyward, whose familyunaware of his affection for his bluestocking confidante, Eunice Goddardplans to match him with the very eligible Angeline. An unusually accurate portrayal of Regency society, laden with colorful period detail, makes a sparkling backdrop, and the supporting characters are delightful. Youthful Angeline's endearing mixture of breathless enthusiasm and hidden insecurity is given the perfect foil in the responsible and rather nerdy Edward, who is perpetually baffled as his rational approach fails to impress the women in his life. The charming mixture of sensual passion and hilarious confusion makes Balogh's delightful tale a must-read for Regency fans. (Aug.)
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  _Now a Bride_ is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
  are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
  resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
  coincidental.
  
  
  A Delacorte Press eBook Original
  
  
  Copyright © 2011 by Mary Balogh  
  Excerpt from _The Secret Mistress_ by Mary Balogh copyright © 2011 by Mary
  Balogh  
  All rights reserved.
  
  
  Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of The Random
  House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
  
  
  This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming title _The Secret Mistress_
  by Mary Balogh. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not
  reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.
  
  
  Delacorte Press is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the
  colophon is a trademark of Random H