Craving by Carole Mortimer

At the age of seven and twenty, Miss Sophia Marchment, unlike many of her contemporaries, has lived a life of satisfying independence without the restraint of either a husband or male relative. As headmistress of her own school for young ladies in Portsmouth, Sophia is not afraid to share her independent views with ‘her girls’.
During a stay in London in which she meets with Magnus Spencer, the Duke Weston and the widowed father of a potential student, Sophia receives several unsigned and threatening letters. Ones in which she is advised to return to her home in Portsmouth or face the consequences.
Quite what those consequences might be Sophia has no idea, but nor will she be told what to do by someone who is not even brave enough to sign their own letters.
Aged eight and thirty, and single for many years, Magnus Spencer, the Duke of Weston, knows he has grown both cynical and arrogant. Nevertheless he finds himself surprisingly drawn to the beauty and independence of Miss Sophia Marchment. An attraction he has every reason to believe she reciprocates, and yet refuses to act upon. The more Magnus sees Sophia the more his attraction to her deepens, until she is all he can think about. A CRAVING beyond his control.
But not everyone feels that same admiration for Sophia and her fiercely independent ways, and when her very life is put in danger it falls to Magnus to protect her. From herself if necessary.