The King's Doll — Elizabeth Chater

"THE KING OF FRANCE WISHES YOU TO SPONSOR SOME FEMALES HE'S GETTING RID OF"

This was the first the young Duke of Landsdale heard of the Comtesse and her daughter, Tiri. His mother was furious. Were they to take in a notorious Frenchwoman who had been mistress to the King of France? But there was nothing to be done about it. There was, after all, a note to the King of England asking support in the matter.

And so the Comtesse and her ravishing seventeen-year-old daughter became unwelcome guests of the Duke's mother, an unpleasant old lady who made their stay miserable.

The plan was to get Tiri married to some wealthy and titled nobleman.

Nobody planned that Tiri would fall in love with the Duke...