The Duchess's Tattoo

For daughters of the new American billionaires of the 19th century, it was the ultimate deal: marriage to a cash-strapped British Aristocrat in return for a title and social status. But money didn't always buy them happiness.

Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts', suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England.

In "The Duchess's Tattoo", Cora Cash is desperate to be a fashionable lady of society. Despite her title and her wealth, she finds that English society is not that welcoming to "The American Duchess." When Cora spies a distinctive snake tattoo on her mother-in-law's wrist, she decides that she must have one as well. It is up to the talented tattoo artist to save "The American Duchess" from herself.

In addition to the short story, "The Duchess Tattoo", this also contains an excerpt from "Titled Americans", an authentic quarterly publication from 1890 which listed all of the eligible titled bachelors still on the market, and an excerpt from AN AMERICAN HEIRESS, a moving and brilliantly entertaining debut novel coming from St. Martin's Press in June.