The Fox: in his Henhouse by Constance Remillard

Captain or duke, a man makes his own fate. Unless his mother’s hell-bent on interfering…
After a harrowing rejection at the altar, Lord Wellesley flees the confines of London for a crumbling old abbey in the wilds of Cumberland. When Miss Merrinan falls unbidden into his lap, she begins to more than vex his lordship: She’s a vixen Wellesley is determined to tame. Even if she makes his blood run hot and his temper flare hotter.
Housekeeper by day and mistress by night, a woman’s work is never done. Not when her new master’s hell-bent on interrupting…
Miss Merrinan chafes at the position she’s in, but getting food on her family’s table comes first. If this means bedding the new Lord of Almsdale Abbey, so be it. She makes peace with her fate until her past threatens to upend all she’s achieved, making her stoop to fresh lows—including falling for Lord Wellesley’s devilish dark charms.
Are lust, envy, and wrath the worst of a lord’s—or lady’s—sins? Or are they merely the beginning?
Recalling bodice rippers of yore, The Fox contains scenes of dubious consent and brief physical punishment. Like every Remillard Romance, the intimate encounters in this late Regency, open-door historical are written in a more literary, steamy yet polite,style. Peek inside the book for content warnings.

Book one in The Dubious Mates series.