The Duke's Legacy Books in Order

The Duke's Legacy is Tess Thompson stepping into Regency romance. That means titles, inheritance, strict social rules, and all the delicious trouble that comes when personal feeling collides with public duty. If you know her mainly from small-town contemporary books, the change in wardrobe is obvious, but the emotional interests are familiar.

She is still writing people boxed in by circumstance.

The difference is that here the box is class, rank, and reputation. A duke cannot move through the world the way an ordinary man can. A governess cannot afford the same mistakes as a wealthy woman. A rogue may have charm, but charm does not erase scandal. Those pressures seem to sit at the center of the series, starting with When He Was a Duke and continuing through When He Was a Rogue and When She Was a Governess.

Because this is a legacy series, family history matters. The title itself points to that. These books are not only about courtship in ballrooms and country houses. They are also about what people inherit, expectations, debts, duty, old damage, and the reputations that can shape a life before a character gets to choose anything for themselves. Thompson tends to like romance with emotional obstacles that feel built into a person's whole history, and Regency society gives her plenty to work with there.

You can also expect a cleaner, more restrained kind of tension than in some of her contemporaries, not necessarily quieter feelings, but feelings that have to move through social codes, propriety, and the practical realities of the period. That is often where the fun of Regency lies. Characters may know exactly what they want and still be unable to reach for it without causing real harm to themselves or others.

What makes this series likely to work for Thompson readers is that she does not usually treat romance as pure sparkle. Even in a historical setting with titles and elegance, she tends to care about emotional safety, honesty, forgiveness, and whether two people can build a decent life together. The setting is richer and more formal, but the heart of it is still about repair.

So what should you expect from The Duke's Legacy?

Expect Regency romance with family weight behind it, connected books, and characters trying to balance duty with desire. If you like dukes, rogues, governesses, and households where every glance can mean something, this page should help. And if you are coming from Thompson's other work, think of this series as the historical-aristocratic version of a thing she already does well, taking wounded people, placing them inside a tight community, and asking whether love can make room for a freer life.