Tag: historical happy-ever-afters Page 8 of 16

Could this be a Picture Perfect Match?

On April 6, 2022

In Bluestocking Belles, gossip, Guest author, Historical Period, Teatime Tattler

A Picture Perfect Match

Dear Readers,

Another letter has arrived from a lady whose correspondence appeared on these pages some weeks ago, and she has more news that I know you will find interesting. Without further ado…

Desperate Daughters

Dear Mr. Clemmons

I was ever so thrilled at the successful forwarding of the Teatime Tattler to my temporary abode in York. I daresay that a more convivial social circle could not be found anywhere, not even in London. Alas, I will be returning soon to the country, for the Season has come to an end—a most spectacular end filled with marital triumphs, one of which occurred right under my own roof!

Did I not tell you that Major A.K., a great hero of the recent wars, is residing in my widowed daughter-in-law’s home in York as my grandson’s guest? And did I not proclaim that he (the Major, not my grandson) and she (my daughter-in-law) are of an age to be quite suitable?

Oh, what marvelous news! The announcement will soon appear in the London papers. But you, Mr. Clemmons, and your readers will know first: Major A.K. and Lady H.T. are engaged to be married!

Do ensure that my next copy of the Teatime Tattler reaches me at the new direction I’m enclosing herewith.

I am as ever, your faithful reader,

Lady G.T.

Lady Twisden’s Picture Perfect Match, in Desperate Daughters, A Bluestocking Belles Collection with Friends

Blurb:

After years of tolerating her late husband’s rowdy friends, Honoria, Lady Twisden, has escaped to York where she can paint, investigate antiquities, and enjoy freedom. Then her stepson appears with a long-lost relation in tow, the perfect image of a long-ago relation whose fierce portrait made her shiver with mad imaginings.

Promised York’s marriage mart and the hospitality of his cousin’s doddering stepmother, Major August Kellborn is shocked to find that his fetching hostess is the one woman who stirs his heart. To win her heart, however, he must convince her he’s not just a perfect image, but her perfect match.

Excerpt:

Major August Kellborn, late of his Majesty’s army, beat back an impulse to seize young Sir Westcott Twisden by the neckcloth and shake him.

He’d had long experience beating back that sort of urge with the young nodcocks he’d shaped into officers. He could do so now as well.

Gus paced to the window and looked out a sparkling clean pane onto the narrow street. Their traveling chaise wasn’t visible, but Sir Sancho stood unaccompanied, busily watering a lamppost.

Gus had been in his cups the day he’d met Twisden at a horse market in Brampton, else he wouldn’t have allowed the young pup the informality of his first name, respectable though Wes was. The malaise of his first long winter’s sojourn at Whitlaw Grange, his new estate near what was once the Debatable Land, had made him more sociable than was his wont.

Still, he’d found the friendly lad more sensible than most his age, and the family connection had intrigued him. His late mother had written frequently about the Twisdens, the jovial late baronet and his amiable wife. He knew of their mutual ancestor, Sir Ebenezer Twisden as well, and so, he’d jumped at the chance to visit Twisden Hall. His very resemblance to the old warrior was astonishing, and Gus had been impressed with the well-run estate. Much of it the late baronet’s sensible widow’s doing, Gus’s valet had learned.

And so, when Wes proposed visiting his stepmother and attending the York races and then sweetened the deal with the notion of a marriage mart—it had been a very long, lonely winter—Gus agreed to this sojourn in York.

He turned back to his young erstwhile host. “Practically doddering, you said.”

Wes looked up from pouring spirits from a flask into a tumbler. “What?” His blue-eyed innocence was genuine. Wes saw his stepmother as an ancient, when she could scarcely be much beyond thirty. He ought to have paid more attention to his mother’s descriptions of the Twisdens.

“I cannot stay under your stepmother’s roof, Wes.”

“Whyever not?”

“She is not by any means doddering. She’s a widow, and one young enough that even with you here some of the time…” Wes had planned to depart for several days to visit his Grandmother in Harrogate. “The presence of a single man in her household might stir gossip.”

“She’s three and thirty and is known to be very proper. Plus…” He glanced back at the closed door and lowered his voice. “Though she’s clever and good, she’s plain.”

Gus gazed back at the now empty street. Perhaps plain was the right word to describe each of Lady Twisden’s entirely unremarkable features. But taken as a whole, he would call her appearance amiable, moving, and in fact… pretty. The spark in her eyes when she spotted him, the color rising in her cheeks, those had stirred him as well.

Desperate Daughters: A Bluestocking Belles with Friends Collection

Love Against the Odds

The Earl of Seahaven desperately wanted a son and heir but died leaving nine daughters and a fifth wife. Cruelly turned out by the new earl, they live hand-to-mouth in a small cottage.

The young dowager Countess’s one regret is that she cannot give Seahaven’s dear girls a chance at happiness.

When a cousin offers the use of her townhouse in York during the season, the Countess rallies her stepdaughters.

They will pool their resources so that the youngest marriageable daughters might make successful matches, thereby saving them all.

So start their adventures in York, amid a whirl of balls, lectures, and al fresco picnics. Is it possible each of them might find love by the time the York horse races bring the season to a close?

Buy Links:

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3qG6WGs

Apple Books: https://apple.co/3HoEVcm

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Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Caroline_Warfield_Desperate_Daughters_A_Bluestocki?id=Ok9gEAAAQBAJ

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Angus & Robertson:

Thalia: https://bit.ly/30q8dqI

Vivlio: https://bit.ly/3qGqxqc

Author bio:

USA Today bestselling author Alina K. Field earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and German literature but prefers the happier world of romance fiction. Her roots are in the Midwestern U.S., but after six very, very, very cold years in Chicago, she moved to Southern California where she shares a midcentury home with a gold-eyed terrier and only occasionally misses snow.

Website: https://alinakfield.com/

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alina-K.-Field/e/B00DZHWOKY

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News of Arrival of most noted Military Hero!

By Cerise DeLand

On March 7, 2022

In gossip, Guest author, Teatime Tattler

Dear Readers,
I’m sharing with you a letter from one of my faithful correspondents:
Dear Mr. Clemmons,
I hope that this letter finds you well. I myself was agreeably settled for a time to take the waters in Harrogate, with all the conviviality that entails. Goodness! I might have had some delicious news to share with you, had I not received a most surprising letter from my grandson which required me to rush off to York!
Oh, this news is not in the nature of titillating on dits for your readers (Of which I number myself one!), but the happiest sort of news to thrill the hearts of honest Englishmen and Englishwomen. For, a hero of the seemingly unending wars with the French has arrived in York, Major A.K. (Oh, I may not use his name, for he is a creature of the most humble and self-effacing disposition where his military service is concerned). I am quite proud to say that he is a relation of mine, and his late mother was my dearest friend.
So I write to you from York, having only just arrived and had the pleasure of dining with said hero, as well as my grandson, and my widowed daughter-in-law, Lady H.T. She has taken a house in York for the season—wisely, one that accommodates all of us! I daresay she is young enough to marry again, though her years with my late son may discourage… no, I will not go there.
But should she decide to dip a toe into matrimony again, I daresay she and the Major are of an age to be quite suitable, if he is so inclined as well. And what man is not better off for having a wife?
I shall write again and tell you more of the Major’s heroics, as he has promised me the tale at another time.
Do ensure that my copy of the Teatime Tattler reaches me at the direction I’m providing.
I am as ever, your faithful reader,
Lady G.T.

Lady Twisden’s Picture Perfect Match, in Desperate Daughters, A Bluestocking Belles Collection with Friends
After years of tolerating her late husband’s rowdy friends, Honoria, Lady Twisden, has escaped to York where she can paint, investigate antiquities, and enjoy freedom. Then her stepson appears with a long-lost relation in tow, the perfect image of a long-ago relation whose fierce portrait made her shiver with mad imaginings.

Promised York’s marriage mart and the hospitality of his cousin’s doddering stepmother, Major August Kellborn is shocked to find that his fetching hostess is the one woman who stirs his heart. To win her heart, however, he must convince her he’s not just a perfect image, but her perfect match.

Excerpt:
“Where is the footman? We need him to fetch in our trunks.”
We?
Looking past the broad shoulder she saw another figure approaching and…
Good God. Heat swamped her and flamed in her cheeks. Dark eyes shot darts at her over a grimly set, thin-lipped mouth. The palpable sternness of Wes’s companion sent a shiver of awareness through her. It was a familiar shiver, one she’d indulged during her tedious days at Twisden Manor when she’d found herself fighting off mad imaginings.
Wes’s laughter shook her tongue loose. “My goodness, sir,” she said. “You bear an uncanny resemblance to—”
“Old Ebenezer Twisden,” Wes said. “Yes, it is as if the old Warden has come back to life, Mother. As soon as I laid eyes on him in Brampton, I knew he must be a relation. And do you know who he is, Mother?” He laughed again. “I’ve written to Granny to tell her. She’ll be in alt when she reads the news.”
A man of perhaps forty, he was about the same age as Wes’s ancestor, the Warden in the painting at Twisden Hall who’d been in the King’s service for many years when that portrait was done. This new incarnation of Ebenezer wasn’t a particularly tall man, not as tall as Wes, but he still towered over her.
Old Ebenezer cleared his throat.
“But of course,” Wes said. “Where are my manners? Mother, may I present my cousin, Major Augustus Kellborn. Gus, this is my dear stepmother, Lady Twisden.”
While she curtsied, managing not to wobble, he dipped his head, never taking his gaze away.
Good holy heavens. A hero returned from the wars!

Desperate Daughters: A Bluestocking Belles with Friends Collection

Love Against the Odds
The Earl of Seahaven desperately wanted a son and heir but died leaving nine daughters and a fifth wife. Cruelly turned out by the new earl, they live hand-to-mouth in a small cottage.
The young dowager Countess’s one regret is that she cannot give Seahaven’s dear girls a chance at happiness.
When a cousin offers the use of her townhouse in York during the season, the Countess rallies her stepdaughters.
They will pool their resources so that the youngest marriageable daughters might make successful matches, thereby saving them all.
So start their adventures in York, amid a whirl of balls, lectures, and al fresco picnics. Is it possible each of them might find love by the time the York horse races bring the season to a close?

Buy Links:

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3qG6WGs
Apple Books: https://apple.co/3HoEVcm
Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/2YOhqIm
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3qL5GlH
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Caroline_Warfield_Desperate_Daughters_A_Bluestocki?id=Ok9gEAAAQBAJ
Books2Read: https://books2read.com/u/bMwL17

International Links:
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BR: https://amzn.to/3qUFBkf
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Angus & Robertson:
Thalia: https://bit.ly/30q8dqI
Vivlio: https://bit.ly/3qGqxqc

Author bio:
USA Today bestselling author Alina K. Field earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and German literature but prefers the happier world of romance fiction. Her roots are in the Midwestern U.S., but after six very, very, very cold years in Chicago, she moved to Southern California where she shares a midcentury home with a gold-eyed terrier and only occasionally misses snow.

Website: https://alinakfield.com/

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alina-K.-Field/e/B00DZHWOKY

Unchaperoned Encounter between a Mysterious Earl and a Flame-haired Lady! Astonishing tattle!

By Cerise DeLand

On February 16, 2022

In gossip, Guest author, Regency (19th century Britain), Teatime Tattler

Dear Readers,

Gazette insiders tell us there was an unchaperoned encounter between a certain deliciously mysterious earl and a flame-haired lady who’s rumored to keep daggers hidden within her skirts. Both were apparently seeking a stolen journal and yet only one was the victor… And considering the gentleman in question was observed limping away from the encounter, wearing a ferocious scowl on his handsome brow, our money is firmly on the lady in question as having won the confrontation. Though if she did best the earl, one does wonder how she accomplished such a feat against what can only be described as a prime specimen of a male, whose athletic prowess is unparalleled and very much admired by the ladies of Society. One does wonder, indeed…

‘Tis a question we shall be pondering as we wait with bated breath to see what the earl will do in reply. After all, the gentleman is not known as a man who gives up easily, in fact his tenacity is both admired and to be feared. The lady would do well to be cautious, very cautious, indeed. Though we’ve heard rumors that this particular lady in question is unlike other ladies; apparently, she prefers to she throw daggers, not dinner parties…. How delightfully wicked!

We suspect things are about to get dangerously scandalous… So, stay tuned, dear reader, for what is sure to be an extremely entertaining and perilous journey ahead as we eagerly anticipate the antics these two undoubtedly have in store for us.

THE BACHELOR BETRAYAL by Maddison Michaels

Release date: 14 February 2022.

Buy link: www.books2read.com/TheBachelorBetrayal

BLURB:

He wants justice

Underestimating Marcus Black is the last thing his enemies ever do. After all, the respected Earl of Westwood is a deadly threat… when her Majesty needs him to be. And his only goal is to avenge his brother’s murder. Which would be much easier if the viciously-skilled Lady Kaitlyn Montrose wouldn’t swoop in, knee him in the bollocks, and then run off with his only lead…

She wants revenge

Kat is determined to avenge her beloved uncle’s murder and nothing will stop her. Especially not the devastatingly handsome, and equally lethal Marcus Black. The fact that he’s after the same target is a complication she hadn’t planned on. And as much as she enjoys taunting him, she has a job to do—one that doesn’t include sparring with the infuriating man at every turn. Except Kat has a new plan… one that Marcus will just hate.

Now they’ll have to work together… if they don’t kill each other first

Individually, Marcus and Kat are deadly. If they worked together, they could be unstoppable. But when attraction gets in the way of vengeance, it’s more than hearts on the line. And only one person can win…

AUTHOR BIO AND LINKS:

Indoctrinated into a world of dashing rogues and feisty heroines when she was a teenager and picked up her first ever historical romance, Maddison Michaels has been a prolific reader and writer of historical romance ever since. She is the bestselling author of six books, including THE DEVILISH DUKE which won the 2019 RWA Australia Historical Romantic Book of the Year.

Writing historical romance is Maddison’s way of time traveling back to Victorian London to experience a cornucopia of intrigue, romance and adventure all from the comfort of her living room! She also loves incorporating her previous 16 years experience as a police officer into the mystery and suspense elements of her books. She lives in Sydney, Australia with her own handsome hero, beautiful daughter and fur baby, and she always starts her day with a cup of liquid gold…coffee – just quietly, she’s addicted to the stuff!

Maddison absolutely loves to hear from her readers and you can find her at http://www.maddisonmichaels.com/ or on most social media platforms!

Author Links:

Website: http://maddisonmichaels.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaddisonMichaelsAuthor/
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maddisonmichaelsauthor/
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Amazon Author Page : https://www.amazon.com/Maddison-Michaels/e/B079LXRLQ7

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/maddison-michaels

Outrageous Rescue

By Bluestocking Belles

On December 8, 2021

In Teatime Tattler

Well now, isn’t this just a delicious tidbit for you all:

A rival newspaper, the Trumpeter no less, is reporting that one Miss Somerset Sinclair, a member of that wildly outrageous family who constantly flaunts society’s rules, has recklessly stepped in to save a man from certain injury, if not death.

The event took place as she was walking, alone I might add, to visit Lolly’s bookstore late one afternoon. Professor Cole Alexander Gusford Charlton was unaware of his impending doom when Miss Sinclair flew at him. Onlookers have reported her diving at the poor man, wrapping her arms around his waist and propelling him backward with some force. He came to rest with a thud against a sturdy wall. With Miss Sinclair still pressed to his body, a chimney pot then crashed to the ground a mere few inches away.

While her behavior was indeed scandalous, one cannot help but commend her for her fast thinking, even if her ankles were seen by everyone who witnessed the event. I’m also happy to report that both parties were unharmed.

As you know, four out of the seven Sinclair siblings are all wed, and not only that, each is married to someone sharing the Duke of Raven’s blood. I’m not one to gossip, but this strikes me as an odd anomaly, which is added to by the fact they all live on the same London street. I must, in good conscience, tell you that the Sinclair and Raven families are a very unusual group of people.

News has just reached us that in fact Professor Charlton is the Duke of Raven’s cousin. One wonders what is in store for him in the coming months.

About the Book: Courting Danger

If only he’d taken more care, she wouldn’t be facing her destiny.

Somerset Sinclair vows not to follow in her elder siblings’ footsteps. There will be no marriages or daring rescues of any man carrying Raven blood. Somer has a career, and nothing is about to thwart that.

Sinclair Investigative Services is flourishing.

Everything was going to plan until Professor Cole Alexander Gusford Charlton foolishly stood under a chimney pot. Now there’s an arrogant, handsome man making her heart beat a little faster. A man of Raven blood whose life she saved, and who irritates her into irrational behavior.

Somer is determined to break the pact that bound her family to his. Her heart would remain intact, no matter how hard it was becoming to keep her distance from the professor.

Gus had one passion, his studies. A highly sought-after scholar, he had no room in his life for a woman as infuriatingly opinionated as Somerset Sinclair. She calls him stuffy and refuses to show him the respect he deserves.

Yes, she’d saved his life, but he’d thanked her for that. Now he must forget her and her strange family, and his life will return to normal.

The problem is she has an unusual occupation that throws her headlong into trouble and no one appears worried about that, except him.

When Somer’s investigations turn deadly and the threat to her life real, Gus knows his dreams of an uneventful scholarly existence are in fact empty without her in them. He will do whatever it takes to keep her safe. But will Somer fight her destiny or realize that life would be empty without Gus at her side and in her heart.

Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099P9C8PQ

Excerpt~

She felt his thudding heart as it matched her own. Strong thighs pressed into her, and the muscled planes of his chest and belly.

“R-Release me.” Somer’s voice was wobbly. “Please.”

He looked behind him, then eased back and away, and Somer tried to breathe. Tried to still the racing of her heart. No man but family had held her like that.

“Are you all right?” His voice was a growl and reminded her of Max when gripped by strong emotions.

“Y-Yes, thank you.”

He was taller this close, and bigger. His shoulders were wide beneath the black of his overcoat. His eyes were gray, darker than James’s, but lighter than Emily’s. Nice eyes, she thought, and what he should use to look where he was going. They were set in an equally pleasing face. Wide cheekbones, a chin that she thought looked stubborn, dark brows and lashes. His skin was tanned, which suggested he did not frequent society, as it was not done to have such coloring. His hair was too long, past his collar, and deep sable brown. Handsome. The little jab of excitement in the pit of her stomach told Somer he was a man worthy of a second look. Not that she’d be looking. There was no time in her life for men.

She drew in another steady breath.

“If I may suggest, sir,” Somer said in a tone that would cut glass, “you need to be more aware when walking through streets filled with people and obstacles, because next time I may not be on hand to save you from a chimney pot knocking you senseless!”

“I have had no trouble until now,” he said, his eyes steady on her face.

“And yet had I not intervened you would be nursing a serious headache or a great deal worse.”

His eyes moved to the shattered pieces of chimney pot.

“Yes, I can see that.”

“You are bleeding.” Somer pulled out her handkerchief and stepped toward him to place it on his cheek.

“’Tis nothing.” He brushed her hand aside and blotted it with the sleeve of his coat.

“Well then,” Somer snapped. She did not like feeling anything but in complete control, and yet right in that moment she was unsettled. He’d held her, and being close to him had made butterflies form in her belly.

Decidedly odd.

“Well then?” He raised a dark brow.

“Say thank you.”

His smile was small but did several disturbing things to his already handsome face. He was looking at her as if she was amusing. A woman and therefore not terribly intelligent, but worth a smile. She’d been the recipient of that look many times in her life and had to say she was still far from impressed by it.

He was dressed as a gentleman of means, Somer thought, eyeing his well-fitted deep-blue jacket and gray trousers beneath the overcoat. The only bright color was from the fine silver stripe in his waistcoat.

He suddenly swept off his hat, then bowed.

“You have my undying gratitude, madam.”

“Is that sarcasm?” Somer frowned. She’d cut her eye teeth on sarcasm, it was a communication tool in her family, but she did not expect it from a man whose life she’d just saved. “Because if it is, I think that’s exceedingly shabby, as I just rescued you from a hideous headache or death. Either deserves a great deal more gratitude.”

Rather than being angry, he looked intrigued.

From USA Today Bestseller Wendy Vella comes an exciting Regency series about legend, love and destiny, with a hint of magic …

Amazon

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A Missing Fiancé

By Bluestocking Belles

On November 10, 2021

In Teatime Tattler

Scandal in Mayfair: Earl Deserted by Promised Bride at Betrothal Ball

–by a Lady of Quality

We’ve received a delicious piece of gossip for my followers of the ton:

Last night, at a ball held by the Lord and Lady F— to celebrate the engagement of their daughter C— to Lord S—, everything was perfection save for one minor detail.

Fully one half of the betrothed couple was missing.

The evening began as a triumph for the Baron and his lady wife. The crush of titled lords and ladies who attended in their elegant attire and glittering jewels all but guaranteed the soirée’s success.

However, at the appointed hour for the happy announcement to be made, no one could locate the bride-to-be. The Earl was left standing alone, with no fiancée by his side and no reason to accept the crowd’s felicitations.

Under rigorous questioning, the girl’s weeping maid admitted the truth: the Honorable Miss F— had fled her home! What’s worse, she did so by dressing as a boy and climbing out her bedroom window.

Revelers passing on the street that moonlit night told the night watchmen they observed a ragged boy scrambling down the outer wall of the Baron’s townhouse using a makeshift rope.

Furthermore, an ostler at the White Horse Cellar claims to have seen a young lad, dressed in the clothes described by the maid, enter the innyard late last evening.

The White Horse Cellar

Could this “boy” have been the wayward miss in her disreputable disguise? Indeed, though I never gamble, I would wager it was her.

The on-dit is that his Lordship’s marriage proposal is the first he ever tendered to any woman. It is no secret that the highly eligible Earl, having spent decades sowing his wild oats, is ready at last to wed and produce a legitimate heir. My sources say he picked the Baron’s young daughter for her beauty, her youth, and her sweet docility.

But as a gentleman might observe at a racecourse, the Earl clearly bet on the wrong horse!

Despite a frantic search undertaken by her distraught parents, the whereabouts of the runaway chit remain unknown at this time. Lord S— refuses to speak about the incident, but his butler let slip that his master is infuriated by this humiliating insult.

In my opinion, dear readers, it staggers belief that any young lady would turn down an Earl’s offer of marriage for any reason. Her desperate escape can only be a manifestation of a peculiar madness.

Although where the Honorable Miss F — has gone is a mystery, one thing about this affair is known only too well. Her impulsive actions will no doubt carry serious consequences for her and her parents, who certainly face social ruin because of their daughter’s hoydenish behavior.

When news of this disgraceful escapade gets thoroughly circulated, no high-born, eligible bachelor will be foolish enough to step forward to offer for the disgraced girl. Through her own rash imprudence, Miss F— may have indeed avoided one offer of marriage, but she is most unlikely ever to receive another.

About the Book

Lord Peter’s Page is a sweet Regency romance currently for sale at Amazon Books. Here is more about the story:

The match between Baron Finbury’s daughter Charlotte and Lord Satterly seems ideal to everyone but Charlotte. She longs for Cyril, the older brother of a friend. Desperate to escape the arranged marriage, Charlotte runs away from her parent’s Mayfair home on the night of a grand soirée to announce her engagement.

Disguised as a boy, she stows away in a carriage bound for Bath, where her sympathetic aunt lives. At the reins is Lord Peter Randolph, son of the Duke of Wickersham, and his friend Geordie. Hidden in the carriage, Charlotte hopes to get to Bath undetected by the men, but a carriage accident and an unplanned night at an inn makes that plan go awry.

Lord Peter soon sees through her disguise, but not before “the boy” proves to be a hopeless assistant, unable to polish a boot or tie a cravat. When Lord Peter discovers his clumsy page is a young miss, he goes to extraordinary lengths to protect her reputation, even bringing home to his family’s estate where she is accused of stealing the family rubies.

As Charlotte struggles to clear her name, she realizes the naïve affection she felt for Cyril is nothing compared to the passion she develops for Lord Peter. But is it too late for Lord Peter’s “page” to win his heart?

Buy link: Lord Peter’s Page: A Regency Romance – Kindle edition by Mackey, Maureen. Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

~An Excerpt~

The placid water mirrored the leafy canopy of leaves and the blue skies above. The pool looked so cool and inviting! The inviting scene made Charlotte keenly aware of how hot and dirty she felt.

She clambered halfway up the bank, and saw where the men lay motionless, sleeping in the sun. Then she looked back to the serene water.

The temptation was irresistible.

She spread her shawl, along with the rest of her clothes, on a bush nearby. Peering around, she reassured herself she was alone, and stepped down into the water.

Oh, but it was glorious! The water was just as cool and fresh as it looked.

She didn’t want to stop but she dare not stay too long. Reluctantly she swam towards the bank, stepped in the soft mud and grabbed the long shawl from the bushes. She used the rough fabric to towel off and was resignedly pulling on the filthy trousers when she heard a twig snap.

She whirled around in horror. There, not five feet away was Lord Peter.

Quickly she whipped the shawl in front of her, clutching it tightly.

“How dare you!” gasped Charlotte. “Turn around! This instant!”

“Certainly, Master Charles. But then you had better be prepared to answer some questions. Though I believe I have discovered some answers already.”

Charlotte picked up one of her heavy shoes and threw it at him. It landed squarely in the middle of his back.

He staggered a step. “Ouch!”

“That is just the beginning. When my father finds out what you have done, why, he’ll curry your hide and hang it out to dry! Cyril will, too!”

“I think a light is dawning. I must congratulate you, Miss…”

“Finbury,” Charlotte replied, as haughtily as she could. “Miss Charlotte Finbury. My father is a Baron.”

“Miss Charlotte Finbury. This is the most elaborate ruse I have ever heard of to try to entrap a man into marriage. After spending a night with me in the same chamber at an inn, not to mention this little incident on the stream bank, you are well and truly compromised. Can I expect to see an irate father with a pistol, or perhaps a blunderbuss, coming around the bend?

“Entrap? Why, you conceited, arrogant coxcomb! As if I would go to all this trouble, not to mention discomfort and embarrassment, to force you to marry me! Why do you think I left London in the first place? If it was marriage I wanted, I could have stayed and gone along with my parents’ wishes.”

She took a deep breath, struggling to regain a modicum of control.

Lord Peter bent down and thoughtfully picked up the shoes she ‘d flung at him.

“If compromising yourself with me was not your aim, why did you threaten me with your father and brother just now?”

“My brother? Oh, you mean Cyril! He is not my brother. He is the man I intend to marry.”

“Poor devil,” murmured Lord Peter.

Ab0ut the Author

Maureen Mackey is an award-winning romance author who also writes mysteries. A California native, she earned degrees in English and journalism and worked as a reporter before getting the courage to pursue her real ambition, writing Regency romances. Now she and her husband live near Portland, Oregon, with their two grown sons and their families nearby. When she’s not working on a novel, writing blog posts, or researching her favorite era, she enjoys cooking, crocheting, and taking walks in the rain.