SHE NEEDED A DIFFERENT HUSBAND…
When feisty, free spirited Lady Charlotte
Vanderley is betrothed against her will to the lecherous old Duke of Tarrow,
she will go to any lengths to escape him, especially when a chance encounter
with the mysterious Gavin Graystone shows her the true meaning of passion.
HE NEEDED A RESPECTABLE WIFE…
Gavin Graystone despises the
nobility, and for good reason. Born in the London slums, he knows the true meaning of
suffering. Now a wealthy entrepreneur, he has left his checkered past behind
and secretly yearns for the one thing his money cannot buy: the respect of the ton.
THEY NEEDED A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE…
Marrying Gavin will free Charlotte from the Duke.
Marrying Charlotte
will give Gavin the acceptance he desires. It seems like the perfect plan, but
when two yearning hearts are involved, things rarely happen as they should… And
as Charlotte and Gavin soon discover, falling in love is anything but
convenient.
FIRST PAGE EXCERPT
“I
will not marry him.” Standing with her arms crossed and her jaw set, twenty-one-year-old
Charlotte Vanderley shook her head from side to side, sending her unruly mass
of red curls whipping across her face. “He is old and grotesque and I would not
want him if he were the last man on earth!”
“Pin
your hair up, dear, you look like a heathen.” Unimpressed by her daughter’s
belligerence, Lady Vanderley sipped her tea and smoothed a wrinkle from her
skirts. Always impeccably dressed and well put together, nothing grated on
Bettina’s nerves quite like a coiffure that was loose or a stay that was not
pulled tight.
A
woman of quiet reserve and a spine of steel, she blamed every single one of her
gray hairs on Charlotte ,
and often wondered what she had done so wrong to deserve such a rebellious
child. There was no denying the girl her beauty (and for that Bettina took full
credit) but as for everything else… Well, it was well known Lord Vanderley had
always been much too indulgent with his only daughter. And this, Bettina thought sourly as she took in Charlotte ’s
disheveled appearance, is the result.
Ignoring
her mother’s demand, Charlotte
stalked across the parlor and stared broodingly out the window to the street
beyond. It was late in the afternoon and London traffic had slowed to a crawl. It
would pick back up again once the supper hour drew near, but for now all was
quiet and uncharacteristically calm. As she looked on a group of raggedly
dressed boys raced passed, whooping and laughing and kicking a red ball while a
dog nipped playfully at their heels. Charlotte
sighed. What she wouldn’t do to be outside right now, to feel the sun on her
face and the wind in her hair. To be able to run and yell and do all the things
proper young ladies were never allowed to do.
Instead
she was stuck inside with nothing to occupy her time save the thought of her
recent engagement to the horrible Duke of Tarrow, an old lecher thirty years
her senior who had already seen two wives dead and buried. Why he had need of a
third Charlotte
was not certain; he already had two sons, the “heir and the spare” as the
saying went, and both were in good health.
Her
best friend Dianna had told her that he wanted another wife so he could succumb
to his “manly urges” whenever he pleased. Charlotte had a small inkling of what
that entailed, and just thinking about those wrinkled hands on her body made
her sick to her stomach.
“I
still cannot believe you allowed the announcement to be printed without my
permission,” she tossed accusingly over one shoulder. Catching her mother’s
frown out of the corner of her eye, she spun in a half circle and scowled.
“This is not the dark ages. If I do not want to marry him you cannot make me!”
“You
are behaving like a petulant child,” said Bettina. Fluffing a hand through her
auburn hair, now streaked liberally with gray, she straightened even further in
her chair and linked her hands together on top of her lap. “It is a great honor
to be engaged to a Duke, especially one of Lord Crane’s wealth and social
status.”
“I
do not care how titled or rich he is!” Charlotte exploded. “I want to marry for
love, not money.”
For
the first time a hint of true annoyance flashed in Bettina’s dark blue eyes and
twin blotches of color appeared high on her cheeks. “You are a foolish girl
with foolish dreams who knows nothing of the real world or the perils that
exist within it,” she said scornfully. “One day you will thank me for this,
mark my words.”
“Well it will not be today,” Charlotte
Release Date: 05/10/13
(My sister's birthday!)
Add The Runaway Duchess to you Goodreads TBR list
by clicking right here.
No comments:
Post a Comment