From Bluestocking to Bride
Proposing to the Earl of Aynsley seems a sensible—if unconventional—solution to Miss Rebecca Peabody’s predicament. As a married woman, she will be free to keep writing her essays on civil reform. Meanwhile, the distinguished widower will gain a stepmother for his seven children and a caretaker for his vast estate.
But the earl wants more than a convenient bride. He craves a true partner, a woman he can cherish. To his surprise, the bookish Miss Peabody appears to have every quality he desires...except the willingness to trust her new husband. Yet despite his family’s interference, and her steadfast independence, time and faith could make theirs a true marriage of hearts.
Before Rebecca, his life had been less conflicted. Utterly lonely, but peaceful nevertheless.
Through her he had glimpsed a sliver of potential happiness, and had rushed toward it like a blind old fool. And what had he gotten for his imprudent act? A deep chasm with his beloved daughter and a wife who thought to boss him as if he were a misguided child.
Aynsley tried to tell himself this marriage was not bad. Rebecca did have a way with lads. Against his will, he pictured her in the coach that morning after church, holding his youngest son on her lap. No one could have seen her and not believed she was Chuckie’s natural mother.
It was still hard to credit that he’d married Rebecca. What had possessed him?
Long after he entered the house, long after he climbed the stairs and long after he lay in his bed unable to sleep, he asked himself the same question. Why had he married the bossy Miss Peabody?
CHERYL BOLEN
is the acclaimed author of more than a dozen Regency-set historical romance novels. Her books have placed in several writing contests, including the Daphne du Maurier, and have been translated into eleven languages. She was named Notable New Author in 1999, and in 2006 she won the Holt Medallion (Honoring Outstanding Literary Talent) for Best Short Historical Novel. Her books have become Barnes & Noble and Amazon bestsellers.
A former journalist who admits to a fascination with dead Englishwomen, Cheryl is a regular contributor to The Regency Plume, The Regency Reader and The Quizzing Glass. Many of her articles can be found on her website, www.CherylBolen.com, and more recent ones on her blog, www.CherylsRegencyRamblings.wordpress.com. Readers are welcomed at both places.
Cheryl holds a dual degree in English and journalism from the University of Texas, and she earned a master’s degree from the University of Houston. She and her professor husband are the parents of two sons, one an attorney and the other a journalist. Her favorite things to do are watching the Longhorns, reading letters and diaries of Georgian Englishmen and traveling to England.
Marriage of Inconvenience
Cheryl Bolen
MILLS & BOON
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And the Lord God said,
“It is not good for the man to be alone;
I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
—Genesis 2:18
To my sisters, Suzi Meeker and Colleen Sutherland, who have enriched my life immeasurably.
Contents
Chapter One
London, England
1813
The hackney coach slowed in front of Lord Aynsley’s townhouse. With her heart pounding prodigiously, Miss Rebecca Peabody pushed her spectacles up the bridge of her nose and drew a deep breath as the driver assisted her from the carriage. She paid him, glanced up at the impressive four-story townhouse, then climbed its steps and rapped at the door’s shiny brass plate. Almost as an afterthought, she pulled off her spectacles and jammed them into her reticule. Though she abhorred going without