Praise for Louise Allen
Married to a Stranger ‘Allen delivers a lovely, sweet story, demonstrating how strangers can build a relationship based on lost love. The gentle yet powerful emotions of a grieving brother are sure to touch readers, as will the budding romance between him and a shy but emotionally strong woman. Allen reaches into readers’ hearts.’ —RT Book Reviews
Seduced by the Scoundrel ‘Allen takes a shipwreck spying adventure with lots of sensuality and spins it into a page-turner. The strong characters and sexy relationship will definitely satisfy readers.’ —RT Book Reviews
Ravished by the Rake ‘Allen illuminates a unique side of the Regency by setting her latest adventure in India…’ —RT Book Reviews
Practical Widow to Passionate Mistress ‘With the first in her new trilogy, Allen hooks readers with her charming and well-portrayed characters, especially the secondary cast. You’ll cheer on the hero and the strong-willed heroine to the very end of this highly enjoyable and addictive read.’ —RT Book Reviews
‘I would give a year of my life for one night in your arms.’
His voice was muffled against her skin as she lifted her hand to touch his hair.
Isobel gasped. It was all her fantasies about Giles, all her wicked longings, offered to her to take. All she needed was the courage to reach out.
Almost as soon as he said it, she felt him hear his own words. The enchanted bubble that surrounded them shattered like thin glass. Giles’s body tensed under her hands, then he released her and stepped back.
‘I am sorry. I should never have spoken, never touched you.’ His face was tight with a kind of pain that his physical injuries had not caused. ‘I did not mean—Isobel, forgive me. I would not hurt you for the world.’
He turned on his heel and walked away without looking back, up the gallery and into the book room that led to the library.
She stared after him, still shaking a little from the intensity of that kiss, unable to speak.
About the Author
LOUISE ALLEN has been immersing herself in history, real and fictional, for as long as she can remember. She finds landscapes and places evoke powerful images of the past—Venice, Burgundy and the Greek islands are favourite atmospheric destinations. Louise lives on the North Norfolk coast, where she shares the cottage they have renovated with her husband. She spends her spare time gardening, researching family history or travelling in the UK and abroad in search of inspiration. Please visit Louise’s website—www.louiseallenregency.co.uk—for the latest news, or find her on Twitter @LouiseRegency and on Facebook.
Previous novels by the same author:
THE DANGEROUS MR RYDER*
THE OUTRAGEOUS LADY FELSHAM*
THE SHOCKING LORD STANDON*
THE DISGRACEFUL MR RAVENHURST*
THE NOTORIOUS MR HURST*
THE PIRATICAL MISS RAVENHURST*
PRACTICAL WIDOW TO PASSIONATE MISTRESS**
VICAR’S DAUGHTER TO VISCOUNT’S LADY **
INNOCENT COURTESAN TO ADVENTURER’S
BRIDE**
RAVISHED BY THE RAKE***
SEDUCED BY THE SCOUNDREL***
MARRIED TO A STRANGER***
FORBIDDEN JEWEL OF INDIA
TARNISHED AMONGST THE TON
THE LORD AND THE WAYWARD LADY****
THE OFFICER AND THE PROPER LADY****
*Those Scandalous Ravenhursts
**The Transformation of the Shelley Sisters
***Danger & Desire
****Silk & Scandal
Mills & Boon ® Historical Undone! eBooks:
DISROBED AND DISHONOURED
AUCTIONED VIRGIN TO SEDUCED BRIDE **
Regency Rumours
Louise Allen
For the staff at Wimpole who were a mine of information and who were so patient with my endless questions
Author Note
To be asked to write about a place I know well and love is a rare privilege and I did not have to think twice when it was suggested that I set a novel amongst the real inhabitants of Wimpole Hall, a magnificent National Trust property in Cambridgeshire.
Everything I read about the Yorke family, who lived at Wimpole at the beginning of the nineteenth century, convinced me they must have been delightful people and I knew my hero and heroine would relish their company, too. I hope you enjoy exploring Wimpole Hall and its lovely park alongside Isobel and Giles as they fall in love. It is a love that seems doomed, but then, as now, Wimpole Hall has a certain magic and things may not be as black as they seem!
CHAPTER ONE
February 2nd, 1801—the Old North Road, Cambridgeshire
THE CHAISE RATTLED and lurched. It was an almost welcome distraction from the stream of bright and cheerful chatter Isobel’s maid had kept up ever since they left London. ‘It isn’t exile really, now is it, my lady? Your mama said you were going to rusticate in the country for your health.’
‘Dorothy, I know you mean to raise my spirits, but exile is precisely the word for it.’ Lady Isobel Jervis regarded the plump young woman with scarce-concealed exasperation. ‘To call it rustication is to draw a polite veil over the truth. Gentlemen rusticate when they have to escape from London to avoid their creditors.
‘I have been banished, in disgrace, and that is exile. If this was a sensation novel the fact that it is completely undeserved and unjust would cast a romantic glow over the situation.