Louise Allen
A battle of wills!
When Lady Sara Herriard’s husband dies in a duel, she turns her back on the vagaries of the ton. From now on, she will live as she pleases. She won’t change for anyone—certainly not for the infuriating Lucian Avery, Marquess of Cannock!
Lucian must help his sister recover from a disastrous elopement and reluctantly enlists Lady Sara’s help. She couldn’t be further from the conventional, obedient wife he’s expected to marry, but soon all he craves is for her to surrender—and join him in his bed!
‘Ladies need protection.’ Lucian stalked over to the balustrade.
Shaking the provoking creature would not be a good illustration of his case—kissing her would be even worse.
‘How did you get here this evening, for example? These streets and lanes are dark—anyone could be lurking.’
‘By sedan chair, with the same two reliable, burly chairmen I always use. They will come and collect me later. And should desperate footpads leap out and manage to fell both of them I can defend myself.’
‘How? With sharp words?’ he demanded, and took two strides to stand in front of her, his hands either side, pinning her back against the balustrade. ‘Men are stronger, more vicious, than you could imagine.’
‘Also more vulnerable,’ she murmured. ‘Look down, my lord. It is not only my words that have an edge.’
He did—just as he felt pressure against the falls of his evening breeches. In the moonlight something glinted: sharp steel, held rocksteady in her hand.
Lucian stood quite still. ‘Where did that come from?’
Some time ago I wrote Forbidden Jewel of India, a story I was passionate about, set entirely in India in the 1780s—a time when the East India Company ruled in uneasy alliance with the Princes and Rajas. Anusha was half-Indian; her lover, Nicholas Herriard, an English officer and heir to a marquess. When it was time for him to take up his title and return to England in 1816 I had all the fun of discovering how he and Anusha and their son and daughter adapted to English life.
I told Ashe Herriard’s story in Tarnished Amongst the Ton, but I had no inkling of what might happen to Sara, his sister—until now. So here she is, very much her mother’s daughter and determined to be her own woman—despite what the men in her life think and certainly despite what Lucian Avery, Marquess of Cannock, believes is best for her.
I hope you enjoy following Sara’s stormy path to true love as much as I enjoyed discovering it.
LOUISE ALLEN loves immersing herself in history. She finds landscapes and places evoke the past powerfully. Venice, Burgundy and the Greek islands are favourite destinations. Louise lives on the Norfolk coast and spends her spare time gardening, researching family history or travelling in search of inspiration. Visit her at louiseallenregency.co.uk, @LouiseRegency and janeaustenslondon.com.
To Lorna Chapman
for encouraging me to tell Sara’s story. Thank you!
September 1818—Sandbay, Dorset
It was an elegant shop front with its sea-green paintwork, touches of gilding and sparkling clean windows. Aphrodite’s Seashell. A risqué choice of name, Lucian thought, considering that Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love, born from the sea foam when Cronus cut off Uranus’s male parts and threw them into the