Read An Earl for the desperate bride (Regency Romance) (Regency Tales Book 1) Online
Authors: Regina Darcy
Lord Nathaniel Hughes, the Viscount of Wiltshire was bored. Ever since his close friend, the Duke of Staffordshire had tied the knot with the beautiful Miss Georgette Danford, he had been questioning his own bachelor status. The loving bliss the couple exuded had him longing for something other than his current, temporary liaisons with married women. He was by no means looking for a love match, far from it. However, the issue of an heir was of outmost importance. The only problem with his new, inexplicable, yearning was that he did not trust women at all.
Anything else would have been unusual; after all, he had witnessed the treacherous nature of a woman first-hand.
Now, Nathaniel was not prone to the incessant musings that afflicted many a gentlemen of his advanced age. That said, at the grand age of 28, surrounded by many a gentlemen who were already married, he was hard pressed to ignore the need to father a legitimate heir. This was one of the reasons he was now languishing in the Gloucestershire countryside. Bored to tears in London, he decided to visit his cousin at Langdon Manor. He had the misfortune to have agreed to stay for three whole weeks, when he had first arrived.
After spending two weeks in the company of his nieces, he was happy to notice he had somewhat regained his senses. As he suspected, the delightful little monsters had been exactly what the doctor ordered. Five more days of
Uncle Nathaniel this, Uncle Nathaniel that
and he could rush back to London and freedom.
Luckily, his boredom had been cut short as his dear friend Alden Haddington, the Earl of Beckton had come calling. They had known each other for several years. Both had served in the same regiment under the Duke of Staffordshire.
Alden had particular strong, disapproving views on Nicholas’s string of mistresses. The irony was that the Earl was known to have left an equal trail of heartbroken beauties behind him. The only difference being, he had never touched them.
Alden was currently an esteemed Member of Parliament. Although he was certainly very vocal in the House of Lords, Nathaniel was one of the few people who knew Alden found the challenge of conversing with the fairer sex, insurmountable. He had yet to finish a sensible conversation with any eligible young woman he had actual designs on. Half the broken hearts he left behind him were due to disinterest, and the rest due to an inability to approach the ladies in question.
It was a longstanding joke between them, that at this rate he would die never having known a woman. However, despite their markedly different dispositions, his friendship with Nathaniel had remained strong over the years.
“Nathaniel, are you listening?” the Earl queried bemused. “I see you are studiously avoiding the topic,” he continued as he climbed on to his horse.
“What topic would that be?” Nathaniel replied, puzzled at the sudden line of questioning. His thoughts where elsewhere.
“That of your self-imposed loneliness.”
“Loneliness? That’s a bit harsh, my dear fellow.”
“Pray tell, what would you call burying yourself in the countryside?” Alden asked with a raised eyebrow. Nathaniel shrugged.
“Well, I am of the opinion that your loneliness would swiftly be solved by a matrimonial arrangement,” Alden continued dryly.
“Good Grace! I am not yet at my deathbed to be sentenced to such domestic hell,” the Nathaniel exclaimed, “An incidental marriage is not something I aspire for in any near future.”
The Viscount had no wish for Alden to get a whiff of the fact that he had very much been reconsidering his bachelor status for the last couple of weeks. Once the Earl fixated on an idea he didn’t let it be. Whilst this was useful in Parliament, it was highly annoying to his friends. Nathaniel had no intention of becoming his next pet project.
The Earl laughed, then grew silent and said quietly:
“How much longer are you going to let her treachery dictate your life?” His question was followed by a pregnant silence.
“I do not know what you are referring to,” Nathaniel replied, squirming in his saddle.
Alden seemed to sense his rising discomfort, and let that particular matter drop by changing the subject. “Sooner or later you will have to produce an heir,” he said instead. “You know as well as I do your cousin Albert is not the right man to wear your coronet with dignity.”
Nathaniel laughed aloud. His cousin Albert was fat, bald and mostly intolerable. He turned in his saddle to face his friend. “Any woman I would marry would find me insufferable and swiftly be plotting my murder.”
“Beget you heir first,” Alden replied with mirth, “then you can see how long it takes for one of you to throw the other in the lake.” Both men chuckled ruefully. “Right, I best be on my way. I am due in London in a week,” the Earl, exclaimed.
“Rushing off? Do not tell me it is the lovely Phoebe Alexander that is your urgent business,” Nathaniel replied with a knowing smirk. “When are you going to get the courage to tell her, she has stolen your heart?”
“Right after you get married and produce an heir, old chap,” Alden retorted without missing a beat.
“So never then?”
The Earl laughed, bid his friend goodbye and set his horse to a gallop across the manor drive and on to the road towards London.
Nathaniel watched him race on with a wistful smile. He was loath to turn back towards the house. On an impulse, he decided to explore the surrounding landscape instead. This would be a great opportunity to take a break from his nieces. He urged his horse into a trot and was soon deep into the Gloucestershire countryside. The peace of his surroundings, was surprisingly working wonders on his nerves. As he reached the outskirts of the Crown Forest of Dean, he dismounted, tied his horse and continued on foot.
He thought of Lady Anne Smithey, the most treacherous woman he had ever met. An incomparable beauty. Her skin flawlessly pale, her
visage
a vision of innocence and her heart as dark as charcoal.
It had been five years and still the invisible wound she had inflicted upon him had not yet healed. He knew full well that his reputation as a lover, was only gained after Lady Anne crushed his young heart. He had set out to conquer every beauty, learn every trick, so as to never be at the mercy of a woman again. And he had succeeded. He had vast experience of women and his expertise had gained him the reputation of the best lover in London. Nathaniel took a deep breath.
Why am I so restless?
Irritated he walked past a configuration of trees and then stopped dead in his track. Somewhere a woman was singing.
Intrigued he parted the bushed and walked into a clearing. In front of the clearing, there was a small lake and on the other side was a woman. She was blissfully unaware that she was being watched. With her eyes closed, she sang her heart out. It was Sir. Thomas Moore’s
The
Last Rose of Summer
. She wasn’t the best songstress he had ever heard, but her voice vibrated with the joy and innocence of youth.
Bewitched, the Viscount slowly dropped to his knees, tucked his legs underneath him and drank in the scene before him.
'Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
Or give sigh for sigh.
I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter,
Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.’
As she sang the last word, she seemed to feel that she was being watched and turned around. Time stopped. Nathaniel was transfixed.
Hers was not a classical beauty; her features were too strong for that. But, fire burned fiercely in her eyes. Her softly curved lips looked like they were made to be kissed.
The young woman looked startled and made to dash off. Hurriedly, Nathaniel rose and stretched out his hand besieging.
“Wait!” She stopped dead in her tracks. Slowly she turned around and looked at him. Her eyes were bright with curiosity.
“Surely you would not run away from a man separated from you by a stream?” he asked soothingly. The mischievous lady smiled, and he felt his heart turn.
Not again
.
“Only if such a man is not a
gentleman
,” she replied.
“And what makes you think I am not a gentleman?” he asked with a roguish smile. “Although I must admit you are as beautiful as any English rose.”
The young lady blushed. Then she bit her lower lip and responded, “No gentleman would so brazenly spy on a lady. No Sir, you are no
gentleman,
so I bid you goodbye.”
Before he could react, the young lady had turned around and dashed through the woodland. There was no way he would be able to catch up to her. Stunned, Nathaniel sat back down, his heart racing.
He had no wish to follow the lady. He had been through this before, five years ago. He was NOT going to go through this again. On the morrow he was leaving for London. With gritted teeth and steely determination, the Viscount of Wiltshire, rose and went in search of his horse. But despite denying it to himself, he was fighting a losing battle. His heart had already been conquered.
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More Title By The Author
Regency LORDS Series
Book 1:
Mesmerising the Duke
Book 2:
Winning the Viscount heart
Book 3:
Bewitching the Viscount
Regency TALES Series
Book 1:
An Earl for the desperate bride