âI want you to marry me.â
Miss Georgiana Wickford has a plan to avoid the marriage martâsheâll propose a marriage of convenience! She hasnât spoken to the Earl of Ashenden since their childhood friendship was torn apart, but now Edmund is her only hope.
Edmund refuses to take any bride, especially the unsuitable country miss who abandoned him years ago. But when he sees beautiful Georgie at the mercy of societyâs rakes, it arouses his protective instincts. And soon the earl is tempted to claim the daring debutante for himself!
âIf you have no interest in becoming a countess, why have you asked me to consider marrying you?â
He was standing closer to her now than heâd done since theyâd both been children. Close enough for her to see those blue flecks in his eyes which prevented them from looking as though they were chiselled from ice. This close, sheâd swear she could see a spark of interest, rather than cold indifference. This close, she could even almost imagine she could feel warmth emanating from his body
Author Note
Some of you will already have met the Earl of Ashenden in my earlier booksÂin the library of his club, where he was having a delightful conversation with Mr Morgan about the insect life found in India. And you might recall how that conversation was so rudely interrupted by Lord Havelock, bursting in and demanding help with finding a bride in a hurry.
The Earl of Ashenden, being a man of science, suggested they draw up a list of what qualities said bride needed to have, and was very firm about his own intention one day to select a wife primarily for her intelligence.
âI would hate to think,â he said, giving Havelock a particularly penetrating look, âthat I had curtailed my own freedom only to produce a brood of idiots.â
Naturally I could not allow him to settle for such a wife. Instead I decided to give him a heroine who would turn his ordered existence upside down!
If, after reading his story as told within these pages, you would like to know why Lord Chepstow was trying to brush off an imaginary stain when recounting his proposal to Honeysuckle, you can read about it in âGoverness to Christmas Brideâ, which appears in the anthology Gift-Wrapped Governesses.
And if you want to discover what measures Lord Havelock took to ensure Mary married him you can read about their courtship and the early days of their marriage in Lord Havelockâs List.
ANNIE BURROWS has been writing Regency romances for Mills & Boon since 2007. Her books have charmed readers worldwide, having been translated into nineteen different languages, and some have gone on to win the coveted Reviewersâ Choice award from CataRomance. For more information, or to contact the author, please visit annie-burrows.co.uk, or you can find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/annieburrowsUK.
Books by Annie Burrows
Mills & Boon Historical Romance
Regency Bachelors
Gift-Wrapped Governess
âGoverness to Christmas Brideâ Lord Havelockâs List The Debutanteâs Daring Proposal
Brides of Waterloo
A Mistress for Major Bartlett
Stand-Alone Novels
Regency Candlelit Christmas
âThe Rakeâs Secret Sonâ Devilish Lord, Mysterious Miss A Countess by Christmas Captain Corcoranâs Hoyden Bride An Escapade and an Engagement Never Trust a Rake Reforming the Viscount Portrait of a Scandal The Captainâs Christmas Bride In Bed with the Duke Once Upon a Regency Christmas âCinderellaâs Perfect Christmasâ
Mills & Boon Historical Undone! eBooks
Notorious Lord, Compromised Miss
His Wicked Christmas Wager
Visit the Author Profile page
at www.millsandboon.co.uk for more titles.
â...to the one I love...â
Chapter One
Meet me at our place.
G.
The Earl of Ashenden crumpled the note in his long slender fingers, his nostrils flaring with distaste.
Meet me at our place, indeed.
No signature. No polite salutation. After all these years of silence, just five words and her initial.
She hadnât even bothered to state a time. Not that there was any need. If they were to meet, it would be when theyâd always met, at first light, before anyone else was about.
If they were to meet? Good God, the woman had only to crook her finger and he was actually contemplating trotting along to see what it was she wanted.
He flung the note into the fire, braced his arm on the mantel and watched with satisfaction as the flames devoured her summons.
Did she really think heâd respond to a missive like that? After sheâd turned her back on him when heâd needed her the most? Tossed aside their friendship without a second thought? And then greeted his return to England with an indifference that hadnât wavered in all the years since?