The Homeless Heiress
Indulge your fantasies of delicious Regency Rakes, fierce Viking warriors and rugged Highlanders. Be swept away into a world of intense passion, lavish settings and romance that burns brightly through the centuriesFrom street pauper… Runaway Georgie is disguised as a boy, and living life on the streets after fleeing her scheming aunt and uncle. Cold, hungry and desperate, she’s forced to pickpocket. But Georgie thieves from the wrong man – the dashing Captain Richard Hernshaw! …to captain’s lady! The consummate Captain soon discovers the grubby boy is actually a pretty young woman – from a highly respectable family!He’s instantly attracted to the homeless heiress, but dark secrets of his own may prevent him from ever being able to make her his wife…
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‘I have tried to be sensible for both our sakes,’ Richard said. ‘I may be killed…anything could happen…’
He reached out for her, his hands taking her by the arms. For a moment he stared at her, his face working as he tried to suppress his feelings. He was in no position to form an attachment! He groaned, lowering his head to kiss her.
As his mouth covered hers in a hungry, demanding kiss, Georgie shivered, resisting for one moment before melting against him.
He drew back, looking down at her. ‘I am not made of ice, Georgie, though you may think it. Seeing you dressed as a youth…being with you in that carriage…I have wanted to do this for so long. Wanted more! You must know that I am deeply attracted to you?’
‘Richard…you seemed to shut me out…’ Georgie’s head was spinning because everything had changed so suddenly.
‘And I should. I must,’ he said, releasing her, his face twisting with emotion. ‘I had no right to kiss you like that, Georgie. I am not free. There are things I must do—things I have done—that make this impossible. I want you, desire you as any normal man would, but I cannot ask you to be my wife.’
Anne Herries, winner of the Romantic Novelists’ Association ROMANCE PRIZE 2004, lives in Cambridgeshire. She is fond of watching wildlife, and spoils the birds and squirrels that are frequent visitors to her garden. Anne loves to write about the beauty of nature, and sometimes puts a little into her books, although they are mostly about love and romance. She writes for her own enjoyment, and to give pleasure to her readers.
Recent novels by the same author:
THE UNKNOWN HEIR
A DAMNABLE ROGUE* MARIANNE AND THE MARQUIS† MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS† MARRYING CAPTAIN JACK†
*Winner of the Romantic Novelists’ AssociationROMANCE PRIZE †The Horne Sisters
and in the Regency seriesThe Steepwood Scandal:
LORD RAVENSDEN’S MARRIAGE
COUNTERFEIT EARL
and inThe Hellfire Mysteries:
AN IMPROPER COMPANION
A WEALTHY WIDOW A WORTHY GENTLEMAN
Author Note
When Captain Richard Hernshaw has an important package stolen from him in the back alleys of London, he gives chase and catches the urchin. Instead of handing him over to the law, however, he takes Georgie off to a decent inn and feeds him. Richard is in for a series of shocks before the night is out—not least the discovery that Georgie isn’t exactly what he thought. They are plunged into an adventure that may bring danger to them both, and happiness seems far off for THE HOMELESS HEIRESS.
I hope you will enjoy this tale of Regency fun and games as much as I enjoyed writing it for you!
Chapter One
Captain Richard Hernshaw paused, glanced back into the menacing darkness of the narrow alley behind him and frowned. He was being followed. The instinct he had acquired over several years working for the British government as a secret agent was on full alert. He knew that he had taken a risk by agreeing to meet his contact here in the rookery of these terrible slum streets, but the man would not dare to show his face elsewhere, for he was a rogue and perhaps worse. The meeting had gone well and Richard had what he’d come for, but, since leaving his contact, he had picked up a shadow. The question was—who was following him and why?
He needed to know the answer to that question, because of the papers he was carrying, which were important and could hold the answer to a mystery that he and other colleagues had been investigating in recent times. It was feared that an attempt on the lives of several prominent men in the government, even that of the Regent himself, was being prepared, and Richard believed that the names of the ringleaders were in the documents he carried inside his coat pocket. If the person following him knew that he had them, he might be in danger—of losing both the papers and his life.
Better to attack than be attacked! Richard turned the corner, and pressed his back against the wall, waiting for whoever it was to catch up with him. His suspicions were proved correct, for an instant later a small, dark shadow came hurtling round the corner. He stepped out, and grabbed the rascal’s arm, gripping it tightly.
‘Let me go!’ a voice cried in a tone halfway between anger and fear. ‘Watcha think yer doin’?’
‘That is exactly what I was about to ask you,’ Richard said, his gaze narrowing as he looked down at the rather grubby face of a street urchin. He smiled as he saw the indignant look in the youth’s eyes. ‘You have been following me for a while now, lad. I don’t like being followed unless I know why.’
The youth rubbed his hand under his nose and sniffed hard. ‘Weren’t doin’no ’arm, sir,’ he said defiantly. ‘Let me go or I’ll kick yer!’
‘You would be sorry if you did,’ Richard replied. He hesitated, his hold slackening a little as he considered. A lad like this might be after his purse, but he was far from the sinister enemy he had imagined. A smile was beginning to tug at the corners of his mouth when the youth lunged at him, kicked him in the shins and wrenched free, setting off at a run back the way he had come. ‘Damn you!’
