I am back again continuing on with Heart of a Scoundrel. It is Book 4 in my Regency novella series Handful of Hearts, where we once again meet Richard, Lord Somersby (a not very nice gentleman from the first book of the series Hearts Beneath the Mistletoe).
Richard, Lord Somersby has just been told he’s to marry Lady Edith, a young bluestocking he’s never met before in a marriage arranged by his father to gain valuable property. The rakish Richard is not enthusiastic about the arrangement–until his father offers to make the deal a bit sweeter by way of a wager that Richard can hardly resist to earn him a racing stable. His father wagers Richard he cannot break three young ladies’ hearts before his betrothal contracts are signed in about three weeks.
This week I’m skipping ahead to find Richard in a bit of a pickle. He’s managed to break two young ladies’ hearts, but the third has just been whisked away for a funeral. So Richard must find another woman to dupe or lose his wager and asks his friend Eric for advice. Richard speaks first.
(Creative punctuation utilized to conform to WWW rules and snippet may therefore be slightly different from published version.)
“So who else can I dupe so quickly?”
“Lady Anne Flyte, perhaps, though she’s a bit stricken in years.”
“God, no, she’d plant me a facer if I did more than speak to her; bit of a run-in three years ago. She’s since taken me in dislike.” The girl should’ve been flattered he’d wanted to steal a kiss from her, not become incensed.
“Miss Grantly?”
Suppressing a shudder, Richard turned away from his friend saying, “Please, Eric, must you suggest every woman so long in the tooth she has fangs? I didn’t think Miss Grantly was even here this year; does one really have a fourth Season?”
“She was at Almack’s last week, so I assume it is possible.” Nodding to an acquaintance, Eric turned back toward the dance floor then stood still and whispered, “I say, Richard, I think your dilemma may be over.”
BLURB:
Recent heiress, Miss Amanda Sharp, is out in Society for the first time and enjoying the social whirl, especially when she dances her first dance with the handsome Lord Somersby. She’s aware of his bad reputation with ladies, but she’s confident she can lead him down the aisle to the altar without raising a scandal. Headstrong, and determined to reform Lord Somersby, Amanda finds herself in danger of losing more than a hand of cards to the scandalous lord.
Richard, Lord Somersby, has another wager to win. He must woo and jilt three young ladies in a month’s time in order to win his racing stable before donning the leg shackle of marriage with a duke’s daughter. His third victim is Miss Amanda Sharpe, a refreshingly determined young woman who makes her interest in him well known. It should be child’s play for the villainous Richard to woo her, make her think he’s in love with her, then spurn her. A plan that might work if he can keep his mind on winning rather than on the lady’s entrancing form and fiery spirit.
Heart of a Scoundrel will be available for pre-order on Amazon in early September.
Books in The Handful of Hearts series:
And don’t forget to check out the rest of the Warriors here. There’s some fantastic snippets to be read.
Jenna Jaxon Romance--because passion is timeless. 