Jack Compton's Luck. Paula Marshall

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      “Admiring the Chancellor heiress, are we?”

      “Chancellor heiress?” Jack turned to look at his companion just as the dance ended and the young woman moved off the floor.

      “She’s a half sister of the present Chancellor head of the family, who is a financial wizard in the city. The heiress was sent to the States shortly after the war started, when she was quite a young girl. Came back earlier this year. Everyone and his brother’s after her.”

      He looked sideways at Jack. “How about it? Why not have a go yourself? God knows you could do with the money, no longer land-rich, and dirt-poor into the bargain. But however carefree she looks on the dance floor, she’s as hard as nails when it comes to suitors.”

      “And as hard as nails on the dance floor, too, if the performance I’ve just witnessed is any guide,” said Jack, determined not to reveal how much the mere sight of the Chancellor heiress had roused him.

      

      Jack Compton’s Luck

      Harlequin^®Historical

      Author Note

      After I had written two novels telling of the Chancellor twins Ritchie and Russell, and the part played in the first, Major Chancellor’s Mission, by the charmed object called the Luck of the Comptons, it occurred to me that here was another interesting story waiting to be written.

      The Luck had passed out of the hands of the Comptons and into those of the Chancellors, with the promise that if ever the Comptons were to be in serious trouble again the Luck would find a way to return to them, and so offer them salvation.

      Just over a hundred years later, in the 1920s, the Comptons find themselves once more in financial difficulties. Jack Compton, trying to save his family home from ruin, meets Miss Lacey Chancellor, a descendant of Ritchie, and their love story takes place in events that echo those of her ancestor.

      I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoyed creating their adventures.

      Paula Marshall

      JACK COMPTON’S LUCK

      TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON

       AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

      PAULA MARSHALL,

      married with three children, has had a varied life. She began her career in a large library and ended it as a senior academic in charge of history in a polytechnic. She has traveled widely, has been a swimming coach and has appeared on television in University Challenge and Mastermind. She has always wanted to write, and likes her novels to be full of adventure and humor.

      Available from Harlequin^®Historical and PAULA MARSHALL

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      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      Epilogue

      Chapter One

      Jack Compton was leaning against a wall at the Leominsters’ thrash, watching the dancers in the great ballroom. It was the first time that he had taken part in the London season since the Great War had ended six years ago in 1918 and there was something frenetic about everyone’s behaviour which didn’t resemble in any way the life he had known before the war.

      His cousin, Rupert Compton, had brought him along. He was something in the City, which was another new thing since, until quite recently, the Comptons had always been tied to the land and had rarely had much to do with town.

      ‘I haven’t been invited,’ he had protested when Rupert had said, ‘Why don’t you come along with me to old Mother Leominster’s do?’

      ‘Oh, fudge to that,’ Rupert had