The Perfect Bride. Brenda Joyce

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       Praise for Brenda Joyce

      “Joyce’s characters carry considerable emotional

       weight, which keeps this hefty entry absorbing, and

       her fast-paced story keeps the pages turning.”

       —Publishers Weekly on The Stolen Bride

      “An emotionally sweeping tale of heartache,

       redemption, and rebirth, The Stolen Bride lives up to this reader’s high expectations for a Perfect 10 read.” —Romance Reviews Today

      “The latest from Joyce offers readers a passionate,

       swashbuckling voyage in her newest addition to the de

       Warenne dynasty series. Joyce brings her keen sense

       of humour and storytelling prowess to bear on her

       witty, fully formed characters.”

       —Publishers Weekly on A Lady at Last

      “The latest in the de Warenne series is a warm

       wonderfully sensual feast about the joys and pains of

       falling in love. Joyce breathes life into extraordinary

       characters – from her sprightly Cinderella heroine and

       roguish hero to everyone in between – then sets them in

       the glittering Regency, where anything can happen.”

       —Romantic Times BOOKreviews on A Lady at Last

      The Masquerade “dances on slippered feet, belying its heft with spellbinding dips, spins and twists. Jane Austen aficionados will delve happily into heroine Elizabeth “Lizzie” Fitzgerald’s family… Joyce’s tale of the dangers and delights of passion fulfilled will enchant those who like their reads long and rich.” —Publishers Weekly

      “Joyce brilliantly delivers an intensely emotional and

       engrossing romance where love overcomes deceit,

       scandal and pride… An intelligent love story with smart,

       appealing and strong characters. Readers will savour

       this latest from a grand mistress of the genre.”

       —Romantic Times BOOKreviews on The Masquerade

      He had an inappropriate attraction to her.

      Rex swung out, tugging at his necktie as he did so. He had almost donned tails, but that would have been absurd. Instead, he’d chosen pale breeches, a silver waistcoat and a fine, dark brown jacket. At least his appearance was impeccable, he thought.

      He stepped into the great room and faltered.

      Blanche stood by a window, gazing out at the night sky, which shimmered with stars. Clad in a silvery moss-green gown, with a low-cut bodice and small chiffon sleeves, her pale hair curled and swept up, she was impossibly delicate and impossibly beautiful. He was going to have to face the fact that he had always thought her beautiful, but he had done so in a very respectful way – most of the time. Now he simply stared, because they were alone in the great hall of his home. And in that moment he wanted nothing more than to sweep her up into his arms, cover her mouth with his own and, damn, taste her very thoroughly…

      Brenda Joyce is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels and novellas. She wrote her first novella when she was sixteen years old and her first novel when she was twenty-five – and was published shortly thereafter. She has won many awards and her first novel, Innocent Fire, won the Best Western Romance Award. She has also won the highly coveted Best Historical Romance award for Splendor and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Deadly series, which is set in turn-of-the-century New York and features amateur sleuth Francesca Cahill. There are over eleven million copies of her novels in print and she is published in more than a dozen countries. A native New Yorker, she now lives in southern Arizona with her husband, son, dogs, cat and numerous Arabian and half-Arabian reining horses. For more information about Brenda and her forthcoming novels, please visit her website at www.brendajoyce.com.

      Dear Readers,

      I hope you have enjoyed Rex and Blanche’s journey of healing and love. When I began thinking about Rex’s story, I never intended to pair him with Blanche. Readers began posting on my message boards, asking me to do just that and my editor made the same request. I was certain Rex’s fate was someone far different from Blanche – until I awoke in the middle of the night, with their entire story dancing through my head. In that moment, I knew Rex had secretly admired and subconsciously loved Blanche for years. And in that moment, I knew Rex was going to show her passion and be her lifeline – I knew he was her destiny!

      I have never written a heroine as complicated or as wounded as Blanche. Blanche was a difficult character for me to identify with and her journey was a painful one. But, as you know, Rex had some healing of his own to do and for that, he needed Blanche just as much as she needed him.

      Ariella de Warenne’s story is next in A Dangerous Love. She is as eccentric an adult as she was a child, proud of being an independent thinker, and a great heiress. He is the Viscount Emilian St Xavier, half English and half gypsy, a dark man accustomed to being scorned and feared. They come from different worlds and they should never meet, and Emilian is acutely aware of it. But when he begins to question his very identity, he turns to the Roma camping at Rose Hill and they do meet – in an explosion of passion that implodes their worlds. For more information on the de Warennes and A Dangerous Love, please visit my website, thedewarennedynasty.com.

       Brenda Joyce

      The Perfect Bride

      Brenda Joyce

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      For all of you who asked for

       Rex and Blanche’s story – enjoy!

      CHAPTER ONE

       March, 1822

      TWO HUNDRED and twenty-eight suitors, she thought. Dear God, how would she ever manage, much less choose?

      Blanche Harrington stood alone by one of the oversized windows in a small salon, outside the vast room where soon, the invasion of callers would begin. Just that morning, the black draperies that indicated she remained in mourning had come down. She had avoided marriage for eight years, but even she knew that with her father’s death, she needed a husband to help her manage his considerable and complicated fortune.

      But she dreaded the deluge—just as she dreaded the future.

      Her best friend swept dramatically into the salon. “Blanche, darling, there you are! We are about to open the front doors!” she cried enthusiastically.

      Blanche stared out of the window at the circular front drive. Her father had been awarded his title as viscount many years ago, having made an impossible fortune in manufacturing. It was so long ago that no one considered them nouveau riche. Blanche had never known any other life than one of wealth, privilege and splendor. She was one of the empire’s greatest heiresses, but her father had allowed her to break off an engagement eight years ago, and although he had never stopped introducing her to suitors, he had wanted her to marry for love. It was an absurd notion, of course.

      Not because no one married for love. It was absurd because Blanche knew she was incapable of falling in love.

      But she would marry, because although Harrington had passed too swiftly to have verbalized a dying wish—he had been suddenly stricken with pneumonia—Blanche knew he wanted nothing more than to see her securely wed to an honorable