From Ruin to Riches. Louise Allen

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       He was clad in a close-fitting swallowtail coat and skin-tight silk evening breeches that between them left very little of the gentleman’s well-muscled form to the imagination.

      Julia glanced casually around the room and managed to register, in profile, tanned skin, an arrogant nose, a very decided chin and long dark lashes which were presently lowered either in deep thought or terminal boredom.

      The knot of apprehension which had been lodged uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach all evening tightened. I know you. Which was impossible: she could not have forgotten this man. I know you from my dreams. He shifted, restless, as though he felt her scrutiny, and then, before she had the chance to move away, he turned his head and stared right into her face. And he was studying her with eyes that were the amber of a hunting cat’s, the deep, peaty gold at the bottom of a brandy glass.

      They were the eyes she had last seen burning with scarce-suppressed frustration in the face of a dying man. The eyes of her husband.

       AUTHOR NOTE

      Researching family history is a fascinating hobby, but it does give a sometimes shocking insight into how our ancestors lived. Following my ancestors’ stories has often given me ideas for plots. The severity of punishments for crime and the often arbitrary court system in the Georgian period—a housemaid hanged for stealing a silver spoon that was later found to have fallen down the side of a chair, for example—made me wonder how an innocent person might react under threat of arrest, and was one strand in the making of this story.

      The other strand was the poor level of medical knowledge at the time—doctors are thought to have killed more patients than they cured. And so I found I had a hero and a heroine who are both desperate, snatching at a marriage of convenience as a solution to their problems and never expecting it to last longer than one night.

      But what if it did? What if Julia Prior and Will Had-field found themselves very much alive and very much married—and effectively strangers? I hope you enjoy discovering the outcome as much as I did writing their story.

      From Ruin to Riches

      Louise Allen

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      LOUISE ALLEN has been immersing herself in history, real and fictional, for as long as she can remember. She finds landscapes and places evoke powerful images of the past—Venice, Burgundy and the Greek islands are favourite atmospheric destinations. Louise lives on the North Norfolk coast, where she shares the cottage they have renovated with her husband. She spends her spare time gardening, researching family history or travelling in the UK and abroad in search of inspiration. Please visit Louise’s website—www.louiseallenregency.co.uk—for the latest news, or find her on Twitter @LouiseRegency and on Facebook.

       Previous novels by the same author:

THE DANGEROUS MR RYDER* THE OUTRAGEOUS LADY FELSHAM* THE SHOCKING LORD STANDON* THE DISGRACEFUL MR RAVENHURST* THE NOTORIOUS MR HURST* THE PIRATICAL MISS RAVENHURST* PRACTICAL WIDOW TO PASSIONATE MISTRESS** VICAR’S DAUGHTER TO VISCOUNT’S LADY** INNOCENT COURTESAN TO ADVENTURER’S BRIDE** RAVISHED BY THE RAKE† SEDUCED BY THE SCOUNDREL† MARRIED TO A STRANGER† FORBIDDEN JEWEL OF INDIA‡ TARNISHED AMONGST THE TON‡

*Those Scandalous Ravenhursts **The Transformation of the Shelley Sisters †Danger & Desire ‡Linked by character

       and as a Mills & Boon^® special release:

      REGENCY RUMOURS

       and in the Silk & Scandal mini-series:

      THE LORD AND THE WAYWARD LADY

      THE OFFICER AND THE PROPER LADY

       and in Mills & Boon^® Historical Undone! eBooks:

      DISROBED AND DISHONOURED

      AUCTIONED VIRGIN TO SEDUCED BRIDE**

       Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      To Dr Joanna Cannon for her invaluable advice and insights into Will’s illness.

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten