Kindle Edition
Amazon
Starla Kaye
Blushing Books
Category:
Romance
Publisher: Blushing Books
ISBN-10: 9781609688127
Pages: 126
Copyright: May 10, 2013
Price: $4.99 (eBook)
Lady Ashlynn would rather go back home to America than be forced to marry an English lord. Blaine, the Duke of Ashcroft, fell in love with Ashlynn at first sight and is determined to make her his wife.
Lady Ashlynn Remington is the younger of twin sisters born to her English father's American mistress. She is also the most headstrong of his three daughters and two sons. She resisted coming with him to England, disliking the English ways and especially displeased with English nobility. She is determined to return to America and the man she'd hoped to marry. Her father, though, is equally determined to keep her in England. When she meets a handsome, powerful duke at a ball, she is attracted and resistant at the same time. But he promptly asks for her hand in marriage and, against her desires, her father eagerly accepts. He doesn't realize that Ashlynn has no intention of giving up her plans quite so easily...
Twice married, widowed, and still without an heir, Blaine Wellingsworth, the Duke of Ashcroft, knows from the their introduction that the spirited Lady Ashlynn will be his next bride. Never has he been so drawn to a woman. He will not take "no" for an answer. It might take some doing, patience, and perhaps more drastic measures to tame the brat, but she WILL be his wife. And this passionate young woman will learn to love him as much as he does her.
Excerpt
Those chocolate brown eyes that could turn so warm and tempting when he stole a kiss, sparked with annoyance. “What did you do then?”
Again, she shifted on her tender bottom and avoided his direct gaze. “Well...I was carrying this cup of punch, you see....”
His eyebrows shot up. “You didn’t.”
“Actually, I did.” She raised her chin and met his eyes.
“One second I was listening to their horrible comments. The next I was tossing the red punch at Lady Pendergast.” She almost didn’t admit the rest of it, but knew he would hear about it later.
“A servant was passing by with a tray of cups filled with punch. And I...well, I...Let’s just say I had a moment of madness. All three women were wearing red-splashed gowns and screaming at me.”
“Good God!” Blaine gasped, blinking in shock before his eyes narrowed in displeasure. “No wonder your father was upset with you.”
Her face flamed. The memory of her father striding across the ballroom, along with her two older brothers, was not a pleasant one. Braden had stayed behind long
enough to find Abigail and bring her back to Braden’s town home. But her father and Daniel had each taken an arm and marched her straight out of the Earl of Timberton’s house. Every disapproving eye in the ballroom had followed her disgraceful exit.
“Upset would be putting it mildly, truthfully.” She really didn’t want to tell him more of what happened after that, but she knew he wouldn’t let the subject drop. Still, she waited for him to push the issue.
“Look at me, Ashlynn,” Blaine stated quietly.
She gathered her nerves and faced him. “Must I?”
He nodded. “We are soon to be married. How you behave in public is important to me, personally, and in respect of my position in society. It is important to us, as a couple who respects one another, and to you. Your being an American–even as wrong as it is–is
merely tolerated by my peers because I demand it.”
She felt uneasy, unqualified to be his wife, not that she wanted to be his wife. She rebelled at rules whenever they meant she couldn’t do what she wanted. She didn’t like the confines of what was expected of the peers and those attached to the peers. And she
knew he had stood up for her far too often since becoming involved with her. An involvement that was not of her choosing.
“Mayhap you would be better off marrying Abigail. She would–”
Blaine was on his feet and striding over before she could finish the thought. He pulled her to her feet and forced her to meet his furious gaze. “It is you I fell in love with. You I will marry next month. We will not discuss such nonsense ever again. Do you understand me?”
Her heart raced. She inhaled his scent and ached to be far closer to him than propriety would allow. The strength of his words, of his emotion, wrapped around her like a warm blanket. She did not want the love of this powerful, far too handsome man…and yet she was weak to resist him.
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