Bound By One Scandalous Night
MARRYING A STRANGEROn the eve of battle, Lieutenant Edmund Summerfield rescues mysterious Amelie Glenville from attack by marauding soldiers. Heady from the anticipation and uncertainty in the air, they spend the night together – but their scandalous actions have one inescapable consequence…!The illegitimate son of an aristocrat, Edmund won’t consign his unborn child to the same fate, so he offers Amelie marriage. With their honeymoon spent weathering a storm of scandal, can these two strangers hope to turn their convenient marriage into something real?The Scandalous SummerfieldsDisgrace is their middle name!
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The Scandalous Summerfields
Disgrace is their middle name!
Left destitute by their philandering parents, the three Summerfield sistersâTess, Lorene, and Gennaâand their half-brother, Edmund, are the talk of the tonâ¦for all the wrong reasons!
They are at the mercy of the marriage mart to transport their family from the fringes of society to the dizzy heights of respectability.
But with no dowries, and a damaged reputation, only some very special matches can survive the scandalous Summerfields!
Read where it all started with tempestuous Tessâs story
Bound by Duty Already available
Read Edmundâs story
Bound by One Scandalous Night Available now
And look out for the rest of the familyâs exploits, coming soon!
In my author note for Bound by Duty I said that Iâd based The Scandalous Summerfields mini-series on my mother and her sisters and brother. Not their life stories, mind you, but as inspiration. Edmund Summerfield, the hero of this book, represents my uncle Ed.
My mother was very close to her sisters, but her brother was older and never quite a part of that close-knit group. Weâd see my uncle Ed at least once a year, but it was always for brief periodsâan afternoon visit, an evening mealâalways shared with lots of family. As a result, I did not know Uncle Ed very well. What I do remember about him, though, is his infectious laugh. When my uncle laughed, everyone laughed with him.
The only similarity between my uncle Ed and my hero Edmund is that both were somewhat separate from their close-knit sisters. In Edmundâs story I wanted to explore what it might be like to be in a family but not really a part of it. Edmund has dealt with this sense of being separate his whole life. Like so many of us, he pretends it doesnât matter to him, when in reality he yearns to feel he belongsâas we all do.
Sometimes where we truly belong is not entirely clear to us, but I believe everyone has such a place. Will Edmund believe it as well?
DIANE GASTON always said that if she were not a mental health social worker sheâd want to be a romance novelist, writing the historical romances she loved to read. When this dream came true she discovered a whole new world of friends and happy endings. Diane lives in Virginia, near Washington, DC, with her husband and three very ordinary house cats. She loves to hear from readers! Contact her at dianegaston.com or on Facebook or Twitter.
To the memory of my uncle, Edward Gelen, with his shock of white hair and infectious laugh.
Contents
Early hours of June 16th, 1815âBrussels, Belgium
Brussels was in chaos.
Bugles blared in the streets, their sounds echoing off the huge buildings of the Grand Place, repeating, over and over the call to arms. All officers and soldiers must report for duty!
For battle.
Wellington had learned that Napoleon and his army crossed into Belgium and were marching towards Brussels. Wellingtonâs soldiers needed to mobilise quickly to stop him.
Lieutenant Edmund Summerfield of the 28th Regiment of Foot wound his way through townspeople of all shapes and sizes and well-dressed gentlemen and ladies still waiting for carriages to bring them back from the Duchess of Richmondâs ball. Everywhere men were shouting, women wailing, children crying. Soldiers in uniforms of all colours rushed to and fro. British and Hanoverians in red, Belgian and Dutch in dark blue, British light cavalry in light blue, Rifles in dark green, Highlanders in plaid kilts. The array of colours mimicked a carnival, but the mood was tense, a tinderbox that with one spark could turn to riot.
Edmund forced himself to remain calm. He shifted his bag from one shoulder to the other and wished his head were clearer. Heâd spent the evening in a tavern, drinking and playing cards with fellow officers too low in rank and importance to be invited to the Duchessâs ball. The bugleâs repeated call, still resounding through the tension-filled air, had sobered him greatly.
He pushed his way to the curb of the rue du Marais. Horses, wagons, carriages, men and women dashing on foot, blocked his way. Through the kaleidoscope of colour he spied a vision in white across the street, an angel amidst the tumult. While he watched, a man in labourerâs clothing grabbed her around the waist. She beat on the manâs arms with her fists and kicked his legs, but this man, rough and wild-eyed, dragged her with him.
Edmund bounded into the busy street, heedless of the traffic, narrowly missing being run down. He made it to the other side and chased after the man abducting the woman. Her shimmering white gown made it easy not to lose sight of her. The man ducked into an alley between two buildings. Edmund reached the space a moment after.
