She has his hand, but not his heartâ¦
Amanda Hamiltonâs fortune means sheâs not short of marriage offers, despite her unfashionable figure! But thereâs only one man she wants for her husband, the dashing Lieutenant Peter Phipps, who is in dire financial straits. Amanda knows Phipps doesnât love her, but when he proposes, she acceptsâunable to resist the chance to live her dreams.
Their burgeoning relationship surprises everyone, especially Phipps, who discovers that his sweet, sensible fiancée is also brave and passionate. Suddenly, the role of dutiful husband looks a lot more attractive!
Amanda was lost in thought.
Phippsâs kiss after heâd licked the strawberry juice from his finger was something she had never encountered before. His previous kisses had been sweet and enjoyableâbut that kiss ⦠it had shaken her to the very core of her being, arousing such a whirl of fierce passions that she had been for a moment swept quite away. Sheâd seen something in his eyes: an answering need that had made her feel he wanted to lay her down in the sweet meadow grass and.
There her mind stopped, for to imagine those sensations brought to fulfilment was shocking.
She realised that it was going to be harder than sheâd imagined, hiding her feelings for Phipps once they were married. If his kiss could arouse such fire in herâa blazing inferno that had threatened to sweep away all barriersâwhat would happen on their wedding night?
Praise for
Anne Herries:
âPride and Prejudice meets Agatha Christie in this enthralling, captivating and wonderfully passionate Regency romance by award-winning author Anne Herries.â âCataRomance on COURTED BY THE CAPTAIN
âAnother enjoyable romp.â
âRT Book Reviews on AN INNOCENT DEBUTANTE IN HANOVER SQUARE
ANNE HERRIES lives in Cambridgeshire, where she is fond of watching wildlife and spoils the birds and squirrels that are frequent visitors to her garden. Anne loves to write about the beauty of nature, and sometimes puts a little into her books, although they are mostly about love and romance. She writes for her own enjoyment, and to give pleasure to her readers. Anne is a winner of the Romantic Novelistsâ Association Romance Prize. She invites readers to contact her on her website: www.lindasole.co.uk
Prologue
Amanda Hamilton looked at her reflection in the long mirror in her dressing room and sighed, for she was no beauty. Of what use to be an heiress and have three proposals from fortune-hunters in the last month when she was what could be indelicately described as overweight? And at a time when the fashion was for sylphs and girls who looked as if a puff of wind would blow them away!
If only she did not have such a sweet tooth or was some inches taller! On a taller girl her inches might have looked impressive, for she had a well-formed bust and good hips, which many gentlemen liked, but Amanda was tiny. Papa was at fault for he had spoiled her when she was a small child, giving her sweetmeats and cakes and petting her, forming her appetite for the sticky sweet things that had proved her downfall.
Although her dark hair was glossy and her grey eyes bright and fearless, what man could truly want such a dumpling for a wife? Her face was too plump and had therefore lost the pretty shape that should be hers and she thought herself plain and dowdy, despite all the money spent on her clothes. So how could she ever expect to find the man of her dreams?
Oh, there were several who paid court to her and sheâd received many offers this Season, but none of the gentlemen who had spoken wanted her for herself. Nor would they have been acceptable to Papa. Lord Neville Hamilton required a gentleman who could give his daughter the lifestyle she was accustomed to, though she knew that if sheâd cared for any of her suitors Papa would have given in to her wishes in the end. None of them had caused Amanda to lose a wink of sleep and that was because her heart was already given to a man sheâd loved from the first time heâd smiled at her.
Lieutenant Peter Phipps: the second son of Lord Richard Piper, and quite the kindest gentleman that Amanda had ever been privileged to meet. Phipps, as his friends called him, was kind enough to dance with her at a country-house ball when sheâd been sitting for more than an hour, unnoticed by most of the gentlemen present. At that time her fortune had been modest, for Amanda had an elder brother, Robert, who would naturally inherit Papaâs estate. However, just a year after that fateful affair when Amanda had lost her heart, Great-aunt Mariah Howard had died and left her entire fortune to her favourite great-niece, much to the chagrin of several other nieces and nephews who might have had hopes of Lady Howard.