Stolen Encounters With The Duchess
She would rather burn in his presence than pine in his absenceFaith Wellingford Evers, Duchess of Ashedon, is tired of Society’s endless gossiping about her failings and her late husband’s infidelities. Seeking escape one night, she’s attacked by ruffians—but is saved by an unlikely figure from her past!Having risen from penniless orphan to Member of Parliament, David Tanner Smith is no longer the quiet boy Faith once knew. With their first spine-tingling kiss, their old friendship is transformed. And in its place is an explosive mix of illicit encounters and forbidden desire…
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She would rather burn in his presence than pine in his absence
Faith Wellingford Evers, Duchess of Ashedon, is tired of societyâs endless gossiping about her failings and her late husbandâs infidelities. Seeking escape one night, sheâs attacked by ruffians, but is saved by an unlikely figure from her past!
Having risen from penniless orphan to Member of Parliament, David Tanner Smith is no longer the quiet boy Faith once knew. With the first spine-tingling kiss, their old friendship is transformed. And in its place is an explosive mix of illicit encounters and forbidden desireâ¦
Hadleyâs Hellions
Four friends united by power, privilege
and the daring pursuit of passion!
From being disreputable rogues at Oxford
to becoming masters of the political game, Giles Hadley, David Tanner Smith, Christopher Lattimar and Benedict Tawny live by their own set of unconventional rules.
But as the struggle for power heats up, so too,
do the lives of these daring friends. They face unexpected challenges to their long-held beliefs and rigid self-control when they meet four gorgeous independent women with defiant streaks of their own...
Read Giles Hadleyâs story in
Forbidden Nights with the Viscount Already available
Read David Tanner Smithâs story in
Stolen Encounters with the Duchess Available now
And watch for more Hadleyâs Hellions stories, coming soon!
For both readers and writers, sometimes secondary characters get stuck in our heads. Intrigued by the glimpses weâve been given of them, we want to know their whole story. Where did they come from and what will happen to them?
Such was the case with Davie in From Waif to Gentlemanâs Wife. An orphan taken in by an elderly widow, he becomes involved in the lives of Sir Edward Greaves and Joanna Merrill, the penniless governess who ends up on Nedâs doorstep. When Davie saves Joanna from danger, a grateful Ned takes him under his wing, impressed by the orphanâs courage, ingenuity and intelligence.
By the time Iâd finished Waif I knew he would grow up to be a Parliamentary leader, instrumental in moving England towards a more egalitarian future with the great Reform Bill. I also knew that he would fall in love with Faith, the youngest Wellingford daughterâsister of Sarah, heroine of The Wedding Gambleâa girl far above his station. But how could they find a happy ending?
In Stolen Encounters with the Duchess, Davie has become that leader, and is still in love with the girl he met when he was just beginning his career. When they meet by chance ten years later he is an influential force, while Faith is a new widow, estranged from her family and Society. Although painfully aware that she is still far beyond his touch, David vows to reawaken in her the joy, optimism and self-confidence years of being a scorned, neglected wife have crushed. But love is a force that resists being contained...
I hope you will enjoy Faith and Davieâs story.
JULIA JUSTISS wrote her first ideas for Nancy Drew stories in her third-grade notebook, and has been writing ever since. After publishing poetry in college she turned to novels. Her Regency historical romances have won or been placed in contests by the Romance Writers of America, RT Book Reviews, National Readersâ Choice and the Daphne du Maurier Award. She lives with her husband in Texas. For news and contests visit juliajustiss.com.
To Sue Ballard
You light up a room with your smile and brighten my day with your cheerful optimism. Thank you for being the inspiration for my Faith and for me.
Contents
Setting off at a pace brisk enough to clear the wine fumes from his head, David Tanner Smith, Member of Parliament for Hazelwick, headed from the Mayfair town house where heâd dined with some Whig colleagues towards his rooms at Albany.
The friends had urged him to stay for a few more rounds, but after a day of enduring the mostly irrelevant objections the opponents of the Reform Bill kept raising to delay bringing it to a vote, he was weary of political talk. He was also, he had to admit, somewhat out of spirits.
His footsteps would echo loudly once he reached the solitary rooms of his chambers. Though he rejoiced that his best friend, Giles Hadley, had found happiness with Lady Margaret, heâd discovered that losing the companion with whom heâd shared rooms since their student days at Oxford had left him lonelier than heâd anticipated.
Since the only woman heâd ever loved was far beyond the touch of a lowly farmerâs orphan, he didnât expect heâd ever find wedded bliss himself. Being common-born, but sponsored by a baronet and a marquess, put him in an odd social limbo, not of the gentry, never acceptable to the haut ton, but as a rising politician in the Whigs, not a nonentity either.
