âI know which Ransleigh you are, sir,â the young woman interrupted. âThatâs why I sought you out. I have a proposition for you. So to speak,â she added, her cheeks pinkening.
Max blinked at her, sure he could not have heard her properly. âA proposition?â he repeated.
âYes. Iâm Caroline Denby, by the way. My father was the late Sir Martin Denby of Denby Stables.â
Thinking this bizarre meeting was getting even more bizarre, Max bowed. âMiss Denby. Yes, Iâve heard of your fatherâs excellent horses. My condolences on your loss. However, whatever it is you wish to say, perhaps Mrs Ransleigh could arrange a meeting later. Truly, itâs most imperative that you quit my presence immediately, lest you put your reputation at risk.â
âBut thatâs exactly what I wish to do. Not just risk it, but ruin it. Irretrievably.â
Where these notorious rakes go, scandal always follows â¦
Max, Will, Alastair and Dominic Ransleighâcousins, friends ⦠and the most wickedly attractive men in Regency London. Between war, betrayal and scandal, love has never featured in the Ransleighsâ destiniesâuntil now!
Donât miss this enthralling new quartet from Julia Justiss, starting with Maxâs story
THE RAKE TO RUIN HER
Look for Will Ransleighâs story
Available April 2013
JULIA JUSTISS wrote her first plot ideas for a Nancy Drew novel in the back of her third-grade notebook, and has been writing ever since. After such journalistic adventures as publishing poetry and editing an American Embassy newsletter she returned to her first love: writing fiction. Her Regency historical novels have been winners or finalists in the Romance Writers of Americaâs Golden Heart>â¢, RT Book Reviews magazineâs Best First Historical, Golden Quill, National Readersâ Choice and Daphne Du Maurier contests. She lives with her husband, three children and two dogs in rural east Texas, where she also teaches high school French. For current news and contests, please visit her website at www.juliajustiss.com
Novels by the same author:
THE WEDDING GAMBLE
THE PROPER WIFE
MY LADYâS TRUST
MY LADYâS PLEASURE
MY LADYâS HONOUR
A SCANDALOUS PROPOSAL
SEDUCTIVE STRANGER
THE COURTESAN
THE THREE GIFTS
(part of A Regency Lords & Ladies Christmas anthology)
THE UNTAMED HEIRESS
ROGUEâS LADY
CHRISTMAS WEDDING WISH
(part of Regency Candlelit Christmas anthology)
THE SMUGGLER AND THE SOCIETY BRIDE
(part of Silk & Scandal mini-series)
A MOST UNCONVENTIONAL MATCH
WICKED WAGER
FROM WAIF TO GENTLEMANâS WIFE
SOCIETYâS MOST DISREPUTABLE GENTLEMAN
Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks?Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk
The 2012 London summer games are unfolding as I write this note, and as the athletes tell their stories Iâm repeatedly reminded of how many years of hard work and single-minded dedication are necessary to earn them a place among the best of the best. Yet sometimes, after devoting all oneâs energies to achieving an aim, some totally unexpected catastrophe destroys in an instant the possibility of reaching that goal. Standing shocked and disbelieving amid the wreckage of that dream, the survivor is forced to find a different path.
Such is the case with âMagnificent Maxâ Ransleigh, the earlâs son and charismatic leader of a group of cousins known as The Ransleigh Rogues. With his father a force in the House of Lords, Max has prepared all his life for a high diplomatic position, and seems well on his way when heâs chosen as one of the Duke of Wellingtonâs aides at the Congress of Vienna. But when an assassination attempt on the Duke is perpetrated by relatives of a Frenchwoman Max has befriended, even his valour at Waterloo canât resurrect the tatters of his career.
Returning after the battle, with none of his former associatesâincluding his fatherâwilling to see him, he turns to the Rogues. He stops at Alastairâs country home, unaware that his aunt, Alastairâs mother, is hostessing a house party to acquaint her youngest daughter, soon to make her London debut, with other young ladies of the Ton.
While Max mourns the loss of a conventional future, Caroline Denby schemes to destroy her own. Sole heiress of a wealthy baron, she has good reasons for avoiding wedlock, and is actively resisting her stepmotherâs attempts to marry her offâwhat future is there for a woman but marriage? Lady Denby arguesâso she may return to Kent and run the horse-breeding farm she established with her father.
When Caro discovers the infamous Max Ransleigh has dropped in on her hostessâs house party, she decides he is just the rogue to ruin her. With her reputation in tatters, her suitors will depart, her stepmother will refocus her matrimonial schemes on her own daughter, and Caro will be left in peace to tend her horses.
But sometimes the goal we yearn for turns out not to be the path for which weâre destined. And a love we never expected to find becomes the most precious blessing of our life.