âMr Ogilvy tells me you play a good game.â
Greer glanced around the room, smiling broadly. âGood enough to have beaten most of the gentlemen present on more than one occasion. He has compelled me to come and defend men everywhere.â He gave the chalk on his cue tip an efficient blow, looking entirely likeable.
âHear, hear,â came a few cries from the back of the room.
The dratted man was going to steal her crowd if she wasnât careful. Usually she admired Greerâs ease, how people wanted to cheer for him. She wasnât admiring that trait at the moment. Beneath his aura of bonhomie he was primed, a veritable powder keg, and the fuse was lit. He was going to ignite this room and sheâd get caught in the explosion.
She hadnât lost the room yet. And she wouldnât. Sheâd beat Greer and give these boys a show they wouldnât soon forget.
Mercedes met Greerâs gaze down the length of the table, eyes wide with secret laughter, her mouth a perfect, discreetly rouged âOâ. A gentleman or two sighed when she chalked up and raised the cue to her lips in her trademark gesture and blew, knowing Greer would get the unspoken message: game on.
From the fabulous Bronwyn Scott comes a wickedly naughty and sensational new duet
Breaking Societyâs Rules
Practised gambler Mercedes Lockhart takes on the big boysâand the irresistible Captain Barringtonâin Englandâs billiards clubs in
July 2013
Elise Sutton is a lady in a manâs world when she finds herself fighting for her familyâs company at Londonâs Blackwell Docksâbut that doesnât mean she canât show the roguish privateer Dorian Rowland whoâs boss in
August 2013
Two scandalously sexy stories.
Two alluringly provocative ladies who dare to flout the rules of the tonâand enjoy it!
Also, donât miss out on the seductive Lucia Booth, proprietor of Mrs Boothâs Discreet Gentlemanâs Club and former spy, in
coming July 2013
to Mills & Boon>® Historical Undone!
BRONWYN SCOTT is a communications instructor at Pierce College in the United States, and is the proud mother of three wonderful children (one boy and two girls). When sheâs not teaching or writing she enjoys playing the piano, travellingâespecially to Florence, Italyâand studying history and foreign languages.
Readers can stay in touch on Bronwynâs website,
www.bronwynnscott.com, or at her blog, www.bronwynswriting.blogspot.comâshe loves to hear from readers.
Previous novels from Bronwyn Scott:
PICKPOCKET COUNTESS
NOTORIOUS RAKE, INNOCENT LADY
THE VISCOUNT CLAIMS HIS BRIDE
THE EARLâS FORBIDDEN WARD
UNTAMED ROGUE, SCANDALOUS MISTRESS
A THOROUGHLY COMPROMISED LADY
SECRET LIFE OF A SCANDALOUS DEBUTANTE
UNBEFITTING A LADYâ
HOW TO DISGRACE A LADY*
HOW TO RUIN A REPUTATION*
HOW TO SIN SUCCESSFULLY*
And in Mills & Boon® Historical Undone! eBooks:
LIBERTINE LORD, PICKPOCKET MISS
PLEASURED BY THE ENGLISH SPY
WICKED EARL, WANTON WIDOW
ARABIAN NIGHTS WITH A RAKE
AN ILLICIT INDISCRETION
HOW TO LIVE INDECENTLY*
â Castonbury Park Regency mini-series
*Rakes Beyond Redemption trilogy
And in M&B:
PRINCE CHARMING IN DISGUISE
(part of Royal Weddings Through the Ages)
Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks?Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk
Billiards is just about as English as horse racing. References note that by the seventeenth century there wasnât a village in England that didnât boast at least one billiards table in an assembly hall or tavern. Here are some fun facts about Greer and Mercedesâs story:
1838 is part of the âgatewayâ period of billiards as it moves closer to the modern pool game.
John Thurston is a real historical figure and has a cameo appearance early in our story. In 1799 he established the House of Thurston in London, and is credited with new inventions for the table such as his 1835 rubber cushions, the use of warming pans to keep the cushions supple and replacing wood table beds with slate (c.1826). The table Greer mentions from his time in Greece is based on a true story.
1838 also sees the introduction of the ârunâ style of todayâs pool game. The run is first officially mentioned by Game Master Hoyle, in association with âthe French following gameâ in an 1845 edition of game rules. It crosses the Atlantic to America in 1857.
I should also take a moment to mention Alan Lockhart. He is modelled after the nineteenth-century billiards champion Edwin Kentfield.
I hope you enjoy this first of two stories in my Ladies of Impropriety duet. Stay tuned for Elise Suttonâs story. In the meanwhile, stop by my blog at www.bronwynswriting.blogspot.com for forthcoming news.
This one is for my dad, who kept asking me when was âthat billiards bookâ coming out. Here it is, finally, with much love.
BrightonâMarch 1837
There was nothing quite as exhilarating as a man who knew how to handle his stick. Mercedes Lockhart put an eye to the discreet peephole for a second glimpse, separate trills of excitement and anxiety vibrating through her. Rumour was right, he