A Vow For An Heiress
The vow of a lordIn exchange for an heiressWith his bankrupt and crumbling estate, Lord Ashurst and his situation are well known to the ton. He needs a wife, and she must be rich! He leaps at a marriage of convenience with heiress Rosa Ingram. She might be beautiful, kind and brave, but when he discovers the truth about her past and her family wealth he’s torn by his sense of honour. Should he marry her now?
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The vow of a lord
In exchange for an heiress!
With a bankrupt and crumbling estate, Lord Ashurst’s situation is well known to the ton. He needs a wife, and she must be rich! He leaps at a marriage of convenience with heiress Rosa Ingram. She may be beautiful, kind and brave, but after discovering the truth about her past and family wealth, he’s torn by his sense of honor. Should he marry her now?
“An intriguing and uncommon opening will have readers wondering what could possibly happen next.”
—RT Book Reviews on Carrying the Gentleman’s Secret by Helen Dickson
“A Cinderella-like tale, Dickson’s newest is one of healing and hope.”
—RT Book Reviews on The Foundling Bride by Helen Dickson
HELEN DICKSON was born and still lives in South Yorkshire, with her retired farm manager husband. Having moved out of the busy farmhouse where she raised their two sons, she now has more time to indulge in her favourite pastimes. She enjoys being outdoors, travelling, reading and music. An incurable romantic, she writes for pleasure. It was a love of history that drove her to writing historical fiction.
The Devil Claims a Wife
The Master of Stonegrave Hall Mishap Marriage A Traitor’s Touch Caught in Scandal’s Storm Lucy Lane and the Lieutenant Lord Lansbury’s Christmas Wedding Royalist on the Run The Foundling Bride Carrying the Gentleman’s Secret
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.
ISBN: 978-1-474-08863-3
A VOW FOR AN HEIRESS
© 2018 Helen Dickson
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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Contents
1816
The Indian sunset was magnificent, illuminating the towers and domes of the Rajinda Palace in a princely state in the north of India. They caught the light—bright gold in the flaming glory of the setting sun. On the wide horizon the gold gradually turned to rose and purple. It was a vision of fantastic splendour—one William had marvelled at since he was a boy. A deep, aching sadness touched his heart. He was soon to leave this beautiful country, the land of his birth—his home, never to return.
Having served as an officer with distinction in the honourable East India Company, William’s ambition and ability elevating him to the position of Colonel, on receiving a letter informing him of the demise of his cousin, bound by the ties of family, he had resigned his post. He was to go to England to take up the position of the sixth Earl of Ashurst, an event he looked on with little joy. India held his heart and his imagination, and it would be hard adapting to life as a member of the English aristocracy.
Throughout the years with his regiment he had been motivated by a sense of adventure and driven by the excitement of battle, but the sights of the battlefields and the loss of his friends had left their scars.
He passed through an enormous gated entrance, large enough for elephants two abreast and an army to pass through. Being a familiar figure at the palace, allowed to come and go at will, he was not apprehended. The vast, marble magnificence of the ornately decorated royal residence with its orchards and groves inside the massive, crenellated Mogul walls never failed to impress him. He walked beneath tall archways and through scented courtyards full of statuary and on through marble pavilions to a place where a cool breeze drifted through detailed latticework from the flower-scented gardens. Colourful ring-necked parrots graced the branches of mango trees, loud with quarrelling monkeys and squabbling mynah birds.
