Ruined By The Reckless Viscount
The Lady in RedViscount Winterton abducts a woman to protect her—but he kidnaps the wrong girl in red! The scandalous carriage dash leads to the ruin of Lady Florentia Hale-Burton’s reputation…and the Viscount’s apparent demise.Years later, Flora discovers her kidnapper is alive and as entrancingly handsome as she remembers! Disguised, she agrees to paint his portrait in an attempt to understand the man who’s haunted her fantasies. Is it revenge that has brought her this close to him again . . . or something even more reckless?
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The Lady in Red
Viscount Winterton abducts a woman to protect her—but he kidnaps the wrong girl in red! The scandalous carriage dash leads to the ruin of Lady Florentia Hale-Burton’s reputation...and the viscount’s apparent demise.
Years later, Flora discovers her kidnapper is alive and as entrancingly handsome as she remembers! Disguised, she agrees to paint his portrait in an attempt to understand the man who’s haunted her fantasies. Is it revenge that has brought her this close to him again...or something even more reckless?
‘I am sure in your profession you must have some days in less than your petticoats, Miss Kensington.’
‘Miss…Kensington?’ Her voice sounded rusty, her fright evident in every single syllable, and she trembled as she took in breath. ‘I think…you are indeed…mistaken.’
‘Acacia Kensington?’ He heard the horror in his tone. ‘You are Miss Acacia Kensington, the paramour of my cousin Thomas, are you not?’
She shook her head hard, the long blonde hair falling loose now in a swathe across her shoulders and down over her chest.
‘I am not, sir. I am…Lady Florentia Hale-B…Burton…youngest daughter of…of the Earl of Albany.’ Each breath was raw with the effort of talking.
‘Hell.’ He could not believe it. ‘Hell!’ he repeated, and all the clues fell into place. The servant running down the road before the park, screaming. The ring. The priggish dress. Her voice.
He’d kidnapped the wrong woman—rendered her unconscious and subjected her to the sort of danger and terror she’d probably never manage to recover from.
For the first time in his life he was almost speechless.
I love characters with secrets from the past—and if that past is intertwined with danger then it is all the better!
James Waverley, Viscount Winterton, is back in England after ruining Lady Florentia Hale-Burton’s chances of marriage.
But the spark that was ignited between them six years ago is about to burst into flames…and this time Florentia has devised an ingenious plan to discover just who ‘Winter’ really is.
SOPHIA JAMES lives in Chelsea Bay, on Auckland, New Zealand’s North Shore, with her husband, who is an artist. She has a degree in English and History from Auckland University and believes her love of writing was formed by reading Georgette Heyer in the holidays at her grandmother’s house. Sophia enjoys getting feedback at sophiajames.net.
Books by Sophia James
Mills & Boon Historical Romance
The Penniless Lords
Marriage Made in Money
Marriage Made in Shame Marriage Made in Rebellion Marriage Made in Hope
Men of Danger
Mistletoe Magic
Mistress at Midnight Scars of Betrayal
The Wellingham Brothers
High Seas to High Society
One Unashamed Night One Illicit Night The Dissolute Duke
Stand-Alone Novels
Knight of Grace
Lady with the Devil’s Scar Gift-Wrapped Governesses ‘Christmas at Blackhaven Castle’ Ruined by the Reckless Viscount
Visit the Author Profile page
at millsandboon.co.uk for more titles.
Contents
London—1810
The door of the approaching carriage opened as it stopped beside her in a sudden and unexpected haste.
‘Get in now.’
‘I beg your pardon.’ Lady Florentia Hale-Burton could not quite believe what she had heard even as the stranger standing above her on the top step of the unliveried coach repeated it again more loudly.
‘I said get in now.’
The man frowned when she did not move and leaned forward so that his face was not far from her own. A beautiful face, like an angel, she thought, though his voice held no notes of the celestial at all.
‘Look, unlike your long-suffering paramour, I am not up to playing this silly game of yours, madam. If you don’t get in this minute I will drag you inside and be done with it. Do you understand?’
‘I will do no such thing, sir. Of course I will not.’ Finding her voice, Florentia looked about wildly for some help from her maid, Milly, but the girl had dropped back, her mouth wide open in alarm as she turned to run. It was like some dream, Flora thought, the horror of it appalling, like a nightmare where no matter how much you wanted to escape you could not. Fright held her simply rigid. The sky was grey and the day was windy. She could smell cut grass and hear birds calling from the park across the road. An ordinary Wednesday on a walk she had done a hundred times before and now this...
As the stranger stepped down from the carriage and took her arm she finally found resistance, swinging her heavy reticule at his face and connecting with a thump. The two books inside the bag were weighty tomes on the history of art, leather bound and substantial. The edge of one cut into the skin above his right eye and blood gushed down his cheek, though instead of looking furious, which might have been expected, he only began to laugh.
