For an instant she felt the terrible cold panic of falling.
She braced herself for the pain of landing on the hard floorâonly to be caught instead in a pair of strong muscled arms.
The shock of it quite knocked the breath from her, and the room went hazy and blurry as the veil of her bonnet blinded her. Willing herself not to faint, Emma blinked away her confusion and pushed back the dratted veil.
âThank you, sir,â she gasped. âYou are very quick-thinking.â
âIâm just happy I happened to be here,â her rescuer answered, and his voice was shockingly familiar. A smooth, deep, rich sound, like a glass of sweet mulled wine on a cold night, comforting and deliciously disturbing all at the same time.
It was a voice she hadnât heard in a long while, and yet she remembered it very well.
Two sisters, two scandals, two sizzling love affairs
Country girls at heart, Jane and Emma Bancroft are a far cry from the perfectly coiffed, glossy debutantes that grace most of Society.
But soon they come to realise that, country girl and debutante alike, no lady is immune to the charms of a dashing rogue!
Donât miss this enthralling new duet from Amanda McCabe
It started with Janeâs story THE RUNAWAY COUNTESS
Already available
and continues with Emmaâs story
RUNNING FROM SCANDAL
AMANDA McCABE wrote her first romance at the age of sixteenâa vast epic, starring all her friends as the characters, written secretly during algebra class. Sheâs never since used algebra, but her books have been nominated for many awards, including the RITA® Award, RT Reviewersâ Choice Award, the Booksellers Best, the National Readersâ Choice Award, and the Holt Medallion. She lives in Oklahoma, with a menagerie of two cats, a pug and a bossy miniature poodle, and loves dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Networkâeven though she doesnât cook.
Visit her at http://ammandamccabe.tripod.com and www.riskyregencies.blogspot.com
Previous novels by the same author:
TO CATCH A ROGUE*
TO DECEIVE A DUKE*
TO KISS A COUNT*
CHARLOTTE AND THE WICKED LORD
(in Regency Summer Scandals)
A NOTORIOUS WOMANâ
A SINFUL ALLIANCEâ
HIGH SEAS STOWAWAYâ
THE WINTER QUEEN
(in Christmas Betrothals)
THE SHY DUCHESS
SNOWBOUND AND SEDUCED
(in Regency Christmas Proposals)
THE TAMING OF THE ROGUE
A STRANGER AT CASTONBURY**
TARNISHED ROSE OF THE COURT
THE RUNAWAY COUNTESSâ¡
And in Mills & Boon>® HistoricalUndone!eBooks:
SHIPWRECKED AND SEDUCEDâ
TO BED A LIBERTINE
THE MAIDâS LOVER
TO COURT, CAPTURE AND CONQUER
GIRL IN THE BEADED MASK
UNLACING THE LADY IN WAITING
ONE WICKED CHRISTMAS
AN IMPROPER DUCHESS
A VERY TUDOR CHRISTMAS
*The Chase Muses
â linked by character
**Castonbury Park Regency mini-series
â¡Bancrofts of Barton Park
Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk
When I was about eight I found a battered paperback copy of Emma in a bag of secondhand books at my grandmotherâs house. I didnât know anything about Jane Austen then (except a vague thought that sheâd lived a long time ago and never got married!), but I was drawn in by the two girls in white gowns and feathered bonnets on the cover and started reading. I was dragged right into the world of Emma Woodhouse and her friends and family in Highbury, and refused to do anything else until Iâd finished the book! Then I ran to the library and checked out all the Austen novels. That was the beginning of my Regency love, which goes on to this day.
For a long time Iâve wanted to try writing a story in the style of an Austen novel. Not in her writing style, of courseâno one can copy thatâbut in what I loved so much about her plots: the life of English villages and country houses, the close bonds that can form between families (especially sisters) and friends in such places, the romances that blossom even when their prospects look bleak.
I finally found the right characters in my Bancroft sisters, Jane and Emma, and the happily-ever-afters they found at Barton Park with their handsome heroes. I started to feel as if I could have lived in that neighbourhood, tooâit was such a fun world to spend time in, and I was sorry to say goodbye to it all. But I know Jane and Emma go on happily there!
And watch for a little epilogue story coming soon, where we see what happens when Melanie Harding and Philip Carrington find themselves unwillingly married â¦
Prologue
Englandâ1814
Emma Bancroft was very good at holding up walls. She grew more adept at it every time she went to a party, which was not very often. She was getting a great deal of practice at it tonight.