Rags-to-Riches Bride

Mary Nichols

Литагент HarperCollins EUR

Indulge your fantasies of delicious Regency Rakes, fierce Viking warriors and rugged Highlanders. Be swept away into a world of intense passion, lavish settings and romance that burns brightly through the centuriesSecrets and Scandals! Impoverished beauty Diana Bywater must keep her circumstances secret – her job at Harecrofts depends on it! Then an unwanted marriage proposal from the younger Harecroft son threatens everything… No stranger to secrets himself, Captain Richard Harecroft is suspicious of this obviously gently reared girl who has turned his brother’s head. He is determined to discover if she is a gold-digger out to exploit the family.But the closer he gets, the more the mystery of Diana deepens – and the more he desires her as his bride!

The feel of his mouth on hers sent shock waves right through her.

Her knees began to tremble, and would have buckled if he had not been supporting her, holding her so close against him she could feel his warmth, turning her insides to liquid fire. She seemed to have left the ground, flying from all earthly things, all sensible thoughts. She wanted this man. She wanted the kiss to go on, to lead to other transports of delight she could only imagine. She clung to him, returning his kiss in full measure.

It was only then he realised what he was doing and released her. They stood facing each other, breathing heavily. Neither spoke. She did not condemn him; any sign of anger would be a pretence, and he must know it. Nor did he regret what he had done—though he did not know why he had done it, nor why a simple stolen kiss should have such a devastating effect on him. It had unnerved him. He opened his mouth but no words came from his lips. ‘Sorry’ seemed inadequate. She was lovely, and the temptation had been great, but that did not excuse him. Besides, he wasn’t sorry.

Born in Singapore, Mary Nichols came to England when she was three, and has spent most of her life in different parts of East Anglia. She has been a radiographer, school secretary, information officer and industrial editor, as well as a writer. She has three grown-up children, and four grandchildren.

Recent novels by the same author:

THE HONOURABLE EARL THE INCOMPARABLE COUNTESS LADY LAVINIA’S MATCH A LADY OF CONSEQUENCE THE HEMINGFORD SCANDAL MARRYING MISS HEMINGFORD BACHELOR DUKE AN UNUSUAL BEQUEST TALK OF THE TON WORKING MAN, SOCIETY BRIDE A DESIRABLE HUSBAND RUNAWAY MISS

RAGS-TO-RICHES BRIDE

Mary Nichols

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Chapter One

1837

‘Papa, you will make yourself ill if you do not take some nourishment,’ Diana said, leaning forward to take the half-empty glass of cognac from her father’s hand and put a plate of food on the table in front of him.

‘Not hungry.’

‘No, I am told strong drink dulls the appetite.’ She put his glass down on the table and sat down opposite him. He had once been robust, weatherbeaten from years at sea, a loving husband and beloved father who made their lives carefree and interesting, until four years before when his left arm had been amputated after a skirmish in the Indian Ocean and he had given in to his wife’s pleading to leave the service before it killed him. The loss of his arm and what he termed a life of uselessness on shore had started the downward slide, but while her mother was alive he had still been the father she knew and loved. Since Mama’s death he was not the same man at all.

‘We cannot go on like this, Papa. Something must be done.’

‘What about?’

‘How we are to manage.’

‘I have a pension.’

She sighed. ‘I know, but it is not enough.’ She was tempted to add that he drank most of it, but that would have been cruel and she desisted. Together with the tiny pension, he had left the service with a small accumulation of prize money but that had disappeared very quickly trying to keep up their hitherto comfortable way of life. They had been forced to dismiss their servants, sel