The Earl's Practical Marriage Read online

  Childhood friends all grown up

  Now they must marry for convenience!

  Giles Redmond, Earl of Revesby, is marrying childhood friend Laurel Knighton because it’s the only way to save his family fortune. Last time he saw her, she was an unconventional tomboy... Now she’s a beauty, but finding himself aroused by her is as baffling as it is surprising. Who would have thought such an infuriating, disobedient bride could be so tempting?

  “Readers will enjoy the unique setting, the many twists and turns of the plot.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Surrender to the Marquess

  “From the first page, readers will be hooked by the suspense and romance of this pleasing tale... This is another keeper.”

  —RT Book Reviews on The Many Sins of Cris De Feaux

  “You are going to your chaste and lonely bed just as soon as you have finished that tartlet.”

  “As my lord commands.” There it was again, that flash of mischief, the way Laurel had always teased him, never allowing him to take himself too seriously.

  “Are you going to be a disobedient wife, Laurel?” Giles got to his feet and rang the bell.

  “I believe I will be. I have had nine years of being so very good, you see. I think I am long overdue my rebellion. Good night, my lord.”

  “Good night, my dear.” He permitted himself a chaste kiss on her cheek, tried not to notice the fleeting caress of her hand on his shoulder, the scent of lily of the valley, the way her eyelashes curled on her cheek when she closed her eyes for a second. When had his skinny little friend become this beautiful, disconcerting woman?

  Author Note

  A year ago I stood on the top of the Downs, in just the spot where Giles and Laurel first kiss, and imagined the opening chapters of this book. The old stagecoach route that they took over the Downs is passable in fine weather (if you have no care for your car’s suspension!), the skylarks sing high above as they did for Giles and Laurel, and even the Bear Inn at Sandy Lane, where Beau Nash ate the famous pudding, still stands.

  A little farther on, I had a wonderful time rediscovering Bath and placing my characters there. I imagined the Sydney Gardens before someone decided it would be a good idea to put the railway line through it, chose which house in Laura Place to make Aunt Phoebe’s and reminded myself just how awful Bath spa water tastes!

  This is a book about secrets and trust and understanding. There were times when I wondered if Laurel and Giles were actually going to reach their happy-ever-after, but love conquers all and I hope you enjoy their journey as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  LOUISE ALLEN

  The Earl’s Practical Marriage

  Louise Allen loves immersing herself in history. She finds landscapes and places evoke the past powerfully. Venice, Burgundy and the Greek islands are favorite destinations. Louise lives on the Norfolk coast and spends her spare time gardening, researching family history or traveling in search of inspiration. Visit her at louiseallenregency.co.uk, @louiseregency and janeaustenslondon.com.

  Books by Louise Allen

  Harlequin Historical

  Once Upon a Regency Christmas

  “On a Winter’s Eve”

  Marrying His Cinderella Countess

  The Earl’s Practical Marriage

  The Herriard Family

  Forbidden Jewel of India

  Tarnished Amongst the Ton

  Surrender to the Marquess

  Lords of Disgrace

  His Housekeeper’s Christmas Wish

  His Christmas Countess

  The Many Sins of Cris de Feaux

  The Unexpected Marriage of Gabriel Stone

  Brides of Waterloo

  A Rose for Major Flint

  Visit the Author Profile page

  at www.Harlequin.comfor more titles.

  Get rewarded every time you buy a Harlequin ebook!

  Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards

  http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010002

  To the Pit Crew with all my love

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Excerpt from A Wedding for the Scandalous Heiress by Elizabeth Beacon

  Excerpt from His Wicked Charm by Candace Camp

  Chapter One

  Beckhampton on the Bath Road—June 1814

  ‘This is completely unacceptable.’

  ‘You are accustomed to the forces of nature observing your convenience, ma’am?’

  She should have ignored the man, obviously. No lady fell into conversation with complete strangers at roadside inns and most certainly not with tall, raffish ones. And by definition, as this one had addressed her uninvited, he was not behaving as a gentleman should.

  Laurel turned her head to give him a fleeting glance, although the fine mesh of her veil blurred his features a trifle. She had looked more directly earlier, of course, when she was certain she was unobserved. She was female after all and, at twenty-five, not quite a dried-up spinster on the shelf yet, whatever her stepmother liked to imply. She had a pair of perfectly good eyes and a functioning pulse and the stranger was a good looking man if you liked tall, broad-shouldered blonds with overlong hair. And a tan—another indication that he was not a gentleman, although to be fair she supposed he might be connected to the East India Company or have just arrived home from the West Indies.

  She had been sitting at a table in the public room of the Beckhampton Inn sipping tea with her maid, Binham, primly silent at her side, when he had sauntered in. He ordered porter which he drank with one elbow propped negligently on the bar as though this were some common ale house and not a highly respectable posting house on the Bath Road.

  ‘I am used to the postilions I hire knowing the way to circumnavigate obstacles, sir,’ she said now. ‘I do not expect them to throw up their hands and declare that they must make an exceedingly lengthy detour simply because a tree is down and blocking the road at Cherhill.’

  They were now standing in the yard and it was becoming unpleasantly crowded with the stage just in and three other post-chaises beside her own jostling for space and changing horses. In the midst of the bustle the guard from the London Mail was standing, the post bags slung about him and the reins of one of the abandoned Mail’s team in his hand, ordering a riding horse to take him on to London while fielding agitated queries as to just how bad the blockage was three miles ahead.

  ‘As I told you, ma’am, we can go south to Devizes and then Melksham and get to Bath that way round.’ The postilion who had brought her the unwelcome news shot her a resentful look. ‘By all accounts the only thing that’ll get round that big old oak is a rider on horseback. The Mail’s stuck on the other side and if they can’t get the Mail through, they can’t get anything on wheels past.’

  ‘And I explained to you when we set out that I require to call in at Pickwick on the way.’ Laurel op
ened the route book that she had tucked in her reticule and ran one finger down the column for roads to Bath. ‘As I thought. If we go via Melksham, which is what you are suggesting, then it is a significant detour to reach Pickwick.’

  ‘No other way to do it, ma’am.’ The wiry little man stood firm.

  Laurel sighed, more at herself than at him. The past few weeks she had lost both her patience and her sense of humour and she knew it. None of this was life and death—nothing actually felt very important any more, if she was honest. If they had to make a long detour and were late reaching Aunt Phoebe’s house, then that was the risk one took in making a journey. Stepmama was right, she was turning into an old maid before her time, crotchety and intolerant.

  ‘Very well. I am sure you know best.’

  ‘Or possibly not,’ the stranger remarked, brazenly intervening in the conversation again. ‘What about the old road by Shepherd’s Shore and round over the flank of the Downs to Sandy Lane?’

  ‘The turnpike trust gave up maintaining that road more than fifty years ago, sir.’

  ‘It is still there, is it not?’

  ‘Aye, sir, and I’m sure it is fit for farm carts and riders, but not for the likes of Quality in a chaise.’

  ‘The ground is dry, there is little wind and you have a team of four.’ The man turned to Laurel. ‘I am on horseback, so I can lead the way. It will be rutted and it’s a long pull, but it bypasses Cherhill and Calne and you will be able to re-join the road to Chippenham and Pickwick without having to turn back on yourself.’

  Laurel studied him, wondering why he seemed vaguely familiar, but unable to pin down why. One man could hardly be a danger to her, she told herself. She had an escort of a maid and two postilions, albeit sulky ones. There was the risk of breaking a wheel or an axle and finding herself stranded on top of these godforsaken Downs, of course, but she wanted to get to Bath badly enough to take that chance.

  ‘Thank you, sir. I am obliged.’ She turned to the postilions. ‘You heard the gentleman, we will follow him to Sandy Lane.’

  They turned and went to the horses without comment, although if backs of heads could speak Laurel thought they would be saying, You’ll be sorry. Or possibly, Women!

  ‘Ma’am, excuse me, but have we met before?’

  He feels it, too?

  The stranger was staring as though he hoped to penetrate her veil. He had blue eyes and dark, dark lashes.

  ‘I hardly think so, sir.’ She did not trust blue eyes, however attractive, and it was unwise to be drawn into conversation which was doubtless a handy ploy for scoundrels. Before you knew where you were you were revealing information about acquaintances and locations that would give a confidence trickster or a seducer valuable insights. Not that she thought him either, but presumably if such people were obvious they would not be very successful.

  ‘No, of course not.’ He frowned. ‘It was something in the way you tipped your head to one side when you were thinking. It reminded me of an old acquaintance.’ Whoever it was, the memory did not appear to give him much pleasure.

  Laurel nodded and walked away from him to the chaise. His face was intelligent and sensitive when he was serious, not merely handsome. That expression made up for the blue eyes—in fact, it was positively engaging. Trust me, it said.

  ‘Hah!’ she said under her breath as she climbed into the chaise and made room for Binham on the seat beside her. Men were not trustworthy, strangers or relatives, or friends. Life had taught her that.

  ‘My lady?’ Her new maid, a stickler for protocol, including being addressed by her surname by her employer and as Miss Binham by the lower servants, was radiating disapproval at the conversation with a strange man. Her stepmother thought well of Binham. Laurel had plans to find the lady’s maid a new employer at the earliest opportunity unless she showed signs of developing a sense of humour.

  ‘Nothing, Binham. Hold tight, this will be a bumpy ride, I fear.’

  They turned south, then west, climbing steadily, paralleling the modern road two miles or so away to their right on the other side of the great rise of Downland. Almost immediately the metalled road turned into a chalk track, rutted and white with dust.

  Binham gave a little shriek at the first lurch, clutched Laurel’s dressing case to her bosom with one hand and grabbed for the strap with the other. Laurel held on tightly and looked forward, through the glass between the team of four and the postilions, to the horseman leading the way.

  He was sitting relaxed on a big grey horse that had as much of a raffish air about it as its master, its tail ungroomed and long, its legs covered in the thick dust of the road. It was not some hired hack, that was for sure, not ridden on such a loose, trusting rein by a man who looked as though he had spent so long in the saddle that he was perfectly at home there.

  Laurel pushed back her veil and narrowed her eyes at the broad shoulders, the comfortable slouch. It was most improbable, but there was still something familiar about the man.

  No, it isn’t familiarity, she thought. It is as if someone rubbed out a faint pencil sketch of a young man and then drew this one on the same sheet of paper with the ghost of the original showing through.

  Which was ridiculous. The only person she had ever known with such lapis-blue eyes had been Giles Redmond and he had been an unprepossessing youth, his big feet and hands, large nose and ears all seeming to belong to someone else and not the mousey, scholarly young man. He had been thoughtful and sensitive though, always a loyal friend—and always failing to meet his father’s expectations.

  Gentle, kind, fun to be with and tolerant of the neighbours’ daughter, two years younger than him: no one had suspected that sixteen-year-old Laurel Knighton could fall for such a plain and retiring youth, even if he was the heir to a great title. But kindness, humour and intelligence could be as attractive to an impressionable girl as good looks and confidence.

  The Marquess of Thorncote, Giles’s father, had wanted a son from the same mould as himself for his heir—active, noisy, enthusiastically confident, a man who would hunt all day and wench and drink all night. Instead he had Giles, nose in a book, secretive and more likely to shoot his own foot off than hit a pheasant.

  Strange that he had so little idea of what his son was truly like, any more than she had known. It had almost been funny, the expression on the Marquess’s face the day the worm turned and Giles showed his true colours and her friend had revealed himself for the treacherous, deceitful beast that he was.

  But that was nine years in the past. The Marquess was ailing now, they said, not that there was any social interaction between Malden Grange, home of William Knighton, Earl of Palgrave, her late father, and Thorne Hall. Not since the day of the betrothal debacle.

  Malden was not her home any longer, not now that she had no function beyond that of spinster stepdaughter. Laurel narrowed her eyes at the worn brown riding coat ahead as though its wearer was personally responsible for her change of circumstances and the move to Bath.

  Which was unfair, she told herself.

  Just let me get to Laura Place—the name so close to her own must surely be a good omen—and I will learn to be contented and useful again. I refuse to become a sour old maid. I will be happy, find happiness in all the little things.

  She was simply resentful of the stranger triggering something in her memory of those long-ago days, she supposed.

  They were still climbing, the horses labouring now as the wheels stuck in deep ruts or lost their grip on loose stones. Open grassland spread out on either side and Laurel dropped the window, filling the stuffy interior of the chaise with cool air and the sound of birdsong all around them.

  ‘It feels like the roof of the world,’ she said as they came to a halt and she realised the vehicle was on the level. Then she hastily adjusted her veil as the stranger brought his horse round and leaned down from the saddle to look through t
he open window.

  ‘The team needs to rest a while after that pull and the view is spectacular.’

  ‘I have been looking at it, thank you.’

  Definitely not a gentleman if he persisted in talking to a lady to whom he had not been introduced.

  ‘Not on that side, this way.’ He gestured with his riding crop. ‘Come and see.’

  Outrageous, of course. She should snub him and raise the glass and sit demurely in the carriage until the horses were rested. She was thoroughly bored with that carriage.

  I am looking for happiness in small things, Laurel reminded herself, looking at the froth of white cow parsley in the sunlight, smelling the fresh scent of growing things. ‘Very well. Come along, Binham. Oh, do leave the dressing case. Who is going to steal it up here?’

  With the maid’s stare heating the spot between her shoulder blades Laurel picked her way along a side track and was suddenly not only on the roof of the world, but on its very edge. The close-cropped grass fell away at her feet, the valley of the Avon spread out before her. The face of the Downs was marked with deep, wide, dry valleys, as though a giant had pressed his fingers into the earth while it was still malleable, and the grass was starred with the white shapes of grazing sheep.

  ‘Oh, how lovely.’ She flipped back her veil to see better, the breeze a cool caress on her cheeks.

  ‘Ouch! I’ve turned my ankle, my lady.’

  Binham was glaring mutinously at the tussocky grass with its liberal sprinkling of sheep droppings. She had hardly taken a few steps, let alone enough to twist her foot. This was simply rebellion. Laurel was too weary of her to argue. ‘Go back to the chaise then, Binham.’

  Beside her the stranger watched the retreating maid, then turned back to Laurel, his gaze sharpening as he took in her unveiled face. Surely she had imagined the fleeting puzzlement in his expression, because it was not there now. ‘Yes, it is lovely,’ he agreed. ‘I have missed England in the spring.’ So she had been right, he had been abroad. ‘Listen to the skylarks. See, there is one, so ridiculously high.’ He pointed, leaning right back to look up at the tiny speck far above their heads.