Diane Gaston - Bound By Their Secret Passion

A forbidden attraction... A hidden desire!

Years ago, penniless Lorene Summerfield wed for duty, giving her siblings the chance to marry for love. But now the generous-hearted countess finds herself widowed...and the man she’s loved in silence for years is falsely accused of her husband’s murder!

Although he closed his heart to love long ago, the Earl of Penford has always found Lorene irresistible. Their newly ignited passion may be scandalous, but now he’ll stop at nothing to clear his name and win Lorene’s hand!

The Scandalous Summerfields

Disgrace is their middle name!

Left destitute by their philandering parents, the three Summerfield sisters—Tess, Lorene and Genna—and their half-brother, Edmund, are the talk of the ton...for all the wrong reasons!

They are at the mercy of the marriage mart to transport their family from the fringes of society to the dizzy heights of respectability.

But with no dowries, and a damaged reputation, only some very special matches can survive the scandalous Summerfields!

Read where it all started with tempestuous

Tess’s story

Bound by Duty

Read Edmund’s story in

Bound by One Scandalous Night

Read Genna’s story in

Bound by a Scandalous Secret

Read Lorene’s story in

Bound by Their Secret Passion

All available now!

Author Note

Bound by Their Secret Passion is book four in The Scandalous Summerfields series—the last of a series that has been a delight to write.

As I said in my author note for Bound by Duty (book one), the Summerfields are very loosely based on my mother, her two sisters and her brother. This book will be about the oldest Summerfield sister, Lorene, who represents my aunt Loraine.

My Aunt Loraine was the oldest sister as well. When their parents died, Geraldine—the youngest—was only sixteen, and my mother and Loraine were barely in their twenties. Aunt Loraine took custody of Gerry, helping her to finish high school and go to nursing school.

The three sisters lived together and were extremely close. In fact when my parents were married my father moved in with them. Aunt Gerry married eventually, and for many years while we kids were being born the two families lived in a duplex. When my father went back into the army Loraine moved in with us, living with us until I was in high school. She was a career woman—a secretary who still took notes in shorthand even in her eighties.

Loraine never had her happily-ever-after—at least not in the romantic sense. She almost married once, but the man who proposed to her wanted to go into politics and wanted her to give up her religion, which in those days would have been an impediment to his success. She refused.

Will my fictional Lorene find that happily-ever-after—or will it escape her like it did my aunt? I hope you enjoy reading Bound by Their Secret Passion to find out.

Bound by Their Secret Passion

Diane Gaston

www.millsandboon.co.uk

DIANE GASTON’s dream job was always to write romance novels. One day she dared to pursue that dream, and has never looked back. Her books have won Romance’s highest honours: the RITA® Award, the National Readers’ Choice Award, Holt Medallion, Golden Quill and Golden Heart®. She lives in Virginia with her husband and three very ordinary house cats. Diane loves to hear from readers and friends. Visit her website at: dianegaston.com.

Books by Diane Gaston

Mills & Boon Historical Romance

The Scandalous Summerfields

Bound by Duty

Bound by One Scandalous Night

Bound by a Scandalous Secret

Bound by Their Secret Passion

The Masquerade Club

A Reputation for Notoriety

A Marriage of Notoriety

A Lady of Notoriety

Three Soldiers

Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady

Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress

Valiant Soldier, Beautiful Enemy

Linked by Character

Regency Summer Scandals ‘Justine and the Noble Viscount’ A Not So Respectable Gentleman?

Mills & Boon Historical Undone! eBooks

The Unlacing of Miss LeighThe Liberation of Miss Finch

Visit the Author Profile page

at millsandboon.co.ukfor more titles.

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To the memory of my aunt Loraine, who taught me to dance the Charleston and the jitterbug and to be undaunted.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

The Scandalous Summerfields

Author Note

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

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

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Christmas Day 1816

Lorene leaned back against the soft leather seat of the carriage. Outside snowflakes fluttered down from a sky almost milky white from the light of the moon. The snow on the fields glowed and the sounds of the horses’ hooves and the carriage wheels were as muffled as if passing over down pillows. It was the perfect end to a perfect day, a day-long visit with her two sisters, their husbands and the man she adored.

Thank goodness her husband had refused to come with her.

Her husband, the Earl of Tinmore, a man in his seventies and at least fifty years her senior, had forbidden her to spend Christmas Day with her sisters at their childhood home, Summerfield House. Lorene had defied her husband’s dictate. She’d walked the five miles to Summerfield House that morning. Snow had been falling then, too, but the cold merely filled her with vigour and made her feel more alive.

How different it was at Tinmore Hall where she had to kill every emotion merely to make it through the day.

‘Will you be all right?’ the man seated next to her asked.

She turned to him and her heart quickened as it always did when looking at him, Dell Summerfield, the Earl of Penford, the man who had inherited her childhood home. His blue eyes shone even in the dim light of the carriage. His well-formed lips pursed in worry.

She could not help but stare at those lips. ‘I suspect he will be asleep. He retires early, you know.’ She did not have to explain that she spoke of her husband.

‘What of tomorrow?’

She loved his voice, so deep, like the lowest notes on the pianoforte, felt as well as heard.

How silly to have a schoolgirl’s infatuation at the advanced age of twenty-four, especially since she was a married lady and he’d merely been civil.

No, he’d always been more than civil.

He’d been kind.

The last thing she wanted was for him to worry about her. Or to think of her. He must never know how much she thought of him. Or how much his kindness towards her meant to her.