Anne Herries - Drawn to Lord Ravenscar

OFFICERS AND GENTLEMEN

For duty, for honour, for love

Bound by honour and family ties, three brave men fought for their lives in France …

Now, back in the drawing rooms of England, they face a new battle as three beautiful women lay siege to their scarred hearts!

COURTED BY THE CAPTAINAlready available

PROTECTED BY THE MAJORAlready available

DRAWN TO LORD RAVENSCARFebruary 2014

This is the third in my latest Regency trilogy about cousins Adam Miller and Hallam and Paul Ravenscar. Both Adam and Hal have found love. Will Paul be able to put the tragedy of his brother’s death behind him and find happiness for himself—or will he be forever cursed with guilt? It should all have been Mark’s—the title, the estate, and most of all the girl Paul believed his brother loved … Lucy.

So here is the last of this current series about Regency star-crossed lovers. Enjoy—and tell me what you think through my website if you wish: www.lindasole.co.uk

Love to you all.

Drawn to Lord Ravenscar

Anne Herries

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ANNE HERRIESlives in Cambridgeshire, where she is fond of watching wildlife and spoils the birds and squirrels that are frequent visitors to her garden. Anne loves to write about the beauty of nature, and sometimes puts a little into her books, although they are mostly about love and romance. She writes for her own enjoyment, and to give pleasure to her readers. Anne is a winner of the Romantic Novelists’ Association Romance Prize. She invites readers to contact her on her website: www.lindasole.co.uk

Previous novels by the same author:

THE RAKE’S REBELLIOUS LADY

A COUNTRY MISS IN HANOVER SQUARE*

AN INNOCENT DEBUTANTE IN HANOVER SQUARE*

THE MISTRESS OF HANOVER SQUARE*

THE PIRATE’S WILLING CAPTIVE

FORBIDDEN LADY†

THE LORD’S FORCED BRIDE†

HER DARK AND DANGEROUS LORD†

FUGITIVE COUNTESS†

BOUGHT FOR THE HAREM

HOSTAGE BRIDE

THE DISAPPEARING DUCHESS**

THE MYSTERIOUS LORD MARLOWE**

THE SCANDALOUS LORD LANCHESTER**

SECRET HEIRESS

BARTERED BRIDE

CAPTAIN MOORCROFT’S CHRISTMAS BRIDE

(part of Candlelit Christmas Kisses ) A STRANGER’S TOUCH† HIS UNUSUAL GOVERNESS PROMISED TO THE CRUSADER COURTED BY THE CAPTAIN†† PROTECTED BY THE MAJOR††

* A Season in Town † The Melford Dynasty ** Secrets and Scandals †† Officers and Gentlemen

Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Contents

Prologue

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

Prologue

‘Well, Ravenscar,’ the Duke of Wellington said. ‘I regret that you must leave us. You have been invaluable these past months, one of my best aides. However, your duty is clear. Your father needs you and asks for your return; therefore, you must go.’

‘I must resign my commission,’ Captain Paul Ravenscar said regretfully. He straightened his shoulders, a tall lean wiry man with an upright bearing. ‘My cousin Hallam has been attending to estate affairs since...the death of my brother, but he has his own duties and cannot continue indefinitely, for he is married and his wife is with child. Besides, it is my duty to care for the estate. If my father dies...’

Paul’s gaze wandered about the elegant room, which was small but tastefully appointed, the doors painted cream and gold. He had become used to working here with his leader and would miss the work and the comradeship of his fellow officers.

‘You are his heir,’ Wellington said. ‘You have my permission to leave. I vow it was easier to defeat Bonaparte on the field of battle than to settle the peace, but it is almost finished. I, too, shall return to England very soon.’

‘Yes, sir. I thought it must be so... I can only thank you for giving me the chance to serve you at a time when I was near to desperation. Had I not been able to throw myself into the work...’

‘No need to thank me, Ravenscar. I was glad to have you,’ Wellington said brusquely. ‘Get off with you then...and remember a man must always do his duty by his family, as he would his country.’

Paul clicked his heels, shook the duke’s hand and walked from the office that Wellington had used these past months. So much wrangling over the peace terms and the settlement of Europe had taken place that these walls had shaken with the ferocity of the duke’s anger, but it was as he said, the peace was settled now and they could all return to England.

Paul was thoughtful as he walked swiftly towards his lodgings. With luck, he would be at Calais within two days and another two should see him back at Ravenscar. He prayed that he would be in time, for Hallam’s letter had spoken of his father as being very ill.

He was struck by guilt, because he knew that he ought to have stayed at home to relieve his father of the burden that his estate must place on him—for even though Hallam had done everything he could, Paul knew that his father might have been easier had his one remaining son been there to shoulder his everyday cares.

He would blame himself if his father died. Yet he’d had to get away.

Paul had felt the death of his elder brother Mark like a crushing load that had almost suffocated him. Mark was the golden one, the hero—the chosen one who should have inherited the estate and title that would one day now pass to Paul. Lord Ravenscar had always favoured his elder son, but Paul could never blame him...everyone had adored Mark from the moment he was born. A big man with strong shoulders and thighs, he was better at everything, outshining his younger brother at every turn. Paul should have hated him or been jealous, instead, he’d worshipped Mark. He had resented nothing that Mark had...except for Lucy Dawlish...

A swathe of pain made him gasp, for Paul had not been able to forget her. He had tried, God knew, he had tried to put her out of his mind these past months he’d spent in Vienna with Wellington. He had no right to think of her. She had belonged to Mark, would have been his wife had not Mark been foully murdered. She loved him—and for a time she’d suspected Paul of having killed his brother. The memory of that look in her eyes had never left him, for it lay like a dark shadow on his heart.

Lucy had loved Mark. She had grieved for him. The last thing that Paul had heard of her was that she had returned from Italy, where her mama had taken her to recover from her grief, still unattached. He had thought all these long months that she would find someone and marry him, but she had not.

She was clearly still grieving, unable to forget the man who had so cruelly been snatched from her a few weeks before her wedding.