Bronwyn Scott - A Lady Risks All

‘Mr Ogilvy tells me you play a good game.’

Greer glanced around the room, smiling broadly. ‘Good enough to have beaten most of the gentlemen present on more than one occasion. He has compelled me to come and defend men everywhere.’ He gave the chalk on his cue tip an efficient blow, looking entirely likeable.

‘Hear, hear,’ came a few cries from the back of the room.

The dratted man was going to steal her crowd if she wasn’t careful. Usually she admired Greer’s ease, how people wanted to cheer for him. She wasn’t admiring that trait at the moment. Beneath his aura of bonhomie he was primed, a veritable powder keg, and the fuse was lit. He was going to ignite this room and she’d get caught in the explosion.

She hadn’t lost the room yet. And she wouldn’t. She’d beat Greer and give these boys a show they wouldn’t soon forget.

Mercedes met Greer’s gaze down the length of the table, eyes wide with secret laughter, her mouth a perfect, discreetly rouged ‘O’. A gentleman or two sighed when she chalked up and raised the cue to her lips in her trademark gesture and blew, knowing Greer would get the unspoken message: game on .

From the fabulous Bronwyn Scott comes a wickedly naughty and sensational new duet

Breaking Society’s Rules

Practised gambler Mercedes Lockhart takes on the big boys—and the irresistible Captain Barrington—in England’s billiards clubs in

July 2013

Elise Sutton is a lady in a man’s world when she finds herself fighting for her family’s company at London’s Blackwell Docks—but that doesn’t mean she can’t show the roguish privateer Dorian Rowland who’s boss in

August 2013

Two scandalously sexy stories.

Two alluringly provocative ladies who dare to flout the rules of the ton —and enjoy it!

Also, don’t miss out on the seductive Lucia Booth, proprietor of Mrs Booth’s Discreet Gentleman’s Club and former spy, in

coming July 2013

to Mills & Boon ®Historical Undone!

BRONWYN SCOTTis a communications instructor at Pierce College in the United States, and is the proud mother of three wonderful children (one boy and two girls). When she’s not teaching or writing she enjoys playing the piano, travelling—especially to Florence, Italy—and studying history and foreign languages.

Readers can stay in touch on Bronwyn’s website,

www.bronwynnscott.com, or at her blog,

www.bronwynswriting.blogspot.com—she loves to hear from readers.

Previous novels from Bronwyn Scott:

PICKPOCKET COUNTESS

NOTORIOUS RAKE, INNOCENT LADY

THE VISCOUNT CLAIMS HIS BRIDE

THE EARL’S FORBIDDEN WARD

UNTAMED ROGUE, SCANDALOUS MISTRESS

A THOROUGHLY COMPROMISED LADY

SECRET LIFE OF A SCANDALOUS DEBUTANTE

UNBEFITTING A LADY † † Castonbury Park Regency mini-series * Rakes Beyond Redemption trilogy And in M&B: PRINCE CHARMING IN DISGUISE (part of Royal Weddings Through the Ages ) Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk

HOW TO DISGRACE A LADY * * Rakes Beyond Redemption trilogy And in M&B: PRINCE CHARMING IN DISGUISE (part of Royal Weddings Through the Ages ) Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk

HOW TO RUIN A REPUTATION * * Rakes Beyond Redemption trilogy And in M&B: PRINCE CHARMING IN DISGUISE (part of Royal Weddings Through the Ages ) Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk

HOW TO SIN SUCCESSFULLY * * Rakes Beyond Redemption trilogy And in M&B: PRINCE CHARMING IN DISGUISE (part of Royal Weddings Through the Ages ) Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk

And in Mills & Boon® Historical Undone! eBooks:

LIBERTINE LORD, PICKPOCKET MISS

PLEASURED BY THE ENGLISH SPY

WICKED EARL, WANTON WIDOW

ARABIAN NIGHTS WITH A RAKE

AN ILLICIT INDISCRETION

HOW TO LIVE INDECENTLY * * Rakes Beyond Redemption trilogy And in M&B: PRINCE CHARMING IN DISGUISE (part of Royal Weddings Through the Ages ) Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk

† Castonbury Park Regency mini-series

* Rakes Beyond Redemption trilogy

And in M&B:

PRINCE CHARMING IN DISGUISE

(part of Royal Weddings Through the Ages )

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

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Billiards is just about as English as horse racing. References note that by the seventeenth century there wasn’t a village in England that didn’t boast at least one billiards table in an assembly hall or tavern. Here are some fun facts about Greer and Mercedes’s story:

1838 is part of the ‘gateway’ period of billiards as it moves closer to the modern pool game.

John Thurston is a real historical figure and has a cameo appearance early in our story. In 1799 he established the House of Thurston in London, and is credited with new inventions for the table such as his 1835 rubber cushions, the use of warming pans to keep the cushions supple and replacing wood table beds with slate (c.1826). The table Greer mentions from his time in Greece is based on a true story.

1838 also sees the introduction of the ‘run’ style of today’s pool game. The run is first officially mentioned by Game Master Hoyle, in association with ‘the French following game’ in an 1845 edition of game rules. It crosses the Atlantic to America in 1857.

I should also take a moment to mention Alan Lockhart. He is modelled after the nineteenth-century billiards champion Edwin Kentfield.

I hope you enjoy this first of two stories in my Ladies of Impropriety duet. Stay tuned for Elise Sutton’s story. In the meanwhile, stop by my blog at www.bronwynswriting.blogspot.com for forthcoming news.

This one is for my dad, who kept asking me when was ‘that billiards book’ coming out. Here it is, finally, with much love.

Brighton—March 1837

There was nothing quite as exhilarating as a man who knew how to handle his stick. Mercedes Lockhart put an eye to the discreet peephole for a second glimpse, separate trills of excitement and anxiety vibrating through her. Rumour was right, he did have an amazing crack.