Virginia Heath - A Warriner To Rescue Her

Tempted by the damsel in distress!

Captain James Warriner is startled to find a curvaceous beauty caught up a tree in his orchard! Despite his shattered leg, he rescues Miss Cassandra Reeves, then is determined to have nothing more to do with the enticing vicar’s daughter.

Except when Cassie seeks Jamie out to apologize, they find themselves persuaded to work together on her storybook. Secret liaisons with the dashing soldier make Cassie wish Jamie would rescue her once more...by making her his wife!

The Wild Warriners

Four brothers living on the edge of society…scandalising the ton at every turn!

Tucked away at their remote estate in Nottinghamshire are the ton’s most notorious brothers.

The exploits of Jack, Jamie, Joe and Jacob Warriner’s parents—their father’s gambling and cheating, their mother’s tragic end—are legendary. But now, for the first time, the brothers find themselves the talk of the ton for an entirely different reason…

Because four women are about to change their lives—and put them firmly in society’s spotlight!

Find out what happens in:

Jack’s story

A Warriner to Protect Her

Already available

Jamie’s story

A Warriner to Rescue Her

Available now

And watch for Joe’s and Jacob’s stories—coming soon!

Author Note

When I wrote the first book in this Wild Warriners series, A Warriner to Protect Her, I was pretty certain of the sort of direction I wanted the second book to go. James Warriner is a damaged former soldier, with a talent for covert reconnaissance, and I wanted to bring those skills into play for his story. I envisaged some sort of tale involving intrigue—perhaps even espionage. However, as my characters so often do, Jamie took me down a completely different path. The more I got to know him, the more I came to know that he was actually a deeply sensitive soul underneath all his monosyllabic gruffness. A man who painted delicate and beautiful flowers was not really ever meant to be so fluent in violence. He didn’t need to return to his military ways—he needed saving. It was then that I first began toying with the idea of introducing Jamie to a vicar’s daughter.

Around the same time I was rooting around the attic one day, looking for something, and came across one of my children’s old storybooks: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by the wonderful Beatrix Potter—a woman who used her childhood pets as inspiration for her wonderfully vivid and brightly illustrated stories. Before I knew it my soft-hearted vicar’s daughter had a horse called Orange Blossom and a talent for writing. With his art and her words, surely they were a match made in heaven? If only I could convince Jamie, of course…

A Warriner to Rescue Her

Virginia Heath

www.millsandboon.co.uk

When VIRGINIA HEATHwas a little girl it took her ages to fall asleep, so she made up stories in her head to help pass the time while she was staring at the ceiling. As she got older the stories became more complicated—sometimes taking weeks to get to their happy ending. One day she decided to embrace her insomnia and start writing them down. Virginia lives in Essex, with her wonderful husband and two teenagers. It still takes her for ever to fall asleep…

Books by Virginia Heath

Mills & Boon Historical Romance

The Wild Warriners

A Warriner to Protect Her

A Warriner to Rescue Her

Stand-Alone Novels

That Despicable Rogue

Her Enemy at the Altar

The Discerning Gentleman’s Guide

Miss Bradshaw’s Bought Betrothal

Visit the Author Profile page at millsandboon.co.uk.

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For Ellen.

For always being there for my children with either a ready bandage or unconditional love.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

The Wild Warriners

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

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

May 1814

The blood-curdling female scream shook him out of his daze instantly. Jamie pulled up his horse and glanced frantically around to see if he could locate the source. All he saw was familiar meadow and trees, and for a moment he thought he might have imagined it. With the warm sun on his face and the leisurely motion of his mount ambling aimlessly beneath him, it was quite feasible he had nodded off. He was exhausted, after all.

Constantly exhausted from his brain’s inability to stop whirring when darkness fell, conjuring up memories from his past which haunted him even though he knew both men responsible for the pain were undeniably dead and therefore no longer a threat. Yet the ghost of them lingered in his mind, forcing him to stay vigilant and preventing him from snatching more than a few hours here and there, usually as the sun began to banish the darkness away. Or perhaps it was simply the darkness which frightened him as it had as a child? After so many months, he was no longer sure. Just irritated with his own inability to move past it.

The second scream, no less curdling or high-pitched, raised all of his hackles, putting him on instant alert. With his soldier’s instinct, Jamie raced his horse in the direction of the shriek, which happened to be towards the orchard near the huge wall which surrounded Markham Manor. The orderly trees were arranged in parallel lines with person-width paths of grass in between; aside from the gentle swish of leaves blowing in the summer breeze, silence reigned.

He cast his eyes methodically up and down the rows until he saw something—a dainty skewbald pony casually munching on the tiny, unripe apples that littered the ground around its hooves. As it was wearing both halter and a side-saddle, yet there was no sign of the rider, Jamie carefully lowered himself to the ground and wrapped his own reins loosely about a branch. At the best of times his temperamental black stallion was foul tempered; around other horses he was prone to be a brute. The pretty cream-and-dun pony, with her long fluffy mane and even longer eyelashes, would not stand a chance.

Jamie limped towards the abandoned animal slowly, conscious any sudden movement might spook the strange pony and send it galloping off to who knew where. ‘Easy, girl...’ At least he assumed it was a girl. If it were a boy the other horses would tease him mercilessly for that effeminate mane.

‘Hello!’ A slightly panicked woman’s voice came from above. ‘Is somebody there?’

‘Hello?’ He hadn’t been expecting to address the sky. The sun pierced Jamie’s eyes to such an extent he could not see a thing except blinding yellow light. The woman’s exact location remained a mystery. Unless she was an angel sent to fetch him and drag him off to heaven, which he sincerely doubted. They had had their chance and failed miserably and if he was bound for anywhere it was probably hell. ‘I can’t see you!’