Bronwyn Scott - Claiming His Defiant Miss

Seduced by her bodyguard!

Aristocrat’s daughter May Worth is beautiful, headstrong...and in trouble. There’s only one man who can protect her: Liam Casek, her brother’s best friend, a government agent and the man whose sinfully seductive touch she’s never forgotten.

Rakish Liam always knew May’s wild beauty would be the death of him, but if he’s to protect her with his life, he’s damned if he’ll deny their still-sizzling chemistry! May is everything Liam wants—if only he dares claim this defiant miss for his own.

Wallflowers to Wives

Out of the shadows, into the marriage bed!

In Regency England young women were defined by their prospects in the marriage market. But what of the girls who were presented to Society…and not snapped up?

Bronwyn Scott invites you to

The Left Behind Girls’ Club

Three years after their debut, and still without rings on their fingers, Claire Welton, Evie Milham, May Worth and Beatrice Penrose are ready to leave the shadows and step into the light. Now London will have to prepare itself… because these overlooked girls are about to take the ton by storm!

Read Claire’s story in

Unbuttoning the Innocent Miss

Read Evie’s story in

Awakening the Shy Miss

Read May’s story in

Claiming His Defiant Miss

Available now!

And watch for Bea’s story—

Marrying the Rebellious Miss—coming soon!

Author Note

May and Liam’s tale is a coming of age story at its core, which makes it a very relatable storyline. It explores the practicalities of what it takes for love to survive. Is physical passion enough? There’s young love thwarted by the ‘wisdom’ of older minds—May’s father—and by a healthy dose of caution on May’s part. There’s also the issue of surviving change. We are not who we were at seventeen—how does love survive when we change? These are the issues that May and Liam deal with as former sweethearts who are reunited under unexpected circumstances.

These were interesting aspects to explore—not only against a Regency backdrop, in which family and reputation are everything, but also as timeless issues to explore in today’s world, where we are beset with technologies that make reconnection more possible than ever. One marketing site points out that modern high school sweethearts who marry in their teens only have a fifty-four per cent chance of that marriage lasting ten years. Only two per cent of high schoolers who marry their sweetheart go on to get a college education. I think that’s what would have happened to May and Liam, Regency-style, if she had married him the first time he asked. May recognises that, while she loves him, there are things like family and her own sense of independence she has to sort out before she can be a successful partner. Only when May and Liam know themselves can they fully engage in the love they have for one another.

I hope you enjoy their journey. I invite you to come and post your thoughts about first love and your own love journeys at bronwynswriting.blogspot.com.

Claiming His Defiant Miss

Bronwyn Scott

www.millsandboon.co.uk

BRONWYN SCOTTis a communications instructor at Pierce College in the United States, and 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, bronwynnscott.com, or at her blog, bronwynswriting.blogspot.com. She loves to hear from readers.

Books by Bronwyn Scott

Mills & Boon Historical Romance

and Mills & Boon Historical Undone! eBooks

Wallflowers to Wives

Unbuttoning the Innocent Miss

Awakening the Shy Miss

Claiming His Defiant Miss

Rakes on Tour

Rake Most Likely to Rebel

Rake Most Likely to Thrill

Rake Most Likely to Seduce

Rake Most Likely to Sin

Rakes of the Caribbean

Playing the Rake’s Game

Breaking the Rake’s Rules

Craving the Rake’s Touch (Undone!)

Rakes Who Make Husbands Jealous

Secrets of a Gentleman Escort

London’s Most Wanted Rake

An Officer But No Gentleman (Undone!)

A Most Indecent Gentleman (Undone!)

Visit the Author Profile page

at millsandboon.co.ukfor more titles.

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For Catie, Tonia and my Brony, who came up with the name for this hero. Thanks for helping me create a memorable hero.

And to all the girls out there. If there’s one lesson I want you to have from this story, it’s that love will find you—sometimes you just have to wait.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Wallflowers to Wives

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

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Preston Worth might very well die this time. Liam Casek stripped off his shirt and tore away a wide strip with an efficiency born of too much experience—he’d patched up Preston more than once. But tonight might be the last time. He pressed the wad of cloth to the gash in Preston’s chest, alarmed by its location so near a lung and alarmed by the size of the crimson spread. It was too much for a mere strip of linen to staunch.

‘Case!’ Preston groaned with hoarse urgency, frantically grabbing at his arm to make him listen. ‘Leave me, they might be back.’ ‘They’ being the ambushers who’d come upon them on the road at dusk. There’d simply been too many to fight off, yet they had succeeded, at the price of Preston’s wound. It might have been Preston’s wound that saved them. The ambushers had retreated, perhaps convinced the natural course of events would finish off their prey.

‘Be still,’ Liam growled, all gruffness as he tied another strip around Preston’s chest to hold the bandage in place. ‘We have to get you stitched up.’ But the bleeding had to stop first. He racked his brain for a plan. The nearest town was two miles back. ‘Cover the bandage with your hand and press hard.’ Liam got his hands under Preston’s armpits. ‘We’re going to get you to the verge.’ He hated moving Preston, but the middle of the road was no place for a wounded man in the dark. It made an easy target for careless carriages and returning thugs.

Preston grunted against the pain as Liam hauled him to the side, no easy feat considering Preston was as tall as he was—a few inches over six foot, and nearly a dead weight—hopefully not about to become more dead. Liam propped his friend against a sturdy tree trunk and examined the bandage as best he could in the fading light. It would be entirely dark soon. Damn winter! There was never enough daylight and Liam desperately needed some now. He could feel rather than see the blood soaking the bandage.