ANNIE BURROWS - The Major Meets His Match

The major must wed

Wastrel, rebel, layabout...just a few of the names Lord Becconsall has hidden his quick intellect and sharp wit behind over the years. Recently titled, ex-military and required to wed, Jack views ton ladies with a cynical eye... Until he falls upon—quite literally—Lady Harriet Inskip.

After years of being overlooked, Harriet cannot believe that Lord Becconsall is the only person to truly see her. But between his taunts and her fiery disposition, it’s soon clear that the major has finally met his match!

Brides for Bachelors

Eligible rakes walk down the aisle!

A friendship formed at Eton leads three bachelors through the trials of war, mystery and love!

A major, a marquess and a captain reunite in London to celebrate Britain’s peace with France—only to find society life has many more exciting things in store for them! They are thrown into a mystery of jewellery theft and fraud, and they all find themselves unlikely suitors to some of the ton’s most captivating ladies!

Will these eligible bachelors finally meet their matches?

The Major Meets His Match

Available now

Look for the next two stories in the trilogy

Coming soon!

Author Note

Welcome to the first of my Brides for Bachelors trilogy!

I’m really excited about this trilogy as it’s the first time I’ve written a series of stories with connected heroes on purpose! I often get heroes or heroines from one story to walk across the pages of another—just for fun. And sometimes a secondary character has taken root in my imagination and grown until I’ve had to give him or her their own story. But when I pitched the outline for The Major Meets His Match , and described its opening scene, my lovely editor pointed out that the men involved all had stories of their own to tell, and asked why I hadn’t thought about writing a linked series from the outset. The minute she suggested that it was as if a light bulb had gone on in my head. I couldn’t wait to start writing!

I do hope you enjoy this first in the mini-series as much as I enjoyed writing it, and that you will want to find out what happens to Major Jack Hesketh’s friends next.

PS If you are already one of the group of readers who enjoy spotting heroes from my other stories wandering across the pages of books that aren’t theirs, then I hope you enjoy the cameo role I’ve given the hero of my very first publication for Mills & Boon…and have a little giggle at Aunt Susan’s predictions about the kind of bride he is likely to marry.

The Major Meets His Match

Annie Burrows

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ANNIE BURROWS has been writing Regency romances for Mills & Boon since 2007. Her books have charmed readers worldwide, having been translated into nineteen different languages, and some have gone on to win the coveted Reviewers’ Choice award from CataRomance . For more information, or to contact the author, please visit annie-burrows.co.uk, or you can find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/annieburrowsuk.

Books by Annie Burrows

Mills & Boon Historical Romance

Gift-Wrapped Governesses

Governess to Christmas Bride

Regency Bachelors

Lord Havelock’s List

The Debutante’s Daring Proposal

Brides of Waterloo

A Mistress for Major Bartlett

Brides for Bachelors

The Major Meets His Match

Stand-Alone Novels

Regency Candlelit Christmas

‘The Rake’s Secret Son’

Devilish Lord, Mysterious Miss

A Countess by Christmas

Captain Corcoran’s Hoyden Bride

An Escapade and an Engagement

Never Trust a Rake

Reforming the Viscount

Portrait of a Scandal

The Captain’s Christmas Bride

In Bed with the Duke

Once Upon a Regency Christmas

‘Cinderella’s Perfect Christmas’

Mills & Boon Historical Undone! eBooks

Notorious Lord, Compromised Miss

His Wicked Christmas Wager

Visit the Author Profile page

at millsandboon.co.ukfor more titles.

I am really grateful to Aidan for brainstorming with me when I got stuck with this one. And for reminding me what kind of heroine I first imagined in Lady Harriet.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Brides for Bachelors

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

Lady Harriet Inskip tilted back her head and breathed in deeply. She could still smell soot, but at least this early in the day it wasn’t completely blotting out the more wholesome odours of dew-damp grass and leather and horse. It didn’t matter that it was still barely light enough to see the trees and flowers, or the curve of the Serpentine. She hadn’t come here to admire the decorous landscape, after all.

She leaned forward and patted her horse’s neck.

‘Come on, Shadow, let’s have a good gallop, shall we? While there’s nobody to tell us we can’t.’

Shadow snorted and pawed at the gravel path to indicate she was just as eager for exercise as her mistress. And then, with just the slightest tap of Harriet’s heel against Shadow’s flank, they were off.

For a few glorious minutes they flew through the dappled dawn, both revelling in Shadow’s power and vitality. For those few minutes Harriet was free. Free as any wild creature that lived purely by instinct. Unhindered by the fetters with which society restricted the movements of young ladies.

But then her peaceful communion with nature was shattered by a sound that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and Shadow to falter mid-stride. It was the neigh of another horse. From beyond a stand of chestnut trees. A neigh so high pitched in outrage, it was almost a scream.

Harriet slowed Shadow to a canter. ‘Easy, girl,’ she murmured as her mount twitched her ears and rolled her eyes. But Shadow kept fidgeting nervously. And Harriet could hardly blame her when she reared up at the precise moment a black stallion burst from the cover of the trees as though it had been shot from a cannon.

At first she thought the black horse was a riderless runaway. But as it came closer, she could see a dark shape huddled on its back and a pair of legs flailing along its flanks.

‘What an idiot,’ she muttered to herself. For the man clinging to the stallion had not put a saddle on it. Perhaps there hadn’t been time. Perhaps he was attempting to steal the magnificent, and no doubt very expensive, animal. The horse certainly looked as if it wanted nothing more than to dislodge the impertinent human who’d had the temerity to ride him without following the proper conventions first. The stallion had just galloped through the trees as if it had been an attempt to scrape the interloper from his back, to judge from the way he began to buck and kick the moment he got out into the open.

‘The idiot,’ said Harriet again, this time a bit louder, as she saw that the runaway stallion was now heading straight for the Cumberland Gate. There wasn’t much traffic on the roads at this time of day, but if that horse, and the idiot on board, got out into the streets, who knew what damage they might inflict on innocent passers-by?