Elizabeth Beacon - The Marquis's Awakening

A gentleman for every season

At the mercy of a ghostly matchmaker, four gentlemen must perform a shocking task. But claiming their inheritance might just lead them to the women who will steal their hearts!

Don’t miss this wonderful new quartet by Mills & Boon ®Historical Romance author

Elizabeth Beacon

THE VISCOUNT’S FROZEN HEART

Already available

THE MARQUIS’S AWAKENING

December 2014

AUTHOR NOTE Author Note Title Page About the Author Contents 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 Extract Copyright

Welcome to THE MARQUIS’S AWAKENING—and thank you for coming with me on my journey through A Year of Scandal.

As the seasons move into spring Tom Banburgh, Marquis of Mantaigne, finds more than he bargained for when he claims his once magnificent birthright at long last—I wanted Tom to have springtime as his season to have his life transformed by the most unlikely lady he’s ever met.

I hope you enjoy the adventures Lady Virginia left her four heroes in her will. Next it’s summer and autumn—but this is Tom’s book, and I can imagine him reading it with a cynical grin on his face, telling me I got that bit wrong and should have made him less handsome and his lady even lovelier. But I would never have got this far if it had been left to him , so just for once I intend to ignore him…

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ELIZABETH BEACONlives in the beautiful English West Country, and is finally putting her insatiable curiosity about the past to good use. Over the years Elizabeth has worked in her family’s horticultural business, become a mature student, qualified as an English teacher, worked as a secretary and, briefly, tried to be a civil servant. She is now happily ensconced behind her computer, when not trying to exhaust her bouncy rescue dog with as many walks as the Inexhaustible Lurcher can finagle.

Elizabeth can’t bring herself to call researching the wonderfully diverse, scandalous Regency period and creating charismatic heroes and feisty heroines work , and she is waiting for someone to find out how much fun she is having and tell her to stop it.

Contents

Cover

Introduction A YEAR OF SCANDAL A gentleman for every season At the mercy of a ghostly matchmaker, four gentlemen must perform a shocking task. But claiming their inheritance might just lead them to the women who will steal their hearts! Don’t miss this wonderful new quartet by Mills & Boon ® Historical Romance author Elizabeth Beacon THE VISCOUNT’S FROZEN HEART Already available THE MARQUIS’S AWAKENING December 2014

Author Note AUTHOR NOTE Author Note Title Page About the Author Contents 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 Extract Copyright Welcome to THE MARQUIS’S AWAKENING—and thank you for coming with me on my journey through A Year of Scandal. As the seasons move into spring Tom Banburgh, Marquis of Mantaigne, finds more than he bargained for when he claims his once magnificent birthright at long last—I wanted Tom to have springtime as his season to have his life transformed by the most unlikely lady he’s ever met. I hope you enjoy the adventures Lady Virginia left her four heroes in her will. Next it’s summer and autumn—but this is Tom’s book, and I can imagine him reading it with a cynical grin on his face, telling me I got that bit wrong and should have made him less handsome and his lady even lovelier. But I would never have got this far if it had been left to him , so just for once I intend to ignore him…

Title Page The Marquis’s Awakening Elizabeth Beacon www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author ELIZABETH BEACON lives in the beautiful English West Country, and is finally putting her insatiable curiosity about the past to good use. Over the years Elizabeth has worked in her family’s horticultural business, become a mature student, qualified as an English teacher, worked as a secretary and, briefly, tried to be a civil servant. She is now happily ensconced behind her computer, when not trying to exhaust her bouncy rescue dog with as many walks as the Inexhaustible Lurcher can finagle. Elizabeth can’t bring herself to call researching the wonderfully diverse, scandalous Regency period and creating charismatic heroes and feisty heroines work , and she is waiting for someone to find out how much fun she is having and tell her to stop it.

Contents

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

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Tom Banburgh, Marquis of Mantaigne, thought the polite world was about to be bitterly disappointed. If the wolfish glint in Luke Winterley’s eye was anything to go by, he wouldn’t be letting the former Lady Chloe Thessaly out of his bed long enough for her to go to town for a very long time, so the ton wouldn’t be able to pass judgement on the new Viscountess Farenze until her new husband could spare her—some time in the next decade, if they were lucky.

‘Can’t this wait until after your wedding journey?’ he asked with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as Lady Chloe took a sealed missive from the neat reticule she was carrying. He should have been suspicious of that, since Luke was waiting to whisk her off on their bride trip and she hardly stood in need of whatever ladies carried in them when she had a husband all too eager to provide for her every need, and a few she probably didn’t even know she had right now.

Feeling a fool for not remembering his godmother’s infamous will, even on this joyous day Virginia had done so much to bring about, he realised he’d stepped into the book room with the happy couple as naively as a débutante at her first grown-up party. As if they would have anything else to say to him before they left for Devon on their honeymoon but here you are; you’re next .

‘Here you are; you’re next, I’m afraid, Tom,’ Chloe said with a rueful smile to admit he wouldn’t be pleased to take it and how could a few bits of expensive paper feel so heavy? ‘Luke says we won’t be back from Devon for weeks, and you must begin whatever you have to do for Lady Virginia before then if you’re to get it done in the allotted three months.’

‘Dash it all, though, it’s the beginning of the Season,’ Tom managed to utter after a heavy pause as he fought off a craven urge to throw the letter back at his best friend’s new wife and refuse. ‘Ah, well, suppose I might as well get it over with,’ he said as lightly as he could while turning the letter over again, as if he might conjure it into someone else’s hand if he put off reading it long enough.

‘Look what my quarter of a year brought me,’ Luke told him with a besotted smile Tom did his best to find nauseating.

‘And can you see me neatly paired off at the end of whatever wild goose chase Virginia insists I carry out for her?’ he demanded past a nasty little suspicion that was exactly what his wily godmother intended to happen, if Luke’s adventures were anything to go by.