Home > Romance > Historical Romance > Stealing the Bride

Stealing the Bride

List Price: $5.99

Save 5.0%

You Pay: $5.69

Want this eBook?Our eBook Library Software is required to purchase and download eBooks. Download it here.

Tell a Friend

Overview

A Scandalous Elopement

The Marquis of Templeton has faced every sort of danger in his work for the King, but chasing after a wayward spinster who ' s had the effrontery to run off with the wrong man hardly seems worth his considerable talents. But when the heiress in question is none other than Lady Diana Fordham, Temple is about to meet his match. Tempestuous and passionate, headstrong and opinionated, the lady is everything a man should avoid '

A Dangerous Plan

Diana has no intention of making Temple ' s assignment easy. In fact she has every reason to turn his life upside down ' just as he did to hers when he broke her heart years ago. Now it ' s Diana ' s turn to give Temple a lesson in love, from a teasing glance to a scandalous embrace. However, as she leads him on a merry chase from London to Gretna Green, they soon realize that a kiss once given is hard to forget, and a rekindled passion is impossible to deny.

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews for this product are not available at this time.

Author Information

Bio of Elizabeth Boyle

Elizabeth has written stories since childhood--including tales about her imaginary friend, an oversize Holstein by the name of John Clapper--and from there graduated to notebooks full of the usual bad adolescent poetry full of angst and dreary tales of woe that only a teenager can conjure up. After college and a stint of traveling, Elizabeth returned to writing what she loved to read: romance novels. However, she hit a small bump in the road when she discovered that aspiring writers still have to pay their rent and buy groceries, so she worked as a paralegal, compiling case profiles on insurance fraud (arsons, faked burglaries, faked accidents) and police misconduct (assaults by officers, shooting inquests). Eventually she worked for a software company investigating piracy in North America. During her time "pirate hunting," she participated in civil and criminal seizures with the FBI, U.S. Customs, and the Canadian RCMP. After years of these modern-day adventures, it is no wonder that counterfeiting, forgery, and espionage find their way into her Regency-set romances, which she now writes full-time. Writing at night and on weekends, Elizabeth completed four manuscripts before Brazen Angel won the Dell Diamond Debut Award in 1996. The story of her first sale is considered romance legend, an event she says could not have happened without the love and determination of her husband. The entire story can be found here. Since then, she has written eleven more historical romances, as well as a novella, which have made eight appearances on the USA Today bestseller list, earned a spot on the New Times Extended list, received four RITA nominations (including This Rake of Mine and His Mistress by Morning) and one win, garnered countless Romantic Times nominations, and won the praise of fans worldwide, who call her fast-paced, adventurous romances "page turners" and "keepers." Her most recent book, Love Letters from a Duke, is the third novel in her Bachelor Chronicles series. Always one for an adventure herself, Elizabeth has driven a train through the Highlands of Scotland, hitchhiked in Ireland, and carries a Cook Island driver's license in her wallet. After her hometown of Seattle, Elizabeth's top three places to explore and people-watch in are London, New York, and Las Vegas--a trio of cities where, she says, story ideas can be found on just about every corner. Traveling aside, Elizabeth's favorite place is home, where she finds her foremost writing inspiration in her die-hard romantic and hero-handsome husband, Terry, whom she considers the best birthday present she's ever received. Elizabeth and Terry used to live in a quiet Seattle neighborhood, enjoying their own romantic view of Puget Sound, ferryboats, and the Olympic Mountains. That is, until they became parents--so, while they still enjoy their Northwest panorama, "quiet" has become a term they use only with the past tense.

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews available at this time. To add your review, Register or Sign In to your account using our free eBook Library Software.

Additional Info

Imprint

HarperCollins

Filesize

911.27 KB

Number of Pages

384

eBook ISBN

9780061128073

Excerpt from: Stealing the Bride by Elizabeth Boyle

London, 1809

It was, by all accounts, a rather typical night at White's. The men of London's social elite had gathered together for another evening of drinking and gambling and bragging to their hearts' content.

Who would have guessed that these rarefied members of the ton were about to witness the scandal of the Season

As usual, the most crowded spot in the great room was around the Marquis of Templeton, or as most people called him, Temple. Not exactly the proper address for a man who by chance, or rather by birth, was the Duke of Setchfield's heir, but Temple he was, and, many suspected, Temple he would always be.

Cut off by his imperious grandfather from any family funds because of his wastrel ways and because he wouldn't bend to the duke's constant demands, he made do as he could, by being the perfect houseguest, the best of company.

In short, he was invited everywhere.

There were advantages to having the marquis as a part of one's social event. He knew all the gossip. He could spot an ill-tied cravat across a shadowy room faster than a Bow Street runner could collar a pickpocket. With the aid of his trusty lorgnette, he could tell whether a man's coat had been stitched by Weston or by a country tradesman copying the master tailor's latest trends for half the price.

If you needed to know what color was best to wear to Lady Brickton's f ' te, which young miss had the plumpest dowry, or from whom to obtain the finest, fittest, and best polished Hessians, then Temple was your most capable confidant.

So it was that the marquis moved through the ton like a blithe and welcome breeze, invited everywhere -- for it would never do to snub a future duke -- and laughed at for the follies, foibles, and bill collectors following in his wake. He lived his life without an apparent care in the world, as long as one discounted his agonizing search for a tailor who would overlook his continual lack of funds.

In truth, he was a man to be envied.

In truth, he was a man living a singularly calculated lie.

So while he stood in White's, the living example of all that was wastrel and foolish about the ton, his mind was far away on more pressing matters. Problems so urgent that few would have thought they'd find anyplace to lodge amongst all the wool and lint that most believed made up the interior workings behind the marquis' engaging smile.