One Night with a Regency Lord: Reprobate Lord, Runaway Lady / The Return of Lord Conistone
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One Night with a Regency Lord
Reprobate Lord, Runaway Lady
Isabelle Goddard
The Return of Lord Conistone
Lucy Ashford
Table of Contents
Reprobate Lord, Runaway Lady
About the Author
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
The Return of Lord Conistone
Praise
About the Author
AUTHOR NOTE
Prologue
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
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Epilogue
Isabelle Goddard
‘A maidservant who speaks French as well as having a French name! It becomes more and more intriguing.’ Gareth looked searchingly at Amelie.
‘I’d hardly say that I spoke French,’ she said, desperately seeking a way of moving the conversation onto less dangerous ground.
‘Still, it’s an unusual maid who knows any French. And you are an unusual maid, aren’t you? You’re proud and independent, you speak genteelly and hold yourself like a lady. If it weren’t for your clothes I would take you for a lady.’
ISABELLE GODDARD was born into an army family and spent her childhood moving around the UK and abroad. Unsurprisingly it gave her itchy feet, and in her twenties she escaped from an unloved secretarial career to work as cabin crew and see the world.
The arrival of marriage, children and cats meant a more settled life in the south of England, where she’s lived ever since. It also gave her the opportunity to go back to ‘school’ and eventually teach at university. Isabelle loves the nineteenth century and grew up reading Georgette Heyer, so when she plucked up the courage to begin writing herself the novels had to be Regency romances.
REPROBATE LORD, RUNAWAY LADY is Isabelle Goddard’s debut novel for Mills & Boon® Historical.
To the friends who listened.
London, 1817
‘Amelie, you will do this for me, for the family.’ It was a command rather than a question.
The young woman held her head high and blinked back the tears. Despite her resolution, there was a stricken look in the soft brown eyes.
‘Papa, I cannot. Ask anything else of me, but I cannot marry that man.’
Her father, pacing agitatedly back and forth across the worn library carpet, stopped suddenly opposite her and raked her with a piercing glare. ‘Sir Rufus Glyde is a respected nobleman, one who will give you an elegant home and a secure future. And one who will save this family from disaster.’
She looked past her father to the open window, but hardly saw the mass of roses filling the garden with a riot of colour in the late afternoon sun.
‘Surely, Papa,’ she pleaded, ‘the situation cannot be that desperate.’
Lord Silverdale was silent. His face, though still handsome, appeared haggard and drawn. He carefully brushed the snuff from a velvet sleeve and spoke quietly but insistently.
‘The family is virtually ruined. Over the past few months I have had to sell my entire stable of horses and rent out Nethercott Place to a wealthy cit. Generations of Silverdales dishonoured by the taint of city money! And now Robert’s addiction to gambling