How To Tame a Lady
March 1816
Lucas Paine, Marquess of Basingstoke, was classically handsome, with his thick dark blond hair, clear blue eyes and leanly muscled body. He dressed impeccably, had excellent manners, cherished his widowed mother and was good to his dogs.
He tipped his hat to all when out on the strut, and he belonged to the best clubs. An accomplished horseman and premier whip, he was also no stranger to the boxing saloons, where he excelled, although he would say that he was better with the rapier than his fists. He did not take snuff, affected no airs, graciously danced with all the wallflowers, flattered the dowagers and never gambled above his considerable means.
If there was even a breath of scandal still attached to the memory of the marquess's late sire, that scandal did not touch the son.
In fact, as his friend Fletcher Sutton, Viscount Yalding, pointed out that mid-March day as the pair sauntered along Bond Street, one eye on the low, threatening sky, if the marquess could only manage to control the weather, he would be elevated to the status of near-god.
Both Lucas and Fletcher knew the reason for this pervasive unpleasant weather, the near constan ... read full excerpt from: How to Tame a Lady ebook
