The Dangers of Deceiving a Viscount
Prologue
Bedfordshire, England
1822
William Darby, Viscount Summerfield, Baron Ivers, rode the last mile to Wentworth Hall full bore. The letter from his father's secretary was in his breast pocket, stained red by the sands of the Egyptian desert, smelling of salt from the passage across the Mediterranean, and tattered at the folds from Will's frequent reading of it.
The earl has suffered a terrible fit of apoplexy that has left him paralyzed. You are needed at home, sir.
In the six years since Will had left Wentworth Hall to take his grand tour of Europe -- a tour his father had urged a restless young man of two and twenty to take before duty and responsibility claimed him -- he'd received many letters from his father. In the first letters, the earl had exulted in the sights Will had seen and the adventures he'd experienced, as related weekly in a letter home. The tour was supposed to have lasted two years, but Will had gone on to India instead of coming home as expected, and his father's letters had changed in tone. While the earl still enjoyed the tales of Will's travels, he often reminded his son of his r ... read full excerpt from The Dangers of Deceiving a Viscount ebook
