THE HEIRESS IN HIS BED
Chapter One
The engagement between Lady Viola Gambol and the
Marquis of Bamph was of long standing, having been
arranged by their respective parents when the lady was
cooing in her cradle and the gentleman was galloping to St
Ives on his rocking horse. By the time Viola could walk and
talk, the matter was so widely understood amongst her acquaintances
that no one thought it necessary to tell her. Consequently,
she learned of her good fortune no sooner than her
twenty-first birthday, when all the provisions of her father's
will came fully into effect.
Being of excessively gentle birth, she flew at once into a
towering rage. Her elder half brother, the Duke of Fanshawe,
remained at home to weather the storm, and was not, as
everyone expected, called away on urgent business. When
Viola entered the breakfast parlor the next morning, he was
seated at the table engulfing his steak and eggs as usual, a
motley assortment of dogs whining greedily at his feet.
The duke-known to his friends as Dickon-was short in
stature, but he wisely made up for it in bulk. Froglike, his bald
head sat squarely on ... read full excerpt from: The Heiress In His Bed ebook
