The Ruined Lady

Book excerpt: Lady Felicity Merryweather knows her middling looks and fortune mean she is unlikely ever to marry. But before she settles into a life of dull spinsterhood, she wants one night of passion to remember – no strings attached, no questions asked and no regrets. Her only condition – that the man never asks her to marry him. Who better to help her than her old friend Quincey, the Earl of Edenburgh? He reluctantly agrees to the tryst, only to find he craves more and more of Felicity’s mix of fiery passion and shyness. Their single meeting turns into a passionate affair. When Quincey breaks his promise and proposes, Felicity is quick to refuse him. But her parents, learning she has refused to marry an Earl, contract a marriage for her with one of her father’s business associates. While she accepts the arrangement, she decides to show London her true colors before she disappears from society. Now, Felicity is the toast of town – vivacious, talkative and colourful, sought after by the best of hostesses and pursued by the most interesting of men. But when one of her spurned swains schemes to ruin her reputation, she can turn to only one man to help her – the one man she has been trying her hardest to avoid – the Earl of Edenburgh.