A Debonair Lord and a Dutiful Lady
Charles Bennington IV, Viscount Darden, only son of the Earl of Westmont, is the happy-go-lucky founder of the Young Bucks Club. His club's motto is shenanigans, mayhem, and tomfoolery, and that's exactly what he's been doing as his five sisters made their debuts in Town.
It has been very convenient to have all eyes turned to his sisters. Unfortunately, the last of them has wed, and now he finds those eyes turning in his direction.
He is no fool and knows his sisters have come up with plans and schemes to marry him off, but he doesn't know what they are. Since Miss Mayton is involved, he can assure himself that they are ghastly.
Feeling hunted from every side and suspecting everybody in London is in on the plot, Darden narrows his eyes at every lady he meets.
Lady Marianna Tisdale, eldest daughter of the Duke of Kembleton, has never held the usual views of a first London season. She has heard the ladies of her neighborhood wax on about the glories of the season-the balls, dinners, card parties, routs, musical evenings, the theater, and masques. She is intelligent enough to perceive that those things are just the veneer that pretties up the real reason for a season.
She has a job to do, she is to get herself married. As her father is determined she does not marry below her rank, her choice of gentlemen will be precisely two. The Marquess of Mayfield and the Marquess of Wellerston, both destined to become dukes in the fullness of time. The prospect is about as thrilling as deciding between marmalade or strawberry jam.
When Darden and Lady Marianna meet, sparks fly. Unfortunately, Darden is determined to stay a bachelor and Lady Marianna hopes to honor her father's wishes.
This would be the sort of thing that might be forthrightly straightened out to everybody's satisfaction. However, it has been a longstanding tradition of the Bennington family to take a thing needing straightening out and promptly tie it into Gordian knots.
And then, it seems a certain Miss Eloise Mayton has a long-time-coming Gordian knot of her own to straighten out.
A Very Fine Muddle
Romance Me, Viscount
Be Daring, Duke
Stand With Me, Earl
Sweep Me Up, Baron
Write for Me, Marquess
Convince Me, Viscount
Archer, Kate: - By the time I was eleven, my Irish Nana and I had formed a book club of sorts. On a timetable only known to herself, Nana would grab her blackthorn walking stick and steam down to the local Woolworth's. There, she would buy the latest Barbara Cartland romance, hurry home to read it accompanied by viciously strong wine, (Wild Irish Rose, if you're wondering) and then pass the book on to me. Though I was not particularly interested in real boys yet, I was very interested in the gentlemen in those stories-daring, bold, and often enraging and unaccountable. After my Barbara Cartland phase, I went on to Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen and so many other gifted authors blessed with the ability to bring the Georgian and Regency eras to life.I would like nothing more than to time travel back to the Regency (and time travel back to my twenties as long as we're going somewhere) to take my chances at a ball. Who would take the first? Who would escort me into supper? What sort of meaningful looks would be exchanged? I would hope, having made the trip, to encounter a gentleman who would give me a very hard time. He ought to be vexatious in the extreme, and worth every vexation, to make the journey worthwhile.I most likely won't be able to work out the time travel gambit, so I will content myself with writing stories of adventure and romance in my beloved time period. There are lives to be created, marvelous gowns to wear, jewels to don, instant attractions that inevitably come with a difficulty, and hearts to break before putting them back together again. In traditional Regency fashion, the action happens in a drawing room, rather than a bedroom.As I muse over what will happen next to my H and h, and wish I were there with them, I will occasionally remind myself that it's also nice to have a microwave, Netflix, cheese popcorn, and steaming hot showers.
