The Lord’s Secret (The Regency Renegades - Beauty and Titles) (A Regency Romance Story)
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The Lord’s Secret
The Regency Renegades
Jasmine Ashford
RUSHMORE HOUSE PUBLISHERS CO.
Contents
Copyright
A Personal Note From Jasmine Ashford
Dedication
About The Author
Join My VIP Readers’ Club List
THE LORD’S SECRET
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PROLOGUE
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CHAPTER ONE
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CHAPTER TWO
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CHAPTER THREE
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CHAPTER FOUR
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CHAPTER FIVE
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CHAPTER SIX
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CHAPTER SEVEN
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CHAPTER EIGHT
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CHAPTER NINE
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CHAPTER TEN
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CHAPTER ELEVEN
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CHAPTER TWELVE
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
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CHAPTER NINETEEN
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CHAPTER TWENTY
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
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EPILOGUE
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Preview of Saving The Lord’s Title
Also By Jasmine Ashford
Acknowledgement
If You Have Enjoyed This Book…
Join My VIP Readers’ Club List
Publisher’s Notes
Copyright © 2017 by JASMINE ASHFORD & RUSHMORE HOUSE PUBLISHERS CO.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real or dead people, places, or events are not intentional and are the result of coincidence. The characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author/publisher. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
A PERSONAL NOTE
FROM JASMINE ASHFORD
Dearest Avid Romance Readers,
The characters within my stories have a strong faith of love, they know what they want to pursue during this era. They are constantly looking that true love really exists amid adversaries. Because of these obstacles searching for love, motivates them to overcome challenges they may face while waiting for the person to appear.
Will these obstacles, crisis, insecurities and stigma encourage them in believing true love despite the differences and challenges in social standing that they will face during this Regency Era?
Read on to find out the answers!
Thank you very much for your strong support to my writing journey!
With Lots of Love,
Jasmine
DEDICATION
“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”
Jane Austen (1775 - 1817)
This Story Is Specially Dedicated To You, My Avid Romance Reader!
Thank you once again for getting this book and giving me an opportunity to share with you my creative side.
I am truly grateful for this gesture of yours.
I hope you will find my stories both entertaining and inspiring as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
With your utmost support, I will continue to write and entertain for many years to come with my great and interesting stories.
Have you checked out my other historical romance books series?
Click the link below to get started
*** AMAZON USA ***
Do you like what you have read?
I would want to hear from you!
Please do get in touch with me:
https://www.facebook.com/JasmineAshfordBooks/
jasmineashford777@gmail.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
“There is nothing so mortifying as to fall in love with someone who does not share one's sentiments.” - Georgette Heyer, Venetia
Whenever Jasmine is feeling down, she always finds solace with this quote. It was Ms. Georgette Heyer that inspires her to the world of the Regency and Victorian.
Jasmine took the pen and the rest is history for her.
In Jasmine’s stories, you will witness how characters that are so complex are actually simple beings waiting to be connected by the Cupid’s arrow. It is just one of the many ways that love will reveal itself?
Jasmine hopes that you will find love, solace, and peace in her stories. When she is not writing, she is enjoying her precious time with her family and her faithful Siberian Husky.
Jasmine
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THE LORD’S SECRET
THE REGENCY RENEGADES
By
JASMINE ASHFORD
and
Rushmore House Publishers Co.
PROLOGUE
Year: 1812
Near London, England...
Prince George has been ruling for his father the King for a year now. The country is at an uneasy peace. At sea, Navy numbers are at an all time low, and the solutions to help find new recruits have been creative at best. However, there are some who are not happy with the Prince's rule; some who have seen the French monarchy demolished and considered the same fate for England......
Dear Shauna,
It's almost noon, which means that I really should be in bed. The ship is so much noisier at noon than it is during my watch in the middle of the night. I requested the night watch because it's when I can get the most done. Not to mention the men on the night watch are often the ones who are inclined to bend the rules, tell some jokes, laugh the night away.
Last night's watch was a bit rough; I hadn't slept well and we made several adjustments to the sail. However, everything is calm now, as if a storm never threatened to happen.
How are you? How is teaching? Sometimes, just as I am going to bed, I think of you on dry land, rising to teach the school children. I am so glad that you found that job, for it offers you safety and security.
We are due to be docking soon, although I am not sure that you will be able to get away, since you are on a school teacher's schedule. I have invited a few men from the ship
to stay with me, so I shall have to be at home.
I hope I can see you,
Lt. Aaron Bamber
Lord of Bamber Manor
Dear Aaron,
I have not received any letters from you in awhile. I do hope you are well. I assume you've set sail again, for the last trip before the winter season. I will hold on to this letter, and send it to you when I know the ships have docked.
I am well. Teaching school is not the way to wealth, but it puts food on the table, and leads me to have a quiet life.
I can perhaps meet you in town, but I don't recommend you come here. Your face as a Lord will be recognized, and I don't want my quiet life...interrupted. For now, no one knows of my past, and I would rather keep it that way.
I will send this letter when I know you have docked, and perhaps we can make arrangements then. It was good to hear from you.
Shauna.
Shauna put down her quill, turning around.
Her accommodations were modest at best; a little shack that she could barely heat and put food on the table. However, she wasn't necessarily embarrassed about them; Aaron had seen worse. Besides, they saw each other so infrequently after their torrid love affair years ago that he likely would never see this one.
The one reason she didn't want him coming around, though, was sleeping peacefully on the bed. A little girl with blue eyes just like his and his sparkling smile. A child who could never know her father was a Lord who wouldn't or couldn't marry her mother. A child who could never know what she could have in life; least she walk around permanently disappointed
Shauna had loved Aaron so much; their eyes locking when they met on the street one day. She wasn't stupid though; she understood completely that a Lord could never marry a peasant, no matter how much they thought they loved each other. She had accepted that from the beginning, just as she accepted everything about him. His smile, his blue eyes, his laugh; his penchant to dream. She knew everything about him as he did her, and she loved him with all of her heart.
For a year, their affair was constant. Then his father died and he inherited, and everything changed, as she knew that it would. She was surprised that he hadn't married yet, but then, his hand was a great catch. Perhaps he was holding out for the best match; the highest title; the biggest dowry. None of those things were things she could provide him.
Shauna turned back to the letter, blowing the ink dry and then folding it. It wasn't like him to not be in contact at all, but sometimes mail from the ship was slow.
She got up, blowing out the candle. She wanted desperately to sleep, but Gwendolyn was an inquisitive girl. If she wrote to Aaron while she was awake, she would ask a hundred questions. Shauna always read the letters in secret, in dark corners and in the early dawn, when Gwendolyn's tiny chest still rose and fell with sleep. So far, Gwendolyn knew nothing of her Lord father.
A knock came at the door, startling her. Her heart leapt into her throat. Who would be knocking at this time of night?
Grabbing the fire poker just in case, Shauna pulled open the door.
To her surprise, she saw it was the superintendent of the school district. He visited occasionally, observing her teaching. Now, his face was dark.
“Sir?” Shauna said. He handed her a letter. “What is this? What's happened?”
“Madame,” he said. “I'm sorry to inform you at this late hour, but your services are no longer required.”
“What?” Shauna asked, shocked. “Why?”
“Because,” he replied. “You know the rules as well as I do. School teachers cannot be married.”
“But I'm not married!” she protested. Her heart thudded.
“Are you not?” he said. “Then the presence of the child makes it worse.”
Shauna went pale. She had tried to keep Gwendolyn hidden as well as she could. Gwendolyn attended her school, and they didn't speak to each other as mother and daughter during the day. It was a game they played, characters, and she thought they were doing quite well.
“Please, sir,” she pleaded. “How will I feed her?”
“I'm sorry,” he said, and walked away. Shauna fought back tears, glaring after him.
This was not the first time it had happened, and it was probably not the last. They were going to have to find another way to survive; as they always did.
CHAPTER ONE
THE ATTACK
THE ATTACK
“LAND, HO!”
Wesley jumped at the call, because he hadn't expected to hear it so soon, nor so loudly. He turned to the man beside him, raising an eyebrow.
“Thank you, I can still hear a little bit out of this ear, so perhaps you could do it again?”
“With all due respect, sir,” the young sailor said, squinting forward. “I didn't expect it so soon.”
“Neither did I,” Wesley admitted. “But it's there right in front of you, man, so no sense denying the truth.”
Wesley was the lead Midshipman aboard the HMS Stallion. If the promotions went by intelligence alone, he would be an admiral by now. He was considered one of the smartest officers in the Navy, and climbing fast. His life in the Navy had saved his life, so he was fully dedicated to his job. It wasn't so long ago that Wesley was a shy and quiet midshipman; holding in what he felt what was the greatest secret in the world. He had run from Ireland, abandoning his title as Earl of Rippon after his father beat his mother, and after pirates destroyed his home. It was the Navy that had given him a new place in the world, the Navy who had given him his best friends, and introduced him to his fiancée, Lola. Lola was one of the most famous actresses in Britain, and he couldn't wait to dock for the winter and see her again.
“Wesley,” Harold Harper, the 1st lieutenant aboard the HMS Stallion, came to stand by his colleague’s side, also squinting at the land. “It's surprising we would be seeing the horizon this early. I thought that it would be at least another half hour. Your calculations are never off.”
“First time for anything.” Normally, it would have bothered Wesley that he had been wrong. He was almost never incorrect. Nevertheless, everyone was in a good mood. They were docking for the winter, months on half pay, but also with almost no work. For those who had a place to stay in the outskirts of London, where they were docking, it was as vacation. For Harold, Wesley and a few of their friends, they were staying at Bamber Manor, with Aaron Bamber, who was their closest friend. Aaron had been on medical leave for the past few months, seizures nearly claiming his life. His sister was engaged to Harold, and Lola was Aaron's long time friend, so he was an important part of all their lives. “Wait a minute...” He leaned forward as they got closer. The horizon had looked odd for a moment, but as they sailed closer, he realized why. “That's not land.”
“Sir?” Harold pulled out his spyglass, looking upon the horizon. He put down his glass right away. “By God---”
“How many, sir?” Wesley asked, tensing. He knew what Harold saw on the horizon, and it filled his soul with dread. They were supposed to be sailing into an empty port. In the winter, it was very rare that you saw another ship coming into port. They came in, and then were taken to dry dock rather quickly. The fact that he could see many sails on the horizon, especially some of them so far out from the dock, terrified him.
“5? 6?” Harold replied.
“Can you see their flags?” Wesley always liked to know what the enemy was.
“Some of them are cleared for action,” Harold answered, and Wesley was already moving. He didn't need to know who they were. An English ship would never take down their flag, and they certainly wouldn't be cleared for action in a port.
“Clear for action,” he cried and bolted down the stairs. This was not the homecoming that he’d imagined. “CLEAR for action!”
“Sir?” Matheson, the bosun of the ship, and one of the oldest sailors, cocked his head in confusion. “Aren't we docking?”
It only took one look from Wesley for Matheson to turn around and yell at the rest of the crew, who had
been relaxing.
“BATTLE STATIONS!” he hollered, and the men began to thump down the stairs.
They had been at war forever, it seemed. Wesley had been born at the end of the 18th century and he couldn't remember a time when the Navy wasn't sailing toward some war. Every man was used to shooting, to firing, to being a soldier. However, they normally weren't used to it when they were at port.
“Matheson, why are we---” Corrigan, Matthew's best friend, and the most burly, simple, yet kindest sailor, questioned him.
“Don't ask questions, you sod,” Matheson cried, wanting to throw something at him. Despite the fact that Corrigan was asking questions, he was still loading the cannons, which was helpful, at least. Wesley was in charge of strategy and tactics, and at the moment, he was trying to figure out how he could take down 6 ships when he was just one ship, and how to do it without damaging the port or the civilians that worked there.
His previous brilliant strategy of firing the cannons without any shot in them, to scare the enemy, probably wouldn't work here. He had received awards for that, but they hadn't been cleared for action. They were outgunned and out manned. If he fired a shot and missed, he could be responsible for hundreds of innocent deaths.
“Matheson, my compliments to Mr. Harper, find out where we stand.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Matheson went flying up the stairs.