by Wolf, Bree
How to Turn a Frog into a Prince
(#5 Happy Ever Regency Series)
by
Bree Wolf
© Copyright 2020 by Bree Wolf
Text by Bree Wolf
Cover by Wicked Smart Designs
Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. is an imprint of Kathryn Le Veque Novels, Inc.
P.O. Box 7968
La Verne CA 91750
[email protected]
Produced in the United States of America
First Edition October 2020
Kindle Edition
Reproduction of any kind except where it pertains to short quotes in relation to advertising or promotion is strictly prohibited.
All Rights Reserved.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
License Notes:
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook, once purchased, may not be re-sold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it or borrow it, or it was not purchased for you and given as a gift for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. If this book was purchased on an unauthorized platform, then it is a pirated and/or unauthorized copy and violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Do not purchase or accept pirated copies. Thank you for respecting the author’s hard work. For subsidiary rights, contact Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
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Dearest Reader;
Thank you for your support of a small press. At Dragonblade Publishing, we strive to bring you the highest quality Historical Romance from the some of the best authors in the business. Without your support, there is no ‘us’, so we sincerely hope you adore these stories and find some new favorite authors along the way.
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Additional Dragonblade books by Author Bree Wolf
Happy Every Regency Series
How to Wake a Sleeping Lady
How to Tame a Beastly Lord
How To Climb A Lady’s Tower
How to Steal a Thief’s Heart
How to Turn a Frog into a Prince
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Publisher’s Note
Additional Dragonblade books by Author Bree Wolf
About the Book
Prologue
Chapter One – From Boston to England
Chapter Two – From Jamaica to England
Chapter Three – A Life Turned Upside down
Chapter Four – A New Family in the Making
Chapter Five – Alone Among Many
Chapter Six – A Sunny Day
Chapter Seven – A Fork in the Road
Chapter Eight – As Fate Would Have It…
Chapter Nine – A Night of Freedom
Chapter Ten – Two Women
Chapter Eleven – Dancing Under the Stars
Chapter Twelve – Between Strangers
Chapter Thirteen – An Adorable Man
Chapter Fourteen – A Precious Moment
Chapter Fifteen – A Promise Given
Chapter Sixteen – In Need of a Friend
Chapter Seventeen – A Walk in the Park
Chapter Eighteen – An Engagement Celebration
Chapter Nineteen – A Cake Conspiracy
Chapter Twenty – White Lies
Chapter Twenty-One – a Wedding At Long Last
Chapter Twenty-Two – A Lady Without Shoes
Chapter Twenty-Three – A Lady’s Letter
Chapter Twenty-Four – Of Frogs & Princes
Chapter Twenty-Five – On the Hunt
Chapter Twenty-Six – A Gentleman Without Shoes
Chapter Twenty-Seven – The Nature of Men
Chapter Twenty-Eight – A Dance in the Meadow
Chapter Twenty-Nine – Those We Loved
Chapter Thirty – A Father’s Legacy
Chapter Thirty-One – a Storm Approaches
Chapter Thirty-Two – How to Kiss
Chapter Thirty-Three – Friends and Only Friends
Chapter Thirty-Four – Inspiration Strikes
Chapter Thirty-Five – By the Lake
Chapter Thirty-Six – If Only…
Chapter Thirty-Seven – Disappointed Hopes
Chapter Thirty-Eight – A Woman Named Abigail
Chapter Thirty-Nine – We are Who We Are…or Aren’t We?
Chapter Forty – Letters
Chapter Forty-One – In a Fairy Tale
Chapter Forty-Two – Return to Markham Hall
Chapter Forty-Three – A Most Inconvenient Guest
Chapter Forty-Four – A Most Telling Kiss
Chapter Forty-Five – In the Library
Chapter Forty-Six – Lord Ashhaven Interferes
Chapter Forty-Seven – Brutal Honesty
Chapter Forty-Eight – A New Beginning
Chapter Forty-Nine – Flower Girls
Epilogue
About Bree
About the Book
A barefoot maiden.
A painfully proper gentleman.
And a friendship most unexpected.
After losing her entire family to a horrible sickness, Miss Charlaine Palmer leaves Jamaica and crosses an ocean, hoping for a new beginning in England. Unfortunately, her appearance immediately marks her as an outsider, eyed suspiciously by the English ton.
Her old friend, Lord Markham, as well as his family, however, welcome her with open arms and soon make Charlaine feel at home in a country where she simply cannot fit in. But Charlaine is a woman who never loses faith, her focus always on life’s silver lining, certain that happiness will find her…even if it takes a bit of patience.
And thus, when she spots a most bitter and pained-looking gentleman, her heart reaches out to him. Without a second thought, she approaches him, offering her friendship, hoping that he, too, will come to see that life is beautiful.
Nathanial Caswell is a broken man.
After his fiancée called off their engagement, he fell into a black abyss, the life he had hoped for forever out of his reach. His thoughts turn dark, and he no longer finds joy in his days, only doing what is his duty, what is expected of him.
Until his brother is married and calls him to England to join in his happiness. There, Nathanial meets a most unusual woman. A woman who steps up to him without thought for proper introductions and declares herself his friend. Annoyed, Nathanial shrugs her off, certain he shall never see her again.
He could not have been more wrong. For Charlaine is a woman not easily deterred, and before Nathanial knows what is happening, he finds his new friend is all he can think about.
Prologue
Boston, Spring 1812 (or a variation thereof)
Nathanial Caswell, younger brother to the Earl of Pembroke by no more than a few minutes, stood in his study, hands linked behind his back and his eyes directed out the window. His gaze moved over the busy street running by the proud townhouse he’d always called home, touching upon familiar sights.
People moved up and down the street, heading to their places of work or to the market.
Women walked in small groups, chatting happily as men drew their hats, offering a bow, a smile on their lips. Children raced down the sidewalk, their faces aglow.
Everything looked as it always had.
In truth, nothing had changed, and yet, the world was no longer the same.
Not to Nathanial.
With a deep sigh, Nathanial turned from the window and sat down at his father’s old desk. A part of him wished that his parents were still here as he still longed for their comfort, their advice. Always had he turned to them whenever the world had made him stumble…
…and always had they caught him.
Each and every time.
As parents were wont to do.
Another part of Nathanial, however, felt great shame at the thought of his parents seeing him in such a desolate state, knowing what he had done, what he had not seen coming, what he had been unable to prevent.
In his mind’s eye, Nathanial could still see his father’s ring. It had been a thin gold band with a sparkling emerald in its center, flanked by two smaller diamonds. All his life, Nathanial had seen it upon his mother’s finger, a symbol of their love. Upon her passing, their father had given it to his twin sons for safekeeping to be passed on to the next generation.
Nathanial sighed. If only he hadn’t.
Many years ago, on the day their father had left England behind and traveled to America, his own mother, Nathanial’s and Zachary’s grandmother, had given the ring to him as a farewell gift. Often had their father spoken of his mother, tears in her eyes as she had embraced him for the last time. Often had Nathanial wondered about the grandmother he had never met and now never would. Often had he pictured his father’s aristocratic family an ocean away.
A family who had told him he would fail and come crawling back within the year.
As the second son, Nathanial’s father had broken with tradition and sought to make his own way in the world. He had always been fascinated by machines and new inventions, intrigued by how they could serve to facilitate people’s lives. He’d come to Boston and worked hard to build something for himself.
And he had.
Today, Caswell Iron Furnace was a flourishing company with connections up and down the entire east coast. It was his father’s legacy, and Nathanial had always worked hard to make him proud.
If only I hadn’t been such a fool.
Hanging his head, Nathanial let his gaze sweep over the empty parchment in front of him. The thought of sharing his greatest shame with his brother, the new Earl of Pembroke after their uncle had died without an heir, broke his heart and brought with it a sense of deepest mortification. He had failed them.
He had failed them all.
Inhaling a deep breath, Nathanial reached for the quill, gently setting the tip to the soft parchment. His thoughts ran rampant, but he knew he needed to focus. His brother deserved to know. He was the only one who might be able to retrieve their father’s ring.
Dearest Zachary,
In all likelihood, you opened this letter, expecting to read details with regard to my upcoming nuptials. Unfortunately, quite the opposite is the case, and I apologize for placing this burden upon your shoulders. I wish I could share with you good news, but life will not have it so.
Nathanial’s hand tensed on the delicate quill as his thoughts strayed to his former fiancée, and a muscle in his jaw twitched. They had known each other for many years as her father owned another equally successful iron furnace company down the coast. Always had the two families been close, no sense of competition between them, but rather the idea of one day uniting the two companies.
It had seemed like Fate herself had spoken when Nathanial and Abigail had lost their hearts to one another, the future shining more brightly than they had ever thought possible.
Perhaps too brightly.
Gritting his teeth, Nathanial turned his attention back to the words on the page, determined to finish this painful letter today and not prolong the misery it brought him to another.
Words cannot express the sorrow and shame that now live in my chest. I’d thought Abigail a different woman, indeed. I’d thought her heart mine, mine alone. Unfortunately, it seems I was thoroughly mistaken.
As I would make a request of you, dear brother, you deserve to know the fullness of this devastating affair.
A few weeks past, an English lord came to Boston and was paraded around society with the utmost delight. He possessed a charming smile as well as pleasing manners, but as has become clear now also a black soul.
As far as I was able to deduce, he flattered Abigail, complimented her and whispered to her of marriage and taking her back to England to be his lady. I know now that Abigail was not the only woman he said these words to; neither was she the only one who believed them.
This man, who goes by the name of Lord Mortimer, asked for a token of her affection and, to my great shame and utter sadness, Abigail offered him the ring I’d given her.
Father’s ring.
Then she severed all ties with me, certain to be an English lady before the year was out. However, as far as I was able to ascertain, Lord Mortimer left Boston not three months past—without Abigail or any of the other young women he had courted.
Shame is now my constant companion, for the thought of Father’s ring in that man’s possession turns my stomach and chills my blood. Please, Brother, if possible, do what you can to retrieve it. Not for me, for I do not believe I shall attempt to open my heart to another ever again. Nor do I believe I deserve to have Father’s ring returned to me.
But you do.
Retrieve it and offer it to the woman of your choice. I pray it will be a wiser one than my own.
Your brother,
Nathanial
Leaning back in his father’s old chair, Nathanial felt fatigued. His heart was hammering as though he’d spent his day working in the iron furnace, familiarizing himself with each step of the production process as his father had taught him. Still, there was no sense of pride mingling with the physical exhaustion he knew well.
Instead, the by now familiar bitterness lingered upon every thought, especially those that could not help but turn to the woman who’d broken his heart in the worst possible way.
How had this happened?
Always had Abigail seemed like the sun to him, her golden tresses aglow with light and brilliance. Her radiant smile had often threatened to bring him to his knees, and he remembered well the way her eyes had misted when he’d presented her with his father’s ring and asked for her hand. A deep smile had come to her lovely face, and she’d thrown herself into his arms with a joyful sob escaping her lips.
They’d been happy, had they not?
How could he have been so mistaken? How could he have not seen that her heart had not belonged to him? Not truly, at least. Had he merely been a consolation prize? Had her father pressured her into accepting his hand?
After Lord Mortimer had returned to England without making good on any of his promises, Mr. Spencer, Abigail’s father, had paid Nathanial a visit. He’d apologized on his daughter’s behalf and assured him that all had merely been a mistake. He had wanted for their nuptials to go ahead as planned.
Nathanial had refused.
Although his heart still longed for Abigail, he clung almost stubbornly to that small sliver of pride he had left. He had demanded the return of his father’s ring, only to learn how deeply Abigail had betrayed him.
Shocked beyond anything he had ever thought possible, Nathanial had hardened his heart against her, now forced to face the humiliation of admitting his error in judgment to his brother. What would Zach think of him? No doubt, he’d be disappointed, and he had every right to be. Would he ever forgive him?
Nathanial could only hope that Zach would somehow manage to retrieve their father’s ring. If not, Nathanial knew he would never forgive himself. Not that he deserved forgiveness for his failure. But at least he’d learned his lesson.
Never would he dare trust
a woman again.
Never.
Little did he know that near Kingston, Jamaica, his future wife was at this very moment on the brink of losing the only family she had left and would soon find her way to London, England…
…and to him.
Chapter One
From Boston to England
England, Summer 1813 (or a variation thereof)
More than a year later
England was a different place, but perhaps that was good.
The past year in Boston had been nothing but sheer torture for Nathanial. Everywhere he went he found himself reminded of a life shared with Abigail. Countless places whispered of her presence, and he could hardly turn a corner without seeing her face.
Mostly before his inner eye.
But every once in a while, their paths would cross for real. He would walk into a ballroom and find her blue eyes turning to meet his. He would see her smile at him from across the room, the look in her eyes whispering of the shame she, too, felt. How could she not?
Her life, too, had been turned upside down.
At first, the scandal surrounding her broken engagement had sent Abigail fleeing from Boston in the dead of night. She had retreated to the country, no doubt nursing her wounded pride, waiting for the gossip to subside. Nevertheless, when she had returned months later, hushed whispers and ill-concealed stares still continued to follow her wherever she went.
More than once, it had seemed that she wished to speak to him. But Nathanial had always evaded her, unable to look into those familiar blue eyes and remain steadfast in his resolve. He knew he was still weak as his heart went out to her whenever her face fell at overhearing the snide comments whispered too loudly for her to ignore. He wanted to comfort her, heal her wounds and assure her that all would be well again.
But it would be a lie.
Nothing would ever be the same again.
Her foolish decision had made certain of that.
It had doomed them both.
