The Cold Earl's Bride: A Historical Regency Romance Read online

  No ‘peacocky’ lord should, nor will, ever conquer her heart – for that already belongs to another man: To the brave, masked stranger who steps into the ring in the sinful and filthy drinking holes of Whitechapel. No one has ever seen his face.

  Since he became Felicity’s saviour late at night in the city’s dark depths, the young woman has lost her heart, and a marriage to Lord Layton is less likely than ever before.

  When a threat emerges from Felicity’s past, her mysterious hero is the only one she can turn to, and he becomes her closest ally…

  But how will Lady Felicity react when she finds out who is hiding behind the mask?…

  Dramatic – suspenseful – heart-warming. The new Regency Romance Novel by Audrey Ashwood will touch your heart and will carry you off into a story that you won’t be able to put down. It is set in a time when even a rogue can be a gentleman, always providing he encounters a lady who knows how to tame him.

  Reading Sample:

  “Hey, sweetie, would you like to earn yourself some pennies?”

  The shock rendered her speechless. It was not just the fact that he thought Felicity a prostitute (which was understandable given the circumstances – she was standing there alone waiting for a man), but also the unbelievably low sum of money he had offered her, which she found outrageous.

  “Sir, I am not what you think I am,” she said with a firm voice. “Please leave and find your… pleasures elsewhere.” It took everything in her to hold back the words she truly meant to say: “cheap, disgusting and despicable pleasures”. The man lifted his head, pushed his hat out of his face and looked at her with glaring eyes.

  Felicity felt an ice-cold shiver run down her back.

  “What makes a posh little dove like you hang around here at the whore’s church, if you are not up for a little bit of fun?” He came even closer to her. Felicity stepped backwards until her back was hard against the wooden door.

  “Be gone, Sir. If my betrothed catches you harassing me, nothing will save you from his rage.”

  He stopped in his tracks, threw his head back and laughed. Felicity stepped towards her left, but she had hesitated too much. The man grabbed her by her arm and pulled her against his round gullet. As if in a dream, she noticed that the few remaining buttons of his coat (which had definitely seen better days) were stretched across his fat stomach. His foul breath stank of ale and rotten teeth. Felicity turned her head away and pushed her hand against his chest, but he was much stronger than she was and most likely had anticipated her resistance. When his greasy lips hit her cheek, she could take it no longer and screamed.

  Many things then suddenly happened at the same time. Somebody ripped the repulsive reprobate away from her. The man’s protest was stuck in his throat as a mighty punch hit him right in the stomach. The noise that came from her saviour’s fist hitting the corpulent man, sounded dull, despite the excessive amount of fat it punched into. It was a painful hit, of full force, because her would-be-attacker leaned forward and held his belly whiningly.

  “Get lost,” a tall man told him with a growl, as he stood between Felicity and the man. However, this devil did not seem to want to give up his prize so easily. Even though he had not yet caught his breath, he tried to storm past Felicity’s saviour straight towards her.

  “Don’t you see that your attention is not welcome?” The next punch of a bare hand hit the man on his chin. He resembled a tree that was felled, but which refused to fall after the final blow of the axe – and yet could do nothing about it.

  Felicity’s shoulders fell forwards with sheer relief and her heart began to calm down a little, until she realised that she was now at the mercy of the second man. Then she saw his white collar shining brightly in the moonlight. She let out the breath she had held in. This man was a priest! Maybe he was even Pater O’Donnell. After all, he did have the same broad shoulders and also the confident stride of the pater, even though this man acted slightly more cautiously than her pater.

  On shaky legs, she took one step forward. She was still not able to recognise whether he really was Pater O’Donnell. Oh, how she wished he was! She would be able to talk to him and ask him for his help! Over and over again, the moon continued to disappear behind new sets of clouds, hiding the man’s face from her. But who else could it be, dressed in dark clothes like those of a priest, in the middle of the night in one of London’s most rundown quarters, if not Pater O’Donnell, searching for lost souls?

  “Is that you, Pater?” she picked up the courage to ask and left the safety of the church portal.

  She heard a laugh, which covered her entire body in goosebumps.

  “They call me ‘the priest’, but I am no saint,” the man said.

  He had first stopped in his tracks and now came directly towards her. The man in front of her had something of a predator about him, the way he turned his head in her direction, and how he then slowly, almost contentedly, walked in her direction. He was not that far away from her now.

  Where was Brigid? Felicity thought that she could see the woman in the distance, but then the stranger stepped into her view, and she had to give up her search for her companion. There was no chance for her to escape to her right… or to her left. When he stopped, he tilted his head to one side. Felicity saw that his face was completely covered by a black cloth, which only revealed his disturbingly flashy eyes and some of his unruly hair.

  “It… was… a mistake, please accept my apology,” Felicity stammered and immediately wished that she had not been so stupid as to leave the house with only one other female as her company. She remembered a phrase her father liked to recite often: To err is human. But those who do not learn from their mistakes are little more than an animal and not worthy of being called human.

  “Thank you for your help, Sir,” she muttered.

  “Here,” the man said and threw a shiny coin to her.

  Felicity was frozen in fear and unable to catch it (and did not want to take it anyway). She straightened her back and held her breath. This man thought just the same as the first and considered her a prostitute. Now he wanted to buy her services! Sheer terror gripped at her with its claws.

  “Don’t be scared, darling,” he said and bent down to pick up the coin, which he then pushed into her cleavage. If only she had kept her scarf! His fingers felt warm, and as they glided across the fabric of her dress, he hesitated for a short moment, touching the narrow lace trim. She was close enough to him to notice that his eyes first widened and then narrowed, as he scrutinised her.

  Straight away, he lowered his arm and took a step back.

  “Can I help you in any way, my Lady?” he then asked, and Felicity began to shake once again. The man had figured out her poor disguise by her clothing – as soon as he had touched the fine fabric of her dress.

  “No,” she burst out. “Just keep on walking.” When he did not make any attempt to obey her request, she repeated for a second time. “Please, Sir, you are embarrassing me.” And you will get me into trouble, she added silently, trying to decide, feverishly, on a way to convince the stranger to leave her alone.

  “As you wish,” he said curtly, but did not make the impression that he wanted to leave. Desperately, Felicity pushed past him, then stepped over the other man, who was still lying on the street unconscious.

  Right then, it did not make any sense to wait for the sender of the letter any longer. If he had seen her talking to the stranger, he had likely just walked away. Felicity heard the man calling something after her, which sounded like “Wait” but she ran as fast as she could towards the spot where she assumed Brigid was hiding. The sight of Brigid darting towards her, propping her in the next moment, was enough for Felicity to feel her knees buckle beneath her.

  “We’re leaving,” Brigid said resolutely. “You should go home to bed, my Lady. This whole trip was a grave mistake.”

  Felicity could only concur.

  “At least nothing bad happened,” Brigid added, and it seemed as if s
he wanted to pet Felicity’s hand in an attempt to comfort her. “Just think, my Lady, ‘the priest’ saved you!”

  “Do you know that man? Is he truly a Catholic clergyman?” Felicity put her feet onto the cold floor and quickly pushed them into the slippers that had been warmed for her.

  “Not personally,” Brigid replied. She constantly fell back into her old habit of speaking in incomplete sentences, regardless of how often Felicity tried to remind her that a full and grammatically correct sentence had to include a noun, a predicate and an object. This time, she let Brigid get away with it, because what she was saying was highly interesting indeed.

  “How do you know who he is?”

  “Everybody knows him, my Lady. But nobody knows who’s hiding behind the mask. Everyone just calls him ‘the priest’ because of his white collar.”

  “Why is he so famous, if everybody knows him?”

  Brigid handed her a wet cloth. “He’s the best boxer in all of London,” the maid replied. Whilst Felicity completed her toilet, she watched how Brigid’s eyes became dreamier and dreamier, the more she continued with her story.

  “It was about two years ago, when he first arrived on the scene. He challenged Jack the Hammer Thrower and knocked him out in the fourth round. The most fascinating thing about him is that nobody knows who he really is. Not even the landlord of the Black Heart knows, even though he always goes there for his fights. What he wins, he always gives away to the poor. Always, Miss. No exceptions.”

  Felicity struggled to digest all the different pieces of information. The names were circling around in her head: ‘Jack the hammer thrower’ – she did not want to know how the man had come to earn his nickname. The Black Heart was certainly a tavern. ‘The priest’ donated his money won in combat to the needy and he had not lost a single fight. No wonder that he had managed to knock her attacker unconscious with just two punches!

  “And then, zap, one year ago he disappeared. Even the newspapers wrote about it, my Lady. By the looks of it, he’s returned.”

  “Most likely he sat in prison for twelve months,” Felicity contemplated. Brigid pulled the camisole over her head and began to tie up Felicity’s corset in the back. “Not so tight,” Felicity complained. Brigid seemed a little gruff with her today, in the way she was pulling and tugging on the strings and laces. “I almost cannot breathe!”

  “He’s a gentleman,” Brigid assured her, and she sounded indignant. “If he was in prison, then that certainly would’ve been for some unjust reason.” Her words were accompanied by a rather energetic jolt on the corset strings.

  “How would you know that? You do not even know his real name!” Felicity pointed out, and inhaled as deeply as she could, so she would gain a little extra space after exhaling in the damned corset.

  “One can make out a true gentleman by the way he acts, not by his name. I’ve known men, who… but that was before...” Brigid said simply, and her words silenced Felicity.

  It was true, the man had helped her when she had been in desperate straits, but that did not make him a true gentleman in her book. No man of highbred blood would ever have dared to tuck a coin into a woman’s décolletage!

  …

  End of the Reading Sample.

  “No Lord Desired” on Amazon. Also available as audiobook.

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  Books in the Same Series

  The Evesham Daughters:

  The Cold Earl’s Bride

  No Lord Desired

  An Unkissed Lady (coming 2020)

  The Wharton Series:

  A Bride for the Viscount’s Cold Son

  The Duke of the Moors

  An Orphan for the Duke

  All Books by Audrey Ashwood can be read as standalones. The novels are available as paperback, large print editions, and audiobooks.

  Also by Audrey Ashwood

  A gentleman of noble descent.

  A young woman who has renounced all noblemen.

  A secret that may change everything.

  Lady Felicity has a frightening problem to solve. She is being blackmailed. She cannot confide in anyone else but him – a masked stranger known as ‘the priest, who is the fiercest fighter in London. Nobody has ever seen his face. When she asks for help, he decides to stand by her side and becomes her closest ally… But how will Lady Felicity react when she finds out who is hiding behind his black mask?

  No Lord Desired on Amazon. Excerpt on Audrey Ashwood’s website. Audio sample on Bookfunnel.

  A poor village orphan.

  An unexpected fortune.

  Can she overcome her humble beginnings to find true love?

  After the premature death of her mother, young Lavinia is left destitute, with no money and no family. Until she discovers a wealthy grandmother and a second chance. Before she can believe her new life is true, Lavinia has an arranged marriage to a handsome gentleman and a chance at love. The breathtakingly handsome son of the Viscount of Wharton has dazzling green eyes – but a conceit so profound that Lavinia isn’t sure if he could possibly be the romantic hero she has been dreaming of…

  A Bride for the Viscount’s Cold Son on Amazon. Excerpt on Audrey Ashwood’s website. Audio sample on Bookfunnel.

  A woman on the brink of ruin.

  A darkly handsome duke.

  Will his secret be her downfall?

  Miss Catherine Conolly is surprised by an invitation to visit the remote home of her estranged uncle, the Viscount of Wharton, set on the Yorkshire Moors. Traveling by moonlight, Catherine and her mother are attacked by a tall, masked highwayman and his band of thieves. With nothing to give, they arrive unharmed where they’re met by the Viscount’s assurance of revenge. Catherine is soon introduced to the dark Duke of Rotherham and feels hints of familiarity – his stature, the shine in his eyes, the roughness in his voice. Is it possible that he is her attacker? Trapped between her family’s pressure to marry him and the call of her heart, Catherine commits herself to sorting fanciful fiction from frightening fact.

  The Duke of the Moors on Amazon. Excerpt on Audrey Ashwood’s website. Audio sample on Bookfunnel.

  A broken duke.

  An unexpected arrival.

  Can her presence heal the man who swore never to love again?

  Seven years ago after his late-wife’s death, the Duke of Devonshire’s heart was shattered. That solitude ends suddenly with the arrival of a desperate letter from an old friend, containing his dying wish that the duke care for his daughter. The duke, unable to ignore his dying friend’s appeal, orders the house to be prepared for the child’s arrival. Only a few days later, Isabella arrives at the luxurious Hardwick Manor. She is a shock to the duke – in both age and appearance. He was expecting a child, and not a stunningly beautiful woman!

  An Orphan for the Duke on Amazon. Excerpt on Audrey Ashwood’s website. Audio sample on Bookfunnel.

  A disgraced young woman with nothing to lose.

  A handsome, newly appointed duke, bound by his honour.

  Her one opportunity to steal his heart.

  Beautiful Grace Curtis sets her sights on handsome George Blackmore, the newly appointed Duke of Cromford. However, fate seems intent on keeping them apart. When the duke’s younger brother develops an interest in Grace’s friend, Grace is determined to bring the pair together so that she might see the Duke again – and steal his heart…

  To Steal A Duke’s Heart on Amazon. Excerpt on Audrey Ashwood’s website. Audio sample on Bookfunnel.

  About the Author

  Audrey Ashwood

  Author of Sweet Historical Romance

  Audrey Ashwood hails from London, the city where she was born and raised. At a young age, she began diving into the world of literature, a world full of fairytales and Prince Charmings. Writing came later – no longer was she a spectator of fantasies; she was now a creator of them.
r />   In her books, the villains get their just desserts – her stories are known for happy and deserved endings. Love, of course, plays a major role, even if it’s not the initial star of the show. With each written word, Audrey hopes to remind people that love transcends oceans and generations.

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  Copyright 2020 © Audrey Ashwood

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  The characters, places, and events portrayed in this book are completely fictitious and are in no way meant to represent real people or places. Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.