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Untreed Reads - Joan Wolf

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103 pages

English

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Description

Young and lovely Tracy Bodmin was as spirited and independent as the America she came from-but love for her father made her yield to his heart's desire. Though William Bodmin had made his fortune in the New World, he dreamed of a title for his daughter in his native England-and his wealth won a marriage proposal to Tracy from the proud Duke of Hastings.Thus it was that Tracy voyaged full-sail into the world of the aristocracy as wife to one of its most splendid lords. Behind she left Adam Lancaster, the handsome, rugged New Englander who adored her. Ahead lay fear and danger in the arms of a powerful, magnetic man whose mode of life and love she did not know...

Sujets

Historical romance

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Publié par	Untreed Reads
Date de parution	09 février 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781949135886
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0215€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Table of Contents
Copyright
Also by Joan Wolf and Untreed Reads Publishing
WHAT WAS SHE DOING HERE?
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
About the Author
The American Duchess
By Joan Wolf
Copyright 2021 by Joan Wolf
Cover Copyright 2021 by Ginny Glass and Untreed Reads Publishing
Cover Design by Ginny Glass
The author is hereby established as the sole holder of the copyright. Either the publisher (Untreed Reads) or author may enforce copyrights to the fullest extent.
Previously published in 1982.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher or author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, dialogue and events in this book are wholly fictional, and any resemblance to companies and actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Also by Joan Wolf and Untreed Reads Publishing
A Difficult Truce
A Double Deception
A Fashionable Affair
A Kind of Honor
A London Season
Beloved Stranger
Born of the Sun
Change of Heart
Daughter of the Red Deer
Fool's Masquerade
Golden Girl
Highland Sunset
His Lordship's Mistress
Lord Richard's Daughter
Margarita and the Earl
Portrait of a Love
Someday Soon
Summer Storm
The American Earl
The Arrangement
The Counterfeit Marriage
The Deception
The Edge of Light
The English Bride
The Gamble
The Guardian
The Heiress
The Horsemasters
The Master of Grex
The Portrait
The Pretenders
The Rebel and the Rose
The Rebellious Ward
The Reindeer Hunters
The Reluctant Earl
The Road to Avalon
The Scottish Lord
Wild Irish Rose
www.untreedreads.com
WHAT WAS SHE DOING HERE?
What was Tracy doing in this huge mansion whose rooms she could not count and whose hallways were a bewildering maze?
What was she doing surrounded by servants who seemed determined not to let her lift a finger whether she wanted to or not?
What was she doing in the company of lords and ladies whose venomous gossip and razor-edged wit might well have been in a foreign tongue for all she could join in with them?
Above all, what was she doing as wife to the devilishly handsome and charming Duke who now waited for her in her bridal chamber?
Clearly, Adrian, the Duke of Hastings, had a great deal to teach Tracy about being a Duchess-and even more to learn if he didn’t want a new American Revolution on his hands….
Chapter 1
“I have a daughter.”
-Shakespeare
They went up the long staircase, wafted along by footmen, and at the top were met by a white-wigged major domo who took their names and announced in clear, measured tones, “The American Minister, Mr. Rush. Mr. Bodmin. Miss Bodmin.”
The elegant, haughty-looking woman who stood on the wide landing receiving her guests smiled fractionally, her shrewd eyes taking careful measure of the newcomers. Richard Rush she knew. She was Lady Bridgewater and her husband, the Earl of Bridgewater, was a member of Lord Liverpool’s government. This was a political reception she was hostessing and most of the diplomatic community had been invited.
The Bodmins were not from the diplomatic community. When Richard Rush had written to ask if he might bring them, he had given only a sketchy background of his visitors; but Lady Bridgewater had done some checking of her own. She looked now, appraisingly, at the tall, wide-shouldered man whom she had been told was the greatest individual shipowner in the United States and the wealthiest man in New England. William Bodmin looked to be in his middle fifties. He had thick gray hair and thick straight eyebrows, a strongly jutting nose and firm chin. His whole demeanor proclaimed the unmistakable authority of ability, experience and success. He smiled now at Lady Bridgewater. “It was very kind of you to allow us to come, my lady. I was anxious to show my daughter some London parties and Rush here said he would trespass upon your good nature and ask if he might bring us along.”
“I am very pleased to extend a welcome to such a distinguished visitor from overseas,” Lady Bridgewater answered temperately. “You must let me make you known to my husband.” Then, having passed the men along, she turned her attention to the girl.
Teresa Bodmin looked fearlessly back and waited for Lady Bridgewater to speak first. “Are you enjoying London, Miss Bodmin?” that lady asked after she had taken in every aspect of the girl’s appearance.
“I hardly know,” came the reply. “We’ve only been here a week, you see. I expect I shall like it once I get my bearings a bit.” Her voice was clear and cultured and assured. Lady Bridgewater nodded a little with satisfaction and expertly handed her along to the Earl.
William Bodmin was unabashedly pleased to be at Bridgewater House. He passed through the rooms, his daughter’s arm in his, and expanded visibly as his gaze took in the brilliant company-the men in immaculate evening dress, the women lovely and elegant in their dresses that left their shoulders bare.
“We don’t have anything like this back in Salem, do we, Tracy?” he asked his daughter.
“No, Papa,” she responded obediently.
“Not in Boston, either. Or New York. Or Washington. When it comes to real elegance, the English have it all over us.”
His daughter looked at him curiously but said nothing. A little later, when her father was talking to Lord Bridgewater, Richard Rush asked her, “Are you enjoying yourself, Miss Bodmin?”
She wrinkled her nose a little and looked at him with laughing eyes. “Would it be odiously ungrateful of me if I told you I wasn’t?”
“Why ungrateful?”
“Oh, after you went to all that trouble to get us invited.”
“It was no trouble.” He looked a little concerned. “Is there something I can do?”
“It isn’t you, Mr. Rush,” she said, briefly laying her hand on his sleeve. “It is just that we are strangers here, Papa and I. We look all right. We seem to blend in with everyone else, but we don’t, really.”
At that, Lady Bridgewater came up to them. “You must allow me to introduce you to a few people, Miss Bodmin,” she said with a smile that was less haughty than the one she had bestowed upon Tracy at the door.
“That would be very nice,” Tracy responded politely, if unenthusiastically, and allowed herself to be led away by the Countess. William Bodmin, rejoining Mr. Rush, watched them cross the room.
“I am very obliged to you, Rush, for bringing us tonight,” he said once again to his fellow countryman. “These are just the sort of people I want Tracy to get to know.”
“Lady Bridgewater is very aristocratic,” said Mr. Rush carefully. “I shouldn’t expect too much out of the acquaintance if I were you, Mr. Bodmin. Americans are acceptable for political receptions, but she is far too particular to invite us to one of her purely social affairs. One has to have a pedigree that goes back at least three hundred years to hope to achieve that honor.”
William Bodmin went on watching his daughter’s graceful progress with satisfaction. “Ten million dollars is an excellent pedigree,” he said serenely.
“Yes,” said Mr. Rush after a pause. “Yes, I guess it is.”
*
Mr. Bodmin’s sanguine expectations appeared to be borne out when, toward the end of the evening, Lady Bridgewater took the trouble of singling him out for a private conversation. “Your daughter is a charming girl, Mr. Bodmin,” she told him.
Tracy’s father smiled with honest pleasure. “She is the dearest thing in the world to me,” he said. “My fondest hope is to see her settled in the kind of setting I think she deserves.”
“Ah?” said Lady Bridgewater, raising a thin eyebrow. “Such a young lady deserves a beautiful setting indeed.”
“She will be able to afford one,” said Mr. Bodmin. “I will be blunt with you, Lady Bridgewater. I want to see my girl married. For what else have I toiled and struggled for all these years, but to see her settled? To see her well married? I want the best article on the market for my girl and I’ve come to England to get it. I know the best can’t be had for mere money, but I rather think money will do a great deal. Tracy will do the rest.”
Lady Bridgewater was looking at him thoughtfully. “You are blunt indeed, Mr. Bodmin.” She smiled and tapped him on the arm. “Bring Miss Bodmin to call on me tomorrow.”
William Bodmin smiled back. “You are very kind,” he said, and Lady Bridgewater nodded and moved on.
*
The Bodmins duly called at Bridgewater House the next day and the Countess subjected Tracy to a ruthless scrutiny which she did not make much effort to conceal. The result of the visit was an invitation by Lady Bridgewater to accompany her to a ball being given the following evening by the Countess of Kincaid.
The ball was what Lady Bridgewater called a sad crush. Present were about five hundred of the cream of London society. Lady Bridgewater graciously introduced Tracy to half a dozen young men and sat back to watch the results.
The results were interesting indeed. Word soon spread that the extremely pretty girl who had come in with Lady Bridgewater was an American. Further waves of information disclosed t