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How To Tame a Rake
by Maggi Andersen
Category: Romance/Historical Fiction
Description: It was plain to see from the moment Wilhelmina arrived at his country estate that the devastatingly handsome Blake, Viscount Dangerfield, disapproved of most everything about her. The codicil to his father's will came as an unpleasant shock to Blake, Viscount Dangerfield. He had no desire to tie himself down at all, let alone to Wilhelmina--a skinny urchin, barely out of the schoolroom, with mousy hair, no bosom, and a hoydenish disposition. Rating: Contains sexual situations and adult content
eBook Publisher: New Concepts Publishing, 2009
eBookwise Release Date: September 2009
 
46 Reader Ratings:
Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [150 KB]
Words: 32110
Reading time: 91-128 min.
Chapter One
England
Northumberland
Summer, 1850
Willy threw the ball back to the tow-haired boy. "I declare you have finally exhausted me, Andrew," she called. "I beg you allow me retire to rest. I am not as young as I once was, you know."
This remark drew a laugh and a shake of the head from the gardener pruning the shrubbery. Eight-year old Andrew caught the ball and ran back to the neighboring house through a well-worn hole in the hedge.
Willy walked across the lawns towards the two-storey farmhouse where late-blooming pink roses climbed a trellis on its creamy walls. She heard her father call her name and gathered up muslin skirts, running lightly over the ground, her bonnet bouncing on her shoulders by its green ribbon.
Jeremy Corbet, a tall, lean man with the greying, fair hair, stood in the doorway.
Willy put a hand to her chest and gasped. "What is it, Father?"
"Come into the library, Wilhelmina." He held a letter in his hand. "I have news for you."
"My, you look so grave. I hope no one has died?"
He stood aside for her to pass. "It's wonderful news, Willy."
Her serious grey eyes searched his. "Then why don't you look pleased?"
"Come, I wish to talk to you alone. When your inquisitive sisters get wind of it, I won't get a word in."
Willy raised her brows. When he offered no more information, she hurried into the library.
* * * *
London, Autumn
Blake, Viscount Dangerfield rolled over in bed. The movement of the sheet uncovered a breast and he bent to kiss it.
"You're not leaving?" a sleepy voice asked. The woman turned her head toward him. He thought her face pretty, if a bit too knowing. She always made him laugh, and laughter did not come easily to him these days. She tossed her red hair off her shoulders, displaying her best assets to his gaze.
"I have to go into the country and I'm late already." He ran his hands appreciatively across her soft belly.
"Not quite yet." She leaned over and touched him, smiling at his immediate response.
He threw off the sheet, his intention made clear in his expressive blue eyes, causing her to gasp with delight.
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