The Discerning Gentleman's Guide. Virginia Heath
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“Choosing a wife is not a task that should be undertaken lightly.”
Bennett Montague, sixteenth Duke of Aveley, is seeking the perfect bride. He’s narrowed his search to five worthy “Potentials”...until the arrival of his aunt’s companion unravels his carefully laid plans.
Having fought for everything she has, Amelia Mansfield is incensed by Bennett’s wife-selection methods. But as she’s forced to spend time in his company, she begins to see another side to Bennett—and that man is infinitely more tantalizing and enticing...
Amelia offered him a saucy shrug, alongside her smug smile, then buried her nose back into her own book unapologetically.
It gave Bennett the rare opportunity to study her properly. Or, more importantly, an opportunity to try to understand his own unexpected reaction to her. Arguably, this room was filled with the most desirable young ladies of the ton. His five remaining Potentials were too polite to risk reading while others were speaking. All of them were very pretty. Any one of them would make him a perfect wife. Why was it, then, that his thoughts as well as his gaze kept creeping back to Miss Mansfield?
It was plainly obvious that she had thoroughly enjoyed besting him. The other young ladies would be mortified to have intentionally caused him offence. Miss Mansfield revelled in it. Maybe that was why she fascinated him? She was so different from every other woman of his acquaintance, and she certainly did not behave like them. Despite the fact that she had been raised in Cheapside and worked for a living, she was heartily unimpressed by his title. Yet he wanted her to be impressed.
That was an interesting thought. He wanted to impress her. How very…unusual.
It’s funny how inspiration strikes…
The historian in me is always learning. I saw a documentary about the Peterloo Massacre, which prompted me to read up on the turbulent political situation during the Regency. At that time there was a genuine fear of revolution in England. The aristocracy were terrified that the masses would rise up against them, so parliament did everything in its power to suppress them. It was a time of public demonstrations, clandestine meetings and riots well before Peterloo.
Then, by chance, I came across a nineteenth-century book on etiquette, written by a vicar’s daughter. Not only was it an interesting window on a different side to that time period but, when read with modern eyes, some of the instructions within the book were hilarious. I decided it might be fun to write one of my own—which is exactly what I have done in this book.
My hero, Bennett Montague, sixteenth Duke of Aveley, has written a book entitled The Discerning Gentleman’s Guide to Selecting the Perfect Bride. Obviously what Bennett thinks his perfect bride might be like and what my heroine Amelia Mansfield is actually like are completely opposite ends of the spectrum. When you have a pompous duke, it stands to reason that the very last person he would ever consider marrying is an outspoken political radical—and yet it was tremendously entertaining to throw them together and see what happened…
The Discerning Gentleman’s Guide
Virginia Heath
When VIRGINIA HEATH was a little girl it took her ages to fall asleep, so she made up stories in her head to help pass the time while she was staring at the ceiling. As she got older the stories became more complicated—sometimes taking weeks to get to their happy ending. One day she decided to embrace her insomnia and start writing them down. Virginia lives in Essex with her wonderful husband and two teenagers. It still takes her for ever to fall asleep…
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The Discerning Gentleman’s Guide
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For Alex,
Who always tries to do the right thing for other people.
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