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MY LADY GLORIANA
Sylvia Halliday
Releasing Nov 24th, 2015
Diversion
In
this twist on the Pygmalion story, a duke makes a wager that he can bed the
uncouth Lady Gloriana. But the bet takes on a life of its own...
The year is 1725. Lady Gloriana
Baniard is a beautiful fish out of water. Brought up on the mean streets of
London, she is a brash, blunt, obscene force of nature. But thanks to a brief
marriage to a disgraced aristocrat, she is forced to live with his noble family
and endure the humiliating process of learning to be a lady. Rebelling, she
runs away to Yorkshire, where she intends to be a blacksmith, a skill at which
she excels. She knows she’ll need a manservant to front for her. When John
Thorne appears, she hires him, stirred as much by his irresistible attraction
as by his strength.
John Haviland, Duke of Thorneleigh,
is an arrogant, indolent gambler and womanizer. Having seen Gloriana just once,
he yearns to make her his own. When he learns she has run away from her family,
he makes a wild bet with his wastrel companions―he will find the lady and bed
her. Disguised as a humble servant, he becomes her assistant, learning the
blacksmith trade. The clash of wills between these two proud people creates
more sparks than a blacksmith’s anvil, as Gloriana learns to be a lady, Thorne
learns humility―and desire deepens to love.
(John Haviland, duke of Thorneleigh, has gone for
a midnight walk in the country.)
The night was more glorious than he
would have imagined. The sweet scents of new grass and spring flowers filled the
air with their delicate perfume, soothing his troubled soul. Impulsively, he
rolled up his sleeves, then laughed and pulled off his shirt completely. He
half-expected to hear the voice of his long-ago nursemaid, chiding him for
common behavior that didn't suit the heir to an ancient dukedom. Gentlemen didn't go around half-clothed.
“Rest in peace, Nurse,” he murmured,
recalling her with tenderness. He'd stripped naked many a time since those
days—and for far less innocent reasons. It was a mild night. Maybe he'd further
scandalize Nurse’s memory by going for a swim.
He felt young, adventurous, free—yet
strangely sad and melancholy. What had happened to the carefree lad he once had
been? What had turned him into this idle dissolute? Surely there was a moment
he had missed—a turning point that might have taken him in a different, more
satisfying direction.
No. Tonight, with the earth wrapped
in silvery moonlight, was for magic. He felt as though something extraordinary
was about to happen. Something that would change his life, lead him to a path
more splendid and glittering than the moon-dappled one he now followed.
He pulled off his shoes and stockings
and stripped off his breeches. The sensual night air caressed his nakedness
like a harlot’s hand; he felt a quivering and stirring in his groin. He
suddenly ached for a woman. But not a clumsy slattern, like the innkeeper’s
wife. Nor even a perfumed beauty who strolled St. James’s Park by day and slept
on satin sheets by night. He wanted a goddess, as magical and lovely as this
moon-kissed midnight.
He heard the soft whinny of a horse, the
gentle thud of hoofs upon packed earth. The sounds seemed to be coming from the
far end of the clearing. He shrank back against the tree trunk, concealing his
naked body, and waited. The woman galloped onto the sand, magnificent upon her
horse—a vision of perfection that took his breath away.
His longed-for goddess.
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Award-winning author Sylvia Halliday’s first historical novel,
written as Ena Halliday, was chosen by Pocket Books to launch their Tapestry
line. She subsequently wrote for Popular Library/Warner and Harlequin
Historicals under the pen name of Louisa Rawlings, the name of her maternal
great-grandmother. She has written for Kensington/Zebra under the pseudonym of
Sylvia Halliday. She has published 14 historical romances. Her FOREVER WILD
earned 5 stars from RT Book Reviews and Affaire de Coeur, and was a RITA
finalist for the Romance Writers of America. Her latest offerings, published by
Diversion Books, are MARIELLE (The French Maiden Series, #1), LYSETTE (The
French Maiden Series, #2), DELPHINE (The French Maiden Series, #3), DREAMS SO
FLEETING, GOLD AS THE MORNING SUN, THE RING, and SUMMER DARKNESS, WINTER LIGHT.
FOREVER WILD, STOLEN SPRING, and PROMISE OF SUMMER, written by her as Louisa
Rawlings, are available from Samhain Publishing.
