“Not until recently.” He shot a meaningful glance in the direction of the lady Flavion had abandoned so casually.
Flavion laughed heartily, oblivious to his slight. “Well, the joke’s on you! I have taken care of matters myself and married an heiress! Largest dowry of them all.” His cousin’s blue eyes twinkled as he toggled his eyebrows.
At this point, Stephen turned and made a slight bow to the lady who held herself back, arms crossed in front of her. “Felicitations, my lady. Won’t you introduce me to your wife then, Flavion?”
At his words, a hard glint appeared in the lady’s eyes, and she tittered into her hand. Her giggles caused the curls about her head to bounce somewhat comically.
Flavion ducked his face before grinning back up at Stephen. “Ah, well, about that… We’ll have to go back inside the ballroom to find her.” Tilting his head with a shrug, he added, “A man must do what a man must do.”
Stephen squeezed the bridge of his nose to ward off what he was sure would become a massive headache. Somehow, he’d known the matter of Flavion getting married would not be a simple one. “Exactly when did this wedding take place?” His imagination conjured up all sorts of women who would have happily purchased the title of countess… incomparables, widows, antidotes, conniving bitches. In almost all of the scenarios, Stephen knew there would be complications.
There were always complications when a woman was concerned.
Flavion furrowed his brow and appeared to be counting back mentally. “A few weeks now, what does it matter? My pockets are flush again!”
“Perhaps I ought to escort your, er… friend, back inside to her chaperone, and then you may introduce me to your fortuitous bride,” Stephen suggested, already fearful that Flavion had walked into a disaster of his own making.
“Not necessary. Is it, sweetums?” Flavion said, looking back at the lady he’d been thoroughly absorbed with only a few moments before.
Sending him a worshipful look, she shook her head and gazed back at him. Flavion placed a quick kiss on her lips before turning her, patting her bum, and shooing her away. She did just as he asked without any protest whatsoever.
Ah, nothing had changed.
After she’d disappeared, Flavion looked over at Stephen. “Er, yes, I suppose you ought to meet the old ball and chain.” Then he paused. “But Stephen?” He shuffled his feet, looking at the ground like an overgrown schoolboy who knew he’d misbehaved.
Stephen feared Flave’s next words. “Yes?”
“She’s rather out of sorts with me at the moment. A temporary matter, I am sure, but I am currently not one of her favorite people.”
“A lover’s quarrel?” Stephen asked already knowing it could not be that simple.
“Well, rather more than that, I’m afraid. You see, she didn’t take it very well when I told her that I married her for the money.”
“You did what?”
“Well, after I had, ah, finalized our contract, so to speak, I couldn’t really have her hanging off me and whatnot. You know, expecting me to carry on with all of the doting and fawning. Daphne wouldn’t like that at all.”
“I’m not following. Daphne, your wife, wouldn’t want you to remain a doting husband?” Stephen asked, confused.
“Oh, heavens, no. Daphne is not my wife.” Amusement took over his demeanor. “I’m in love with Daphne. My wife is Cecily.” And with a wink he added, “Daphne is that fine bit of muslin I had in my arms a moment ago.”
“And by ‘finalizing the contract’ you mean…?” Could Flavion truly be that stupid? Oh, hell, could he have been that insensitive? Of course, he could!
“Well, I couldn’t give her cause to seek an annulment. Her dowry will keep me in blunt for years to come! I couldn’t risk losing that, now could I?”
Feeling as though he had waded into quicksand, Stephen asked, “How much is this dowry?”
Jerking his chin up, Flavion responded, “Over one-hundred-thousand pounds!”
Stephen took a deep breath. “And who, might I ask, is her family?” Any lady with such a large dowry would be from a well-known and successful family.
“She’s middle class, I’m afraid, rather low birth, actually. Her father is a rags-to-riches sort of fellow. Mr. Thomas Findlay. Not even a gentleman, really, let alone nobility.”
At that particular name, Stephen flinched. Findlay Shipping and Manufacturing was one of his own company’s largest competitors. And Thomas Findlay was known to be ruthless. If Flave’s wife took her grievances to her father, Stephen wouldn’t put it past the industrial giant to put a violent end to his cousin’s life. Lucky for Flave, Stephen knew that Thomas Findlay had left for America on business a few weeks ago. He must have left right after the wedding.
“Have you already invested the dowry?” Stephen asked, his mind straightaway working a mile a minute.
“It’s sitting in the bank, Stephen. Well, most of it anyhow. I’ve been celebrating lately, as anyone would do! Not every day a man creates such a grand windfall for himself.”
Flavion’s words reverberated around Stephen’s head. Only a complete and utter idiot would allow that much money to languish in the bank, uninvested. Before he could complete that thought, Stephen wondered exactly how much of it Flavion had already frittered away. “We need to review your marriage contracts, Flave. Meanwhile, why don’t you introduce me to this new wife of yours?” Then, after further thought, he added, “Do make an attempt to be doting, Flavion. Your life may very well depend upon it.”
Flave glanced at him with a surprised look on his face.
Stephen merely grasped Flavion’s arm and said, “Lead the way, cuz.”
Get Hell Hath No Fury
Read More by Annabelle Anders
Devilish Debutantes Series
Hell Hath No Fury
Hell in a Hand Basket
Hell Hath Frozen Over (Novella)
Hell’s Belle
Hell of a Lady
Lord Love a Lady Series
Nobody’s Lady
A Lady’s Prerogative
Lady Saves the Duke
Not So Saintly Sisters Series
The Perfect Debutante
The Perfect Spinster (coming in 2019)
I love keeping in touch with readers and would be thrilled to hear from you! Join or follow me at any (or all!) of the social media links below!
Bookbub
Website
Goodreads
Facebook Author Page
Facebook Reader Group: A Regency House Party
Twitter
www.annabelleanders.com
Devilish Debutantes Series
Hell Hath No Fury
(Devilish Debutante’s, Book 1)
To keep the money, he has to keep her as well…
Cecily Nottingham has made a huge mistake.
The marriage bed was still warm when the earl she thought she loved crawled out of it and announced that he loved someone else.
Loves. Someone else.
All he saw in Cecily was her dowry.
But he’s in for the shock of his life, because in order to keep the money, he has to keep her.
With nothing to lose, Cecily sets out to seduce her husband’s cousin, Stephen Nottingham, in an attempt to goad the earl into divorcing her. Little does she realize that Stephen would turn out to be everything her husband was not: Honorable, loyal, trustworthy…Handsome as sin.
Stephen only returned to England for one reason. Save his cousin’s estate from financial ruin. Instead, he finds himself face to face with his cousins beautiful and scorned wife, he isn’t sure what to do first, strangle his cousin, or kiss his wife. His honor is about to be questioned, right along with his self-control.
Amid snakes, duels and a good catfight, Cecily realizes the game she’s playing has high stakes indeed. There are only a few ways for a marriage to end in Regency England and none of them come without a high price. Is she willing to pay it? Is Stephen? A ‘Happily Ever After�
�� hangs in the balance, because, yes, love can conquer all, but sometimes it needs a little bit of help.
Hell in a Hand Basket
(Devilish Debutante’s, Book 2)
Sophia Babineaux has landed a husband! And a good one at that!
Lord Harold, the second son of a duke, is kind, gentle, undemanding.
Perhaps a little too undemanding?
Because after one chance encounter with skilled rake, Captain Devlin Brooks, it is glaringly obvious that something is missing between Lord Harold and herself… pas-sion… sizzle… well… everything. And marriage is forever!
Will her parents allow her to reconsider? Absolutely not.
War hero, Devlin Brookes, is ready to marry and thinks Sophia Babineaux might be the one. One itsy bitsy problem: she’s engaged to his cousin, Harold.
But Devlin knows his cousin! and damned if Harold hasn’t been coerced into this betrothal by the Duke of Prescott, his father.
Prescott usually gets what he wants.
Devlin, Sophia and Harold conspire to thwart the duke’s wishes but fail to consider a few vital, unintended consequences.
Once set in motion, matters quickly spiral out of control!
Caught up in tragedy, regret, and deceit Sophia and Devlin’s love be-comes tainted. If they cannot cope with their choices they may never find their way back once embarking on their journey… To Hell in a Hand Basket…
Hell’s Belle
(Devilish Debutante’s, Book 3)
There comes a time in a lady’s life when she needs to take matters into her own hands…
A Scheming Minx
Emily Goodnight, a curiously smart bluestocking – who cannot see a thing without her blasted spectacles – is raising the art of meddling to new heights. Why leave her future in the hands of fate when she’s perfectly capable of managing it herself?
An Apathetic Rake
The Earl of Blakely, London’s most unattainable bachelor, finds Miss Goodnight’s schemes nearly as intriguing as the curves hidden beneath her frumpy gowns. Secure in his independence, he’s focussed on one thing only: evading this father’s manipulating ways. In doing so, ironically, he fails to evade the mischief of Emily’s managing ploys.
Hell’s Bell Indeed
What with all the cheating at parlor games, trysts in dark closets, and nighttime flights to Gretna Green, complications arise. Because fate has limits. And when it comes to love and the secrets of the past, there’s only so much twisting one English Miss can get away with…
Hell of a Lady
(Devilish Debutante’s, Book 4)
Regency Romance between an angelic vicar and a devilish debutante: A must read if you love sweet and sizzle with an abundance of heart.
The Last Devilish Debutante
Miss Rhododendron Mossant has given up on men, love, and worst of all, herself. Once a flirtatious beauty, the nightmares of her past have frozen her in fear. Ruined and ready to call it quits, all she can hope for is divine intervention.
The Angelic Vicar
Justin White, Vicar turned Earl, has the looks of an angel but the heart of a rake. He isn’t prepared to marry and yet honor won’t allow anything less. Which poses something of a problem… because, by God, when it comes to this vixen, a war is is waging between his body and his soul.
Scandal’s Sweet Sizzle
She’s hopeless and he’s hopelessly devoted. Together they must conquer the ton, her disgrace, and his empty pockets. With a little deviousness, and a miracle or two, is it possible this devilish match was really made in heaven?
Hell Hath Frozen Over
(Devilish Debutantes, Novella)
The Duchess of Prescott, now a widow, fears she’s experienced all life has to offer. Thomas Findlay, a wealthy industrialist, knows she has not. Can he convince her she has love and passion in her future? And if he does, cans she convince herself to embrace it?
Lord Love a Lady Series
Nobody’s Lady
(Lord Love a Lady Series, Book 1)
Dukes don’t need help, or do they?
Michael Redmond, the Duke of Cortland, needs to be in London—most expeditiously—but a band of highway robbers have thwarted his plans. Purse-pinched, coachless, and mired in mud, he stumbles on Lilly Beauchamp, the woman who betrayed him years ago.
Ladies can’t be heroes, or can they?
Michael was her first love, her first lover, but he abandoned her when she needed him most. She’d trusted him, and then he failed to meet with her father as promised. A widowed stepmother now, Lilly loves her country and will do her part for the Good of England—even if that means aiding this hobbled and pathetic duke.
They lost their chance at love, or did they?
A betrothal, a scandal, and a kidnapping stand between them now. Can honor emerge from the ashes of their love?
A Lady’s Prerogative
(Lord Love a Lady Series, Book 2)
It’s not fair.
Titled rakes can practically get away with murder, but one tiny little misstep and a debutante is sent away to the country. Which is where Lady Natalie Spencer is stuck after jilting her betrothed.
Frustrated with her banishment, she’s finished being a good girl and ready to be a little naughty. Luckily she has brothers, one of whom has brought home his delightfully gorgeous friend.
After recently inheriting an earldom, Garrett Castleton is determined to turn over a new leaf and shed the roguish lifestyle he adopted years ago. His friend’s sister, no matter how enticing, is out-of-bounds. He has a run-down estate to manage and tenants to save from destitution.
Can love find a compromise between the two, or will their stubbornness get them into even more trouble?
A betrothal, a scandal, and a kidnapping stand between them now. Can honor emerge from the ashes of their love?
Lady Saves the Duke
(Lord Love a Lady Series, Book 3)
He thinks he’s saving her, but will this Lady Save the Duke, instead?
Miss Abigail Wright, disillusioned spinster, hides her secret pain behind encouraging smiles and optimistic laughter. Self-pity, she believes, is for the truly wretched. So when her mother insists she attend a house party—uninvited—she determines to simply make the best of it…until an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction.
Alex Cross, the “Duke of Ice,” has more than earned the nickname given him by the ton. He’s given up on happiness but will not reject sensual pleasure. After all, a man has needs. The week ought to have been pleasantly uneventful for both of them, with nature walks, parlor games, and afternoon teas on the terrace…but for some inferior stitchery on poor Abigail’s bodice.
And now the duke is faced with a choice. Should he make this mouse a respectable offer and then abandon her to his country estate? She’s rather pathetic and harmless, really. Oughtn’t to upset his life whatsoever.
His heart, however, is another matter…
Lady at Last
(Lord Love a Lady Series, Book 4)
Penelope’s Story
Lady at last Page 27