by Regan Walker
“As am I.” His wife smiled at him, and Christopher thought the world stopped with the blue of her eyes and her golden hair shining in the candlelight.
Grace. His wife. His love. He would forever be grateful for the Twelfth Night wager he’d lost yet won.
About the Author
Regan Walker is the author of the Agents of the Crown trilogy of Regency romances, the third of which, Wind Raven, is to be released in early 2014. She has also authored two short stories, one of which is The Holly & The Thistle, Lady Emily Picton’s tale.
As a child Walker loved to write, particularly about adventure-loving girls, but by the time she got to college more serious pursuits took priority. One of her professors thought her suited to the profession of law, and Regan realized it would be better to be a hammer than a nail. Years of serving clients in private practice, including a stint in government service, gave her a love of international travel and a feel for the demands of the “Crown” on its subjects. Hence her romance novels often involve a demanding Prince Regent who thinks of his subjects as his private talent pool.
Regan lives in San Diego with her golden retriever, whom she says inspires her every day to relax and smell the roses.
You can keep up with her through her website, www.reganwalkerauthor.com.
Author’s Notes
Men in aristocratic Regency London loved to wager, and the betting books at White’s and Brooks’s clubs are famous for the often ridiculous subjects that led to the exchange of considerable coin. It is not, therefore, inconceivable that two peers would wager on the seduction of a certain unnamed lady.
The playbill for the San Pareil Theatre (later changed to the Adelphi) really did read Bachelor Miseries that opening night in October 1818. Appropriate, as Eustace was to learn.
As with my other stories, many of the characters are real persons: Lord and Lady Hardwicke, Baron Alvanley, Sir Alex Abercromby, and by mention William Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire, Richard Tattersall and John, Lord Russell. Some of these are also characters in my other stories. Interestingly, Baron Alvanley, Sir Alex and the 6th Duke of Devonshire never married.
Those who have read Racing with the Wind, first in the Agents of the Crown trilogy, will recognize Hugh and Mary, Lord and Lady Ormond, and Griffen and Elizabeth Lambeth. Lady Claremont, the Dowager Countess of Claremont was introduced in Against the Wind, and appears in my short stories.
Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire (pictured on the cover) is an actual historic estate that can be visited today. In 1818, it was the home of Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke and his wife Elizabeth. I like to think the house party in my story might well have occurred that fall and included the fox-hunt and pheasant shooting. The entrance hall floor tiles actually date from the Victorian era, but I could not resist including them, particularly since they feature the Hardwicke motto, so appropriate to Lady Leisterfield’s emotions at the time.
The perfidy of Lord Pickard and his blackmail mischief were suggested by actual historical events, though the murder of a peer was my own creation, as was Viscount Pickard himself.
If you’d like to see what happened that same December when Lady Claremont invited a certain Scot named William Stephen to her party where he met the violet-eyed Lady Emily Picton, you might like to read The Holly & the Thistle, my short story from that same time that features all the traditions of a Regency Christmas. Because it was a short story, I did not include the ton’s response to Queen Charlotte’s death, should you wonder why the characters are not all wearing black.
I wish all my readers a happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
“A handsome rake, a virtuous widow, and a scandalous holiday wager. I loved the chase!”
—Nationally Bestselling Author and RITA Award–winner Kaki Warner
THE REDHEADED RAKE
It was a dull day at White’s the day he agreed to the wager: seduce, bed and walk away from the lovely Lady Leisterfield, all by Twelfth Night. But this holiday season, Christopher St. Ives, Viscount Eustace, planned to give himself a gift.
THE VIRTUOUS WIDOW
She was too proper by half—or so was the accusation of her friends, which was why her father had found her a husband. But Lord Leisterfield was now gone a year, and Grace was at last shedding the drab colors of mourning. The house felt empty, more so during the coming Christmastide, and so tonight would begin with a scandalous piece of theater. The play would attract rogues, or so promised her friend the dowager countess. Rogues, indeed. The night would preface the greatest danger—and the greatest happiness—that Grace had ever known.
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