Marriage Made In Hope

Marriage Made In Hope
Sophia James

‘Sometimes I could scream with boredom.’Measured and self-effacing, Lady Sephora Connaught knows there is another, more reckless side to her. When she’s rescued from the fast-flowing Thames by the wild and dangerous Francis St Cartmail, Earl of Douglas, suddenly her confined world bursts into vibrant life.Francis has never fitted in to high society’s narrow world, so why does he feel so connected to−and undeniably aroused by−this ‘angel of the ton’? She offers him hope, but only time will tell if their fragile marriage is enough to banish his demons for ever!

The Penniless Lords (#u3660a372-3b5f-5a37-b2c3-d7beb34abd88)

In want of a wealthy wife

Meet Daniel, Gabriel, Lucien and Francis. Four lords, each down on his fortune and each in need of a wife of means.

From such beginnings, can these marriages of convenience turn into something more treasured than money?

Don’t miss this enthralling new quartet by Sophia James

Read Daniel, Gabriel, Lucien and Francis’s stories in

Marriage Made in Money

Marriage Made in Shame

Marriage Made in Rebellion

Marriage Made in Hope

All available now!

Author Note (#u3660a372-3b5f-5a37-b2c3-d7beb34abd88)

I’ve loved writing The Penniless Lords series. Each of the four lords has his own particular set of problems, and Francis St Cartmail, the damaged Earl of Douglas, is no exception.

Hounded by his past, and lonely with it, Francis finds his world turned around when he saves a woman from drowning in the Thames.

Lady Sephora Connaught is suffocating in life even before she falls into the river, and when a stranger pulls her from certain death it’s as if she has crossed a threshold and everything has changed.

Christine, who is Lucien’s sister, is next. I have written her story as a novella for a forthcoming Christmas anthology.

Marriage Made in Hope

Sophia James

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

SOPHIA JAMES lives in Chelsea Bay, on Auckland, New Zealand’s North Shore, with her husband, who is an artist. She has a degree in English and History from Auckland University and believes her love of writing was formed by reading Georgette Heyer in the holidays at her grandmother’s house. Sophia enjoys getting feedback at sophiajames.co (http://sophiajames.co).

Contents

Cover (#u6d2dc6e0-169e-5f13-8348-474c1c87931e)

The Penniless Lords

Author Note

Title Page (#u240cb71e-6b42-5d84-a802-1c15e4841a92)

About the Author (#uc196b33c-d5ac-557b-b74e-221ee9c34598)

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One (#u3660a372-3b5f-5a37-b2c3-d7beb34abd88)

London—1815

Lady Sephora Connaught knew that she was going to die. Right then and there as the big black horse bucked on the bridge and simply threw her over the balustrade and down into the fast-running river.

Her sister screamed and so did others, the sounds blocked out by the water as she hit it, fright taking breath and leaving terror. She exhaled from pure instinct, but still the river came in, filling her mouth and throat and lungs as the cloth of her heavy skirt drew her under to the darkness and the gloom. She could not fight it, could not gain purchase or traction or leverage.

Ripping at her riding jacket, she tried to loosen the fastenings, but it was hopeless. There were too many buttons and beneath that too many stays, too much boning and layers and tightness, all clinging and covering and constricting.