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The Major Meets His Match
ANNIE BURROWS
The major must wedWastrel, rebel, layabout…just a few of the names Lord Becconsall has hidden his quick intellect and sharp wit behind over the years. Recently titled, ex-military and required to wed, Jack views ton ladies with a cynical eye… Until he falls upon–quite literally–Lady Harriet Inskip.After years of being overlooked, Harriet cannot believe that Lord Becconsall is the only person to truly see her. But between his taunts and her fiery disposition, it's soon clear that the major has finally met his match!Brides for Bachelors Eligible rakes walk down the aisle!
The major must wed
Wastrel, rebel, layabout...just a few of the names Lord Becconsall has hidden his quick intellect and sharp wit behind over the years. Recently titled, ex-military and required to wed, Jack views ton ladies with a cynical eye... Until he falls upon—quite literally—Lady Harriet Inskip.
After years of being overlooked, Harriet cannot believe that Lord Becconsall is the only person to truly see her. But between his taunts and her fiery disposition, it’s soon clear that the major has finally met his match!
Brides for Bachelors (#uab8dd46f-076a-5ef6-b8a7-a4fdff1b2b36)
Eligible rakes walk down the aisle!
A friendship formed at Eton leads three bachelors through the trials of war, mystery and love!
A major, a marquess and a captain reunite in London to celebrate Britain’s peace with France—only to find society life has many more exciting things in store for them! They are thrown into a mystery of jewellery theft and fraud, and they all find themselves unlikely suitors to some of the ton’s most captivating ladies!
Will these eligible bachelors finally meet their matches?
The Major Meets His Match
Available now
Look for the next two stories in the trilogy
Coming soon!
Author Note (#uab8dd46f-076a-5ef6-b8a7-a4fdff1b2b36)
Welcome to the first of my Brides for Bachelors trilogy!
I’m really excited about this trilogy as it’s the first time I’ve written a series of stories with connected heroes on purpose! I often get heroes or heroines from one story to walk across the pages of another—just for fun. And sometimes a secondary character has taken root in my imagination and grown until I’ve had to give him or her their own story. But when I pitched the outline for The Major Meets His Match, and described its opening scene, my lovely editor pointed out that the men involved all had stories of their own to tell, and asked why I hadn’t thought about writing a linked series from the outset. The minute she suggested that it was as if a light bulb had gone on in my head. I couldn’t wait to start writing!
I do hope you enjoy this first in the mini-series as much as I enjoyed writing it, and that you will want to find out what happens to Major Jack Hesketh’s friends next.
PS If you are already one of the group of readers who enjoy spotting heroes from my other stories wandering across the pages of books that aren’t theirs, then I hope you enjoy the cameo role I’ve given the hero of my very first publication for Mills & Boon…and have a little giggle at Aunt Susan’s predictions about the kind of bride he is likely to marry.
The Major Meets His Match
Annie Burrows
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ANNIE BURROWS has been writing Regency romances for Mills & Boon since 2007. Her books have charmed readers worldwide, having been translated into nineteen different languages, and some have gone on to win the coveted Reviewers’ Choice award from CataRomance. For more information, or to contact the author, please visit annie-burrows.co.uk (http://www.annie-burrows.co.uk), or you can find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/annieburrowsuk (https://www.Facebook.com/annieburrowsuk).
Books by Annie Burrows
Mills & Boon Historical Romance
Gift-Wrapped Governesses
Governess to Christmas Bride
Regency Bachelors
Lord Havelock’s List
The Debutante’s Daring Proposal
Brides of Waterloo
A Mistress for Major Bartlett
Brides for Bachelors
The Major Meets His Match
Stand-Alone Novels
Regency Candlelit Christmas
‘The Rake’s Secret Son’
Devilish Lord, Mysterious Miss
A Countess by Christmas
Captain Corcoran’s Hoyden Bride
An Escapade and an Engagement
Never Trust a Rake
Reforming the Viscount
Portrait of a Scandal
The Captain’s Christmas Bride
In Bed with the Duke
Once Upon a Regency Christmas
‘Cinderella’s Perfect Christmas’
Mills & Boon Historical Undone! eBooks
Notorious Lord, Compromised Miss
His Wicked Christmas Wager
Visit the Author Profile page
at millsandboon.co.uk (http://millsandboon.co.uk) for more titles.
I am really grateful to Aidan for brainstorming with me when I got stuck with this one. And for reminding me what kind of heroine I first imagined in Lady Harriet.
Contents
Cover (#u73fefd51-d333-5f43-9a72-ea9f265c2d44)
Back Cover Text (#ud2b243b3-93a1-52f6-951a-bea2d5232da6)
Brides for Bachelors (#u82f9e990-280e-55b3-a962-025916883d33)
Author Note (#ua09a2d4d-f899-59e2-8b1f-c0777af3a93c)
Title Page (#ufd2b681c-ed4b-52dc-a498-e0b31686e185)
About the Author (#u4885c03b-0f4a-5aec-9d2c-560a59f09d38)
Dedication (#u3846be52-1399-5aef-9d4e-d9d24a604f1b)
Chapter One (#u25cee622-84f7-577d-9aa3-15016aca2217)
Chapter Two (#uf90b3045-e072-5364-b1fd-eebd275ebfbc)
Chapter Three (#u96f95117-c626-5874-899e-f9230760d272)
Chapter Four (#u28e691c9-10eb-5368-9983-761ff6a6a8ed)
Chapter Five (#uf13e4732-8f68-58df-8a39-e99b53006dcb)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#uab8dd46f-076a-5ef6-b8a7-a4fdff1b2b36)
Lady Harriet Inskip tilted back her head and breathed in deeply. She could still smell soot, but at least this early in the day it wasn’t completely blotting out the more wholesome odours of dew-damp grass and leather and horse. It didn’t matter that it was still barely light enough to see the trees and flowers, or the curve of the Serpentine. She hadn’t come here to admire the decorous landscape, after all.
She leaned forward and patted her horse’s neck.
‘Come on, Shadow, let’s have a good gallop, shall we? While there’s nobody to tell us we can’t.’
Shadow snorted and pawed at the gravel path to indicate she was just as eager for exercise as her mistress. And then, with just the slightest tap of Harriet’s heel against Shadow’s flank, they were off.
For a few glorious minutes they flew through the dappled dawn, both revelling in Shadow’s power and vitality. For those few minutes Harriet was free. Free as any wild creature that lived purely by instinct. Unhindered by the fetters with which society restricted the movements of young ladies.
But then her peaceful communion with nature was shattered by a sound that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and Shadow to falter mid-stride. It was the neigh of another horse. From beyond a stand of chestnut trees. A neigh so high pitched in outrage, it was almost a scream.
Harriet slowed Shadow to a canter. ‘Easy, girl,’ she murmured as her mount twitched her ears and rolled her eyes. But Shadow kept fidgeting nervously. And Harriet could hardly blame her when she reared up at the precise moment a black stallion burst from the cover of the trees as though it had been shot from a cannon.
At first she thought the black horse was a riderless runaway. But as it came closer, she could see a dark shape huddled on its back and a pair of legs flailing along its flanks.
‘What an idiot,’ she muttered to herself. For the man clinging to the stallion had not put a saddle on it. Perhaps there hadn’t been time. Perhaps he was attempting to steal the magnificent, and no doubt very expensive, animal. The horse certainly looked as if it wanted nothing more than to dislodge the impertinent human who’d had the temerity to ride him without following the proper conventions first. The stallion had just galloped through the trees as if it had been an attempt to scrape the interloper from his back, to judge from the way he began to buck and kick the moment he got out into the open.
‘The idiot,’ said Harriet again, this time a bit louder, as she saw that the runaway stallion was now heading straight for the Cumberland Gate. There wasn’t much traffic on the roads at this time of day, but if that horse, and the idiot on board, got out into the streets, who knew what damage they might inflict on innocent passers-by?
‘Come on, Shadow,’ she said, tapping her mare on the flank with her riding crop. ‘We’re going to have to head off those two before they get into real trouble.’ Shadow didn’t need much prompting. She loved racing. However, rather than attempt to pull alongside the snorting, furious stallion, Harriet guided Shadow into a course that would take them across his current path. For one thing, even if they could catch up with the runaway horse, any attempt to snatch at the reins to try to bring him to a halt was bound to end in disaster. Though Harriet took pride in her own skills in the saddle, she couldn’t imagine being able to lean over far enough to grab the reins without being unseated. Not whilst mounted side-saddle as she was. In fact, only a trained acrobat would be able to accomplish such a feat with any degree of confidence.
For another thing, she knew that no horse would run directly into another, not unless it was completely maddened with terror. And the black stallion, though furious, did not look to be in that state.
