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The Reckless Love of an Heir: An epic historical romance perfect for fans of period drama Victoria
Jane Lark
‘Pure, unadulterated romance’ Best Chick Lit.com“You are reckless, proud, spoiled and everything I dislike!”For Lord Henry Marlow, the future Earl of Barrington, life is for living before he accepts his duty. No wager is too risky or challenge too dangerous – until a racing injury forces the Barrington heir to return home and prepare for his destiny. But the one thing Henry will not do is bow to his parents’ wishes and propose to his childhood friend and neighbour, beautiful Alethea Forth. And he’ll not put up with her disapproving sister, Susan, either, no matter how much he enjoys their verbal sparring…Kind-hearted, bookish Susan Forth has always thought Henry arrogant and self-centred, and has never hidden her dislike of the rogue! But this injured, vulnerable Henry reluctantly brings out her natural compassion, and a shocking desire for the man who is expected to marry her sister! A stolen kiss leads to a forbidden passion – and for the first time in her life, Susan knows what it’s like to be reckless – with a man who is finally learning to care.But when tragedy strikes, their secret love is all that holds them together – and could tear their lives apart…
PRAISE FOR JANE LARK (#u85edf0f1-b597-5902-be2a-9425be8678f3)
‘Jane Lark has an incredible talent to draw the reader in from the first page onwards’
Cosmochicklitan Book Reviews
‘Any description that I give you would not only spoil the story but could not give this book a tenth of the justice that it deserves. Wonderful!’
Candy Coated Book Blog
‘This book held me captive after the first 2 pages. If I could crawl inside and live in there with the characters I would’
A Reading Nurse Blogspot
‘The book swings from truly swoon-worthy, tense and heart wrenching, highly erotic and everything else in between’
BestChickLit.com
‘I love Ms. Lark’s style—beautifully descriptive, emotional and can I say, just plain delicious reading? This is the kind of mixer upper I’ve been looking for in romance lately’
Devastating Reads BlogSpot
The Reckless Love of an Heir
JANE LARK
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
HarperImpulse an imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2016
Copyright © Jane Lark 2016
Cover images © Shutterstock.com (http://Shutterstock.com)
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2016
Cover design by Holly Macdonald
Jane Lark asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International
and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
By payment of the required fees, you have been granted
the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access
and read the text of this e-book on screen.
No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted,
downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or
stored in or introduced into any information storage and
retrieval system, in any form or by any means,
whether electronic or mechanical, now known or
hereinafter invented, without the express
written permission of HarperCollins.
Ebook Edition © July 2016 ISBN: 9780008139834
Version 2016-07-05
Table of Contents
Cover (#u7909821f-3aa4-50b1-9fb8-997e4eb23c2e)
Praise for Jane Lark (#u6e535482-97d6-5cb0-8543-78591bc46476)
Title Page (#ud0c3c091-0382-5629-9f86-2719b6fb52a1)
Copyright (#u38957f2a-66d2-59c4-a6b1-f81ded98333f)
Chapter One (#ub50440ba-9024-5fbd-82f5-66e2ca976fa2)
Chapter Two (#u5ba50366-e067-52da-9f0b-4624a0af4d2a)
Chapter Three (#u44260174-1717-553a-86bc-2a03e2f2f377)
Chapter Four (#u0b703947-9b27-58ce-9741-8d5d43cb68ad)
Chapter Five (#u53a8fd6b-a6ba-5e8b-b247-a32326ccc478)
Chapter Six (#ue621f751-7c26-561a-a8a5-8abb6bf973c8)
Chapter Seven (#ufced710f-30f4-5ea7-8124-018ed3e33683)
Chapter Eight (#u306b477e-e9a2-55e5-b5b9-1aea17ff0902)
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)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Author Note (#litres_trial_promo)
Also by Jane Lark (#litres_trial_promo)
Jane Lark (#litres_trial_promo)
About HarperImpulse (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u85edf0f1-b597-5902-be2a-9425be8678f3)
The carriage passed between the large stone lions that held the shields engraved with the Barrington coat of arms and entered the Farnborough Estate through the open wrought iron gates. Henry sighed heavily and removed his foot from the opposite seat of his father’s carriage. The carriage had been sent to town to collect him, on his request.
Pain shot from his right shoulder down to the elbow that was held bent within a sling. His left hand lifted and braced the shoulder.
The damn thing killed. He would be glad to get out of this carriage. Each rut in the road had jolted his arm.
He’d dislocated the shoulder in a fall from his curricle and sprained his wrist besides acquiring several bruises and the bloody thing made it impossible to dress or shave himself and he was equally unable ride a horse, or drive his curricle.
He’d been told by the surgeon in London that he must wear the sling for a month while his shoulder healed, and so he had chosen to come home; where at least he would have his father’s valet and his mother and sisters to look after him.
He picked up his hat from the far seat, using his good hand, and put it on as the carriage passed the gate house then began its journey along the snaking avenue, with its tall horse-chestnut trees either side. The trees were covered in pillars of white spring blossom.
Henry looked towards the distance, between the trees, trying to catch the first glimpse of the house.
Home. He felt a pull from it, a tug at the far end of what had once been a leading rein. The land and property that would one day be his had a place in his chest that inspired pride and affection. Yet, he was equally happy to be away from it. Since he’d resided in London life had opened doors and windows he’d not seen through before. He did not regret moving there at all. It would have been hideous here, once he’d finished at Oxford. The restrictions his father and mother would have set over his life if he’d returned to Farnborough would have been unbearable, he would have become their coddled child again. In London he could do as he wished, without judgement.
There.
He saw the house.
