Shut Away from Desire

By Gabriella Mahoney

Book 2 of the Ruined Series.

Constance Grady is a woman tainted by association. Not even her daily moral regiment can erase the sin of an older sister who tried to elope. Too introverted to attempt navigating the marriage market, Constance's only hope is to join a convent.

But these carefully laid out plans become overturned when Constance accidentally stumbles into a back-ally deal going sour. She is taken as a hostage and her only hope of escape now lies in the hands of a handsome criminal...

This short historical romance novelette is approximately 12,200 words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gabriella Mahoney
• Release date: Jul 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310209352

Gabriella Mahoney

Gabriella Mahoney is a California girl that has been writing since grade school. As an incurable bookworm, she remembers when her best friend first introduced her to Georgette Heyer and the world of Regency romance like it was yesterday. Gabriella likes to write in a variety of genres but she is especially fond of short form fiction and exploring the new romantic possibilities it creates.

Book preview

Shut Away from Desire

Book 2 of the Ruined Series

By Gabriella Mahoney

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Published by Gabriella Mahoney at Smashwords

Copyright 2016 Gabriella Mahoney

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Chapter 1

Miss Constance Grady had mixed feelings about turning four and twenty today. She felt the smallest twinge of disappointment when the day started out much like any other. However, this should have hardly been surprising since both her family and all the servants knew that she was a creature of routine.

Normally Constance received great comfort from order. She found life infinitely more enjoyable when problems were broken down into yes and no or good and bad. Grey areas were only for those who lacked the foresight to create an efficient daily schedule.

So her twinge of disappointment had to stem from her own silly notions. She was the one that had created and enforced her routine so it was her fault that no one brought up a special breakfast on her tray or offered to spend the morning with her.

This was not to say that she hadn’t had her chance. Her elder sister, Letty, had extended an invitation to her country estate some weeks ago along with an offer to host a party in honor of Constance’s birthday. It was an offer that she had politely but flatly refused. The prospect of spending so much time outside of her routine had seemed both overwhelming and exhausting.

So much the better! Now I shall have plenty of time to complete other, more useful tasks. That shall be its own reward.

Drawing newfound energy from this sense of purpose, Constance refocused her attention to the basket of mending that she usually tended to in the late morning. She knew that her sister would have packed every eligible bachelor she could find into that offered birthday party in a blatant attempt to help Constance find a husband. Letty had only her sister’s best interests at heart but Constance remained steadfast in her choice of life path.

Only one more year.

Constance would reach her majority when she turned twenty-five. This meant she would no longer need the permission of her father in order to join a convent. She had pleaded with him to change his mind since she was seventeen but in this one area her normally inattentive father remained stubborn. In an act of random parenting Lord Grady had told Constance that she was too young to know her own mind well enough to take a vow to God and mean it.

Constance normally did not possess the meanness of spirit that allowed one to hold a grudge. But her father’s refusal to grant his permission had created a slightly bitter friction between them over the years.

If only he had been so firm with Vanessa…

When Constance was a child her eldest half sister—angry at her father’s choice to remarry so quickly—decided to elope with a man. It was a serious enough crime for any woman to commit but Vanessa made sure to seal the fates of her sisters when she returned from her adventure unmarried still.