Curvy Girl's Second Chance At Love

By Bella Hope

Sometimes the place where you belong in this world is... in his heart…

Felicity:
I am the new governess… I had no idea that my new employer is someone I know… someone from my past… the one love of my life… and I am going to get a second chance at true love and happiness… but first I will have to earn it by breaking through the wall of grief he has built around himself…

James:
She is the last person I ever expected to see again… I won't say I didn't ever want to see her again… a part of me wanted her back in my life… but part of me wants to push her away… the part of me that aches with the pain of having her walk out of my life all those years ago...


Set in the Late Victorian Era, a young, grieving widower with a small son is overwhelmed by loss and grief until Felicity comes back into his life and helps him see the way forward by unraveling the past...

Historical Novella With Some Gothic Elements. Apprx. 15,000 words. Updated Historical Gothic Romance where the strong heroine 'saves' the hero.

A Second Chance for Alpha Hero/BBW Heroine. Late Victorian Gothic Romance. Modest Heat by way of kisses, looks, touches, etc. HEA

• Language: English
• Publisher: RSVP Press
• Release date: Aug 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393324416

Book preview

Curvy Girl’s

Second Chance At Love

A Regency Romance

BBW & Her First Love

Historical Romance

by

Bella Hope

Copyright 2019/2020 by Bella Hope

Published by RSVP Press

Cover Image: BSP

VEB Design

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination presented fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Curvy Girl’s

Second Chance At Love

A Regency Romance

BBW & Her First Love

Historical Romance

by

Bella Hope

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

CHAPTER ONE

The Late Victorian Era:

FELICITY:

AS I WAS ABOUT TO FIND out... the journey to true love can take you home again... and land you in circumstances you could never have dreamt of...

I was about to come face to face with my past, and my past wasn’t easily swept away... or forgiven.

After I collected my bags from the hotel, I embarked on my journey with Mrs. Bramley and her husband by carriage ride to my new home and employment. As we climbed the hills surrounding Campbellford to our impending destination, the ride was bumpy and jerky at times, and I was glad I had not eaten a large meal that evening.

When we rounded our final stretch to the estate, I recognized the house immediately. It was then that I realized that Mrs. Bramley had not mentioned the name of the man who would be my employer. If she had, I had completely missed it. If I hadn’t been so anxious to secure a paying position, I would have thought to ask. But I hadn’t... and now came the realization that I knew this house. Balfour House stood, a white stone monstrosity, stern and imposing on the cliff above us... as if not welcoming me back.

Mrs. Bramley watched my expression closely, as if trying to determine if I recognized the old house immediately, but I kept my feelings masked and said not a word. But inside I was rampant with realization... and questions.

So James Balfour was to be my new employer. He was the wealthy man whose wife had died tragically when she lost her footing and fell from the cliffside... I had no idea. I hadn’t made it a priority to inquire about James since I’d returned to the village. In fact, I’d done just the opposite, I’d kept mum, even though I had thought of James since I’d returned... and even in the years before.

I couldn’t shake the strange feeling suddenly that I was coming home after a long time away. I couldn’t explain the feeling to myself fully, and I would want no one else to know.

If things had been different I would have been here all those years... if my mother and father had not had different ideas, ideas of their own that I did not share. I tried to tell them. I would rather be poor if it meant being with someone I loved rather than marry someone I did not love for wealth. But if they insisted I marry for better means, then James was hardly poor, he was heir to the financial empire that was Balfour Equities. I even pointed that out to my family, and still they insisted that Bernard Tilsey would be a perfect match for me, a wonderful husband who would provide and be able to be controlled by the family. How little they knew of Bernard!

Now, though, I could only think of James. I wondered how he would feel about seeing me again... about me being in his employ... about me being governess to his young son. He had been my first love, my one true love, and I had left him without much explanation and no choice in the matter. Now he had endured a great tragedy that had left him the sole parent to a young son... and I was coming back into his life.

I shivered against the warmth of the air around us... and I hoped it was not a premonition of what was to come...

FELICITY:

IT HAD STARTED SIMPLY enough... without any forewarning...

I had answered an advertisement, which appeared in my inbox at the hotel where I was staying, for a governess for a young lad at a nearby estate. There weren’t a lot of details. Just a mail number, and I had written a short letter of inquiry. Today a reply arrived, asking that I meet my potential employer at the cafe near my hotel. The letter was signed