The Rake's Bride

By Roxie Brandon

Adrianna Hopkins, daughter of Mr and Mrs Hopkins is used to toiling all day long. Her guardians have always worked her pitiless, for as long as she can remember. She only wishes she could remember a time when her parents loved her.

Lonely, she is naturally suspicious of people in general, including Lord Roger Blackmore, the Marquess of Manford, son of the Duke of Daventry. He, however, takes an immediate fancy to her.

But social norms dictates that they cannot be together. With both the Duke of Daventry and Adrianna’s parents opposed to their acquaintance, Adrianna dare not dream that their relationship can be other than it is.

But all is not always what it seems and Adrianna’s circumstances are about to change in a manner she could never imagine.
Enjoy this clean and wholesome Regency romance with a sweet happily ever after!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roxie Brandon
• Release date: Jun 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005198732

Roxie Brandon

Roxie Brandon is an author of historical and contemporary romance, beauty and fashion books.Her romances range in setting from Medieval times to the Twentieth Century.She loves walks in the countryside and having afternoon tea with family and friends.

Book preview

THE RAKE’S

BRIDE

Copyright © 2021 Roxie Brandon All Rights Reserved

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

CHAPTER ONE

Adrianna Hopkins was wishing that it would rain. She had no desire to ruin the village fair, which would take place the following day, but a cool, soaking rain would mean that the work she was doing would have to be postponed. The vast acreage of Camden Hall, where she and her parents lived and worked, demanded long days of labour spent tending to flowers, trimming bushes and hedges, tending the fruit trees in the orchard and the vegetables in the kitchen garden. She was toiling, under the sun, during a day when the rest of England was enjoying the warmest July that anyone could remember.

For Adrianna, this meant another day drenched with perspiration in the only dress she owned. Her parents had work clothes and Sunday best clothes, but for Adrianna there was only this one dress; a worn, faded frock which had once, long before she owned it, had a pink and white flowered skirt with a pink bodice. Now, the colours were washed out and the flowers like real blooms, had long since faded away. What would happen, she wondered drearily, as she continued trimming the bushes that bordered the gazebo on the hall grounds, when the dress was too tattered to wear in public? Would her parents purchase cloth so that she could make a new one, or would they, once again, acquire a garment left by another dead woman for Adrianna to wear? She wiped her brow.

With a deep sigh she looked up at the estate. She had overheard her mother saying that his lordship, Roger, Lord Blackmore, the Marquess of Manford, was home from the American colonies. His father, the Duke of Daventry was tremendously pleased with his safe return and the festivities were partly to celebrate this. The Marquess would be taking part in the horse race which was scheduled for the second day of the fair.

Adrianna recalled seeing his lordship when he was a child. She couldn’t recall the earlier years of her life; for some reason, she had no recollection of anything that had happened before she was ten years of age. But one of her earliest memories was meeting his lordship. He had been with his tutor, a kindly old man who was leading him about the meadows near the house, teaching him about the wild plants. After they left, Adrianna stood wistfully wishing that her life was full of flowers, plants and lovely walks in the garden. She did not see the slap coming. Just the stars as the pain shot through her face.

You sneaking little ingrate! her father shouted. He started to beat Adrianna with a stick cut from a tree. Never intrude upon the gentry again! You are a commoner! he bellowed, and don’t you dare forget it.

The next day, when his lordship and his tutor came out to continue their lesson, Adrianna had been on the other side of the grounds, pulling up weeds. Adrianna shook her head, trying to shake off both the pain of the past and the present. The memory of that day was burned permanently in her mind. It didn’t bear thinking about. Booths were being set up about the grounds for the local vendors to sell their wares, and the estate staff hurried in and out of the elegant house delivering messages from the Duchess who would be presenting the prizes