A June Wedding: A Sweet Regency Romance: Seasons of Love, #5

By Emily Murdoch

Victoria Walsingham is head over heels in love with Isaac Quinn, the son of the Duke of Daventry, and she can't imagine spending the rest of her life with anyone else.

But when Isaac admits that, despite his feelings for her, he cannot possibly marry the daughter of a country doctor, Victoria is left heartbroken.

However, when her brother unexpectedly inherits the title of the Earl of Cheshire, Victoria's life is transformed and she is thrown into high-society.

Despite her mother's best efforts, the endless balls and social engagements of the London season have little impact on Victoria.

Her heart will only ever belong to Isaac.

When they finally return home at the end of the season, much to Victoria's relief, she finds an invitation awaiting her.

An invitation to the wedding of Mr Isaac Quinn and a Miss Hestia Royce.

With Victoria's heart breaking all over again, she must deal with the added hardship of seeing Isaac at every turn.

As events unfold, Victoria finds herself spending more and more time with Isaac, reigniting the spark of passion they once felt for each other into a bright, burning flame.

But with Isaac's wedding only a matter of days away, is Victoria playing with fire?

With time running out, will Victoria ever get her happy ending?

A June Wedding is a heart-warming regency romance about the battle between head and heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Emily Murdoch
• Release date: Feb 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798201188092

Emily Murdoch

Emily Murdoch is a writer, a poet and a lover of books. There's never a time she's without a book. Her debut novel, If You Find Me, released in 2013 to global high praise and critical acclaim through St. Martin's Griffin and Orion/Indigo UK. If You Find Me, a Carnegie Medal 2014 longlister and a Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2014 finalist, has earned starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, and School Library Journal; is a Young Adult Library Services (YALSA) Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA) selection of 2014; was named a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice for June 2013; an Irish Times Editors’ Pick for 2013; an Editor’s Pick for UK’s The Bookseller 2013; a Booklist Youth Editors' Choice for 2013; and a Booklist Top Ten Pick of 2014. If You Find Me has also been nominated and included in numerous state awards/high school master reading lists, amongst those in: SC, TX, KY, RI, PA, WI, OR, DE, CT, SD, NH, OK, VT, and AR. If You Find Me was also a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Books of 2013 in the Best Debut Author and Best Young Adult Fiction categories, and was a finalist for the German Children's Literature Prize 2015, along with a finalist for the German Buxeholder Bulle Award 2015. If You Find Me has been translated and published in Canada, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Brazil, Hungary, Turkey, and Vietnam, as well as in Braille. When she's not reading or writing, you'll find Emily caring for her horses, dogs and family on a ranch in rural Arizona, where the desert's tranquil beauty and rich wildlife often enter into her poetry and writing. Emily's other passion is saving equines from slaughter. She uses her writing to raise awareness of this inhumane practice, with the goal of ending the slaughter of America's horses and burros through transport to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. She provides sanctuary to abused and slaughter-saved equines who dazzle her daily with their gentle gratitude in exchange for security, consistency, food and love. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Emily hopes her penchant for writing will do just that. All-in-all, she's a lefty in a right-handed world, writing her way through life and smearing ink wherever she writes.

Book preview

A June Wedding

Emily Murdoch

© Emily Murdoch 2016

Emily Murdoch has asserted her rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

First published in 2016 by Endeavour Press Ltd.

To Haydon. One day, you may inherit an Earldom. I will remind you of this dedication, and ask for a very nice library.

Also, thank you for being an incredible brother.

And to Joshua. Always.

Table of Contents

––––––––

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Acknowledgements

Historical Note

Chapter One

The front door finally closed, and to Victoria’s ears, it was the sweetest sound that she had heard in months.

Thank the Lord that’s over, she said, sinking into the nearest chair while her mother frowned at her.

Victoria, really. That is most unladylike of you – and to show gladness that another pleasant ball is over? I am this moment overcome with disappointment that we are absent from the enjoyable company of such entertaining and genteel young men.

Victoria tried her hardest not to roll her eyes as her mother handed her pelisse to their butler. Mama, if my brother Stuart had not inherited the Earldom of Cheshire in the last year, then half of those eligible young men would be entertaining another young gentlelady and her mother.

Mabel Walsingham did not take kindly to this remark. Victoria Walsingham, your brother Stuart has done everything he can to ensure that you have enjoyed this season, and you should be grateful!

This time Victoria did roll her eyes, as her fingers moved up to remove the pins digging into her head and keeping up the curls of chestnut hair.

It had been the same remark that she had heard, with variations of course, for the last few months, and now that it was the end of May, Victoria was looking forward to not hearing it for many months to come.

Mama, you must admit that Stuart’s sudden – and completely unexpected – rise to become the fifteenth Earl of Cheshire has completely changed things, said Victoria wearily. The night of dancing at Almack’s had tired her more than she thought, and she raised her feet to sit cross legged like a Turk in the chair in the hallway. I mean, look!

She gestured to the large hallway that they were standing in, and raised her eyebrows. The chandelier’s candles were burning low, as they had been alight for several hours, and the large grandfather clock chimed two o’clock in the morning. The plush red carpet that clothed the entire room also snaked up the large staircase that swept down into the hallway. The chairs were gilded with gold, and the brocade around the curtains was of the finest to be had in all of London.

Her mother sniffed. I do not know to what you refer.

Mama, said Victoria, you know exactly what I mean. This sort of accommodation would have been far beyond the reach of a country doctor’s widow before Stuart became so noble, and we should not forget it.

Nonsense. Mrs Walsingham’s tone was decided, and she swept out of the hallway into the drawing room.

Victoria sighed. Her mother had said no more, but that did not mean that her only daughter did not understand her. It was now time for the ritual discussion of the evening, and neither hell nor high water would be able to distract her from such a conversation, despite the lateness of the hour.

Placing her sore feet once more on the floor, Victoria kicked off her dance shoes that perfectly matched the vermillion gown that she was wearing, and followed the path that her mother had taken. The fire was still lit in the drawing room, and her mother had seated herself in the chaise longue nearest the door.

Now, said Mrs Walsingham, as though there had been no break in their conversation, you danced first with a Mr Grange, I think, who looked most unsuitable to my eye.

He was a terrific dancer, Mama, and had such fascinating conversation, returned Victoria, falling into the armchair that was near the slowly dying fire. He had such a knowledge of the latest battles in France, and...

Definitely unsuitable, her mother interrupted her with a look of shock. Discussing the battles in France? Before a young lady of good breeding? No, you will not be dancing with Mr Grange in the future. The second, I believe, was a Mr...

Mama, sighed Victoria, settling into the armchair properly and throwing her ankles over the arm rest, before promptly returning them to the floor as she saw the scandalised look in her mother’s eyes, must we dissect the evening so? Is it not enough to say that the evening was pleasant, the room too warm, the conversation engaging and the night now over?

Mrs Walsingham looked sternly at her daughter. Victoria Walsingham, you are young, beautiful, and unmarried. Why on earth do you think we attend these balls in the first place?

But if Stuart was not the fifteenth Earl of Cheshire, Victoria protested, a furrow appearing in her brow, then I would just be Miss Victoria Walsingham, the daughter of a country doctor, the sister of a London doctor, and I think I would be a great deal more content.

Nonsense. Mrs Walsingham leaned over and rang the bell beside the fireplace as her daughter sighed. It is no use making that lamentable noise, Victoria: you may not like the fact that our family has risen to fortune, if not a little fame, but...

Victoria giggled. A little fame? Mama, as soon as we enter a room, my ears cannot keep up with the whispers that move across the room faster than lightning!

Ah, but that is all to the good, my dear, for do you not see that without those little whispers of which you are not fond, Sir John Hampton would surely not have sought your hand! Triumphant were the tones of Mrs Walsingham, but Victoria was not to be conquered so easily.

And if I did not now have a dowry of twenty thousand pounds, Victoria said drily, I doubt Sir John Hampton, with his gambling debts and his pregnant mistress to support, would have listened to them!

Her mother opened her mouth in shock, and probably to censure her daughter both for listening to the rumours about poor Sir John and for believing them, but Victoria was spared further reprimand by the entrance of a footman, summoned by Mrs Walsingham’s previous bell.

Ah, Bridge, Victoria said eagerly, has any post come since we left?

She need not have asked, of course: in his left hand was a large silver platter, and resting upon it were three letters, all enclosed with dark red blobs of sealing wax. Her eyes wandered over them greedily, and her fingers fidgeted with the silk of her gown.

I have been expecting word from Antonia for a good number of days now, she said with a smile on her face. Are any from...

Bridge, Mrs Walsingham said curtly. To me, please.

Victoria glanced up at the footman, but his eyes were distant and cold. Victoria sighed, and leaned back in the armchair. If she had been born the sister of the fifteenth Earl of Cheshire, she thought bitterly, then she would have probably known Bridge from birth, and he would have had a soft spot for her, and perhaps slipped her the letters addressed to her, even before her mother’s very eyes.

As it was, Bridge had only been hired six weeks before, and had no loyalty to either woman before him. But Mabel Walsingham, as the matriarch of the family, had the letters placed into her own gloved hands, and before Victoria could spy exactly who they were addressed to, they were tilted out of Bridge’s view.

Thank you, Bridge, said Mrs Walsingham gently. That will be all.

Within a moment, he was gone, and Victoria glared at her mother irritably, brushing a wayward curl out of her eyes. "Mama, it is almost three o’clock in the morning,