Title: Her Perfect Gentleman
Author: Gail Eastwood
Genre: Regency Romance (traditional/sweet)
Book Blurb:
She is the worst thing that could happen to him. He might be the best thing that could happen to her. How will two hearts on such opposite tracks find their way to true love?
The last thing Christopher Haslitt needs or wants is another involvement with a high-ranking lady. He is still trying to repair both his heart and his reputation after last season’s disaster left him branded as a fortune hunter. Five days in Little Macclow for his best friend’s wedding should be only a brief delay on his path to redemption. But he hasn’t counted on spending it with five unmarried daughters of earls, one of whom has her sights set firmly on him!
Lady Honoria deRaymond may have lost her heart to Mr. Haslitt already. He is more attractive and charming than any other gentleman of her acquaintance. What’s more, his perfect manners include overlooking her tendency to be impulsive and not always quite proper. She knows the rules; she just has trouble sticking to them. Marriage to a high-ranking peer, as her family expects for her, will mean a loveless and highly visible life of constant pressure to conform and behave properly. Could Mr. Haslitt, a baronet’s son, be her means to escape such a fate? Can she win his heart in just five days? When she returns to London, her one chance to forge a different future may be gone.
Excerpt:
Lady Honoria’s request to turn her pages had paralyzed Christopher for a telling moment. His desire to comply battled with his understanding of the torment doing so would present.
Leave it to Trefford to take advantage. Christopher’s gut had twisted hard when the viscount offered to serve instead. Yet he ought to feel grateful. Being so close to Lady Honoria would have taxed Christopher’s control to the utmost, and perhaps she might have taken his acceptance as encouragement of her interest. Letting the other man do it was for the best.
But that did not mean he had to like it.
He thought a flash of irritation had crossed her face at Trefford’s offer, but it had been so quick he could not be certain. He thought he’d seen resignation follow that first flash, but now as he looked, she seemed perfectly at ease. Stupidly, the idea that she had not welcomed Trefford pleased him, although her irritation might equally have been caused by his own lack of response. He was definitely out of his depth in this company and situation. Fine manners did not begin to cover it. And failing to reply to a lady’s request was definitely no example of fine manners.
He watched her become absorbed in the music as she played the lively notes at the start of the canzonetta. Once she started to sing, the beautiful broad smile he so admired spread across her face. “Now the dancing sunbeams play, on the green and glassy sea….” Her fingers danced over the keyboard and her voice danced as well, trilling the quick notes and giving lively expression to the mermaid’s enticement to “follow, follow, follow me.” He doubted a man in the room would not willingly have heeded that lovely invitation.
Charmed he might be, but the thought that others were also did not sit well. Didn’t Trefford now lean ever closer to Lady Honoria? As she played and sang, she could not move away from him. Mr. Pratt, the curate, looked thoroughly entranced as well. Christopher stifled a jealous growl that rose into his throat. Pratt had even less right to any interest in Lady Honoria than he did. At least Christopher would one day have his father’s title of baronet. A curate did not even have his own living.
Lady Honoria finished the song and after a quick shuffle of books above the keyboard began her second Haydn piece with a flourish of chords and fine dramatic flair. She fixed an odd smile in place and lifted one eyebrow as she started to sing. “She never told her love/ But let concealment, like a worm in the bud/ Feed on her damask cheek....”
She seemed to look directly at him as she sang the next lines. “She sat, like Patience on a monument./Smiling, smiling at grief./Smiling, smiling at grief.”
The song was exceedingly short and she sang it through twice. Was she directing a message at him? But no, that would make no sense. Certainly they did not know one another nearly well enough for her to have developed feelings towards him stronger than a mere interest. And what possible reason could she have for taking an interest in him at all? Perhaps Adam and his sister were wrong.
Despite this reassuring logic, he was forced to admit how quickly his own strong feelings had developed towards her. Unlikely as it might be, who could say she had not suffered something similar? He dearly hoped that was not the case. He would not hurt her for the world, but what if he had no choice?
Her last piece was from The Beggar’s Opera, set to a sprightly cotillion tune. Her smile transformed back into one of true pleasure as she sang the words, a message about seizing the day. “Youth’s the season made for joys,/Love is then our duty….”
Was this another message meant for him? Or was he imagining all of these underlying meanings?
Her lovely face was animated as she performed, rapt in ways that made him think of other forms of pleasure. How sweet this torture was! The unrestricted chance to watch her was a gift, for his gaze was not the only one fixed on her—everyone’s eyes were directed towards her as she performed, so none would mark his particular attention.
Nevertheless, a surge of relief rushed through him when she finished. No longer must the thoughts her song words conjured or the vision of her enlivened by passion bedevil him. No longer would Lord Trefford be able to hang over her so closely while she had no ability to draw back from him. What if Trefford also read an invitation in her choices of music? An invitation that, unlike Christopher, the viscount might have no reason not to accept? Trefford was a perfectly suitable candidate to pursue an interest in her, court her, wed her.
Augghh. Christopher turned his head away from the piano and stared at the dark windows reflecting the room’s cheery candlelight. He would not allow himself to watch Lady Honoria move from the pianoforte back to her seat, or to see what Lord Trefford did.
Buy Links:
Books2Read (universal): https://books2read.com/u/bwrPAa
What makes your featured book a must-read?
Her Perfect Gentleman is Book 3 in the Tales of Little Macclow series, heart-warming Regency romances that depart from the usual world of ballrooms, London social seasons, and the marriage mart, instead taking the reader to scenic Derbyshire and the tiny fictional village that links the stories. Love isn’t only found (or lost!) in the grand drawing rooms of Regency England. Ordinary people living out their lives (or just passing through) in humble places like Little Macclow face challenges to their hearts and lives, too. The village is a place where ancient traditions are still celebrated and people care about each other. How does Love enter into the lives of those who are lonely? Or even those who aren’t seeking it at all? And–is it getting a special boost from a mysterious source unique to Little Macclow?
Each book in the series is a stand-alone tale of someone’s romance. The books don’t need to be read in order, but characters do overlap among the books, and there is a time-line as their lives progress. The tone may vary, some books lighter and some a little darker, just because the people themselves vary and so do their stories. But all the books are sweet, meaning they are wholesome, heart-warming, and don’t have explicit sex. Come visit Little Macclow! You can decide for yourself if there’s a little magic going on, or if Love itself is just a special blessing in this place!
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $15 Amazon gift card:
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Runs June 6 – June 12, 2023.
Winner will be drawn on June 13, 2023.
Author Biography:
Gail Eastwood started writing stories as soon as she learned to string words together on paper, and blames Beatrix Potter and A.A. Milne for making her a devoted Anglophile at a very young age. After detours into journalism and rare books, she finally found her path writing Signet Regencies acclaimed for their emotional depth and innovative plots. Nominated twice for RomanticTimes Magazine’s Career Achievement award, a winner and finalist for numerous awards, Gail had to put writing on hold to deal with family issues for almost 16 years. But now she’s back doing what she loves best and offering readers a new, heart-warming Regency series set in a small village possibly touched by magic (or it is just the power of Love?), Tales of Little Macclow.
“One of the genre's most imaginative storytellers, a master at painting pictures of Regency life,”
—Romantic Times Magazine
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