A Viscount's Proposal Read online

  He caressed her cheek with his fingertips. “You will always be my favorite hoyden.”

  “And you will always be my favorite politician.” She kissed him. “My favorite viscount.” She kissed him again. “And my favorite pirate.”

  Edward came home one evening not many days after their marriage and kissed his wife on the cheek.

  “Your husband has managed to convince the Crown to prosecute Mr. Pinegar instead of Samuel Bellamy, who was quietly released from Newgate Prison today and, with the help of Providence, will disappear with his family to the faraway reaches of Scotland.”

  “That is wonderful.” Leorah threw her arms around him. “And Mr. Hastings?”

  “It is not clear if he will also be prosecuted along with Mr. Pinegar for the death of Pugh and my attempted murder, but I spoke with him today.”

  “Oh?”

  “It seems he asked you to marry him without the approval of Mr. Pinegar. His purpose for being at the party at Glyncove Abbey was to be seen kissing you in the garden or otherwise compromising you, so that I would have to defend you. Pinegar hoped I would challenge Hastings to a duel and he would kill me, just as my father had been killed.”

  “How despicable. Now that you say that, Mr. Hastings did try to persuade me to go with him into the garden alone, but I refused.”

  “It seems when he was not successful, he decided to ask you to marry him. In addition to being madly in love with you—how can I blame him?—your twenty thousand pounds was an additional inducement.”

  “That isn’t very flattering.” Leorah pulled away a little.

  “Forgive me. At least it should please you to know that I did not give one thought to your twenty thousand pounds when I asked you to marry me. My love for you was completely free of selfish motives.”

  “As was mine for you.” Leorah placed a kiss on his lips at the risk of a servant seeing them. “Except I was hoping someday to see you standing on a ship’s deck in your shirtsleeves with a cutlass between your teeth.”

  “Maybe it can be arranged.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I wish to thank my publisher and editors at Waterfall Press, Amy Hosford, Sheryl Zajechowski, Faith Black Ross, Michelle Hope Anderson, and all the others at Amazon Publishing who worked hard on the many aspects of this novel.

  I also want to thank my agent, Natasha Kern, without whom this book would not have been written. She is a true gem of a friend and an excellent literary agent who always goes above and beyond.

  A special thanks to my friends Carol Moncado and Terry Bell, as well as my family members Grace, Faith, and Joe, for their brainstorming help.

  I want to thank the Beau Monde chapter of Romance Writers of America, particularly Nancy Mayer and all the others who helped answer my research questions.

  I was blessed to discover a biography of Hannah More, Fierce Convictions, by Karen Swallow Prior, just when I needed it for this novel. So thank you, Ms. Prior, for writing it.

  And thanks go to my readers who make this book and all my others a reality. Thank you for supporting me in so many ways! May God bless you to know his freedom, love, and abundant life.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo © 2012 Jodie Westfall

  New York Times bestselling author Melanie Dickerson earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama and has taught special education in Georgia and Tennessee. She has also taught English in Germany and Ukraine. Dickerson won the 2012 Carol Award in young adult fiction and the 2010 National Readers’ Choice Award for best first book. Her novels The Healer’s Apprentice and The Merchant’s Daughter were both Christy Award finalists.

  She lives with her husband and two daughters near Huntsville, Alabama. For more information, visit www.MelanieDickerson.com.