Revealing the True Miss Stansfield--A Sexy Regency Romance by Bronwyn Scott

Author:Bronwyn Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-01-07T19:14:51+00:00

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He rode with her for the remaining few miles. They’d been no more than a half-hour from the house when they’d stopped and they were soon turning from the road on to an oak-lined drive spread above them in a radiant canopy of scarlets and golds, the kind of canopy that took generations to grow. At the end of the drive stood a square sandstone manor house, ivy growing about the windows reaching up to the slate roof. She was already painting it in her mind: a grey-blue for the roof as it reached to the sky, a beige tinged with pink for the sandstone, a deep forest green for the ivy, a spring green for the lawn, light pinks and lilacs for the flowering bushes. She turned to Hazard and smiled. ‘You said you lived on a farm. I think you lied. I live in a farmhouse, but this is far beyond that.’

‘It’s an old home with Tudor door frames and Georgian staircases all mixed together. My grandfather had ambitions when he had the staircase installed.’

‘I can hardly wait to see it.’ Addy reached out a hand for his. She ought not to touch him so easily. It was a habit she probably needed to break, but not in this moment. She was not the only vulnerable one. It was her turn to ask the question. ‘Will you be all right?’ He’d looked after her so exquisitely, but who looked after him? He should not treat himself as an impervious stone wall.

‘Yes, but thank you for asking, Addy.’ The coach rolled to a halt and she let go of his hand, uncertain of what her role was to be. Was she here as a friend? As a woman in hiding? What had Hazard told them about her?

‘I told them you were an artist in need of refuge.’ Hazard slid her a grin. ‘My mother will probably want portraits.’

She could do that. She saw the genius of Hazard at work beneath the words. She would have something to keep her busy and the family had grounds on which to understand her presence. ‘I hope that includes you.’ She’d like to paint him, to master the unfinished ruggedness of his face, the solemn dark eyes.

The coach rolled to a stop and she watched Hazard take a deep breath. She imagined what this moment might mean for him, the weight of it and the worry. What sort of reception waited beyond the coach for him? Hazard opened the door and stepped down, reaching back in with a hand for her. They would face his family together.

The Mannings had turned out en masse for them, despite the short notice. The small household staff stood to the left in a straight line, the grooms and gardeners on the right, the family between them on the low front step.

For a moment Addy felt like a bride coming to her husband’s home for the first time. Her gaze swept the assembled family, picking out members from Hazard’s brief descriptions.

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