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“I have a proposal for you...”
The last place respectable governess Ianthe Holt ever expected to be proposed to was in a train carriage...by a stranger...who had just accused her of trying to trap another man into marriage!
Shipping magnate Robert Felstone may be dashing, but he’s also insufferable, impertinent—and Ianthe’s only possible savior from her uncertain fate. She’s hesitant to play the perfect Felstone wife, but Robert soon shows Ianthe there’s more to him than meets the eye, and more to marriage than vows...
‘Since we’ve already established that I’m not a true gentleman, I have a proposal for you.’
‘A proposal?’ She repeated the words suspiciously.
‘A business proposition, if you prefer. Something that might benefit both of us.’
‘I’ve no interest in anything else you have to say, sir.’
‘You won’t hear me out? Shame ’ He looked nonplussed. ‘I was prepared to offer you an alternative to your current situation.’
She froze. He sounded sincere, but why would he offer to help her? Was this some kind of cruel joke or just another veiled insult?
‘What kind of alternative?’ she couldn’t resist asking.
He smiled suddenly, transforming his features from simply striking to quite devastatingly, heart-stoppingly handsome. ‘I need a wife.’
This is the first in a series of books set in and around the ancient coastal town of Whitby. The town now tends to be associated with Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, but it has a rich shipbuilding, whaling and maritime history as well. It also has one of the oldest, busiest and most decorated lifeboat stations–founded in 1802, although it didn’t join up with the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (now the RNLI) until the 1860s. This followed the tragic events of 9th February 1861, during which twelve out of thirteen lifeboatmen were drowned when their vessel was hit by two freak waves on their way to their fifth rescue of the day. The only survivor was wearing a sample cork lifejacket.
The shipwreck in this story is based loosely on that of the hospital ship the Rohilla in 1914, when a lifeboat from Whitby was carried over the cliff to Saltwick Bay by six horses before being lowered by ropes at the other side. Although I’ve simplified the details, the fact that lifeboatmen were prepared to take such extreme risks is based on real-life events–further details of which can be found at the Whitby Lifeboat Museum. For anyone interested in the area’s history, the Whitby Museum in Pannett Park is also an amazing gem and one of my all-time favourite museums. Also visit Sherlock’s Coffee House, which hasn’t changed much since the Victorian era and look out for Violet Harper’s story, coming next.
The Convenient Felstone Marriage
Jenni Fletcher
JENNI FLETCHER was born on the north coast of Scotland, and now lives in Yorkshire with her husband and two children. She wanted to be a writer as a child, but got distracted by reading instead, finally writing down her first paragraph thirty years later. She’s had more jobs than she can remember, but has finally found one she loves. She can be contacted via Twitter, @jenniauthor.
A previous book by Jenni Fletcher in
Mills & Boon Historical Romance
Married to Her Enemy
Visit the Author Profile page
at www.millsandboon.co.uk for more titles.
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