Lady Beast's Bridegroom

Lady Beast’s Bridegroom A Twist Upon a Regency TaleBook 1 By Jude Knight © Copyright 2023 by Jude Knight Text by Jude Knight Cover by Kim Killion Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. is an imprint of Kathryn Le Veque Novels, Inc. P.O. Box 23 Moreno Valley, CA 92556 [email protected] Produced in the United States of America First Edition January 2023 Kindle Edition Reproduction of any kind except where it pertains to short quotes in relation to advertising or promotion is strictly prohibited. All Rights Reserved. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author. License Notes: This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook, once purchased, may not be re-sold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it or borrow it, or it was not purchased for you and given as a gift for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. If this book was purchased on an unauthorized platform, then it is a pirated and/or unauthorized copy and violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Do not purchase or accept pirated copies. Thank you for respecting the author’s hard work. For subsidiary rights, contact Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. ARE YOU SIGNED UP FOR DRAGONBLADE’S BLOG? You’ll get the latest news and information on exclusive giveaways, exclusive excerpts, coming releases, sales, free books, cover reveals and more. Check out our complete list of authors, too! No spam, no junk. That’s a promise! Sign Up Here * Dearest Reader; Thank you for your support of a small press. At Dragonblade Publishing, we strive to bring you the highest quality Historical Romance from some of the best authors in the business. Without your support, there is no ‘us’, so we sincerely hope you adore these stories and find some new favorite authors along the way. Happy Reading! CEO, Dragonblade Publishing Additional Dragonblade books by Author Jude Knight A Twist Upon a Regency Tale, The Series Lady Beast’s Bridegroom (Book 1) One Perfect Dance (Book 2) Dedication This book is dedicated to all those who have been rejected or mocked on the grounds of their appearance or of some other factor beyond their control. True love looks past such surface details and sees the person within. Dear reader, may you be surrounded by people who truly love you. Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Publisher’s Note Additional Dragonblade books by Author Jude Knight Dedication About the Book Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Epilogue Author’s Note Excerpt from One Perfect Dance About the Author About the Book A reclusive bride. A reluctant fortune hunter. Lady Ariel lives retired in the country after being badly scarred by a fire that killed her mother and brother. Society gossips about her and calls her Lady Beast. Her second cousin, who inherited her father’s title but not his private wealth, wants to have her committed so he can manage—and steal—her fortune. Only finding a husband will prevent the cousin from having his way. Peter, Lord Ransome, has inherited his father’s debts along with responsibility for a stepmother who loathes him, her daughters, and his own two half-sisters. Only a wealthy bride will save his estate and his family, especially the sisters who have fled his stepmother. Once wed, the Beau and the Beast find they have more in common than they thought, but their accord is shaken when their enemies rouse Society and the rabble against them. In their struggles to survive deadly hatred, they find that their marriage offers more than they bargained for. Chapter One Greenmount, the Midlands, January 1817 “An empty threat,” Mr. Richards insisted. “Your cousin has no authority to have you committed to an asylum for the insane, my lady.” The frown that creased his forehead and pinched his mouth hinted that her solicitor was not as certain as he wanted Lady Arial Bledisloe to believe. Arial shared his doubts. She lived secluded with her companion and her servants but read widely. She knew that the law tended to favor men over women, earls over commoners, and those with money over those without. Her cousin—second cousin, to be precise—was a man and an earl. She was a commoner, with only a courtesy title. She did have money, but with two of three counts against her in the eyes of the law, the money her father had left to his only living child, rather than to his heir, became the essence of the problem. To add insult to injury, Father had not appointed guardians to manage Arial’s inheritance, but had trusted Arial to take whatever advice she needed and make her own decisions. At first, Josiah, now Earl of Stancroft, had declined to believe it. Then he had confronted Arial and demanded that she hand everything over to him in return for a small allowance. After she refused, he ordered his lawyers to challenge the will. When they reported that they could find no legal pretext for such a move, he had come up with this. “There are no grounds for finding you insane,” Mr. Richards said, but his frown deepened as he resettled his glasses on his nose. “Even if he demands a committal hearing, he will fail.” “I am a woman, horribly scarred, and a known recluse,” Arial pointed out, her voice calm though she felt far from it. “These may be grounds enough. Tell me the results of your research, Mr. Richards. Have you found anything we may use to discredit