The Grumpy Earl and his Virgin

THE GRUMPY EARL AND HIS VIRGIN A STEAMY HISTORICAL REGENCY ROMANCE NOVEL INSIDE A TURNER’S MIND BOOK THREE DAPHNE BYRNE CONTENTS Before You Start Reading… Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Epilogue Extended Epilogue Preview: A Wallflower for the Rakish Earl Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Also by Daphne Byrne About the Author BEFORE YOU START READING… Did you know that there’s a special place where you can chat with me and with thousands of like-minded bookworms all over the globe?! Join Cobalt Fairy’s facebook group of voracious readers and I guarantee you, you’d wish you had joined us sooner! Let’s connect, right NOW! Just click on the image above! ⇧ ABOUT THE BOOK “I am not the man you think me to be, Susan.” Lady Susan is nothing but a spinster who hides a big secret from everyone around her: she is part of a scandalous bluestocking group. And that group has a common enemy: Lord Blackwood. And he moves right next to her house. Paying for his brother’s mistake landed Earl Alexander in the House of Lords, hating every moment of it. But his biggest problem soon turns out to be the woman next door, who he longs to taste… Will he manage to tame her hatred and turn her bite into a kiss? CHAPTER 1 London, Mayfair, the Dowager Duchess of Hereford’s home “Netherfield Hall is let at last it seems,” Daphne, the Dowager Duchess of Hereford, said to her daughter, Susan, as she stood by the lace-covered window in the sitting room. Susan was reading a book, closer to the fire to keep out the spring chill. It was an exciting novel, the latest of Rosaline Caney’s, her new sister-in-law of sorts, published under the name of Robert Casey. The book was a sequel, and Susan did not wish to be disturbed from its contents. And yet her mother’s use of the line from Pride and Prejudice did give her pause. “And what has you quoting novels, Mother?” she asked, looking up to see her mother’s back to her, lifting a corner of the lace curtain to peek out. She chuckled. “If only the illustrious ton could see my mother now. A dowager duchess, very well-favored and well-bred, peeping out at her neighbors like a common woman.” “Susan!” her mother scolded with a shriek, turning around to face her with wide eyes. Her black walking stick was in her hand, and she hit it once against the ground. “I swear it, Marina’s marriage to Lord Woodworth has made you quite the bold one. Perhaps I ought not to let you go over there any longer. Sometimes, I think my sharp-tongued and scandalous Marina is still here in this house, and not my sweet-tempered, quiet child who always knew what the rules of decorum were.” Susan smiled as her mother arched a brow and turned back to what she was looking at. Yes, she was rather the more docile one of her family. If she was a book character, Susan thought she sounded rather dull. “I am looking for our new neighbor. You remember that we are to receive a new neighbor today. It is such a delicious mystery, for no one seems to know who is to take the house next door. But it must be a man, for the furniture going inside has the very sharp edges and distinct lack of warmth of masculinity. So, he is single, perhaps.” Susan sighed and shut her book, noting the light bit of amusement and hope mixed into her mother’s tone. She walked up to the window and lifted the curtain to peer out as well as three footmen carried in various bits of furniture. “I do hope the man is older than forty, Mother,” she suggested idly, covering a hand over her mouth as she yawned. “Whyever would you say such an odd thing, Susan? And it is not proper to yawn like that. You must take better care to make it much demurer and unseen.” Susan said nothing to that ridiculous idea, but instead she replied, “Because then you will not be as likely to attempt to matchmake me with him. I can see the idea already forming in your mind without you saying a word.” “Well, I never,” her mother huffed, but she did not turn away from the window, and Susan smiled to herself. “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife,” Susan said with a sigh, watching as a footman struggled with a very large and heavy-looking ottoman. “Now look who is quoting novels, my dear.” Susan chuckled, and then she leaned in to kiss her mother on the cheek. Despite her mother’s attempts over the years to make all her children as proper as she, Susan still loved her dearly, and having just the two of them now, with her older brother and older sister married, Susan felt a deeper kinship between them. “I am off to Marina’s — to be further scandalized, of course,” she teased, backing away from the window, and her mother tsked. “At least I can depend on you not saying such ridiculous things in public. Your shyness helps in that way at least, Susan. Do give Marina and Leonard my best, and do remind them not to scandalize you any further with all their bluestocking talk. And my goodness, the way they make eyes at each other at the dinner table. It is enough to make a pastor blush!” Susan burst out laughing. “Of course, I