The Accidental Bride

Zusatztext "Jane Feather is an accomplished storyteller...rare and wonderful." --Daily News of Los Angeles Informationen zum Autor Jane Feather Klappentext The second novel in the captivating Brides Trilogy! in which three unconventional young women vow they will never marry-only to be overtaken by destiny. The Accidental Bride could only be the story of Phoebe! the "awkward" one . . . For four years! Cato! the Marquis of Granville! had been just another man-the uninteresting! somewhat intimidating husband of Phoebe's older sister. But then her sister died! and Phoebe seemed a reasonable substitute. Her forced engagement to him should have been quite a cold-blooded arrangement . . . except that one day Phoebe looked at Granville-really looked at him-and saw what she'd never seen before: he was darkly! breathtakingly attractive. Once she'd noticed! she couldn't seem to stop noticing! and suddenly Phoebe was disastrously in love. It would be nothing short of torture to be married to Granville! knowing he didn't love her and never would. After all! Phoebe was not the kind of woman men fell in love with-Phoebe with her untidy hair! her rumpled clothes! and her fingers forever ink-stained from the poetry she wrote. When running away does not solve her problems! Phoebe decides to try something a little different--something that involves a little change in wardrobe! a daring new attitude! and a bit of brazen seduction. Granville is about to discover that his awkward Phoebe is woman enough even for him. . . . Don't miss the other novels in Jane Feather's captivating Brides Trilogy: THE HOSTAGE BRID Leseprobe Woodstock, Oxford, January, 1646 Lady Phoebe Carlton lay very still listening to her bedmate's even breathing. Olivia was a very light sleeper and woke at the slightest sound. And tonight, Olivia mustn't know what Phoebe was about. They never had secrets from each other and were as close if not closer than sisters. But Phoebe couldn't afford for her dearest friend to know about her present enterprise. Phoebe pushed aside the coverlet and slipped to the floor. Olivia stirred and turned over. Phoebe froze. The fire in the grate was almost out, and it was so cold in the chamber that her breath formed a pale fog in the dim light from the guttering candle on the mantel. Olivia was afraid of the dark and they always kept a candle burning until she was asleep. Olivia's even breathing resumed and Phoebe tiptoed across the chamber to the armoire. She had left it partly open so it wouldn't squeak. She took out the bundle of clothes and the small cloakbag and crept on her freezing bare feet to the door. She lifted the latch and opened it just wide enough for her to slide sideways through and into the dark passage beyond. Shivering, she scrambled into her clothes, pulling them on over her nightshift. There were no candles in the sconces in the passage and it was pitch dark, but Phoebe found the darkness comforting. If she could see no one, then no one could see her. The house was silent but for the usual nighttime creaks of old wood settling. She dragged on her woolen stockings and, carrying her boots and the cloakbag, crept down the corridor towards the wide staircase leading down to the great hall. The hall was in shadow, lit only by the still-glowing embers in the vast fireplace at the far end. The great roof beams were a dark and heavy presence above her head as she tiptoed in her stockinged feet down the stairs. It was a mad, crazy thing she was doing, but Phoebe could see no alternative. She would not be sold into marriage, sold like a prize pig at the fair, to a man who had no real interest in her, except as a breeding cow. Phoebe grimaced at her mixed metaphors, but they both nevertheless struck her as accurate descriptions of her situation. She wasn't living in the Middle A...

Product details

• Authors: Jane Feather
• Publisher: Bantam Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 06.07.1999
• EAN: 9780553578966
• ISBN: 978-0-553-57896-6
• No. of pages: 329
• Dimensions: 106 mm x 175 mm x 23 mm
• Series: Bride Trilogy; Bride Trilogy
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Romance, FICTION / Romance / General