The Viscount Who Loved Me

The season has opened for the year of 1814, and there is little reason to hope that we will see any noticeable change from 1813. The ranks of society are once again filled with Ambitious Mamas, whose only aim is to see their Darling Daughters married off to Determined Bachelors. Discussion amongst the Mama fingers Viscount Bridgerton as this year’s most eligible catch, and indeed, if the poor man’s hair looks ruffled and windblown, it is because he cannot go anywhere without some young miss batting her eyelashes with such vigor and speed as to create a breeze of hurricane force. Perhaps the only young lady not interested in Bridgerton is Miss Kathrine Sheffield, and in fact, her demeanor toward the viscount occasionally borders on the hostile.

And that is why, Dear Reader, This Author feels that a match between Bridgeton and Miss Sheffield would be just the things to enliven an otherwise ordinary season.

LADY WHISTLEDOWN’S SOCIETY PAPERS, 13 APRIL 1814

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Anthony Bridgerton, a rake and confirmed bachelor, has decided it's time to marry and produce an heir, like his father and seven other generations of fathers before him. The woman must be intelligent, beautiful, calm, easy to live with, and no one with whom he would ever fall in love. Edwina Sheffield fits the bill on all accounts, only he must win the approval of her older sister Kate to win the match.

Kate is not beautiful but is pretty, intelligent but opinionated, and not easy though not difficult on purpose - in short, not the woman he is looking for. But in the course of trying to woo Edwina and persuade Kate to the match, his affections begin to sway. When he and Kate are caught in an unfortunate yet innocent compromising position, they are forced to marry despite his suit of her sister. There they are stuck in an acceptable life, she worried that he would always think of her sister first; he, terrified he is falling in love with his own wife.

Contrary to popular belief, Kate is quite sure that reformed rakes to not make the best husbands--and Anthony Bridgerton is the most wicked rogue of them all. Kate's determined to protect her sister--but she fears her own heart is vulnerable. And when Anthony's lips touch hers, she's suddenly afraid she might not be able to resist the reprehensible rake herself.