Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady. Diane Gaston

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       Jack watched her as they crossed the courtyard. Ariana’s party continued to the Strand, where a line of carriages waited. In a moment Jack would have to head home. This would be his last glimpse of her.

      She turned and caught sight of him. Her face lit up and took his breath away. His gaze locked with hers, and he thought he sensed the same regret in her eyes that was gnawing at his insides.

      ‘Goodbye,’ she mouthed, before being assisted into a shiny, elegant barouche.

      Jack watched her until he could see the carriage no more. He tried to engrave her image upon his memory but could feel it fading with each moment. He needed to reach his studio. He needed paper and pencil. He needed to draw her before the image was lost to him as well.

       Praise forDiane Gaston:

       SCANDALISING THE TON

      ‘[Gaston’s] sensitive, compassionate and sensual romance shows how the power of love can overcome adversity.’

       —RT Book Reviews

       INNOCENCE AND IMPROPRIETY

      ‘Diane Gaston’s unconventional male and female heroes give INNOCENCE AND IMPROPRIETY, her latest elegantly written Regency historical, a refreshingly different twist.’

       —Chicago Tribune

      ‘If you are weary of aristocratic heroes and heroines in Regency historical romances, then Diane Gaston’s INNOCENCE AND IMPROPRIETY is just the book for you. Well-written and entertaining…provocative…highly recommended!’

       —Romance Readers Connection

       A REPUTABLE RAKE

      ‘…a delightful and thought-provoking look into a side of London we don’t usually get to see.’

       —Romance Junkies

       THE WAGERING WIDOW

      ‘The protagonists are so deeply sculpted into living, breathing individuals that the reader will immediately be feeling their emotional turmoil…the entire tone of the book is steeped in sensuality…reading of the highest order!’

       —Historical Romance Writer

       THE MYSTERIOUS MISS M

      ‘Wow…it’s a real emotional roller-coaster ride…you simply cannot put [it] down—absolutely mesmerising!…an unusual gritty Regency, packing such an emotional punch.’

       —Historical Romance Writer

      ‘This is a Regency with the gutsiness of a Dickens novel. It’s not always pretty, but it’s real and passionate. Gaston’s strong, memorable debut provides new insights into the era and characters that touch your heart and draw you emotionally into her powerful story.’

       —RT Book Reviews

      Gallant Officer,

      Forbidden Lady

      Diane Gaston

      MILLS & BOON®

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      As a psychiatric social worker, Diane Gaston spent years helping others create real-life happy endings. Now Diane crafts fictional ones, writing the kind of historical romance she’s always loved to read. The youngest of three daughters of a US Army Colonel, Diane moved frequently during her childhood, even living for a year in Japan. It continues to amaze her that her own son and daughter grew up in one house in Northern Virginia. Diane still lives in that house, with her husband and three very ordinary housecats.

      Visit Diane’s website at http://dianegaston.com

      MILLS & BOON

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       Previous novels by the same author:

      THE MYSTERIOUS MISS M

       THE WAGERING WIDOW

       A REPUTABLE RAKE

       INNOCENCE AND IMPROPRIETY

       A TWELFTH NIGHT TALE

      (in A Regency Christmas anthology)

      THE VANISHING VISCOUNTESS

       SCANDALISING THE TON

       JUSTINE AND THE NOBLE VISCOUNT

      (in Regency Summer Scandals)

       …and in eBook Mills & Boon® Historical Undone!:

      THE UNLACING OF MISS LEIGH

       In memory of my father, Colonel Daniel J. Gaston, who showed me the honour of soldiers

       Prologue

      Badajoz Spain—1812

      Jack Vernon dodged through the streets and alleys of Badajoz as if the very devil were at his heels. Several devils, in fact.

      Drunken, marauding British soldiers poured out of doorways and set buildings afire, the flames illuminating their gargoyle-like faces. Bodies of their victims littered the pavement, French soldiers and ordinary citizens, men, women and children, their bright-hued Spanish clothing stained red with blood. Jack’s ears rang with the roar of the fires, screams of women, wails of babies, but no sound was as terrible as the laughter of madmen with a lust to rape, plunder and pillage.

      Jack gripped his pistol in his hand while several red-coated marauders chased him, hoping for the few coins in his pockets. These were the same men at whose sides СКАЧАТЬ