Excerpt from the Book
Nevis, British Leeward Islands 1814
Harrison Beaumont Wells straightened and folded his jacket over his arm. The prim, fashionable beauty standing on the beach, dressed from head to toe in a pale shade of pink, didn’t match the description Fredrick Lennox had given of his daughter: a hoyden romp of a girl, unkempt and unpolished, with white-gold hair. Her bonnet covered her head so that he couldn’t determine her hair color, but he rejected the sophisticated, gently bred lady as a possibility. Fredrick spoke of his beloved, impetuous daughter like a son.
She held her shoulders back and her chin high in a regal pose as she watched the men row back to the ship. Her curves narrowed into a tiny waist that was probably no bigger than the span of his hands. Despite the heat, her properly gloved hands clasped her parasol in front of her, but the brisk breeze surely made such a thing impossible to use. She peered at the dock, toward the underdressed slaves laboring to load the supplies for their masters, but then she demurely averted her eyes.
She couldn’t be Fredrick’s daughter. However, the only other female who stepped off that ship was a matronly one, much too old and frail to be Fredrick’s youngest child. He had no other options, so he pushed off the rock and stepped onto the sandy beach. He’d ask the woman outright.
As his boots sank into the soft sand, he watched her wave to the departing ship and call out what he assumed to be bon voyage, but the wind swept away her words. She ran to the edge of the water and furiously waved both her arms. His jaw tensed. Had she developed a tender heart for one of the sailors? Some bird-witted chit, thinking she was half in love with a man who had a doxy in every port, was not going to survive on this island.
The woman lifted her skirts and waded into the water. Shaking his head, he muttered, “Lord help her, she’s nicked in the nob and halfway to Bedlam.”
If she had any sense, she’d give up and come back. The water rose to her knees. The noise from the dock dwindled as other men craned their necks to watch the happenings. She would turn around at any moment.
“Georgia!” the matronly woman’s back straightened. “Oh, my heavens, Georgia come back. You’ll drown.”
Georgia. Harrison’s jaw clenched. Fredrick’s youngest daughter’s name was Georgia.
God, I was trying to do a good deed for a friend. Please, don’t let this be difficult.
A wave crashed, the brunt of it almost knocking her over.
The weight of her sodden skirts alone would drown her. None of the men on shore attempted to go in after her.
Harrison stepped to the edge of the water. His boots sank into the wet sand. In his best reprimanding tone, he yelled, “Miss Lennox, come back or the undertow will pull you out to sea.”
Maybe his words would scare her into turning around. But she continued to wade deeper.
Blast! If he’d known he was going for a swim, he wouldn’t have worn his Hessians.
Want to know more about the book?
When love comes in a tempest, who knew it would wear pink?
Georgia Lennox has traded in her boyish ways for pink gowns and a coy smile to capture the eye of the Earl of Claremont. However, on the day she’s convinced the earl will propose, Georgia is shipped off to the Leeward Islands to care for her ailing father. But when she arrives on Nevis, the last thing she expects is to learn that her abrupt departure was not at her father’s bidding but that of the infuriating, yet captivating, island schoolmaster. And now her plans may well be shipwrecked.
Harrison Wells is haunted by the memories of his deceased wife and hunted by the women who aspire to be the next Duchess of Linton. Desiring anonymity, he finds sanctuary in the Leeward island of Nevis. He’s willing to sacrifice his ducal title for a schoolmaster’s life and the solace the island provides. That is, until unrest finds its way to Nevis in a storm of pink chiffon—Miss Georgia Lennox.
As Georgia and Harrison’s aspirations break apart like a ship cast upon the rocks, a new love surfaces, but secrets and circumstances drag them into rough waters. Can they surrender their hearts to a love that defies their expectations?
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About the Author
Lorri Dudley is the bestselling author of The Leeward Island Series and The Agents of Espionage Series and has been a finalist in numerous writing contests. She has a master’s degree in psychology and lives in Ashland, Massachusetts with her husband and three teenage sons, where writing romance allows her an escape from her testosterone filled household.
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