Greville, who was fired from his job as estate manager and then abducted and pressed into the Royal Navy, returns after 8-month's service at sea a radically different man. Eager to obtain his release and pursue an honest career, he has little interest in the idle Society he used to frequent. But despite his vow to reform his rake's ways, how could he help but flirt with his host's beautiful daughter Amanda?
For her part, Amanda Neville has dreamed since childhood of becoming a brilliant Society hostess. She's not about to risk that goal by dallying with a younger son of little fortune, no matter how scandalously attractive he might be!
Author Note
I discovered the character of Greville Anders when I wrote FROM WAIF TO GENTLEMAN'S WIFE, his sister Joanna's story. In that book, we learn that Greville, a charming rake and only son much indulged by his family, has been fired for mismanaging the small estate given into his care by his cousin, the Marquess of Englemere. By the end of Joanna's book, we know it is Greville's farm manager who abused the tenants, embezzled money, and when Greville finally discovered his crimes, knocked him unconscious and sold him to a press gang. Though Joanna's story was over, I remained fascinated by Greville. What would happen to a landsman and gentleman of leisure when he is suddenly thrust into working as a common sailor'
I knew that the Greville who left England would not be the same man who returned, badly wounded, nine months later. As I began exploring his character, I realized that he would have to have suffered a sea change that turned all his notions of the world and his place in it upside down.
Enter Amanda Neville ' another minor character from WAIF. WAIF hero Ned Greaves, an enthusiastic agriculturalist like Amanda's father, Lord Bronning, met her while visiting her home and for a time, hoped she might make him the perfect wife. However, Amanda has no intention of staying mired in the country; her dream is to become a great political hostess, like her grandmother's friend Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.
Having already turned down Ned's offer, she's less than pleased when, while she preparing to leave for her London debut, the man whom her father agrees to house as a favor to the Marquess turns out to be a common sailor. She's even less pleased when this quite ineligible person, after changing his sailor's rags for proper gentlemanly attire, is far too attractive.
For his part, both amused and piqued by Amanda's thinly-veiled disdain, Greville decides to beguile his time by tweaking with some idle flirtation this girl who yearns to be part of a London Society he no longer values. Amanda would like to resist Greville'but the more time she spends in his company, the harder it is to remind herself that he is nothing like the sort of rich, powerful, politically-well-connected man she seeks for a husband.
Watching the two of them try to resist each other was great fun. I hope you'll enjoy it as well.
© 2003-2026