HOW TO WED A WARRIOR is the second book in the Broadswords
and Ballrooms by Christy English. As the author introduced
us in her first book to the Waters family, we know that Robert
and his brother Alexander Waters came to London to find an
English husband for their sister Mary Elizabeth. Now Alexander is happily
married, and Robert is taking the
responsibility for their wild sister, which is not an easy task.
So when his sister makes a scene in Hyde Park, Robert knows
he needs someone to help him forestall the inevitable
scandal; he hires widowed Prudence Whittaker to teach his
sister how to be a lady.
Robert has no idea that Prudence is not only a widow but
also the daughter of the ruined Earl of Lynwood. But what
happens when he finds out the truth? Lady Prudence needs money desperately so
working for Waters
is the best thing to happen to her in years...if only she could resist the
handsome highlander.
I really enjoyed reading HOW TO WED A WARRIOR, a sweet and fun romance with
danger, passion and secrets. I loved how the author, Christy English,
explained
more about Mary Elizabeth's situations as a secondary
character in the second book. Christy English's writing is
delightful and the characters are enjoyable with an adorable hero and strong
heroine. I like how Robert tries to be a gentleman! The plot and the romance
are
interesting because of the mystery of what happened to Prudence's
brother and how strong Prudence was in the dire situations.
I really am looking forward to read Mary Elizabeth's story!
He's the scourge of the Season...Reasons to quit London: 1. It's not the Highlands. 2. It will never be the Highlands. 3. It's full of the bloody English. When his wild spitfire of a sister makes a scene by drawing a claymore in Hyde Park, Highlander Robert Waters knows something must be done. To forestall the inevitable scandal, he hires widowed Prudence Whittaker to teach his sister how to be a lady-never expecting to find unbridled passion beneath the clever Englishwoman's prim exterior. Mrs. Whittaker is a fraud. Born Lady Prudence Farthington, daughter of the ruined earl of Lynwood, she's never even been married. In order to make her way in the world, she has to rely on her wits and a web of lies...lies a sexy Highlander is all too close to unraveling. He swears he will possess her; she vows he will do nothing of the sort. Yet as passions heat, Prudence comes to realize the illicit pleasure that can be had in going toe-to-toe with a Scot.
Excerpt
Why on God’s blessed green earth Robert Waters had chosen to listen to a single word the slip of a woman said, he did not know. But not only that, he found himself obeying her as she ordered him around as if he were her bootblack. Perhaps it was the blue of her eyes that did it, an indigo that was a sea for a man to drown in. No, not that. Robbie didn’t care a fig for a woman’s eyes. Perhaps it was her neat, curved figure, currently swathed in an abundance of hideous gray worsted wool and pale cream lace. He never noticed a woman’s clothes, but these were just ugly enough to repulse him, had they not contained the soft breasts and rounded behind of a woman of quality. How he knew she was quality, he could not say. Perhaps it was the snap in her eyes that had joined the snap in her voice when she spoke to him. Whatever the reason, he’d found himself standing back and allowing her to rescue his sister from herself in the middle of Hyde Park, in the middle of the fashionable hour. When he found his tongue again, Robert did not ask the name of the lady who now sat so primly beside him, for he was not at all sure that she would relinquish it. Instead, he used his reclaimed voice to browbeat his sister. “Mary Elizabeth, for the love of God, the English are going to burn us out! You benighted fool, how could you draw a blade on an Englishman in the middle of a London park in broad daylight? And not just an Englishman, but one of their lairds? Christ wept, Mary, you’ll get us all run out on a rail.” “Don’t be dramatic,” Mary Elizabeth answered, resting herself, as relaxed as you pleased, against the soft cushions of the fancy carriage seat. “The English won’t burn us out. We’re staying with the Duchess of Northumberland and they won’t touch the house of one of their own.” “They might kill us in the street the next time we chance to get your ices at Gunter’s,” he groused. “You might lower your voice a trifle, sir,” the lady said. “You seem to be attracting more unwanted attention.” Robert did not give a tinker’s dam for what the English thought of him, but he caught himself before he shouted again. He could smell the bossy, curvy woman beside him, and her perfume was making him even more irritable. She smelled of hyacinths and heather. He would swear, if he had not known better, that she smelled of home. He cursed himself for a fool and focused his mind where it belonged. Not on some spinster virgin who was trying to hide her beauty for some mad reason, but on his sister, who was certain to drive him to drown himself before the week was through. “What will Alex say when he hears you’ve drawn a sword in public?” Robert asked. Mary Elizabeth shrugged one shoulder, looking out over the traffic and the houses as they passed them. People had stopped nodding to them ever since Mary Elizabeth had shown them her steel, but simply stared as though they were apparitions or demons risen up from hell. Robert swore, out loud this time, and the bossy woman spoke. “I would thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head, if you please, sir. Pull over here,” she said, for all the world as if she paid him five pounds per annum as a servant boy. Robert looked at her, his eyebrow rising, but did as he was told. His mother had drummed into him the simple stricture: never hold a lady against her will. His gaze wandered along the front of the woman’s hideous gown, sussing out the sweet curve of her breasts beneath. Now, if she were a widow woman, or a woman of ill repute, there might be some negotiating to be done. Robert loved the company of women almost as much as he loved leaving them behind once they began to become tedious. But this one was tempting him to forget his good reason, and why he had come to London at all. No woman had ever tossed his bad manners back in his face before. He found that he liked it.
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