Anna Black is betrayed in the worst kind of way in possibly the scandal of the decade. A book is circulating the society featuring nude sketches of a striking figure, titled "THE BEAUTIFUL ONE". The ton is buzzing wanting to know the identity of this mysterious female. The problem is that this female never volunteered for such pictures and now is on the brink of being forever ruined. Determined not to let the perpetrator and the blackmailer get the best of her, she runs away. Fate has other plans, and soon she is tasked to bring Viscount Granville's ward to him.
The last thing Will Halifax, the Viscount Granville, wants is to have Anna, who reminds him so much of his beloved, departed wife, underfoot. Nor does he want this willful, impertinent tomboyish woman who tempts him like no other since his wife passed away, but he needs someone to take care of his ward till he makes other arrangements. So for the time being Anna has to stay. Having her around makes Will want desperately not to feel so dead anymore. He wants to feel again, but the more he interacts with Anna, the more he begins to like her for her; it's no longer just attraction.
Initially apprehensive and wary, Anna begins to see the life in Will, to see beyond his cold demeanour, and she begins to thaw his heart as she falls in love. On the other hand, time is running out and the only two men who know the identity of THE BEAUTIFUL ONE are searching the land looking for her. She cannot bear to tarnish Will & his family's good name, nor leave before repairing the relationship and securing Lizzie, his ward's future. Despite the hope blooming, the secret needs to be kept and Anna needs to go.
THE BEAUTIFUL ONE is a heart-warming tale of a woman who loses her home and independence thanks to the lecherous attention of a man her father trusted and a member of the ton looking for his own interests. Despite her wariness and cynicism of men, she has lots of love in her heart and hopes for a future where there is no threat. I love Anna's loyalty and fierceness for wanting to protect her temporary ward and the man she has come to love.
Will is a man with strong notions of what is right and wrong. He is stubborn, unwilling to move from his stance once he makes up his mind and has a strong sense of honour in fighting for what he believes is unfair. They both have their flaws, which the author, Emily Greenwood, has not hesitated to show us, and they both have their strengths you can see as they come into their own. Together they complement each other and I love the person Will became once his heart thawed.
The character which most intrigued me in this story is Lizzie, and I felt sorry for her especially with the way both Anna and Will handled her. I know they had their own issues and sorrow to deal with, but they are grownups and independent people, while Lizzie is still a young girl. They failed to see until too late that she too suffered from losing her whole family and home at her age and needed their attention and love. She needed to be taught to be her own person, not what she thought others wanted to give her the love she craved. Much more than they do, in my honest opinion. I hope she gets her own story soon. The ending also feels rushed, even though Ms. Greenwood coveres all the ends beautifully. Still something felt missing; maybe I wanted to see the perpetrators punished even more severely...though kudus to Will; I love what he did to them and for Anna. THE BEAUTIFUL ONE is a summertime read for those who like unconventional heroines of this time period.
A PICTURE SAYS A THOUSAND WORDS... The
ton is buzzing about The Beautiful One, a striking figure
in
a scandalous book of nude sketches. Only two men know the
true identity of The Beautiful One, and they are scouring
the countryside, determined to find her.
BUT
NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES The unlikely
center
of the scandal, Anna Black is forced to flee home as
disaster looms. Her tomboy's heart and impertinent tongue
serve her well when she meets the most brooding viscount
ever to darken a drawing room. Will Halifax, Viscount
Grandville, has his reasons for pushing people away, and
when his tempestuous teenaged ward arrives on his
doorstep,
he presses Anna to take on her care. As Anna begins to
melt
the Viscount's frozen heart, she knows the more she
loves,
the more she has to lose. For although Will cares nothing
for what makes Society titter, he has yet to see The
Beautiful One.
EXCERPT
Rounding the edge of the wood at the back of Stillwell, he
was startled to see his ward standing
about. She was looking up at a tree in which, from the
movement of its leaves and branches, some
large creature seemed to be thrashing. A crow?
As he drew nearer to the oblivious Lizzie, he was almost
certain he heard a womanโs voice coming
from among the leaves. Lizzie stepped closer to the tree and
lifted her hands upward, and he saw
that on a thick branch perhaps six feet off the ground were
perched two feet in past-their-prime
dark ankle boots, and above them he was treated to a view of
trim calves he could not regret. The
surrounding leaves and branches mostly obscured the rest of
his recently hired governess. In the
instant before Lizzie became aware of Will, he saw that she
held in her cupped hands a fluffy
white ball.
Lizzie turned and saw him, her mouth forming into an โOโ as
a voice called from above, โLizzie?
Iโm ready for the owlet.โ
โEr,โ said Lizzie, looking at him. In the clear afternoon
light he noticed that her eyes were a
different color blue than Gingerโs had been. But the shape
was Gingerโs, as were the eyebrows. Not
her fault, but he couldnโt go the route of compassion. It
would only muddy what had to be. He
looked past her and lifted a hand to rub his eyes.
โMiss Black,โ he said, knowing he could not avoid asking,
โwhat on earth are you doing?โ
There was a pause as she absorbed his arrival and a shifting
of the feet on the branch near his
forehead as they drew together, perhaps in an attempt at
modesty.
โAh, my lord,โ she said from above him. โGood afternoon.
Lizzie and I are engaged in returning a
fallen owlet to its nest. It was her idea. She is very
caring toward animals.โ
He could feel Lizzieโs big blue eyes on him though his own
were still covered by his hand. He had
no doubt as to whose idea it had been to climb the tree. He
hadnโt truly expected Anna Black to be
a typical sort of governess, had he?
โCome down at once.โ
โIf you will wait just a moment, my lord,โ she said
breezily, โI shall be down directly. Lizzie,
the owlet.โ
Lizzie cleared her throat. โHere.โ
He tapped her on the shoulder before she could lift her arms
farther. โGive me that creature,
please.โ
She looked uncertain, but she clearly didnโt want to
displease him, and she handed over the
motionless owl. He took it carefully from her and did not
return her tentative smile. He could
feel her eagerness for him to acknowledge her, but he let it
flow past him.
The leaves and branches above them shook as Anna Black
crouched down and extended her hand for the
animal. Her bonnet, the same horrible blue one, had fallen
on its strings around her neck again,
and her hair, apparently loosened by her climb, curled
crazily about her face as if she were some
unkempt urchin, accentuating her pert nose and reminding him
of her jack-in-the-box appearance
from the coach.
Her pink lips pressed outward at the sight of him; doubtless
she was annoyed by his arrival, but
her expression didnโt draw an answering wave of annoyance
from him. Instead, her lips were making
him wonder, unaccountably, what it might feel like to be
kissed all over by pink butterflies.
โThe owlet, please,โ she fairly ordered him.
โDonโt be ridiculous. Get down this instant before you fall.
I will return the owlet.โ
โI am already positioned to do so. If you will just give it
to me, I can put it back and then
receive your displeasure properly on the ground.โ
He grunted. Why did he keep finding himself in
out-of-his-control conversations with this
maddening woman?
In his palm the owletโs heart beat with a rapid, stressed
flutter. He reached up his hand, and she
gently took the animal and disappeared into the foliage.
From above came a few rustling noises, then the angry
screech of what had to be an adult owl and a
yelp. Fearing Miss Black would fall, he stepped forward to
catch her, but at that same moment she
jumped neatly down, so that she landed right in front of him.
He grabbed her arms, a reflex to steady her. She didnโt need
his help, but their eyes locked, and
for a moment he read vulnerability there before it was
replaced with the hard glint of
independence. She smelled like sunshine and crushed leaves,
and he felt the slim softness of her
arms and his bodyโs yearning to hug her close.
She stepped away from him. It had all happened in the space
of a few moments.
But as he watched her brush some leaves from her skirts with
her head down, that vulnerability
heโd glimpsed tugged at him. Who was this woman? Where had
she come from? She was clearly educated
and intelligent, and though she was too forthright and she
dressed terribly, she was not rough,
merely unusual.
That life-on-the-edge-of-propriety quality heโd observed in
her the night before had suggested
that sheโd known some hardship, or that she had some burden
she might trade for money. And yet
today, in the company of his ward, she looked at ease, even
if her eyes seemed to be hiding
something.
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