Anna was raised by an unconcern parent, Dr. Bristol. When her father died a year ago she was engaged as a drawing tutor for the daughters of local gentry, until she discovered that her father's unscrupulous assistant has been spying on her and selling her naked drawings to the Marquess of Henshaw. He wants to expose her as the model of THE BEAUTIFUL ONE.
Anna flees her home and works as a seamstress at Rosewood school. Now she agrees to escort Miss Elizabeth Tarryton to the home of Viscount Grandville, who is the girl's guardian. Will Halifax, the Viscount Grandville doesn't want to have his ward Lizzy in his house and only agrees to keep her for a month if Anna stays as the girl's governess. Since Anna needs money and is concerned about Lizzy she agrees to stay for a month but she is dreading the day when her identity is revealed.
THE BEAUTIFUL ONE is the first book I have read by Emily Greenwood and I love it. The characters are engaging and interesting, Anna is practical, intelligent and hiding her beauty. Will is brooding, handsome and attracted to Anna's beauty and spirit.
I love how Greenwood wrote the secondary characters because I couldn't guess if Lizzy (the Ward) and Will's stepmother were good or bad characters for most of the story. The sparring between the hero and heroine is enjoyable and entertaining.
THE BEAUTIFUL ONE is a delightful, emotional, and fun historical romance. Emily Greenwood engages you from the first page and you can't put the book down, I am looking forward to reading more books by her.
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 womanβs 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 βOβ as
a voice called from above, βLizzie?
Iβm ready for the owlet.β
βEr,β said Lizzie, looking at him. In the clear afternoon
light he noticed that her eyes were a
different color blue than Gingerβs had been. But the shape
was Gingerβs, as were the eyebrows. Not
her fault, but he couldnβt 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.
βMiss Black,β he said, knowing he could not avoid asking,
βwhat on earth are you doing?β
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.
βAh, my lord,β she said from above him. βGood afternoon.
Lizzie and I are engaged in returning a
fallen owlet to its nest. It was her idea. She is very
caring toward animals.β
He could feel Lizzieβs 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
hadnβt truly expected Anna Black to be
a typical sort of governess, had he?
βCome down at once.β
βIf you will wait just a moment, my lord,β she said
breezily, βI shall be down directly. Lizzie,
the owlet.β
Lizzie cleared her throat. βHere.β
He tapped her on the shoulder before she could lift her arms
farther. βGive me that creature,
please.β
She looked uncertain, but she clearly didnβt 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 didnβt 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.
βThe owlet, please,β she fairly ordered him.
βDonβt be ridiculous. Get down this instant before you fall.
I will return the owlet.β
βI 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.β
He grunted. Why did he keep finding himself in
out-of-his-control conversations with this
maddening woman?
In his palm the owletβs 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 didnβt 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 bodyβs 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
heβd 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 heβd observed in
her the night before had suggested
that sheβd 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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