An Earl for the desperate bride (Regency Romance) (Regency Tales Book 1) by Regina Darcy Page A

Nathaniel was not prone to the incessant musings that afflicted many a gentlemen of his advanced age. That said, at the grand age of 28, surrounded by many a gentlemen who were already married, he was hard pressed to ignore the need to father a legitimate heir. This was one of the reasons he was now languishing in the Gloucestershire countryside. Bored to tears in London, he decided to visit his cousin at Langdon Manor. He had the misfortune to have agreed to stay for three whole weeks, when he had first arrived.
    After spending two weeks in the company of his nieces, he was happy to notice he had somewhat regained his senses. As he suspected, the delightful little monsters had been exactly what the doctor ordered. Five more days of Uncle Nathaniel this, Uncle Nathaniel that and he could rush back to London and freedom.
    Luckily, his boredom had been cut short as his dear friend Alden Haddington, the Earl of Beckton had come calling. They had known each other for several years. Both had served in the same regiment under the Duke of Staffordshire.
    Alden had particular strong, disapproving views on Nicholas’s string of mistresses. The irony was that the Earl was known to have left an equal trail of heartbroken beauties behind him. The only difference being, he had never touched them.
    Alden was currently an esteemed Member of Parliament. Although he was certainly very vocal in the House of Lords, Nathaniel was one of the few people who knew Alden found the challenge of conversing with the fairer sex, insurmountable. He had yet to finish a sensible conversation with any eligible young woman he had actual designs on. Half the broken hearts he left behind him were due to disinterest, and the rest due to an inability to approach the ladies in question.
    It was a longstanding joke between them, that at this rate he would die never having known a woman. However, despite their markedly different dispositions, his friendship with Nathaniel had remained strong over the years.
    “Nathaniel, are you listening?” the Earl queried bemused. “I see you are studiously avoiding the topic,” he continued as he climbed on to his horse.
    “What topic would that be?” Nathaniel replied, puzzled at the sudden line of questioning. His thoughts where elsewhere.
    “That of your self-imposed loneliness.”
    “Loneliness? That’s a bit harsh, my dear fellow.”
    “Pray tell, what would you call burying yourself in the countryside?” Alden asked with a raised eyebrow. Nathaniel shrugged.
    “Well, I am of the opinion that your loneliness would swiftly be solved by a matrimonial arrangement,” Alden continued dryly.
    “Good Grace! I am not yet at my deathbed to be sentenced to such domestic hell,” the Nathaniel exclaimed, “An incidental marriage is not something I aspire for in any near future.”
    The Viscount had no wish for Alden to get a whiff of the fact that he had very much been reconsidering his bachelor status for the last couple of weeks. Once the Earl fixated on an idea he didn’t let it be. Whilst this was useful in Parliament, it was highly annoying to his friends. Nathaniel had no intention of becoming his next pet project.
    The Earl laughed, then grew silent and said quietly:
    “How much longer are you going to let her treachery dictate your life?” His question was followed by a pregnant silence.
    “I do not know what you are referring to,” Nathaniel replied, squirming in his saddle.
    Alden seemed to sense his rising discomfort, and let that particular matter drop by changing the subject. “Sooner or later you will have to produce an heir,” he said instead. “You know as well as I do your cousin Albert is not the right man to wear your coronet with dignity.”
    Nathaniel laughed aloud. His cousin Albert was fat, bald and mostly intolerable. He turned in his saddle to face his friend. “Any woman I would marry would find me insufferable and swiftly be plotting my murder.”
    “Beget you heir first,” Alden