To Enchant a Rakish Viscount (Preview)

Prologue

The future Earl Brian studied his father, Henry, with frustration that turned into irritability. He tried his best to understand his methods without having to question them. Asking questions often made him feel stupid. But sometimes they were important and needed to be asked. Even if it made him uncomfortable to do so.

“Father, why on earth do you insist on me spending the summer at our country estate. I have been trying to understand it but have not found a single reason as to how it makes sense.”

He waited for his father’s response which took its time to come out. Within that time, the regret filled Brian’s heart. He had felt like he had lost a battle with himself, which was the worst kind of battle to lose.

He wished that he could have blamed his father for creating that stigma in his mind. The one that made him dislike himself. Or perhaps it was Brian’s own fault, he was not sure. Either way, he wished that he could void himself of those insecure thoughts.

He remembered when his father had first explained to him that that’s how it would be. There was no waver in his tone, no room for a question or anything of the sort. That’s how it would be, and there would be no way around it. Brian was used to that sentiment as that’s how many things went between him and his father.

“Because it would be good to reacquaint yourself with the neighbourhood. In my time of living, one thing that I have learned is that there is a great benefit to remember your roots and where your upbringing took place. There are many lessons that should not be forgotten in that short period of life.”

Brian reflected on that but could not recall a single lesson from his upbringing. All he could remember was heartache and tragedy. That wasn’t his father’s fault in the slightest, but he did wonder if his father meant the words that he was spewing.

Self-awareness was not lost on Brian. As a matter of fact, that was one of his better traits. He knew himself better than most people knew him. And his behaviour in the past years had not been ideal. His father had known that as well. Deciding whether or not his father’s words were a veiled reference to that or not was not easily deciphered. On the one hand, having him stay on the estate could have been a means to calm his behaviour. Or, on the other hand, his father could have been telling the truth in trying to make him remember where he came from.

“You are quiet,” his father added. “I take it that my words mean nothing to you?”

“It is not that they mean nothing, Father. I just have a hard time believing that they come from an honest place.”

His father let out a chuckle, seemingly unmoved by the forwardness in his son’s response. “A man is only quick to accuse when his own heart isn’t pure. Why would you suggest that my words are anything but truthful with you, son? I want nothing but the best. And the best takes patience, remembrance, a look at one’s own self. You don’t often do that. All you do is living in the present with no regard for the future and no respect for the past. Have you not learned anything?”

There was the frustration in his father’s words that he had expected before, but which had arrived late. Brian could not have disagreed more with his father. They were different men. Brian didn’t respect the past because it had done nothing but hurt him. And the future, that was not guaranteed. Ironically, his views on the future were spawned from his past. It was one trait that he never wished to steal from his father. His father did everything except live in the present. He languished in studying the past as though it were still breathing. He planned for the future while never paying attention to what was before him. Living like that sickened Brian. He was proud of his ability to enjoy his life to the fullest. Being on the estate would not help in that cause.

“Father, I think that you want me on the estate because of the society papers hinting at my rakish behaviour more than anything else. And I think that’s folly. The papers do nothing but exaggerate everything.”

“Son, exaggeration always comes from somewhere, and half the time, the exaggerated offence is no less heinous. It is time that you take responsibility for yourself. No one else is going to.”

His father’s words had made him feel somewhat alone, as though he was no longer his father’s little boy anymore. Brian could not tell what felt worse, feeling that way, or realising the truth in his father’s words.

“Then what do you expect of me, father? Live out my days in an ordinary, predictable life? I could get that experience just by looking at the apple salesman outside. Or I could read a book and get much the same. There is no thrill in that for me. I enjoy exploring. I enjoy the unpredictable. It makes me feel alive. I don’t want to know what comes next. That is the death of experience.”

Once again, his father let a pause sit between them. He was hard to read, even after a lifetime of knowing him. His father’s thoughts were in the level of unpredictability that Brian wanted to live in.

“Is that what you think?” his father asked. There had never been a set of five words that ever felt more loaded.

“Yes. That is what I think. It is hard to just follow in your footsteps and plan out my entire life the way you do. It takes the fun out of everything.”

His father sent his eyes to his son from the papers before him. “Brian. I admire that you are able to see life in a positive light, even after what has happened in yours. But the truth is, life is filled with pain and sorrow. You cannot avoid it. You cannot minimise it. And one day, if you don’t plan correctly, you will be overwhelmed with all the hardships that have piled up on your shoulders. Life is to be enjoyed the same way that a soldier enjoys war. There will always be moments in between gunfire where he can smell a flower, write a letter to his lover, bask in the beauty of the sky. But the war itself does not end until his life does if he’s lucky. If you’re not careful, Brian, the wounds will build up.”

Brian had heard that story once before and had since tried to forget it. It was one of those analogies that his father loved to tell over and over as if it assured him that he was living his own life in the right way. Brian would never tell him such a thing. Instead, he listened to the story as many times as he’d tell it.

“So again, then what it is that you are suggesting for me, Father? I am a grown man. I am able to deal with the truth no matter the annoyance it may bring with it.”

His father pursed his lips and gave him an unflinching stare. “Perhaps you should return to town with a wife—one of the girls you used to play with. If you are the man that you say you have grown into, then it is about time that enabled some structure in your life. Wives are good anchors. An anchor is what you need.”

Brian thought back to three girls that were chasing after himself and his two friends. But he did not want to settle for that. That would be giving in to his father’s advice. For whatever reason, doing that did not sit well with his pride. And he wasn’t sure whether or not he was ready for that type of commitment.

Taking a wife was not like pouring oneself a drink. You did not just walk away from it when you were finished. There was no being finished with a wife. A wife was a full-time job, someone that you needed to dedicate yourself to, through and through. Did Brian have that within him? It surely did not seem so.

It was an ability that his father had been good at. Taking a wife was a part of life that his father had been born to do. It had structure, predictability, and routine. All the elements that Henry wanted his son to indulge in. They were also all the elements that Brian felt to be boring, suffocating, and depriving of life. Where was the fun in waking up next to the same person every day? Where was the fun in having to answer to someone after years of growing up with strict parents who required much the same? When was Brian allowed to be free of expectation and responsibility? The moment that Brian became old enough to enjoy life, his father expected more rituals and discipline from him. How was that at all fair? It was not.

The notion of taking a wife wasn’t all gloomy, though. Brian could see the benefits of the institution of marriage. He could not deny that one day he did desire offspring. And at times, he knew what loneliness was. The idea of always having a woman there to remedy that and share life with wasn’t a terrible idea when seeing it from that perspective. The options were indeed there.

The first of three was Marianne. She had always been pretty and only got prettier as time went on. The way her eyes would meet with Brian’s would always leave him in a trance that he had a difficult time breaking from. He found that to be concerning. It was one thing to be pretty, but to be pretty enough where he lost himself, that could pose him with problems down the line.

With Marianne, there was also the matter of her being trouble. She was the hard-headed type, someone who needed things to be her way or no way. And that was not a personality that Brian could see himself meshing well with, not in the short-term and certainly not in the long-term.

He wondered if he was someone who looked for flaws in people as an excuse, or had he been realistic with his judgements?

It wasn’t the case with Leah, he knew that much. Leah was a pretty girl as well. She was also smart and loyal, two traits that Brian loved in women. Intellect was a characteristic that he had always found attractive. Perhaps it was because he had never deemed himself a genius. Therefore, he had desired someone who could balance himself in that area. The problem with Leah did not lay in her character or anything related to it. It didn’t even rest on attraction. The problem was that she had been his friend’s sister. That didn’t sit right with him. Brian could never woo someone that was the sister or his dearest friend.

Finally, there was Harper, the annoying one. No matter how many times Brian imagined himself in a romantic situation with Harper, he could not get past her annoying tendencies. There was no attraction there whatsoever. Even if there was and Brian had not realised it, then the attraction had been buried away deep. Even so, Brian had no desire to go find it.

“Father, you know of the three women who have made their interests known. I do not need to go over their backgrounds with you. The thing is, marrying one of them was mother’s wish. Not my own.”

It was then that his father went still. And Brian immediately wished that he had not brought up his mother. To call it a sore subject would have been an understatement.

Chapter One

The gown that Leah handed to Harper, the daughter of a viscount, was beautiful in colour and designed to where every single thread seemed to have an important purpose. Harper could not help but to imagine herself wearing it.

“This dress is far too good for me, Leah. I cannot accept it. Just look at the fine lace, and the beauty in the shoulders. I would make this dress look less valuable,” Harper said to Leah.

“Oh, stop that. You must be not only kind to yourself, but realistic. You are the one that will make this dress beautiful. As my mother would always say, it is not the dress that makes the girl, but the girl that makes the dress.”

Leah always knew the exact words to make Harper think better of herself. If there was one aspect of Leah that Harper would have taken to give to herself, it would have been her wisdom.

Harper had always felt that she lacked perspective. Not only concerning the world, but herself. It wasn’t easy to see herself in the way others did. Half the time, she was concerned with coming off as irritating or lacking in confidence. Surrounding herself with people like Leah would often negate those sentiments but only to an extent. There was only so much inspiration that she could steal from her friends. Whether it was life or something as trivial as a dress.

That day, Harper gave her best attempt at putting those insecurities aside to focus on her birthday. She was turning twenty-two years old and was preparing for the ball in her honour.

For some reason, her birthday was different from past years. Even though it was not a major milestone of any sorts, like the day she first bled, or the year she left her teens and turned twenty. Yet still, the day held a weight to it. It caused her to fear the moment and retreat inside her thoughts. Because when it came to her feelings, she always needed to know the reasoning behind them.

Going back to the day on which she had first bled, she had been twelve years of age, and that day fell exactly two weeks from her birthday. The moment that she looked down on her blankets and realised the day of womanhood had arrived, a profound sadness had washed over her. And Harper could not understand why.

She had always envisioned the day. Relief, happiness that she had crossed over into a new stage of her life, that’s what Harper had anticipated. Being a child and being looked at as one had run its course. Growing up was an attractive prospect. She could even start daydreaming about what marriage would look like for her one day.

The opposite happened and that bothered her greatly. How could she be sad on such a monumental day? Instead of relief, why was there grief? Why did she feel like a sudden weight had been placed on her shoulders?

“Harper?” the maid had said while poking her head into the room. “What is the matter—” Her eyes quickly fell to the bright red stain in the middle of the bed and a gasp fled her. Her sudden loss for words was funny to Harper. But not the normal type of funny. Her impending laugh was born from nerves. It never came, though. She remained still on the bed. 

The maid came running over and gave Harper a long hug. “It is okay feel…whatever it is that you are feeling.” The maid’s eyes drifted from Harper to the sheet. She must have been dying to get rid of the thing and clean it. A maid’s instinct, nonetheless. 

“Is it wrong that I feel sad?” Harper asked.

“No, not at all.”

“Why do I feel sad? I thought that I’d feel grown and happy once this happened.”

The maid did not say anything for a moment. It made Harper regret asking. But then the maid finally said, “I do not know. But it will be all right.”

That had been the first time in Harper’s life that she needed to understand the motives behind her thoughts. If she felt sad, why did she feel that way? If she felt stressed, what was causing it? If she could always figure out the reasoning behind her emotions, then that would be the first step to controlling them, avoiding them, and everything in between.

It was not easy on that day with the party growing closer and closer. Just as had happened a decade ago, Harper had anticipated happiness on her twenty-second birthday. The more that she asked herself why she felt the way she did, the more she understood that it was most likely because every day she got older, the more she started to feel as though time was running out. Another year in age meant less time to read, less time to see the world, less time to find a husband, and less time to start a family. Twenty-two was not a fun age. To Harper, it was a sore reminder that everyone was getting older, and life would not last forever. No matter how beautiful the dress before her was.

“What is it? You do not seem like yourself today? Leah asked, being the ever-observant friend that she was. She tended to put more concern into what others were feeling than herself. Always.

“I am well,” Harper lied. She then looked at the dress and compared it to most things in her life. Something so beautiful would be old news in but a few hours. There was no need to look any further into why she felt that way because she knew of her own tendency to grow bored easily. And perhaps that lent a hand to that sensation of fleeting time. There was only so much of it that she had left to stimulate her high standards of expectation.

“I am going to go try the dress on.” Before she went to try the dress on, she stopped and turned to Leah. “Again, are you certain that you—”

“Yes. The dress is yours. It is your birthday. Do not ask again,” she said with a laugh.

Harper nodded and walked into her oversized closet for privacy. The closet was a room to itself. Lined on the walls were Harper’s various other dresses and corsets organised and separated by shades of colour, starting from the lightest shade of beige all the way down to the deepest shade of blue. On two of the walls, parallel to one another, were mirrors.

As Harper pulled on the dress, made aware immediately by the matter of Leah being a few inches thinner than she was, she hoped that she would love the dress while wearing it, just as much as she did out of it. When it was on, she gave herself a once over in the mirror and was more than happy with her appearance. It changed her outlook on the day by a sliver. It was enough to make her smile and carry a semblance of hope that her twenty-second year in the world would bring her great experiences and life changes for the better. What those would be, she tried not to think about too much. Surprises were always better.

Harper walked out from the closet to a look of astonishment in the eyes of Leah.

“You look really great, Harper. People will not be able to take their eyes from you at the party for sure.”

The sincerity in Leah’s eyes explained how much she believed her own words.

“Are you sure? I feel like I look fat, especially around the waist area.”

“Not at all. The dress looks better on you than it ever did on me. You know that I’d be honest otherwise.”

That was true. As sweet, kind, and sincere Leah could be, she could also be appropriately honest. She was always the type to deliver her honest words, no matter how harsh they were, they still came out as kind.

“That is good then. At least I shall feel good about myself at the party.”

“There you go again,” Leah said. “You seem rather pessimistic today.”

There was no point in hiding the truth. “If I am to be honest, I am feeling pressure. Twenty-two is one of the years where everything should be coming together. But here I am, still the same person that I was when I was twelve. Should I have made more progress in my life by now? That is what I am wondering. Parties are all well and good. But once the birthday ball is over, it is back to the same life.”

Leah nodded in agreement but also with what looked to be an answer already in the chamber. “I have learned that time can either be tremendously frightening or extraordinarily enlightening.”

“How so? Because as of right now, I am frightened that time is no longer on my side.”

“Well, my father helped me to see it like this. There are two types of people. Those who eat an apple and midway through get sad that they are almost finished. Or you’re the type of person that finishes half an apple and feels happy that they have half an apple left. The beauty of that is you get to choose which one of those people you are.”

“Easier said than done. I have spent my whole life worrying about the other half of that apple.”

Leah laughed and fluffed the shoulders of Harper’s dress. “Then today is the day you make the change. You have a great dress to help you do so. Perhaps it can even help you to get engaged.”

“Engaged! Ha! I should be so lucky.”

“There is no luck involved. Just you.”

Harper thought deeply about the word engaged. It felt like a giant monster that was impossible to bring down to size. Where would she even begin with such a concept? Was she even ready for that? Being engaged to someone wasn’t just like choosing what shoes to wear, nor was it easy to put those shoes on. Or at least, that’s how Harper saw it.

Being engaged would require more than just knowing a man for her. She would really need to know him beyond the surface level. Harper could barely plan her day, let alone plan an entire life with someone. What would that process even look like?

“Leah, I thought your job was to calm me down, not put more fear into me.”

Leah laughed once more. “You fear all the wrong things.” She took a seat at the end of Harper’s bed. “Your potential fiancé should be the one stressing out there in the world, not you.”

Even though Leah was right as usual, Harper wasn’t that type of person. As confident as she may have come off to people, she had her internal doubts. “And who is that man, to be exact? Who in this world is perfect for me? Perfect enough to spend the rest of their life by my side.”

“Surely you have someone or more than just someone in mind?”

The only one that came to Harper’s mind was a man named James. He was a gallant stranger who was new to the neighbourhood who had shown a clear interest in Harper. Just thinking about him was enough to make her blush. That was someone that she would not have minded receiving a proposal from. She wished that he would do it soon. Would the party be too soon, though?

“You are thinking of James, aren’t you?” Leah asked.

“Perhaps. Am I wrong for that?”

“Not at all. He seems like a decent suitor. A little mysterious for my taste, though.”

Hearing Leah say that was one of the few times that reminded Harper that her friend was indeed not perfect. For the last several years, Harper, Leah, and their friend Marianne had been out. In that time, they had made themselves available in the normal ways that women would. Socialising at events, being accompanied to markets, attending whatever weddings they were invited to. The friends were all similar in that respect. They all lead similar lives with the same goals, goals that were best left not too forced, but still attempted to find a suitor.

Seeing someone like Leah not find one, as bad as it was to think it, made Harper feel better. Because Leah was as close to perfect as perfect could be. She had the beauty, the heart, the personality, and the intellect. She had it all. Yet, she was still not engaged to be married. If she couldn’t find anyone, then surely Harper could not have been the problem.

The only flaw in that, was knowing Leah and Marianne seemed to avoid men. That was one clear reason why those two had not gotten engaged. Maybe if they had put in more of an effort, more than just being polite at social gatherings, then they would surely find a suitor. Leah especially. But Harper wasn’t sure if she had just been looking at that in a way to make herself feel bad. She knew that it was never good to compare anyway. It was just hard not to. Her friends were her closest people in life. What they went through, she went through.

Harper knew her problem wasn’t so much that she avoided men, she simply found them dull. James was the only exception.

In the past, any man that would flirt with her could not hold her interest for very long. She knew why. Most of them would just speak about themselves and their accomplishments. That never made her feel wanted. That never made her feel as though they had any interest in her. It was strange. She found that men would try to convey their interest by showing off rather than by getting to know her. Of course, that all derived from attempts at impressing her, but even knowing that it did nothing for her attraction.

James never went on about himself. He tended to convey whatever it was he had to, through his actions alone. That was where Leah most likely found him to be mysterious. Leah and Marianne were not great with analysing themselves like Harper. Harper understood why she liked who she liked and why she disliked who she disliked. To Leah, quiet and strong was mysterious. But to Harper, those were attractive traits. Even the way he would laugh, always with a restrained essence like he didn’t want to go over the top in emotion, made Harper want to crack that shell of his.

“Why do you think we’ve been single for so long, Harper? It seems that every other day some woman with a terrible outlook on life and behaviour to match receives a ring and a man on one knee. And here we are talking about men as if they are mythical creatures that require magic to obtain.”

They both laughed and Harper was flattered that Leah asked her opinion. It was as though they were thinking the same thing. “Perhaps we value our friendship over romance a little too much? All of the women, ones I’ve noticed at least, have no friends.”

They both laughed again, and Harper joined Leah on the end of the bed. It brought her back to when they were younger.

They had grown up together and had seen each other through the worst and best of times. In many ways, Harper did not want life to change. The life she had been living, although boring at times, seemed simple enough. Change was never easy, and just talking about another year gone with her best friend saddened her.

“What do you think life will look like when we grow older?” Leah had asked her when they were twelve. 

“It will look like this, but we will have more wrinkles.” 

Leah had laughed. “What about families? Do you ever think of what that will look like for us?”

Even though Harper had been young, she thought about it all too often. Raising a family scared her. In watching her mother, even though it was not a complicated life, being a mother seemed like a lot of responsibility. And Harper wasn’t sure that she was up to the task. It would take a lot of strength and wisdom. How did her mother gain all that knowledge? Just by being alive? The whole role of motherhood was a never-ending battle where sleep and fun had all but left. 

“Speaking in honesty, I am scared to start a family. I am not as strong as my mother.” It felt good to say it out loud to someone. Holding that fear in for so long had made her heart feel heavy and like she was less of a girl. 

Leah extended a look as though she had been aware of how much Harper’s words reigned serious. “Do not feel guilty for that, as I too wonder if I will have the strength to be a mother. I can barely avoid spilling something on my dress. How am I going to raise children and be a good wife?

Hearing Leah say it out loud helped Harper to put things into perspective for her. If someone like Leah, a good person of high morals who learned quickly, never got into trouble, and had the respect of every adult in town, worried about her screwing up as a mother, then maybe worrying was folly. To be intimidated by such a thing gave it power. And maybe that’s where they were wrong. 

“That is refreshing to hear,” Harper said. “I really thought that I was the only one. I don’t think you have anything to worry about when that day comes. You have always been successful at everything you do. I’m sure that when you are an adult and find a husband, you will excel at raising a family as well. I feel flawed. So that is where I believe—”

“Everyone is flawed, Harper. The best mothers are flawed.”

Harper, while sitting on the end of the bed, noticed a stain on her shoe. It was either mud or gravy. Harper couldn’t tell.

“Remember when we were twelve…” Harper started. “And we were speaking about one day having families, being scared, and accepting our flaws?”

“Yes, I actually think of that conversation often.”

“Do you still believe it all?”

“I believe that if you own your flaws, especially, you will have so many proposals that men will fight each other for your hand in marriage.”

They both laughed and continued to speak about how their proposals might go one day. Harper knew that she would one day look back and remember that conversation as well.

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“To Enchant a Rakish Viscount” is an Amazon Best-Selling novel, check it out here!

The fiery Lady Harper Carlson had always been devoted to her close friends. While everyone jokes that she’ll end up with one of them, Harper dreams of marrying a nobleman named James. The last thing she expected, though, was to harbor a secret desire for an old friend who always annoyed her. Despite the sinful rumors about his rakish behavior, she finds him irresistibly attractive… Will she finally give in to her lust for him, or will she end up in a marriage with James that will ensure her a bright future?

The Viscount Brian Borroughs, was nothing like Lady Harper. His wicked personality had never failed to attract women, but love was never on the cards for him. In spite of his rakish behaviour, Brian had a lot of respect for his friends, but held a particular disdain for Lady Harper. Nevertheless, on their first encounter after a long time, her ravishing beauty will blow him away. As if by magic, he will soon become engrossed in an endless passion game. Could Harper be the woman who will finally conquer his unruly heart, no matter how different they are?

At the drop of a hat, Brian’s rakish behavior will ruin Harper’s chance to marry James and he will find himself in hot water. As his guilt mounts, Brian agrees to marry her to save her reputation. Suddenly, both of them find themselves in a marriage and the last thing they expected was this to end up in a flaming affair. Will they ever overcome themselves and surrender to their greatest desires? Or will they risk irreversibly losing their passion to eternity?

“To Enchant a Rakish Viscount” is a historical romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Get your copy from Amazon!