Lord Freddie's First Love

Book excerpt: A viscount is enraptured—but gossips might get in the way of romance—in this Regency tale by an author acclaimed for “absorbing storytelling” (Booklist). Despite having proposed to more than a dozen women, Viscount Frederick remains one of London’s most eligible bachelors. The debutantes simply don’t find him dashing enough for their tastes. His pride stinging from his latest rejection, Freddie leaves London for his country estate. After six years abroad, Anne Webster has returned to New Biddeford with a child at her side—a child whose unruly red hair and mischievous green eyes leave society gossips quite sure of the identity of his mother. Though five-year-old Ian is really Anne’s nephew, nothing could quiet the scandal or erase the stigma once the ton started talking. Anne’s childhood companion, Viscount Frederick, was the only person to offer friendship—and then, a rapturous love. But how could Anne allow Freddie to destroy his life by marrying a woman with a tarnished reputation such as hers?