Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Reforming the Rogue
    Reforming the Rogue
    Reforming the Rogue
    Ebook115 pages1 hour

    Reforming the Rogue

    By Donna Lea Simpson

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    With nowhere else to go, penniless Linnet Pelham is forced to take refuge with her sister in London, only to learn that her sister’s betrothal to Lord Cairngrove is the scandal of the ton. Never one to shy away from an unpleasant situation and convinced of the couple’s devotion, Linnet is determined to see them wed, if only she can persuade Cairngrove’s brother, Nic Barton.

    Nic, a notorious rogue who is all too aware of his dashing good looks, is dead set on preventing his brother’s marriage. Even as he schemes to frighten Linnet’s sister into walking away from the engagement, he sets his sights on seducing the lovely Linnet with whispered promises of lessons in love.

    But Linnet has a few lessons of her own to teach, and as the two match wits and spar over their siblings’ fate, the undeniable passion growing between them might force them both to learn the meaning of true love.

    This novella was originally published under the title “Love Lessons.”

    About the Author:

    Donna Lea Simpson is a nationally bestselling romance and mystery novelist with over twenty titles published in the last eleven years. Besides writing romance and mystery novels and reading the same, Donna has a long list of passions: cats and tea, cooking and vintage cookware, cross-stitching and watercolor painting among them. She lives in Canada.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBeyond the Page Publishing
    Release dateSep 16, 2013
    ISBN9781937349790
    Reforming the Rogue
    Author

    Donna Lea Simpson

    Donna Lea Simpson is a nationally bestselling romance and mystery novelist with over twenty titles published in the last eleven years. An early love for the novels of Jane Austen and Agatha Christie was a portent of things to come; Donna believes that a dash of mystery adds piquancy to a romantic tale, and a hint of romance adds humanity to a mystery story. Besides writing romance and mystery novels and reading the same, Donna has a long list of passions: cats and tea, cooking and vintage cookware, cross-stitching and watercolor painting among them. Karaoke offers her the chance to warble Dionne Warwick tunes, and nature is a constant source of comfort and inspiration. A long walk is her favorite exercise, and a fruity merlot is her drink of choice when the tea is all gone. Donna lives in Canada.The best writing advice, Donna believes, comes from the letters of Jane Austen. That author wrote, in an October 26, 1813, letter to her sister, Cassandra, “I am not at all in a humor for writing; I must write on till I am.” So true! But Donna is usually in a good humor for writing!

    Read more from Donna Lea Simpson

    Related to Reforming the Rogue

    Titles in the series (21)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Royalty Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Coming Out

      May 11, 2020

      The Coming Out
      6 min read

    • Article

      Laughing STOCK

      Jul 17, 2020

      Laughing STOCK
      4 min read

    • Article

      The PROMISE

      Aug 18, 2021

      The PROMISE
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Nest Of VIPERS

      Jan 25, 2023

      A Nest Of VIPERS
      9 min read

    • Article

      Echoes

      Jul 13, 2022

      Echoes
      9 min read

    • Article

      Where The Walls Have Ears

      May 22, 2020

      Where The Walls Have Ears
      8 min read

    • Article

      THE MISCHIEF & THE MAJESTY

      Jun 19, 2019

      THE MISCHIEF & THE MAJESTY
      6 min read

    • Article

      Love will WIN

      Sep 6, 2023

      Love will WIN
      9 min read

    • Article

      Great Read

      May 18, 2022

      Great Read
      5 min read

    • Article

      Getting Out Alive

      Apr 6, 2017

      Getting Out Alive
      4 min read

    • Article

      Magnets: Carried through time, lovers seek their purpose.

      Feb 6, 2014

      Moon Colony B, 2213 Former Ponzi-schemer Mary Pillar digs through a trashcan. It smells like rotten eggs and milk. She is elderly and homeless, living in an alley between two eco-efficient skyscrapers. Dust particles dance around her. She has lost ev

      11 min read

    • Article

      Past Imperfect

      Sep 2, 2023

      Past Imperfect
      9 min read

    • Article

      Your TOP 20 NOVELS

      Jun 3, 2021

      Reading is one of life’s greatest pleasures and, during lockdown, many of us have revisited or discovered some of the greatest fiction ever written. These are the books you’ve told us you love the most. When a plane crashes on a desert island, the

      5 min read

    • Article

      Parent-child Fencing Class

      Jan 1, 2020

      Because I was too mean to make him a brother,my son has had to learn of hate alone.I told my friend I’d only ever wantedone child for reasons to do with the shapeof an arrow. But in truth I’m so disgustedby what I know of brothers, having given birth

      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Feb 19, 2021

      At a local newspaper in South East London in 1957, journalist Jean Swinney receives a curious letter written to the editor. Gretchen Tilbury – abeautiful, well-to-do woman – claims her 10-year-old daughter is the product of a virgin birth. Gretchen h

      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Jul 16, 2020

      Book Club
      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 8, 2024

      Books
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Black Spider

      Nov 28, 2019

      The Black Spider
      22 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 22, 2022

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Book for the Moment: On Helen Weinzweig’s ‘Basic Black with Pearls’

      Jun 1, 2018

      This post was produced in partnership with Bloom, a literary site that features authors whose first books were published when they were 40 or older. 1. In our current moment, a chorus of “nasty women” has flooded social media with grievances. Unfortu

      5 min read

    • Article

      In Love And War

      Jun 10, 2021

      April 1943 - Krakow, Poland Irena was bent over her needlework, stitching the frayed seam of her skirt when she heard a single gunshot ring out. She jerked and then scowled. After four years of war, she ought to be used to it. Why, the other night a

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Scarlet PEBBLE

      Feb 28, 2024

      The Scarlet PEBBLE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Aug 16, 2023

      Book Club
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Reforming the Rogue

    4/5

    7 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Reforming the Rogue - Donna Lea Simpson

      Cover

      Reforming the Rogue

      With nowhere else to go, penniless Linnet Pelham is forced to take refuge with her sister in London, only to learn that her sister’s betrothal to Lord Cairngrove is the scandal of the ton. Never one to shy away from an unpleasant situation and convinced of the couple’s devotion, Linnet is determined to see them wed, if only she can persuade Cairngrove’s brother, Nic Barton.

      Nic, a notorious rogue who is all too aware of his dashing good looks, is dead set on preventing his brother’s marriage. Even as he schemes to frighten Linnet’s sister into walking away from the engagement, he sets his sights on seducing the lovely Linnet with whispered promises of lessons in love.

      But Linnet has a few lessons of her own to teach, and as the two match wits and spar over their siblings’ fate, the undeniable passion growing between them might force them both to learn the meaning of true love.

      Title Page

      Copyright

      Reforming the Rogue

      Donna Lea Simpson

      This novella was first published in the anthology My Dashing Groom by Kensington/Zebra in 2002 under the title Love Lessons, copyright © 2002 by Donna Lea Simpson.

      Beyond the Page edition copyright © 2013 by Donna Lea Simpson.

      Material excerpted from A Scandalous Plan copyright © 2003, 2013 by Donna Lea Simpson.

      Cover design and illustration by Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs

      Published by Beyond the Page at Smashwords

      Beyond the Page Books

      are published by

      Beyond the Page Publishing

      www.beyondthepagepub.com

      ISBN: 978-1-937349-79-0

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without the express written permission of both the copyright holder and the publisher.

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

      The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

      Contents

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Excerpt from A Scandalous Plan

      Classic Regency Romances by Donna Lea Simpson

      Books by Donna Lea Simpson

      About the Author

      Chapter One

      You cannot marry your whore, Cedric. It is just not done.

      Cedric, eighth Earl of Cairngrove, did not look up at the speaker. Instead, he frowned down at the papers—marriage settlements newly prepared by his solicitor and sent around for his approval—splayed out in front of him. He made a careful notation in the margin of one paper and turned it over on his massive oak desk, one of several enormous pieces in the stately library of the Cairngrove London residence. Wrong, Nic, he said, gazing over his glasses with an expression that mingled affection and irritation. I can, and I certainly will. He paused and his expression hardened, the soft, jowly lines of his face becoming granite. However, if you refer to Jessica as my whore one more time, I will call you out.

      Unfazed by the threat, the younger man said, You shall be the laughingstock of London. He paced away from the desk toward the window, but then whirled and returned, planting his hands on the burled oak surface and leaning over to emphasize the urgency of his words. "Nay, you shall be an absurdity, held up to ridicule throughout English society. You must see that you will make of the family name a mockery!"

      Dominic Barton—Nic to his intimates—the younger of the two men, was also the more striking. The hands that he laid on the desk as he leaned across it were not soft, but they were immaculately kept, with a ruby insignia ring on the right ring finger. His arms were solid and clad in the finest of superfine wool, part of an exquisitely well-cut coat. Where the earl was descending comfortably into middle age, advancing into his forties with a spreading stomach and thinning hair, Barton, at thirty, was just coming into his most attractive years, lean and athletic, with broad shoulders, narrow hips, dark hair and intense eyes, almost coal-black.

      But where good humor and lively intelligence sparkled in the earl’s eyes and danced on his lips, the younger man’s features told a tale of self-indulgence, debauchery, almost, and . . . well, there was no other word for it. Strangely enough, there was a priggish cast to his expression that hinted that though he was quite content to indulge his own carnal appetites, there was a definite line between what he thought fit for himself and what he thought was owed his family name and history. For all of his man-about-town airs, Mr. Dominic Barton was a bit of a puritan, and never more so than where his family was concerned.

      Nic, Cairngrove said, taking off his glasses and polishing them on the cloth that lay next to his inkwell. I do not care if people laugh. Not one whit. Let them. Let them have a jolly great roar at my expense. He frowned at an inky smear on his glasses and wiped it off.

      Barton slapped his palm on the desktop. But a Cairngrove has never wed a whore!

      Cedric stood swiftly and his ringed hand, bearing the insignia of his old and respected title, flashed out. But the young man was quicker and caught the earl’s hand before the slap was delivered.

      Really, old brick, Nic drawled. I thought you more tolerant than that. And swifter. He dropped the older man’s hand.

      I meant what I said, Cairngrove growled. I will have no one speak ill of Jessica in my hearing. She is to be my wife, and the man who dishonors her in my hearing will pay for it with the slash of my sword. I mean that, Nic. I will spill even my own brother’s blood.

      Barton gave him a long look and said, Cedric, old man, you know I would never accept a challenge from you. It would be just too drearily Cain and Abel. Except this time it would be Cain lying in bloody mortal peril. He faced his older brother across the desk. Dark eyes flashing in the sunlight that pierced the deep gloom of the high-ceilinged library, he continued, "Remember this, though, brother, you may be able to control what people say to your face but you cannot command what they say behind your back. And behind your children’s back. What price will they pay for your decision?" He turned on his heel and marched out of the room, the heavy thunk of his boot heels evidencing his disapproval of the recent turn of events in his older brother’s life.

      Cairngrove slumped back down in his green leather chair and passed one hand over his eyes. He hated this chasm between him and his only sibling but it did not change his determination. How could he bring Nic to understand what it felt like to be deeply in love for the first time in all of his forty-three years?

      And damn it, he had earned his happiness! When their father died unexpectedly at a relatively young age, Cedric had done his duty, marrying at the tender age of twenty-one an eminently suitable heiress, Lady Wilhelmina Stuart. Before her unfortunate passing, they had produced five children, three of whom had survived to adulthood. William, Viscount Darden, the Cairngrove heir, was now twenty and in Vienna as a diplomatic assistant. Allan, eighteen and William’s younger brother, was also in Vienna with the horse guards. Their sister, Melanie, Allan’s twin, was married and touring the Continent with her new husband.

      So with his children settled in life, what

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1