Chloe Lomas-Therriot is the daughter of a vastly rich Lancashire mill owner, and an exquisite, but cold French socialite, whose ambition is to have her family join the exclusive circle of the British aristocracy. Hoping to achieve her purpose, she offers Chloe’s hand in marriage to Lord Edmund Charles Haleston, a man of doubtful reputation and limited wealth, but sufficiently shrewd to accept the offering of a beautiful, young heiress.
As Haleston is currently seeking business opportunities in an America that is earnestly rebuilding after its crushing Civil War, the Lomas-Therriot family is required to make the arduous voyage from Liverpool to Kansas in order to celebrate the wedding. Attacked by outlaws on the final leg of their journey, Chloe, as the only survivor, is taken to a cattle ranch and cured of her wounds, whilst Haleston disowns her, believing that she has been violated, and thus no longer suitable to be his bride.
While Chloe waits for her family in England to arrange safe passage home, she becomes exposed to a life of freedom she has never known before, as years of suffocating restrictions that formed her strict upbringing are abruptly discarded. Though hopelessly shy and naïve, with the guidance of Georgia and her aunt, Charlotte, she rapidly starts to fall in love with the imposing countryside, the simple but hazardous way of life - and Joe Bennett, a quiet, handsome young ranch hand.
Just as she believes that she’s found a life that is perfect for her, Lord Haleston arrives in town with his band of thugs. Informed that Chloe had not been raped, and eager to seize her generous dowry and inheritance, he’s prepared to go to any lengths to claim her.
His plans are thwarted, however, when it’s revealed that Chloe has already given herself to Joe.
Genre: FICTION / Romance / GeneralSeveral copies have sold on Amazon, although my main sales have been via local book shops, markets and car-boot sales.
Chapter 1.
The private Concord stagecoach turned heads as it pulled up outside the town’s general store. Drawn by four, fine Cleveland Bays, its finely lacquered exterior, curtained windows, and expensive leather luggage spoke of the affluent travellers inside.
The three outriders dismounted, wiping their faces and necks with dusty handkerchiefs, whilst looking longingly in the direction of the saloon. The two shooters, one next to the coachman, the other perched on the rack, kept their positions, ever wary of any possible danger to their exclusive clients.
The stagecoach rocked alarmingly as Shimabukuro Kenichi, the huge Japanese bodyguard climbed down from his ledge at the rear. His employer and mentor, Mr. Edward Lomas had found him over twenty years ago, half-drowned and orphaned after a typhoon on the island of Okinawa. The boy had saddened him with his refusal to cry for the loss of his family, turning into a man before his eyes; inscrutable in his pride.
Days later, he'd also impressed him with a display of what he'd called karate: a beautiful but deadly art that had been founded centuries before on the island, something that left even a well-travelled man such as Lomas completely in awe.
Kenichi opened the door, and out stepped the proud owner of various cotton mills in Lancashire, and an impressive fleet of merchant ships that kept hundreds of people employed, and the residents of several small towns fed, clothed, and with a roof over their heads. If rumour were to be believed, then he was certainly the richest man in the north of England.
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Susan Escobar
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Author review: A couple of questions went unanswered, but apart from that, Susan did an excellent job, and well within the time limits. Gracias Susan. |
