Duchess Diaries [2] How to Pursue a Princess Read online

  “Hawkins always delivers delightfully humorous, poignant, and highly satisfying novels.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Fast, fun, and sexy stories that are a perfect read for a rainy day, a sunny day, or any day at all!”

  —Bestselling author Christina Dodd

  PRAISE FOR THE DUCHESS DIARIES SERIES

  How to Capture a Countess

  “A delightful, sprightly romp is what Hawkins does best, and when she sets her witty tale in Scotland and adds a charming castle and an engaging cast of characters, readers have the beginning of an appealing new series.”

  —RT Book Reviews (4 stars)

  “Hawkins delivers a fast-paced, robust historical novel filled with wit and romance!”

  —Night Owl Reviews

  “Readers will enjoy this jocular tale as Rose and Sin fight, fuss, and fall in love!”

  —Genre Go Round Reviews

  “A beautifully written romance filled with passion, zest, and humor.”

  —Addicted to Romance

  “The wildly unconventional courtship of Sin and Rose is spiced by a chemistry that practically leaps off the pages. Readers will be thrilled to every witty repartee between these reluctant lovers.”

  —Coffee Time Romance & More

  PRAISE FOR THE HURST AMULET SERIES

  The Taming of a Scottish Princess

  “Hawkins has penned a story which fans, new and old, will find delightfully humorous, poignant and satisfying. A quick-moving, dramatic plot populated with memorable characters, witty and humorous dialogue, and sizzling sensuality makes this her best yet—a tale to reread.”

  —RT Book Reviews (41/2 stars, Top Pick)

  “This is the first Karen Hawkins novel I’ve ever read, and she is now (and the only historical author) on my auto-buy list. Enough said.”

  —Alice-Anderson.com

  “A super climax to an engaging series!”

  —Genre Go Round Reviews

  “Grab a lounge chair, put your feet up, and let the story take you away. You will laugh and you will cheer as this unlikely and unique couple look for the Hurst Amulet and as they find their own happily ever after.”

  —Romance Novel News

  “Pure pleasure to read. Fans of Ms. Hawkins old and new are sure to be delighted by this entertaining, romantic jewel of a book!”

  —Joyfully Reviewed (A Joyfully Recommended Read)

  A Most Dangerous Profession

  “Spellbinding . . . one thrilling adventure after another.”

  —Single Titles

  “Complex characters and plot, a parallel story line, a quest, two star-crossed lovers, and fast pacing make this a most delightful read.”

  —RT Book Reviews (4 stars)

  Scandal in Scotland

  “A humorous, fast-paced dramatic story that’s filled with sensual tension. Hawkins’s passionate, intelligent characters make it impossible to put down.”

  —RT Book Reviews (41/2 stars, Top Pick)

  “Rollicking good fun from beginning to end! Pure, vintage Hawkins!”

  —Romance and More

  One Night in Scotland

  “Hawkins begins the Hurst Amulet series with a keeper. Readers will be delighted by the perfect pacing, the humorous dialogue, and the sizzling sensual romance.”

  —RT Book Reviews (41/2 stars, Top Pick)

  “A lively romp, the perfect beginning to [Hawkins’s] new series.”

  —Booklist

  “Hawkins is one of the most talented historical romance writers out there.”

  —Romance Junkies (5 stars)

  “Charming and witty.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “An adventurous romance filled with laughter, passion, and emotion . . . mystery, threats, and plenty of sexual tension, plus an engaging premise which will keep you thoroughly entertained during each highly captivating scene. . . . One Night in Scotland holds your attention from beginning to end.”

  —Single Titles

  “With its creative writing, interesting characters, and well-crafted situations and dialogue, One Night in Scotland is an excellent read. Be assured it lives up to all the virtues one has learned to expect from this talented writer.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

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  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Epilogue

  How to Entice an Enchantress Excerpt

  About Karen Hawkins

  To Hot Cop:

  Thank you for being such a terrific Writer’s Husband and listening to me discuss (at length) my characters’ lives as if they were real people, and for accepting without too much question that, for the moment, they are.

  Acknowledgments

  A huge acknowledgment to Sheridan Stancliff of SheridanInk.com for her invaluable help in doing that most impossible of all tasks for a writer: getting organized. Also, thank you for finding so many wonderful and creative ways for me to connect with my amazing readers. You rawk, sister.

  One

  From the Diary of the Duchess of Roxburghe Since, while under my roof, my goddaughter Miss Rose Balfour met and married my great-nephew the Earl of Sinclair, people have been whispering that I am the first word in matchmaking—the Perfectress of Romance, the Grand Curator of Courtship, and (my favorite) the Duchess of Hearts. Naturally, I’m well aware that these titles are ridiculous, for I had little to do with Rose and Sin’s romance; it happened on its own with very little assistance from me.

  Except when needed, of course.

  Those who know me best realize that I never interfere in the lives of others. Not unless they need it and are crying out for help in such a way that one cannot ignore their desperate pleas.

  For example, take Rose’s sister, the lovely Miss Lily Balfour. If ever a young woman was in need of a husband, it is she, and I’m certain she’s begging for help, but is just too proud to do it aloud. Fortunately, I am not deaf to her silent pleas and am determined that she will accept one of the many invitations I’ve sent to her. So far, though, all of them have been politely refused.

  However, I shall not despair, for I’m sure there must be a way to help the poor, desperate lass.

  Caith Manor, Scotland

  May 2, 1813

  Lily Balfour blinked, but the words on the paper still swam before her eyes, numbers and words merging into a befuddled mess. “I don’t und
erstand. How did this happen?”

  Pacing before the fire, Papa shook his head, his white hair standing on end where he’d run his hands through it. “Och, I don’t know. I just don’t know.” He was showing his age more than usual this evening, worry etching deep lines on his face. “I didn’t realize the terms were so dire. Lord Kirk said—”

  “What?” Dahlia, who’d been sitting quietly to one side of the fireplace, stared at their Papa. “You borrowed funds from Lord Kirk?”

  Lord Kirk was their neighbor, a wealthy, grumpy, taciturn widower who’d been horribly scarred across one side of his face by an accident of some sort—Lily wasn’t sure how, for he never spoke of it. In fact, he rarely spoke about anything or to anyone . . . except to her sister Dahlia.

  Some months ago, Lily had discovered that somehow Dahlia had been lured into speaking with Lord Kirk, even visiting his library and talking for hours about books they’d read. Neither Lily nor her oldest sister, Rose, had been happy about the relationship; warm, friendly, lovely Dahlia could do far, far better than such a grumpy, taciturn man. Fortunately, before many weeks had passed, Lord Kirk had said something insulting about Papa, and the always-loyal Dahlia had broken off all contact with the man, which had relieved everyone.

  “How could you?” Dahlia demanded now, her eyes blazing.

  Papa winced. “Now don’t look like that. I planned on paying back the funds. If things had gone well, you’d never even have known that I’d borrowed them.”

  Lily waved the loan papers. “Apparently ‘things’ didn’t go as planned, and now you owe the funds and the interest, and a penalty, and—oh, Papa!”

  He rubbed a hand over his face. “What have I done? I should have paid more attention, but—Lily, I don’t know how it is, but I could have sworn the percent was far less than what it is.”

  “You didn’t read the terms?”

  He flushed. “Of course I did. I just don’t remember them.”

  Lily dropped the papers on the table and exchanged a worried glance with her sister, who looked as bemused as Lily felt.

  Dahlia, always the pragmatist, folded her hands in her lap, her brow furrowed. “Papa, why did you take out this note? However did you spend three thousand pounds?”

  He wrung his hands. “Oh, that. Well. I—I wanted you both to have a season in London, as your sister once had.”

  Lily shook her head. “Nonsense. We’ve never asked for such a thing.”

  “Besides,” Dahlia added, “Rose promised to take us into society when she returns from her honeymoon in three months.”

  “Yes, but that’s so far away,” he said, looking a bit desperate. “You both should have your season now, so I borrowed some funds and invested them, knowing that if all turned out well, then I could surprise you.”

  “Humph,” Lily said.

  Dahlia lifted her brows in disbelief. “What did you invest in?”

  He gulped, but said in a defiant tone, “Flowers.” A known horticulturalist, his undying passion was his pursuit of the perfect rose—one he intended on calling the Balfour Rich Red.

  “You didn’t!” Lily said.

  Dahlia’s brows snapped down. “This loan had nothing to do with paying for us to have a season, did it? You just wanted the funds for your flowers.”

  Papa didn’t reply.

  Lily took a steadying breath. “How did you convince Lord Kirk to loan you such an amount for something as far-fetched as rose development?”

  “I told Kirk it was for a personal matter. Being a gentleman, he didn’t ask for more.”

  “So he made you this large loan for an unknown reason?” Dahlia asked, suspicion still bright on her face.

  “Well . . . yes.” Papa raked a hand through his hair. “It was a gentleman’s agreement, so I thought that if I couldn’t pay, he’d simply renegotiate the note. But instead . . .”

  Dahlia’s eyes sparkled with anger as she turned to Lily. “I think less of Lord Kirk for agreeing to such a ludicrous arrangement. He had to know Papa’d never be able to repay such a sum.”

  “One would think,” Lily agreed. “Papa, you’ve said time and again that the man’s the devil.”

  Papa held out his hands in a supplicating manner. “He’s the only wealthy man I know.”

  “And so you knowingly entered a devil’s arrangement.” Dahlia’s voice shook. “All to order yet more flowers.”

  “And build a new hothouse and repair the others.” When his daughters continued to glower at him, he added rather lamely, “Which I only did so that I could send both of you to London for a season, of course.”

  “Balderdash!” Dahlia said.

  Lily pinched the bridge of her nose. “I cannot believe this.”

  His shoulders slumped. “I know, it was madness. But I had good intentions.”

  “Good intentions won’t repay a loan,” Lily returned sharply. “If you owed those funds to anyone else, I’d say we should throw ourselves on their mercy and ask for more time, but since it’s Lord Kirk—” She shook her head.

  “He’d refuse,” Dahlia finished in a stiff tone.

  “It’s all my fault.” Papa clasped his hands behind his back and dipped his head, his pacing feverish. “I’ve made such a mull of things. Now that I’ve read the papers, I can see that the terms of the loan weren’t what I’d hoped, but—”

  “Not what you’d hoped?” Lily said, unable to help herself. “Papa, I don’t know how you planned to repay the interest, much less the principal. The terms are outrageous. In order to meet this loan, we have to find three thousand pounds in one month!”

  “Lily, please, you must understand; I thought that with a new greenhouse, and more funds to invest in buds, I could finally afford to have the exotics shipped from China that I need to develop the Balfour Rich Red. Once that was done, we’d be able to sell the roses for a phenomenal profit. Why, just look at how well the Balfour rose has been selling.”

  “Well?” Lily almost choked. “Over the last three years, you’ve made a total of”—she picked up the ledger and flipped to the last ink-spattered page—“three hundred pounds and six shillings.”

  Papa looked startled. “Is that all? Good God. That’s—” Papa raked a hand through his white hair, mussing it even more. “Oh dear.”

  Lily closed the ledger. “Perhaps if we gave some of the funds back, then Lord Kirk would find it in his heart to—”

  “It’s gone,” Papa said sadly.

  “All three thousand pounds?”

  He nodded miserably. “It seemed so much at first, but then one of the greenhouses sprang a leak, which cost much more than I expected, and then there were issues with the water pipes we had installed for the mister, which cost—” He shuddered. “And all of that meant weeks of delay. By that time, your sister Rose had gotten engaged and then married, and that took yet more time from my work and—” He spread his hands helplessly. “Time passed and then . . .”

  “The note came due,” Dahlia finished.

  “It’s past due.” Lily tapped her finger on the paper. “Two months ago.”

  Dahlia blinked. “Then why are we just now finding out about this?”

  Papa sighed. “I was hoping Lord Kirk would forget about it.”

  “You hoped he’d forget a loan for three thousand pounds?”

  “Well, yes,” Papa said defensively. “Since I accepted the loan, he’s never said a word. Not once. But then—” Papa sighed. “This morning, he visited after breakfast.”

  “Kirk was here?” Dahlia’s voice cracked on the last word.

  “Yes, while you were still abed. I had just finished breakfast and had come out into the foyer, and he arrived as I was gathering my coat and hat. He was very polite in his request—uneasy, even, as if he didn’t wish to ask for the funds at all.”

  “He must need the money,” Dahlia said. “Odd, because he certainly seems well-heeled. His house is of the first stare, and he has so many horses and carriages.”

  “I wondered that m
yself.”

  “So Kirk asked for repayment,” Lily said impatiently. “What did you tell him?”

  “That I could pay it, of course, just not right away. He said that so long as I repaid him within the next month or so, all would be well. He actually seemed a bit embarrassed about the whole thing.”

  “He should be,” Dahlia said sharply. “Especially after charging such an exorbitant amount of interest.”

  “But it’s worse than mere interest.” Lily tapped the note again with one finger. “Not only has Papa made a loan he can’t repay, but he used Caith Manor as collateral.”

  “What?” Eyes wide, Dahlia turned to Papa. “It’s not yours! There’s an entail on the house and land.”

  Papa brightened. “Then the note won’t stand?”

  Lily grimaced. “Papa, it means that not only do you owe the funds, but if Lord Kirk sets forth a complaint, you could end up in gaol for using something that’s not yours as collateral.”

  “Prison?” Papa looked as if someone had just hit him in the stomach. “Good God.”

  Dahlia pressed a hand to her temple. “Oh no!”

  Silence filled the room, broken only by the crackling fire. Lily wished Rose were home; as the oldest sister, she had always been the one to solve their problems. But now that Rose was on the Continent with her new husband, Lily was left to handle the problems that beset their little family—a task she wasn’t certain she was ready for, especially now that Papa had thrown them into such a fix.

  Lily’s gaze flickered to her sewing basket at her feet, and she had to curl her fingers into her palms to keep from reaching for it. Just this morning she’d taken the bodice from an old gown made of pink jaconet and, turning it inside out so that it could serve as a lining, was fitting it inside a shell of brown kerseymere. Once she’d added long sleeves and trimmings, it would be a fashionable spencer.

  Nothing gave Lily more pleasure—or peace—than sewing. She was good at it, too; her sisters were forever telling her that she was better than any Edinburgh modiste.

  It was a pity she couldn’t just set up a modiste’s shop and earn the funds to pay Papa’s loans. Sadly, though she’d enjoy it very, very much, it would take years to gain enough clientele to pay back such a huge amount.