She tucked her hand under Lavinia’s arm and brought her to her feet. “Let’s go, then. Off to Lindow Castle to burgle the nursery!”

Storming the Castle

Keep reading for Eloisa James’s

Storming the Castle

One of Eloisa’s delightful fairytale-inspired novellas, in which a young lady flees her boorish fiancé and becomes the nursemaid in a castle, where she encounters the rakish son of a grand duke who has vowed never to wed. He offers her everything—but not his hand in marriage.

Can this fairytale possibly have a happy ending?

Chapter One

The residence of

Phineas Damson, Esq.

Little Ha’penny, Lancashire

Late Spring

Not every fairy tale begins with a prince or a princess. Some begin with a kiss that turns a man into a frog, or a tumble on the road that turns a basket of eggs into scramble. They begin with the realization that what was once tall and handsome is now green and croaky.

My story belongs in that category, because it wasn’t until Miss Philippa Damson gave her virginity to her betrothed, Rodney Durfey, the future Sir Rodney Durfey, Baronet, that she realized exactly what she wanted from life:

Never to be near Rodney again.

It was unfortunate that she realized this significant point only now, standing in the barn and readjusting her petticoats after giving Rodney her most prized possession. But sometimes it takes a clear-eyed look at a man sprawled in the straw at your feet to realize just how you feel about him. One moment of weakness, ten minutes of discomfort, and now she was a woman. She felt different.

Meaner.

“Damn, that was nice,” Rodney said, making no attempt to straighten his clothing. “You’re as tight as a—” His imagination apparently failed him. “A lot tighter than my hand, anyway.”

Philippa wrinkled her nose. “Don’t you think you should get up now?”

“I waited so long that it took all the strength out of me. It isn’t every day that a man loses his virginity, you know.”

“Or a woman,” Philippa pointed out, using her fingers to comb bits of straw from her hair.

“My friends have been poking around from the moment they got a stand. You’re not innocent anymore, so it doesn’t matter if I’m blunt, I reckon. I saved myself for you. Didn’t want to get a disease.”

The etiquette her mother had taught her did not foresee this particular situation, but Philippa said, “Thank you.”

“If you aren’t the prettiest thing with your hair shining like that in the sunlight,” Rodney said, stretching. “I’m about ten times as much in love with you now, Philippa. And you know I’ve loved you ever since I saw you the first time, ever since—”

“Ever since you saw me in church when I was seven years old,” Philippa said drearily.