Noble Intentions

Katie MacAlister

Contents (21)

Cover design by Dawn Adams

Cover illustration by Alan Ayers/Lott Reps

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Originally published in 2002 by Leisure Books, an imprint of Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc., New York.

Front Cover

Title Page

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Epilogue

A Sneak Preview of The Truth about Leo

Prologue

One

About Katie

Back Cover

My heartfelt appreciation goes to Noble’s mistresses—Beverly Brandt, Libby Muelhaupt, and Lori Grube—who cheered me on and offered sage advice.

And to Vance Briceland, who made me laugh with his tinglemeter.

One

Gillian Leigh’s first social event of the Season began with what many in the ton later labeled as an uncanny warning of Things To Come.

“Well, bloody hell. This isn’t going to endear me to the duchess.”

Gillian watched with dismay as flames licked up the gold velvet curtains despite her attempts to beat them out with a tasseled silk cushion. Shrieks of horror and shrill voices behind her indicated that others had spotted her activities, which she had hoped would escape their notice until she had the fire under control.

Two footmen raced past her with buckets of water and soon had the fire extinguished, but it was too late, the damage was done. The duchess’s acclaimed Gold Drawing Room would never be the same again. Gillian stood clutching the sooty cushion to her chest and watched mournfully as the blackened curtains were hastily bundled past the small clutches of people who stood talking intently, looking everywhere but at her.

“Sealing my fate as a social pariah, no doubt,” she muttered to herself.

“Who is? And what on earth happened in here? Lady Dell said something about you burning down the house, but you know how she exag…oh, my!”

Gillian heaved a deep sigh and turned to smile ruefully as her cousin, and dearest friend, caught sight of the damp, smoke-stained wall.

“I’m afraid it’s true, Charlotte, although I wasn’t trying to burn down the house. It was just another of my Unfortunate Accidents.”

Charlotte gave the formerly gilt-paneled wall a considering look, pursed her lips, then turned her gaze on her cousin. “Mmm. Well, you have certainly made sure everyone will be talking about your debut. Just look at you! You’ve got soot all over—your gloves are a complete loss, but I think you can brush the worst off your bodice.”