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.

    Lord Hugo's Bride
    Lord Hugo's Bride
    Lord Hugo's Bride
    Ebook186 pages2 hours

    Lord Hugo's Bride

    By Marina Oliver

    3/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Hugo, Earl of Winton, needs a wife and an heir if his weak cousin William and his unpleasant French wife Hortense, with the son who might not be her husband's, is not to succeed him.
    He decides Phillipa Stannerly will be suitable. She is pretty, and an heiress. Phillipa, in love with Charles, is distraught.
    Then her French cousin Sophie du Plessis comes to London and promises to help her. Their mothers were twins, and the girls are sufficiently alike to confuse people who do not know them well.
    When Hugo sees Sophie on her own he offers her a lift home, intending to pursue his suit in the belief she is Phillipa. She maintains the deception, hoping to prove to her uncle that Hugo is not a fit husband for Phillipa.
    Her behaviour is, however, unlike Phillipa's shy response, and Hugo is intrigued.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMarina Oliver
    Release dateJan 23, 2012
    ISBN9781466117907
    Lord Hugo's Bride
    Author

    Marina Oliver

    Most writers can't help themselves! It's a compulsion. Getting published, though, is something really special, and having been so fortunate myself I now try to help aspiring writers by handing on tips it took me years to work out. I've published over 60 titles, including four in the How To Books' Successful Writing Series, and Writing Historical Fiction for Studymates.I have judged short story competitions, been a final judge for the Harry Bowling Prize and was an adviser to the 3rd edition of Twentieth Century Romance and Historical Writers 1994. If you want to find out more about your favourite authors, consult this book. I once wrote an article on writing romantic fiction for the BBC's web page, for Valentine's day.I have given talks and workshops for the Arts Council and at most of the major Writing Conferences, and helped establish the Romantic Novelists' Association's annual conference. I was Chairman of the RNA 1991-3, ran their New Writers' Scheme and edited their newsletter. I am now a Vice-President.As well as writing I have edited books for Transita, featuring women 'of a certain age', and for Choc Lit where gorgeous heros are the norm.I was asked to write A Century of Achievement, a 290 page history of my old school, Queen Mary's High School, Walsall, and commissioned to write a book on Castles and Corvedale to accompany a new circular walk in the area.Most of my Regencies written under the pseudonym Sally James are now published in ebook format as well as many others of my out of print novels which my husband is putting into ebook format. Our daughter Debbie is helping with designing the covers. For details of all my books and my many pseudonyms see my website.

    Read more from Marina Oliver

    Related to Lord Hugo's Bride

    Titles in the series (16)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Historical Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Never underestimate PRINCE PHILIP

      Oct 7, 2020

      Never underestimate PRINCE PHILIP
      8 min read

    • Article

      Never underestimate PRINCE PHILIP

      Oct 7, 2020

      Never underestimate PRINCE PHILIP
      8 min read

    • Article

      Philip The Patriarch

      Apr 18, 2021

      Philip The Patriarch
      5 min read

    • Article

      Hotel ROMEO

      Oct 13, 2021

      Hotel ROMEO
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Stackpole Legend

      Mar 1, 2024

      The Stackpole Legend
      13 min read

    • Article

      Stranger Than Fiction

      Apr 12, 2024

      Stranger Than Fiction
      5 min read

    • Article

      ‘The day I met Her Majesty’

      Oct 5, 2022

      Like so many others, when the news came that the Queen had died, I was surprised by the emotion I felt. A tear rolled down my cheek and I was bewildered by it. Why would I cry for a woman I barely knew? Was it because she was always there, a steady,

      3 min read

    • Article

      The ROYAL INSIDER

      Jan 23, 2024

      Prince Andrew has been absent from public duties for four years yet his mere presence as a family member is enough to create huge embarrassment for the royals. His friendship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has caused scandal for many

      2 min read

    • Article

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own

      Sep 20, 2022

      As the nation mourns, let us remember an extraordinary woman who was devoted to us all until the very end. She was only a woman. Just like us, she loved, laughed, rowed with and worried about her family. But she was also unique. A woman born to a de

      3 min read

    • Article

      The original People’s Princess

      Oct 28, 2021

      The original People’s Princess
      8 min read

    • Article

      With An Ancestral Link To The Royal Family Rebecca Grant the Actress Tells Of Her Special Meeting With The Prince Of Wales And A Love Story From Glamis Castle

      Nov 15, 2021

      With An Ancestral Link To The Royal Family Rebecca Grant the Actress Tells Of Her Special Meeting With The Prince Of Wales And A Love Story From Glamis Castle
      5 min read

    • Article

      Blanc Steer

      Mar 6, 2022

      Blanc Steer
      4 min read

    • Article

      Great British ROMANCES

      Sep 18, 2020

      Great British ROMANCES
      7 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Sep 16, 2019

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      When Lizzie met Maggie

      Dec 13, 2023

      The Grim Reaper has been having a high old time of late. I've barely had a moment to keep up with my diary, I have been so busy writing letters of condolence, attending funerals and giving addresses at memorial services. I was especially saddened by

      3 min read

    • Article

      I’m Appalled – And Gripped – By Nudity

      Jul 28, 2021

      When I am watching TV with my wife, we’re often torn between a new episode of Location, Location, Location and a rerun of our absolute favourite, Bargain Hunt. When I am watching TV with my friend Maureen Lipman (and hidden cameras are filming us in

      3 min read

    • Article

      Man of HARLECH

      Jul 26, 2023

      The directions to our friends’ house were not encouraging. ‘Turn right at the sign which says Here Be Dragons,’ he said cheerily. ‘Carry on until you reach The Middle of Nowhere, then turn left up the track by the woodshed. It’s a bit rugged, so stay

      3 min read

    • Article

      Been There, Done That

      May 8, 2020

      Been There, Done That
      4 min read

    • Article

      Fürsten Foremost

      Feb 11, 2021

      Fürsten Foremost
      10 min read

    • Article

      A double LIFE

      Sep 13, 2022

      A double LIFE
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Chicken Line

      Mar 4, 2024

      The Chicken Line
      14 min read

    • Article

      A tender THREAD

      Dec 22, 2021

      A tender THREAD
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Man Of His Century

      Oct 9, 2020

      A Man Of His Century
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Lord Hugo's Bride

    3/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Lord Hugo's Bride - Marina Oliver

      LORD HUGO'S BRIDE

      BY

      MARINA OLIVER

      Hugo, Earl of Winton, needs a wife and an heir if his weak cousin William and his unpleasant French wife Hortense, with the son who might not be her husband's, is not to succeed him.

      He decides Phillipa Stannerly will be suitable. She is pretty, and an heiress. Phillipa, in love with Charles, is distraught.

      Then her French cousin Sophie du Plessis comes to London and promises to help her. Their mothers were twins, and the girls are sufficiently alike to confuse people who do not know them well.

      When Hugo sees Sophie on her own he offers her a lift home, intending to pursue his suit in the belief she is Phillipa. She maintains the deception, hoping to prove to her uncle that Hugo is not a fit husband for Phillipa.

      Her behaviour is, however, unlike Phillipa's shy response, and Hugo is intrigued.

      Lord Hugo's Bride

      By Marina Oliver

      Copyright © 2016 Marina Oliver

      Smashwords Edition

      The moral right of the author has been asserted

      Cover Design by Debbie Oliver

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form, including digital and electronic or mechanical, without the prior written consent of the Publisher, except for brief quotes for use in reviews.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      First print edition published 1980 by Robert Hale

      See details of other books by Marina Oliver at http:/www.marina-oliver.net

      AUTHOR NOTE

      Using twins to create confusion is a common literary device. For this story I needed two girls who were less closely related, so I made them cousins, their mothers being twins. I enjoyed writing the book so much I was reluctant to say farewell to my characters, so I gave them further adventures in a sequel, Lord Hugo's Wedding.

      LORD HUGO'S BRIDE

      BY MARINA OLIVER

      Chapter 1

      Hugo, Earl of Winton, rose to his considerable height and bowed elegantly to the older man.

      'You make me exceedingly happy, sir,' he murmured.

      'I promise nothing, my lord,' Mr Stannerly warned. 'You do us great honour by your offer, but I would not constrain Phillipa to marry against her will.'

      Hugo Winton smiled faintly. 'Nevertheless I may pay court to her. That suffices.'

      Mr Stannerly frowned slightly. The man was amazingly sure of himself! But no doubt that came of his being noble and successful, particularly, it was rumoured, with women. Courtiers seemed different from other men. Hugo was speaking again.

      'I would beg you not to mention the matter to Mistress Phillipa for a while, until she has had the opportunity to know me a little. We have met but once, and that briefly at Lady Overton's ball. I would not wish to startle her by the suddenness of my offer.'

      'It shall be as you suggest,' Mr Stannerly agreed, and after accepting an invitation to dine on the following day, the Earl took his leave.

      *

      Sophie du Plessis heaved a deep sigh when the carriage left the huge courtyard and turned onto the road to Paris.

      'Thank goodness that is finished,' she said, and her parents laughed.

      'Are you so weary of court life after just two visits?' the Marquis asked.

      'It is so theatrical! King Louis behaves as though he is on a stage all the time. I cannot help wondering if he is as stiff and formal when he is with his wife – or Madame de Montespan.'

      'Sophie!' her mother protested, but with a laugh.

      Sophie dimpled. 'And how he manages to indicate an interest in any other woman he wants in his bed.'

      'Do I understand from that you had no personal experience of such an attempt?' her father asked.

      'Good heavens, no! I'm too young for him, and I do not want to be in any man's bed until I have found one I can marry and love for the rest of my life. But I am coming to believe there is no such paragon.'

      'So none of the court gallants who were flocking round you could be that man?'

      She shook her head. 'They were all prancing popinjays, wigged and powdered and painted, not real men at all.'

      'King Charles is far more approachable towards his subjects,' the Marquise said. 'He walks in the Park and talks to all.'

      'Well, we will soon be able to judge that. And if it hadn't been for Louis's summons we could have been in England a month since. I cannot wait to see Phillipa again.'

      *

      Hugo was thoughtful as he was carried away from Mr Stannerly's house towards his own mansion in St James's Square, the new part of the town. The first obstacle was over and the heiress was as good as his.

      It was regrettable, but it was time to wed, and the King's comments had made him determined to take the plunge.

      'You've no wish to see that whelp of your cousin's inherit your title, I presume?' Charles had said at the end of their private discussion a few days earlier. 'Get you sons of your own. Legitimate ones.'

      He certainly had no wish for his cousin William or Claude to succeed him. William, several years his senior, was weak and growing more petulant every year. No wonder, with such a wife. Sent to Paris at the age of eighteen, to finish his education, he had returned a year later married to Hortense, then in her mid-twenties and already big with child. There had been speculation when she gave birth, for the boy had a head of bright red hair, though both she and William were dark, and their subsequent children had all been dark. She had protested her father had been coloured so, but as no one had ever seen him, the whispers continued. If the gossips were correct, Hugo must see to it that he produced a son of his own. It had been the prod he needed, hence his present decision to seek a wife.

      He was not, it was true, in need of a fortune, but being a practical man he had decided that as he had no preference based on personal emotion, he might as well turn the necessity to his advantage and marry money. So determined, he had thrust down the regrets the decision caused, for he had as a younger man had romantic dreams of finding the one girl in the world who could satisfy him in every respect. He had, during the past five or so years, come to believe no such girl existed, and begun casting about for a likely bride.

      There were several heiresses at Court, but none met his somewhat precise requirements. He insisted his future Countess, and the mother of his heirs, should have a certain degree of comeliness, even if he could not obtain beauty in addition to wealth. At the same time she must be docile, willing to be moulded into the pattern he envisaged as suitable, and yet lively enough to be a pleasant companion for the times he must inevitably spend with her, although it was unlikely he would often wish for her presence at Court. Mistress Stannerly appeared to have all these attributes, and beauty into the bargain. No wonder Hugo Winton smiled.

      When he had first set eyes on Phillipa Stannerly he had gazed at her with the appreciation of a connoisseur, and having learned she was the only child of an unimportant but wealthy man, from his own part of the country too, he had swiftly decided to make his offer, trusting his title would enable him to snatch the prize from the eager grasp of the many fortune hunters who haunted the Court of Charles the Second.

      *

      Sophie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her parents emerge onto the deck. She had been finding conversation with the only other passenger rather trying, since the woman responded to her remarks with single words or a shrug.

      Sophie was nonetheless intrigued. Who was she? Clearly French, she had refrained from giving her name when Sophie had introduced herself. When asked where she lived, and had she a long journey before her, she had merely said she lived in the south. Why was she so unforthcoming?

      Thrusting pointless speculations away, Sophie turned to greet her parents. Her mother, emerging from her cabin, looked pale, but the Marquis did not appear to have suffered from the tossing of the boat.

      When the boat docked at Dover an hour later Sophie watched the older woman hurry onto the quay, to be greeted with a kiss by a tall, thin man standing beside a large travelling carriage. Next to him was a gangling, carrot-haired youth, a few years younger than her own eighteen summers, she judged, who gave her an elegant bow before kissing her hand. He had the same unexpectedly dark eyebrows as the woman, so striking with his reddish hair.

      'We'll stay in Dover tonight, to give your mama time to recover,' her father said, and left his wife in Sophie's care while he went to greet the coachman sent to convey them to London.

      'Poor Sophie, so anxious to see Phillipa, and yet more delay,' the Marquise said.

      'I shall see her soon,' Sophie said. 'We could not avoid being summoned to Court again. I wonder if Phillipa and I could still deceive people, or whether we have grown unlike? Do you recall how we pretended to be one another, and only you and Aunt Mary could tell us apart?'

      'I beg you will not indulge in such tricks now,' her mother said, laughing. 'Come, the coach is ready, though I admit I cannot look forward to more jolting. I hope the inn is close by.'

      *

      Mr Stannerly was smiling in satisfaction as he smoked a pipe in his quiet study, for his vanity was flattered. The Earl of Winton was an important man, the greatest landowner in his part of Somerset, a crony of the King, and he would dearly love to see Phillipa a countess. It was not as though he were marrying the child off to an elderly man. The Earl was not yet thirty, and he was handsome, a man any girl would admire. As tall as the King, and as dark, but with a less swarthy complexion, he had a good figure and a pleasing countenance. He had no illusions about the attraction of the large dowry Phillipa would have on marriage, but he felt sure her beauty had much to do with the Earl's sudden offer, after seeing Phillipa for the first time but a few days earlier. And what a prize for a girl fresh from the country, competing with the established Court beauties.

      Mr Stannerly drew deeply on his pipe. Thinking of the Court he was reminded of the unsavoury reputations of many young courtiers. The Earl of Winton's was by no reckoning the worst, but it was not unsullied. He and ladies of easy virtue seemed to attract one another, from what Mr Stannerly had heard. He frowned slightly. Would such a rake as the Earl appeared to be reform on marriage? There were few enough examples amongst the present courtiers. Should he submit his daughter to such a marriage? But people of their estate did not expect love or fidelity in their spouses. Winton's youthful amours were only to be expected with such an attractive fellow, and after all, if he did not publicly shame his wife, she would have no cause for complaint.

      Puzzled, he shook his head slightly, thrust away unwelcome reflections and began to dwell on the glories of Phillipa becoming a countess. 'My daughter, the Countess of Winton,' he murmured experimentally, and nodded with a pleased air. That would indeed be an achievement for one who had started life as a mere small landowner, and had improved his financial position by astute investments in companies such as the East India Company. He stilled recurring doubts with the reminder nothing was settled, and after all, what apart from rumour did he know to the real discredit of the man?

      *

      The unwitting object of so much thought was at this time approaching her father's house in King Street, escorted by a tall young man. Good to look at, with large blue eyes, creamy skin, a mouth that always seemed to be dimpling into a smile, and hair of an unusual red-brown shade, she was certain to be noticed and admired. She was wearing a pale blue velvet dress, with a darker blue velvet cloak over it, and had her hands tucked into a huge fur muff, for the spring days were cold still.

      The pair halted outside the door.

      'Will you not come in?' Phillipa asked, smiling up at her companion. He was about three or four and twenty, with well-defined, strong features, a determined air, and twinkling brown eyes that were just now smiling down at her fondly.

      'Pray give your mother my apologies, but I have matters to attend to before I leave London in the morning.'

      'How long will you be gone, Charles?'

      'A week, I expect. No longer.'

      'Sophie will be here then. Do you recall her?'

      'Your cousin from France? Not a great deal, for I was most likely away from home when she stayed with you. I look forward to meeting her again.'

      He bowed and raised his hat. Phillipa smiled, then turned to enter the door while he strode off in search of a chair to take him to his lodgings near Temple Bar.

      *

      The following day Phillipa descended into the Oak Parlour where the family used to congregate with their guests before dinner. There were several people there, but she noticed one visitor with surprise. The Earl of Winton had never been to the house before, and she had not been aware he was acquainted with her parents, even though his estates were only twenty miles or so from her own home. She had seen him on a few occasions since they had been in town, and had danced in the same set. She knew he was one of the King's younger courtiers.

      She curtsied on entering the room, and was presented to the Earl, then greeted the other guests, all of whom she knew well,

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1