A Kiss In The Desert

he had returned to England looking for amusement and it had not been hard to find.
As he was exceedingly handsome, well off and heir to the Dukedom of Brackenshaw, he was on the list of every Society hostess.
He was also on the list of ambitious mothers of daughters they hoped would make a good matrimonial catch.
The Earl had long ago been determined not to marry until he was very much older. Although he was the heir to this father’s title, he had a brother who would take his place if he did not produce a son.
He made it very clear to his relatives that if he did marry it would be his own choice and he did not need their advice nor to be in any way pushed into matrimony.
What happened next was inevitable.
A large number of attractive and colourful married ladies had made London Society the talk of Europe, and the Earl had quickly found one amongst them who fascinated him.
When he had first seen Irene, he had recognised that she was different from the women he had met on his travels.
They gravitated towards each other almost instinctively.
Very slim, with dark hair and flashing green eyes, Irene was sinuous and exotic. She fastened herself, as it were, around any man she fancied.
He found it impossible either to ignore her or to move away.
As soon as she met the Earl she knew at once that he was exactly what she had been looking for. She had been married when she was just eighteen to Lord Grantham.
He was old enough to be her father, but was anxious to produce a son and an heir.
He also found Irene irresistible.
He had been married to a woman who was a perpetual invalid and he had found her extremely boring only a few months after they were mar

he had returned to England looking for amusement and it had not been hard to find.
As he was exceedingly handsome, well off and heir to the Dukedom of Brackenshaw, he was on the list of every Society hostess.
He was also on the list of ambitious mothers of daughters they hoped would make a good matrimonial catch.
The Earl had long ago been determined not to marry until he was very much older. Although he was the heir to this father’s title, he had a brother who would take his place if he did not produce a son.
He made it very clear to his relatives that if he did marry it would be his own choice and he did not need their advice nor to be in any way pushed into matrimony.
What happened next was inevitable.
A large number of attractive and colourful married ladies had made London Society the talk of Europe, and the Earl had quickly found one amongst them who fascinated him.
When he had first seen Irene, he had recognised that she was different from the women he had met on his travels.
They gravitated towards each other almost instinctively.
Very slim, with dark hair and flashing green eyes, Irene was sinuous and exotic. She fastened herself, as it were, around any man she fancied.
He found it impossible either to ignore her or to move away.
As soon as she met the Earl she knew at once that he was exactly what she had been looking for. She had been married when she was just eighteen to Lord Grantham.
He was old enough to be her father, but was anxious to produce a son and an heir.
He also found Irene irresistible.
He had been married to a woman who was a perpetual invalid and he had found her extremely boring only a few months after they were married.

suggestion

CHAPTER

The Earl of Bracken walked into White’s Club in St. James’s Street.
“Good morning, my Lord,” the porter greeted him.
“Good morning, Jackson,” the Earl replied. “Is Captain Kenwood here yet?”
“No, my Lord, but there’s a letter for you that has just arrived.”
He produced a sky blue envelope and the Earl took it from him and put it in his pocket before walking into the coffee room.
There were two members of the Club whom the Earl knew well sitting in the bow window which had been made famous by Beau Brummel.
They were deep in conversation and he had no wish to join them, so he walked quickly to the other end of the room and sat down in a corner.
He ordered a bottle of champagne from the Steward and almost reluctantly opened the letter which had been waiting for him.
It was, as he knew, from Lady Grantham as there was a faint scent emanating from the paper which he recognised.
He considered it a mistake for Irene to write to him using anything so noticeable as her sky blue writing paper. She had made it specially her own and the Earl knew it was recognised by the porters in his Club as well as by most servants in houses in Mayfair.
As he expected the letter was a long effusion of love and was mingled with urgent requests for him to come to her as quickly as possible.
He read it through and tucked it away into his pocket.
It was increasingly obvious that Irene Grantham was becoming somewhat of a problem and one that he was finding increasingly difficult to solve.
After the Earl had travelled round the world at his father’s sugges