An Earl To Remember (The Yorkshire Downs Series - Love, Hearts and Challenges) (A Regency Romance Story) Read online

  An Earl To Remember

  A Yorkshire Downs - Love, Hearts and Challenges

  Jasmine Ashford

  RUSHMORE HOUSE PUBLISHERS CO.

  Contents

  Copyright

  A Personal Note From Jasmine Ashford

  Dedication

  About The Author

  Join My VIP Readers’ Club List

  AN EARL TO REMEMBER

  *

  PROLOGUE

  *

  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

  *

  EPILOGUE

  *

  A SURPRISE

  A BONUS NOVEL

  A TRAGIC LADY’S SECRET

  Book Description

  PROLOGUE

  *

  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

  *

  EPILOGUE

  *

  ANOTHER SURPRISE

  A BONUS NOVEL

  LOVING THE MYSTERIOUS LORD

  Book Description

  PROLOGUE

  *

  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

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  *

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  *

  EPILOGUE

  *

  Join My VIP Readers’ Club List

  Also By Jasmine Ashford

  Acknowledgement

  If You Have Enjoyed This Book…

  Publisher’s Notes

  Copyright © 2017 - 2018 by JASMINE ASHFORD & RUSHMORE HOUSE PUBLISHERS CO.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real or dead people, places, or events are not intentional and are the result of coincidence. The characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author/publisher. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  A PERSONAL NOTE

  FROM JASMINE ASHFORD

  Dearest Avid Romance Readers,

  The characters within my stories have a strong faith in love, they know what they want to pursue in this Regency Era. They are constantly looking that true love really exists amid adversities.

  Will they overcome these obstacles and conquer their own insecurities (or doubts?) in order to find true love?

  Read the book to find out.

  Thank you very much for your strong support to my writing journey!

  With Lots of Love,

  Jasmine

  DEDICATION

  “A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”

&
nbsp; Jane Austen (1775 - 1817)

  This Story Is Specially Dedicated To You, My Avid Romance Reader!

  Thank you once again for getting this book and giving me an opportunity to share with you my creative side.

  I am truly grateful for this gesture of yours.

  I hope you will find my stories both entertaining and inspiring as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

  I’m grateful for your support. I’ll continue to keep writing these stories as long as you are interested in buying them.

  Have you checked out my other historical romance books series?

  Click the link below to get started

  *** AMAZON USA ***

  Do you like what you have read?

  I would want to hear from you!

  Please do get in touch with me:

  https://www.facebook.com/JasmineAshfordBooks/

  [email protected]

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  “There is nothing so mortifying as to fall in love with someone who does not share one's sentiments.” - Georgette Heyer, Venetia

  Whenever Jasmine is feeling down, she always finds solace with this quote. It was Ms. Georgette Heyer that inspires her to the world of the Regency and Victorian.

  Jasmine took the pen and the rest is history for her.

  In Jasmine’s stories, you will witness how characters that are so complex are actually simple beings waiting to be connected by the Cupid’s arrow. It is just one of the many ways that love will reveal itself?

  Jasmine hopes that you will find love, solace, and peace in her stories. When she is not writing, she is enjoying her precious time with her family and her faithful Siberian Husky.

  Jasmine

  Join My VIP Readers’ Club

  Who Else Wants to Get Freebies, New Cover Reveals, Short Flash Fictions, Characters’ Interviews and much more…

  Jasmine Ashford invites you to join her VIP Readers’ Club List. When you signed up, you will get a surprise gift from her. CLICK HERE TO JOIN NOW!

  AN EARL TO REMEMBER

  THE YORKSHRE DOWNS - LOVE, HEARTS AND CHALLENGES

  By

  JASMINE ASHFORD

  and

  Rushmore House Publishers Co.

  PROLOGUE

  Ada Drosty sat in her favorite corner of the garden, its delicate scents of roses and lavender soothing her senses.

  “He loves me, he loves me not...” She sang out the familiar tune, her tapered fingers picking the petals from a daisy as she did so.

  “He loves me...”

  The last petal fell onto the stone path beneath her feet as she said it. Ada smiled a little sadly to herself.

  “Somehow, I doubt it,” she remarked quietly. “No one even notices me. Which is odd: I don't seem to be invisible...”

  She leaned over the side of the fountain to check her reflection in the pool. The rippling water showed a girl with pale skin, wide blue-green eyes and a mane of long red locks. Her skin was clear, and her figure was slender and pleasing, her smile warm.

  I sometimes feel invisible.

  Living here on the northern moors did that. It was hard for a young girl, even for the younger sister of the Earl of Darbyshire. The balls and societal events focused on London, and it was easy, over a hundred miles from that capital, to feel overlooked.

  Roderick, her elder brother, was overseeing Ada's entry into society. He, his new wife Henriette, and their neighbors – Lord Leo and Lady Alicia of Wilding – did their best, but the prospect of finding a husband up here in the wild North was difficult. It had worried Ada a great deal since she had come out into society. Not just because of the smaller numbers of people here, but also because she was fussy.

  An avid reader and a romantic at heart, Ada loved the French novels her brother's wife leant her: they painted a world where people followed their hearts and lived life passionately.

  Ada wished for herself a man who would love her like that: love without inhibition or condition, given purely for who she was.I wonder if anyone will ever love me for who I am. Not for what I am. And if I will ever love like the people in the stories.

  The garden was cooling with evening, blue dusk settling as a thrush sang outside the grotto, musically. Ada sighed. She had high expectations of love, but she doubted they would ever be reached. Not here, and almost certainly not in London, at her debutante ball. The man of her dreams was a man of shadows, not a man of bombast and convention. And chasing shadows was not an easy task.

  “Ada?” her sister-in-law, Henriette, called from the other side of the hedge.

  Ada sighed. “Coming, Henriette,”

  Lifting some flowers and her bonnet, she went slowly down the path, leaving the tranquil garden refuge to the falling dusk.

  CHAPTER ONE

  UNEXPECTED MEETING

  UNEXPECTED MEETING

  The forest bordering the estate was dark – it was just over an hour before dinner, and the sun was starting to set. Ada rode cautiously, starting to wonder if she had been right in her choice to go out.

  Blanche's footfalls on the leaves were muted, and she could hear her breath in the silence. The mist was just hanging on the edges of the trees, settling in, and Ada shivered, feeling scared. There were probably wolves in these woods.

  “Blanche?” Ada said loudly to her horse. “Can you smell any wolves?”

  Blanche snorted, but carried on. Ada was not too sure if horses could smell wolves or not, but decided to trust Blanche's instincts for the moment. They rode deeper into the woodland. Ada was not sure if the path they were on went anywhere. Perhaps we should turn back.

  Suddenly, Ada heard a noise.

  “What was that?”

  She hung onto the pommel of her saddle, tense. Then she heard it again. There were voices ahead.

  She listened carefully. It could easily be brigands. These woods, as Lady Alicia always told her, were not safe.

  “...and we should clear the bushes at the brake, before hunting season is done...”

  “Very good, milord.”

  The voices rose and fell on the edge of her hearing, and Ada strained to catch the words.

  “...should be going back, now...”

  At least it was not brigands. She realized she must have strayed onto the neighboring estate – Northfell. It had been empty for nearly a decade, and she had not heard someone had moved in.

  Ada held her breath. She was not sure what to do. The two men had ridden into her path and blocked her chance of a quiet exit. She did not want to be seen lurking in the bushes, eavesdropping on strangers!

  “Blanche,” she whispered to her horse urgently and nudged her with her knee. If they turned back sharply, they could move onto the path, and perhaps they would not be seen.

  Blanche breathed out huffily, and, completely uncharacteristically, went in the opposite direction. Toward the strangers.