The Abandoned Bride

FREE Regency romance short story

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Warning: 18+ content.

The Abandoned Bride is exclusive to email subscribers only from 26th November 2025.

Blurb

Effie had planned to make the best of it when she agreed to marry Viscount Osborne’s heir and fulfil her father’s social climbing aspirations. She had not planned to fall in love with Noah, or to have those feelings returned. Yet her hopes for more than a convenient marriage were dashed when the viscount sent her away the morning after their wedding.

When Effie learns of the viscount’s death, she refuses to be ignored any longer. Now free from his father’s influence, surely she can win back the affections of her husband and end her loneliness.

Noah harbours a shameful secret. His father always said he was weak and unworthy of being the viscount, but he will not fail to uphold his parent’s wishes regarding his marriage—even if Effie’s return threatens his resolve.

Somehow, he must not succumb to his wife’s charms and prove his father right. If only his beautiful and determined bride did not still tempt him beyond reason.

Excerpt

Raised voices from the entrance hall had them both turning to the open door of the library. The light tones of a woman giving orders rebounded through the house.

He and Jacob both stared at each other wide-eyed before leaping from their seats.

The drink in Noah’s stomach churned. Jacob headed straight into the hall, but Noah took a moment to blink away the light-headedness that struck. He should not have downed that last brandy.

Following a deep breath, he hesitated before stepping into the hallway and froze.

“Is this any way to greet the viscountess?”

A harried footman stood before a woman in a black cloak and bonnet, her face covered by a black lace veil. “I apologise, my lady, but we were not expecting you.”

“Perhaps you could send for assistance. I have several trunks to bring in, and my footman cannot do it alone.”

The Osborne footman nodded, then scurried off to the servants’ stairway.

Noah swallowed. Had his pitiful flights of fancy summoned her?

The woman pulled back her veil, and Noah’s heart skipped a beat. Dear Lord, she was still the most beautiful creature he had ever beheld. There was a light in her, a hypnotic draw that shone like the brightest star and held him enraptured.

He longed to take her in his arms and just hold her, to feel something other than cold and gnawing guilt, to tell her how much he had missed her and ask her not to leave. Good God, how much brandy had he consumed? He could not afford to lose control, especially not with her.

Jacob jabbed his elbow into Noah’s ribs.

He wobbled a fraction, then regained his balance. “What are you doing here?”

“Where else would I be but at my husband’s side following the death of his father?” She narrowed her gaze, and even more guilt, if that were possible, sloshed with the liquid in his stomach.

A non-liveried footman came through the front door and deposited a large trunk on the floor before heading back out.

“What are you doing? You cannot stay here!” The brandy roiled, threatening to reappear.

“You seem to have forgotten that we are married. Where else would I stay?”