The Abandoned Bride

Julia Hawkins is a governess/companion, of adequate but not noble background, who once eloped with but was abandoned by the heir to a marquessate. Now, she tries to forget that scandal, which ruined her for ever in the eyes of her village home.Nicholas Daventry, Baron Stafford (*not* Lord Nicholas, as Layton refers to him; that title is incorrect), is the uncle of Julia's erstwhile fiance. But what Julia doesn't know is that Robin, her ex-fiance, has been spinning Nicholas a web of lies about her and is using her supposed rejection of him as his excuse not to fulfill his family responsibilities. Therefore Nicholas attempts to bribe Julia to come with him to see Robin, and when she refuses, he later kidnaps her.Therefore these two begin their acquaintanceship on the worst possible terms - and as if things can't get any worse, Nicholas then loses his temper with Julia when she insists on protesting her innocence and lets it be known that she believes him to be demented. He slaps her, an act he later suffers enormous guilt over.However, Nicholas's basic decency begins to filter through the harsh appearance he has shown Julia, and she finds herself coming to like him despite herself. And likewise, Nicholas finds himself less and less able to believe his nephew's claims about Julia's character.I have to thank the previous reviewer here. He/she commented that this book is the third in The Duke's Wager/The Disdainful Marquess series, and this is why I bought it at auction. Having read it, I don't think it is part of that series at all, although, like many of Layton's books, characters from other books appear. But if I hadn't seen that review, I'd have missed out on an extremely enjoyable, angsty and romantic read. I do think that this book has to be a sequel to something; Nicholas has a stepfather who appears briefly and very enigmatically, and the man is never named; it's as if the readers are expected to know who he is. Wish I knew which book this does follow from!

I just found out that this book is a part of a trilogy by this author which includes "The Disdainful Marquess" and "the Duke's Wager". Readers familiar with these two other books might want to complete the set.