title: An Improper Aristocrat
author:  Deb Marlowe 
description: Deb Marlowe grew up with her nose in a book. Luckily, shed read enough romances to recognize the hero she met at a college Halloween party  even though he wore a tuxedo t-shirt instead of breeches and boots! They married, settled in North Carolina. Though she spends much of her time at her laptop, for the sake of her family, Deb does occasionally abandon her inner world for the adventures of laundry, dinner and carpool. You can contact Deb at: deb@debmarlowe.com
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  DEB MARLOWE
  
  TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON  
  AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG  
  STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO •MILAN • MADRID  
  PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND
  
  To my husband—supporter of dreams  
  and builder of sheds extraordinaire
  
  And to Susan—for cracking her whip  
  and wielding her red pen with flair
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter One
  
  Charles Alden, Viscount Dayle, sank into his favourite overstuffed chair in
  the morning room at White’s. It was early; the porters had not yet let down
  the awnings and bright light flooded through the floor-to-ceiling window. At
  his elbow sat a pot of coffee, a plate of muffins, and a pile of papers. He
  snapped open The Times, sank his teeth into his first, hot, buttery bite and
  let out a heartfelt sigh.
  
  He revelled in the peace of the morning all the way through the first paper.
  Unfortunately, peace was a commodity hard to come by anywhere in England in
  the spring of 1817, even for a viscount. Charles first noticed something amiss
  as he se