The Lazy Bachelor

Book excerpt: For the daughter of a gentleman during the English Regency, life can be a whirlwind of parties, balls and outings--all to catch a suitable husband. For Georgiana and Cecilia Rowland and their friends, finding and securing the right husband is further complicated by misunderstandings, prejudices, rebellion against social restrictions, uncooperative suitors...and sometimes their own wayward hearts. Mr. Peregrine Tyndall has often been called the laziest man in London. Even still, stirred to the enormous task of matchmaking when a hunting accident suffered by his cousin makes him realize he stands in real danger of inheriting an earldom--with all its tedious responsibilities. In his opinion, the perfect girl to marry his cousin and give the earldom another heir than himself would be their childhood friend, Portia Freestone. Mr. Tyndall doesn't know what formidable obstacles lay before him in this endeavour. However, when he joins a house party at the earl's country home with this match on his mind, everything seems to go wrong. In the first place, his normally obliging friend Portia has a secret. She has no wish to marry the earl--she likes him very well but the man she secretly wishes to marry is Mr. Tyndall himself. An even bigger problem is Miss Frances Armitage. She and her little sister Eleanor had been left in his guardianship, a duty he has benignly and completely neglected up to now. A furious Miss Armitage is about to descend on Lakeford Hall to demand that Mr. Tyndall take up his duties to her and her sister in a responsible manner--even if she has to force him to do it!