Miss Wonderful

Miss
Wonderful

By

Loretta
Chase

Contents

Prologue
Chapter
1
Chapter
2
Chapter
3
Chapter
4
Chapter
5
Chapter
6
Chapter
7
Chapter
8
Chapter
9
Chapter
10
Chapter
11
Chapter
12
Chapter
13
Chapter
14
Chapter
15
Chapter
16
Chapter
17
Chapter
18
Chapter
19
Chapter
20
Chapter
21

Mr.
Carsington's sleep was not restful. Mirabel rose and came nearer the
bed to study his face. His voice scarcely rose above a murmur, but he
was flailing about. She must stop him, or he'd harm himself. So she
flung herself across his chest.

He
shuddered briefly, then stilled. Mirabel waited, uncertain what to
do. Should she let him sleep or wake him? If he slept, he might
return to the nightmare.

Everyone
said it was a miracle Mr. Carsington had survived until he was found
on the battlefield, many hours after the battle. It must have taken
unimaginable courage and a will of iron. Not to mention a remarkably
strong and resilient body. It was this thought that brought Mirabel
back to the present, to where she was, lying across the famously
indestructible body. Now she was acutely aware of the hardness and
warmth under her. If only…

Cautiously,
she lifted her head and looked at him… and found him looking
back at her. His eyes were open. Mirabel swallowed. "Bad dream,"
she said.

"You
had a bad dream?" Mr. Carsington asked.

PRAISE
FOR THE NOVELS OF

Loretta
Chase

"Poignant,
beautifully written…

and
scorchingly sensual."

—
Mary
Jo Putney

"Excellent
characterizations."

—
Library
Journal

This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either
are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously,
and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

MISS
WONDERFUL

A
Berkley Sensation Book / published by arrangement with the author

PRINTING
HISTORY

Berkley
Sensation edition / March 2004

Copyright
© 2004 by Loretta Chekani. Cover illustration by One By Two.

Cover
design by George Long. Interior text design by Kristin del Rosario.

All
rights reserved.

ISBN:
0-425-19483-3

BERKLEY
SENSATION™ Berkley Sensation Books are published by The Berkley
Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson
Street, New York, New York 10014.

BERKLEY
SENSATION and the "B" design are trademarks belonging to
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

PRINTED
IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Prologue

London,
late autumn, 1817

THE
Right Honorable Edward Junius Carsington, Earl of Hargate, had five
sons, which was three more than he needed. Since Providence—with
some help from his wife—had early blessed him with a robust
heir and an equally healthy spare, he'd rather the last three infants
had been daughters.

This
was because his lordship, unlike many of his peers, had a morbid
aversion to accumulating debt, and everyone knows that sons,
especially a nobleman's sons, are beastly expensive.

The
modest schooling aristocratic girls require can be provided well
enough at home, while boys must be sent away to public school, then
university.

In
the course of growing up, properly looked after girls do not get into
scrapes their father must pay enormous sums to get them out of. Boys
do little else, unless kept in cages, which is impractical.

This,
at least, was true of Lord Hargate's boys. Having inherited their
parents' good looks, abundant vitality, and strong will, they tumbled
into trouble with depressing regularity.