Page 1 of Introducing Miss Joanna (Once a Wallflower 2)

Introducing Miss Joanna

She’s hoping to find true love.

He prefers to remain single and bring criminals to justice.

When a dangerous gang threatens her life, his heart is on the line.

London, 1817

When Joanna Dalrymple’s father inherits a fortune from a relative, he sells his haberdashery and turns his attention to seeing his beloved daughter settled in the manner he’d promised her mother. He leases a townhouse in Mayfair for the Season and engages a lady to ease their way into Society.

At her first ball, Jo makes a new friend, Letitia Cartwright, who introduces her to the baron, Lord Reade. Dark-haired and handsome, he towers over most men, and his teasing manner is not what one finds on a ballroom dance floor. Jo learns from Letty that Reade is not looking to marry. It intrigues Jo. There is something mysterious about the baron. An air of danger surrounds him. But Jo has decided her husband must be a quiet gentleman who would welcome her widowed father into their house, so when the elegant Mr. Ollerton, pursues her, Jo welcomes his advances.

Gareth Baron Reade, an agent for the crown, is investigating the disappearances of several young women at the request of the Prince Regent. The lovely redhead, Miss Joanna Dalrymple, has captured Reade’s attention. His interest in her deepens.

His good friend, Brandon Cartwright, has the annoying tendency to read Reade’s mind, and to voice what’s on his. He urges Reade to marry and cast aside the low spirits which have plagued him since Waterloo. But Reade refuses to inflict his dark moods and nightmares on a wife. Trouble is, Joanna, a forthright young woman, becomes increasingly difficult to ignore. Especially when it appears she might be in danger.

Has she become involved with the Virdens, the couple Reade has under suspicion? While he has no intention of caring for anyone again, he becomes determined to protect her.

Will it take a matter of life and death for them to realize they cannot live without each other?

Chapter One

Marlborough, Wiltshire

March 1817

“It’s sold!”

Joanna Dalrymple’s father burst through the door, his face wreathed in smiles. She glanced up from slicing meat for their luncheon at the kitchen table. Their maid, Molly, left her seat, and transferring the bowl of shelled peas to the sideboard, withdrew from the room.

“That is wonderful news, Papa.”

“Not surprising, as the haberdashery is a neat little business.” He brushed a hand over his faded red locks and sat down. “An excellent position, Marlborough being a market town on the Bath Road, it gets all the traffic from London to Bath. Not to mention the shop is on the second-widest high street in Britain, after Stockton-on-Tees.”

“Yes, Papa.” While Jo had heard it all before, she was glad her father no longer had to work so hard after he inherited money from a relative who’d done extremely well in the silk business at Spitalfields and invested wisely. Papa was now a man of leisure, but unused to idleness, he still cast around for something to occupy his days.

“Are you pleased the shop has sold?”

“I am.” He sawed through a loaf of bread with the bread knife and spread butter on two slices. “It’s an excellent time to sell, now with the taxes Pitt has imposed. My best lines, including tea, sugar, soap, candles, and paper, are all heavily taxed because of the enormous national debt. The Corn Laws protect the landowners, so the rich grow richer, and the poor grow poorer.” He placed a slice of ham on the bread.

Jo passed him the musta

rd. She wondered if he would ever accept he was now a wealthy man. “You could own a farm again. Employ men to do the hard work.”

“And I might one day. But now I have a surprise.” His enthusiasm reminded her of their dog, Sooty, after he’d hidden his bone under the sofa cushion.

“A surprise?” Jo grinned as she poured him a cup of tea from the kitchen’s brown china teapot.

“I engaged a business manager to find us a house in London for the Season.”

“London!” Jo squealed. “Papa! How did you manage to keep this from me?”

He folded his arms with a smug smile. “I signed the lease this morning!”

“You did?” Jo couldn’t believe her father would do such a thing. Since her mother died, he disliked disruption of any kind and often lectured her that she was too compulsive, and her desire for adventure was unwise. She felt like pinching herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

“You shall have your debut as your mother would have wished.” A shadow appeared in his green eyes. “I promised her you would have your chance, and here you are at twenty-one. The men you meet at assemblies and church dances are not good enough for my girl. Your mother married beneath her when she chose me, bless her heart. I pray I never gave her cause to regret it.” He sighed. “While I dislike your mother’s family, and what they did to Mary, throwing her out because she took your mother’s side, I have to admit they are well-born.”

“A Season? I can’t believe it,” Jo said, slightly breathless. “Is Aunt Mary to come with us?”

“Your aunt complains of her rheumatism but expresses an eagerness to accompany us.”

“She will enjoy being among society people again.”

“I believe she will. I have promised to purchase that cottage your aunt wants. She intends to move there with her cats after you marry.”

“She has had her eye on that cottage for ages.” While she was pleased for Aunt Mary, Jo felt a quiver of unease. Should she marry, her father would be alone here. He must come and live with her. And any man she married would need an agreeable nature. Someone calm, gentle, and kind.

Her father fed a piece of meat to Sooty, patiently waiting at his feet. “Where is your aunt?”

“She has taken an apple pie to Mrs. Jones, who’s feeling poorly.” Jo jumped up. “When do we leave? I must make a list.”

“Now, I don’t intend to leave immediately! There is much to do to prepare. You have need of a ballgown.”

“We can purchase it in London,” Jo said, fearing something might occur to change his mind.

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