He blinked at her, not sure he understood. “As they are planning her wedding, she thought she ought to go and at least listen so as she’d know what to expect.” The maid adjusted the basket to her hip and fixed him with a bleak look. “Why would she brave such a den of danger?” he asked, fully expecting to be amused by the answer. Servants were never this frank with him at his brother’s home. “That’s what I told Miss Bringhurst, but she went in anyway.”Ī smile twitched at his lips. “Perhaps I ought to stay clear of that room.” He was hoping to tease a smile from the maid, but she only grimaced. Down in the morning room with Lady Falkham, Lady Calvert, Mrs. The maid sighed, a reaction not common in hired help. Sarah, isn’t it? You are attending to Miss Bringhurst still?” He ran into Ellen’s maid in the hall, a basket full of multicolored ribbons in her arms.

After he freshened up, he went in search of her. This close to their wedding, he thought she might have been home making arrangements and plans. He hardly expected to learn from the butler that Ellen yet remained, with her brother, as a guest in the home. The wedding was but eight days away and Marcus arrived to spend time with his mother at Collin’s estate. As it was taken out early in the process, it was never fully edited. This scene takes place between Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 of the finished novel. So, it was cut.īut I still have the scene, and I'm going to share it with you now! Then I went back through and found a scene that was just 'extra.' It didn't add much to the plot and established something about my hero, Marcus, too early. In His Bluestocking Bride, I had to rid the book of an entire character. What began as a sensible arrangement now has the possibility to become so much more.Authors write a LOT and, sometimes, we create entire books, characters, and scenes that never make it to the publishing stage. Marcus, though determined not to expose his heart again, finds more to admire in his childhood friend with each passing day.

Ellen accepts his hand, hiding her feelings rather than risking her husband's rejection. When Ellen is presented as a possible bride, he proposes a marriage of convenience. Still nursing a broken heart, he prefers a practical approach to matrimony rather than romantic love. As the younger son to an earl, Marcus Calvert must wed in order to inherit his estate. Until her match-making friends contrive to reintroduce Ellen to the man she has secretly loved since their shared childhood. A marriage of convenience is not what either of them wished for.Overlooked by society and underappreciated in her family, Ellen Bringhurst has resigned herself to spinsterhood and a life of reading.

His Bluestocking Bride by Sally Britton