Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to say thanks to all those who have been downloading my books from Amazon lately. Hope you enjoy them. Thanks for your support.

Here is another chapter of my Historical Romance, Wicked Lord Morgan.

Have fun. Enjoy your weekend!


Sara :)


Chapter One

Montague Court, the Country Parish of Bramley, not far from London

Lady Penelope Windsmoor sat back in the black velvet interior of her father’s Post Chaise carriage and vowed to say no more on the subject that they had been so keenly discussing before commencing their journey. It was a clear beautiful moonlit night in September for their journey to her Aunt’s home in Kensington. And she did not wish to feel the fierce stinging blow of her father’s hand across her cheek once more. But he was not about to let achieve any peace. The moment he closed the carriage door and sat down next to her he began their argument once again.

‘How long will you keep this rebellion up, Penelope?’ her father demanded roughly, banging his silver topped cane on the carriage floor making her jump. The carriage moved off.

Penelope took a breath and steeled herself.

‘Until you come to your senses, father. I will not marry a man I do not love, least of all, a man who has a cruel barbaric reputation and is rumoured to have been the sole cause of his first wife’s death,’ she said firmly, pouting her rosy red lips with indignation. ‘Is that what you really want for me, father,’ she almost sneered the words, the effort to keep her temper proving too much.

Her father grunted and cursed her. She braced herself for the inevitable speech about discipline he would give her yet again. A feeling of suffocation at her situation began to press down upon her.

‘Lord Hamnet is a strict disciplinarian both with his family and his servants. I admire that in a man. A man must keep control of those who depend upon him for protection. A woman and family must be governed strongly,’ her father informed her with conviction. ‘ If Lord Hamnet was responsible for the death of his first wife then I warrant she deserved it.’

‘Father, how can you say such a thing?’ Penelope was shocked at her father’s callous words. Her voice rose with contempt and anger at his intolerable cruelness. ‘Is that how you justify my own mother’s death after you heartlessly beat her?’ she snapped leaning towards Lord Windsmoor.

Penelope regretted her words the moment she saw her father’s fair complexion flush to a deep shade of crimson under his powdered white wig. He was only a man of forty years and his appearance should have been still youthful but his bad temperament made his face hard and lined giving him the appearance of being much older.

Lord Windsmoor’s vindication for his daughter’s undisciplined outburst was satisfied with the swipe of the hard back of his hand across her delicate pale cheek. His large emerald ring contributed to his bruising assault by cutting her skin. Her piteous cry did little to assuage his vile temper and the tears that splashed onto her countenance were lost on his conscience.

‘I will stand no more of your nonsense, child. As your father I demand your obedience. You will become Lord Hamnet’s property as a wife next week as arranged if I have to deliver you to the altar bound and gagged. This marriage is essential to secure this family’s future wealth. I will be obeyed.’

Lady Windsmoor nursed her swelling cheek and the small cut at her mouth with a trembling slender hand. She was afraid of her father but as on every occasion he had raised his hand to her she refused to let him see just how much.

‘And I will defy you to the last, even with my dying breath,’ she challenged vainly attempting to remove the shake in her voice.

Lord Windsmoor leaned over her until his face was mere inches from her own. His cold watery grey eyes darkened with more rage than she ever thought it possible for a man to feel to the point that Lady Windsmoor feared for her very life.

‘The large inheritance you were given by your mother should have passed to me. She believed she could outwit me but you will pay the cost on her behalf. If you do not marry Lord Hamnet next week I will see you dead,’ he shouted.

Terror shook Lady Windsmoor to her very core and for a brief moment she consider the wild impulsive act of jumping from the carriage and braving an encounter with the thieves and vagabonds that roamed the forest in which they now travelled. Before she could consider the matter any further the carriage came to a sudden stop causing both father and daughter to lurch forward in the carriage.

Penelope looked out of the carriage window to find a striking tall figure of a man sat astride a black stallion blocking their path in the road. He wore a mask and cast a dashing romantic figure in the moonlight that shone down upon him as he pointed a pistol at the driver of the carriage and the footman.

‘Stand and Deliver,’ the man ordered in a deep commanding voice.

‘Damn Highwaymen, the whole town is being overrun with them,’ Lord Windsmoor muttered. ‘Use the pistol I gave you James and shoot the fellow dead. Let us be on our way,’ he said banging his cane on the roof of the carriage as he shouted to his driver.

But silence was to follow. Only the sound of horses hooves approaching the carriage could be heard. Penelope dug her hand into the pocket of her dress and felt for the pistol she had been carrying on the journey, unknown to her father. There had been several hold ups in the area of the last week with one man dead and a woman ravished. Lady Windsmoor had no intention of being taken advantage of by another man or being robbed. Slowly she pulled it out, ignoring her father’s constant orders to the driver. She heard the Highwayman dismount his horse and his footsteps approach the carriage. Wasting no further time she opened the carriage door and stepped out onto the road brandishing the loaded pistol defiantly at the Highwayman.

The Highwayman halted his progress, surprised at the presence of the dainty woman standing before him armed with a pistol. Penelope watched his lips curl with an amused smile and his dark hauntingly beautiful chestnut eyes twinkle with mischief. He removed his hat revealing long ebony hair tied neatly with a black velvet bow.

‘At your service, your Ladyship,’ he grinned.