Lady Sheila's Groom

the long version

A BORED RAKE Only boredom could have prompted Sir Robert Lange to wager that he could earn his own keep for six months. That and a few drinks too many. But a gentleman's word is his bond, and a wager is a wager. Which was why the ton's most devil-may-care rake slipped out of London one rosy dawn with nary a word of farewell to either his tiresome mother or his tedious fiancee. Dressed in his valet's clothing, the resourceful nobleman made his way to Ireland as humble, untitled Robert Euston -- and found that boredom was now the least of his problems... A SPOILED LADY No groom lasted longer than a week or two at the most on the estate of Lord Roderick Kildare. Kildare's headstrong young sister, Lady Sheila, saw to that. If she didn't make them cower with her willfulness, the reckless little vixen seduced them with her charms. When Robert Euston became her groom, Lady Sheila wagered she'd be rid of him in four days flat. But something about the tall, lithe Euston flustered her as no man -- and certainly none of her grooms -- had done before. Perhaps it was the challenging, appraising look in his hazel eyes -- as if he were planning a strategy to conquer her.