LILY
Lauren Royal
Author’s Cut Edition
12th Edition, January 2018
Novelty Books
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Book Description
More Chase Family Books
A Message from Lauren...
Chase Family Tree
Cover Image
Dedication
1: He'd forgotten about her.
2: "What?" Lily laughed...
3: When Lily arrived at...
4: It wasn't that Lily...
5: "I swear, Uncle Ford...
6: Trentingham Manor...
7: Breathless, Lily stared...
8: Rand's bedchamber...
9: "Rose, don't!"
10: She'd overslept.
11: An hour later, Rose...
12: No sooner had...
13: Downstairs, Lily...
14: Later that afternoon...
15: It was a week later...
16: For three solid days...
17: "Lily, are you ready...
18: "Joseph," Chrystabel said...
19: Once in a great while...
20: The burn of overworked...
21: "You cannot go back...
22: Lily's gaze was glued...
23: The next day, Lily...
24: "I'm flattered, my lady...
25: In the fickle way of...
26: When Lily and Rand...
27: "Well, Chrysanthemum...
28: The soft drizzle...
29: Lily smiled to herself.
30: It took three carriages...
31: "Never say never...
32: After much fussing...
33: "Lie still," Rose muttered.
34: "Lily?" Clearly shocked...
35: "You look very nice...
36: Patience fled...
37: For the first few...
38: When Rand returned...
39: Like the rest of...
40: Upstairs in Hawkridge...
41: "Lily?" Rand whispered...
42: "Randy."
43: The smile froze...
44: "Jerome, you may leave...
45: "Bennett is not...
46: Lord Bennett Armstrong's...
47: The Marquess failed...
48: Margery took a few...
49: In his small chamber...
50: Clad in her night rail...
51: Rand set their luggage...
52: The ride to Trentingham...
53: "Wait!" Lily called.
54: Dinner was a subdued affair.
55: "...that you can take ill!"
56: Halfway to Oxford, rain...
57: By the time Rand told...
58: "I'm worried."
59: Rand showed up...
60: The three of them...
61: The most logical...
62: Etta in tow, Margery...
63: "I have an idea!"
64: All the way back...
65: Rand arrived at...
66: Standing in her...
67: Not the sort of man...
68: While the marquess...
69: The negotiations...
70: "Soon," Rand whispered...
Thank You!
BONUS MATERIAL
Author's Note
Explore the Chase Family World
Excerpt from ROSE
Books by Lauren Royal
Free Historical Recipe Book
Contest
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Jewels of Historical Romance
Contact Information
Copyright Page
BOOK DESCRIPTION
England, 1677
Lily Ashcroft is far and away the most conventional member of her eccentric family. Though she fell for dashing Oxford professor Lord Randal Nesbitt at the tender age of sixteen, she buried her feelings in deference to society’s expectation that her older sisters marry first. Four years later, her sister Rose has now set her sights on Rand—and though it breaks her heart, what else can Lily do but help her beloved sister land the man of her dreams?
What no one considers are Rand’s feelings on the matter. He’s been nursing a secret affection for sweet, compassionate Lily ever since their first meeting. But Rose is just as beautiful and shares his academic interests. Now he finds himself caught between two lovely sisters—the one he’s expected to wed and the one who’s captured his heart…
MORE CHASE FAMILY BOOKS
For more information, click on a cover.
Chase Family Series: The Jewels
Chase Family Series: The Flowers
Chase Family Series: The Regency
Chase Family Series: The Renaissance
Boxed Sets
A MESSAGE FROM LAUREN…
It’s unusual for an author to center all her novels around a single family, and it wasn’t something I planned to do when I started writing.
The Chase family came to me all at once. I knew I wanted to set my first books in the late 17th century, and I wanted to write about people affected by their times. An English family with Royalist sympathies would have lived through a lot in those years—the English Civil War, the Protectorate, exile on the Continent, the Restoration—and those experiences would have forever shaped their personalities. So the Chases came to me: Jason, the oldest, who had responsibility thrust on him too soon by the untimely deaths of their parents; Colin, a middle child filled with resentment for his parents’ choices and what those had ultimately cost him and his siblings; Kendra, the only girl, raised by imperfect but well-meaning older brothers; and her twin Ford, the baby of the family, the happy-go-lucky one who was too young to feel the burden of their circumstances. Ford later marries Violet Ashcroft, bringing her eccentric relations into the Chase family circle.
After two series, I decided to write books set in the Regency period. By then the Chases felt as real to me as my own family, so it was natural to write about their descendants. Though over a hundred years have passed, evidence of the original Chases still remains, hidden in old portraits, hereditary traits, and family legend (the truth of which astute readers will know better than the Regency Chases do!). I had a lot of fun tying these characters together across the centuries.
My daughter and I are now writing Chase books set in the Renaissance era, so the tradition continues. Will I ever write about a different family? I can’t say for sure, but I’m not ready to walk away from the Chases yet!
I love to keep in touch with my readers! Join my e-newsletter to receive free and 99¢ book suggestions each week as well as new release bulletins. And I’d be thrilled to see you in my Readers Group on Facebook, where I share sneak peeks and gather suggestions from my favorite readers!
There are so many great romance novels out there—thank you for choosing mine. I so hope you’ll enjoy Rand and Lily’s story.
Happy reading!
CHASE FAMILY TREE
To see a larger version of the Chase Family Tree, click here!
For DeeDee Guiver Perkins,
Diena Brennan Simmons,
and Julie Bowring Walker,
who wore hoop skirts with me at the senior prom.
Our friendship means the world to me.
ONE
Trentingham Manor, the South of England
August 1677
HE’D FORGOTTEN
