Her undercover life...
Her secret child
Dancing in speakeasies at night is dutiful heiress Betty Dryer’s only escape from her father’s tyrannical control and marriage plans. There she meets mysterious FBI agent Henry Randall. Drawn into his investigation—and to emotionally scarred, lone-wolf Henry himself—Betty gives in to her desire, believing this could be her only chance at love before she’s forced to wed. Until she discovers she’s pregnant with Henry’s baby!
Sisters of the Roaring Twenties
Flappers finding love in Hollywood
By day, the three Dryer sisters, Betty, Patsy and Jane, are dutiful and obedient daughters, doing chores insisted on by their tyrannical father.
But what their father doesn’t know is that his daughters lead secret lives—as flappers who dance all night in Hollywood’s speakeasies!
Their father insists they will marry wealthy men of his choosing, but these independent sisters are determined to find love on their own terms!
Read Patsy’s story in
The Flapper’s Fake Fiancé
Read Betty’s story in
The Flapper’s Baby Scandal
And look out for Jane’s story
The Flapper's Scandalous Elopement
coming soon!
Author Note
Welcome to another Roaring Twenties story. While I was writing Henry and Betty’s story, my husband asked how the book was coming along. I told him that I couldn’t wait to see how it ended. He gave me one of those dumbfounded looks and pointed out that I was the author. I nodded and said, “I know.”
That’s how it is sometimes—the characters take over, and I’m just typing the story they are laying out for me, right up to the end. That’s what happened with this story. I thought it would end with a wedding. They proved me wrong.
There are two things I’d like to point out. The FBI wasn’t the Federal Bureau of Investigation until 1935. Prior to that, it was the Bureau of Investigation, therefore agents were not referred to as “FBI” during the Roaring Twenties. However, I termed Henry’s occupation as an FBI agent and hope you don’t mind.
The second one is that childbirth changed drastically in the 1920s. There were fewer “home deliveries” with the rise in hospitals, and maternity wards became more commonplace. So did administering ether to women in labor so they “slept” through the entire process, not remembering anything when they woke up. Yes, it was known as “modern medicine.”
I do hope you enjoy Henry and Betty’s story!
LAURI ROBINSON
The Flapper’s Baby Scandal
A lover of fairy tales and history, Lauri Robinson can’t imagine a better profession than penning happily-ever-after stories about men and women in days gone past. Her favorite settings include World War II, the Roaring Twenties and the Old West. Lauri and her husband raised three sons in their rural Minnesota home and are now getting their just rewards by spoiling their grandchildren. Visit her at laurirobinson.Blogspot.com, Facebook.com/lauri.robinson1 or Twitter.com/laurir.
Books by Lauri Robinson
Harlequin Historical
Diary of a War Bride
Oak Grove
Mail-Order Brides of Oak Grove
“Surprise Bride for the Cowboy”
Winning the Mail-Order Bride
In the Sheriff’s Protection
Brides of the Roaring Twenties
Baby on His Hollywood Doorstep
Stolen Kiss with the Hollywood Starlet
Sisters of the Roaring Twenties
The Flapper’s Fake Fiancé
The Flapper’s Baby Scandal
Visit the Author Profile page
at Harlequin.com for more titles.
To Diane S. for always being one of the first people to read my books as soon as they are released. I appreciate your support so very much!
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
Excerpt from Claimed for the Highlander’s Revenge by Millie Adams
Chapter One
1928
Betty Dryer sat at the bar on the outskirts of the dance floor, tapping the toe of one black patent leather shoe against the foot rail to the beat of the music while scanning the crowded room. The Rooster’s Nest was a hopping place tonight and her sisters were already taking advantage of that. Exercising the freedom that only came when the three of them escaped into the night, became the women they could only dream about being.
Her youngest sister, Patsy, wearing a cute blue dress covered with layers of fringe and a matching hat, was nearly dragging a guy onto the dance floor, while Jane, in her red-and-white-striped A-line dress was over by the piano, pinning numbers onto the backs of couples for the dance-off that had just been announced. Jane wore a hat that matched her outfit, too. They all did. Betty’s hat was silver, with a purple feather, the same shade as her purple dress, trimmed with double layers of wide silver lace at the hem, neckline and sleeve openings. She’d sewn it herself. They all had sewn their dresses and wore hats to cover their blond hair. In order to keep people from recognizing them as William Dryer’s daughters.
This was their secret life. One their parents could never learn about or they’d be locked away in the top floor of their house like a trio of Rapunzels.
Betty scanned the crowd a little harder, looking for a dance partner. She’d already turned down two men, because she’d danced with them earlier tonight. That was one of the rules she’d set for herself and her sisters. To never dance with the same man too many times. They were here for one reason. Fun. Getting paired up with someone could ruin that for everyone.
A knot formed in her stomach. She breathed through the tightening, wishing she could make it go completely away, but that wouldn’t happen. Just like not marrying James Bauer wouldn’t happen. The man her father had chosen for her to marry. Other than seeing him at one of the houses he’d built in partnership with her father, she didn’t even know James.
She didn’t know many people in general. Due to a life of being locked up in her father’s house, knowing her only taste of freedom was this—sneaking out at night to visit speakeasies—which would stop as soon as she married James.
She used to have dreams, when she was younger, of growing up and getting married. She’d thought that would be the most wonderful thing on
