Elisabeth Fairchild
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Authors: The Counterfeit Coachman
The Counterfeit Coachman, A Regency Romance
By
Elisabeth Fairchild
Table Of Contents
Other Books By Elisabeth Fairchild
Copyright Page
The Counterfeit Coachman.
by Elisabeth Fairchild
Cover Design by Jim D’Arc Designs
Copyright Info:
The Counterfeit Coachman
first published in paperback by Signet, a division of Penguin Books USA, November 1994
revised for release in electronic book format by
Ink Lion Books
, May 2012
copyright
1994
Donna Gimarc
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, transmitted, decompiled, reverse engineered, stored in or introduced to any information storage and retrieval system, in any form, whether electronic or mechanical without the author’s written permission. Scanning, uploading or distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without permission is prohibited.
Please purchase only authorized electronic versions, and do not participate in, or encourage pirated electronic versions
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www.elisabethfairchild.com
Also by
Elisabeth Fairchild
The Silent Suitor
The Counterfeit Coachman
Miss Dornton’s Hero
Lord Endicott’s Appetite
A Fresh Perspective
Marriage a la Mode
Breach of Promise
A Game of Patience
Love Will Find the Way (Novella)
The Ramsay Family Saga
The Loveknot
Lord Ramsay’s Return
The Rakehell’s Reform
Provocateur
NEW! Coming Soon
The Valentine Duo
Captain Cupid Calls the Shots
Valentine’s Change of Heart
Christmas Revelry
The Holly and the Ivy
Sugarplum Surprises
The Christmas Spirit
NEW! Coming Soon
Felicity’s Forfeit (Novella)
A Christmas Canvas (Novella)
The Mistletoe Kiss (Novella)
Dedication
In Memory of
The Mook,
My Bandit
Prologue
A solemn fellow; a red-and blue-clad coachman for the Queen’s Royal Mail, looked back at Lord Brampton Beauford when he peered into the mirror. The vision in frock coat and low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, was most disconcerting. The fifth Duke of Heste and master of Thorne did not recognize himself.
Was it clothes made the man, he wondered, that a nobleman might so easily lose all trace of his station? He sighed. The coachman sighed along with him. He had meant to shed grief along with his more accustomed clothing. But, grief remained. Beau recognized the depth of it in the counterfeit coachman’s shadowed eyes, drawn lips, and pensive regard. No costume could disguise his heartache.
The gloves were not right. Too new. The hat was not right, either. Or, was it perhaps, his head? Beauford removed the weather-worn beaver and ruffled the fair, pomaded curls that his barber took such pains to coax into place. There, that was better. Francois would run shrieking for his comb, but Beau felt more adequately prepared for this brief escape from reality.
“Do I look the part?” he asked his valet, Gates.
“Like a regular knight of the whip. Don’t you agree, sir?” Gates, stepped back, that Charley Tyrrwhit might see.