Today I am delighted to feature Slightly Noble, a historical romance set near the end of the Civil War, but in England rather than in America. Don't you just love stories with a twist? He might be a viscount, but he'd far rather just be Captain Jack, privateer and outlaw. That is, until he meets Abby Halsey.
"What’s a girl to do when all her plans to marry well go awry and the charmer she thought cared for her only cared about taking his pleasure, then leaves her pregnant and without any prospects? Abby Halsey’s father’s solution was the send her to a convent until the baby is delivered and adopted, but a young nun suggests that she knows how Abby could claim widowhood and keep her baby. Eager to take this chance, Abby flees from the convent, but again fate seems certain to interfere when Abby goes into labor early. She might still have made it work, except that her coach broke down and her rescuer, for reasons of his own decides the best course of action is for him to marry her.
Captain Jack, ashore to hear the reading of his estranged father’s will finds himself disinherited completely unless he marries and produces an heir before his 35th birthday. But his birthday is only a few months away, so all seems lost. Then he stumbles across the unlucky Abby.
Slightly Noble is full of twists and turns, scheming relatives and trouble in places least expected. Captain Jack, now a viscount, can’t go back to America where he’d been a privateer on the side of the south and is now considered an outlaw and traitor. But how is he going to convince the world that his marriage is for keeps and the child is his? How is he going to convince his new wife that he’s not like the cad who had his way with her and abandoned her?" Skye-writer
Here's a teaser:
She raised her chin. “I am a commoner, but as you have guessed, my father was accepted in certain social circles. Accepted, but not always welcomed.
“Well, you will be welcomed now, Abby. You are a viscountess.” His voice softened, but his eyes shone with disappointment. Was it because he had hoped she would confide in him? Or because she had confessed her humble origins?
Pride stiffened her spine. “I am more than just a viscountess. I am a wife and mother, and if I am to be a good wife, at some point, I must act like a wife.” This meant running a household, not living on a ship. She did not want to argue or have him ask more questions about her past, but she could not bear living aboard a ship indefinitely.
He started, his expression surprised. Then a slow smile spread over his face, and his eyes burned as if he had a fever. He leaned over the table, his face mere inches from hers. “A real wife sleeps in her husband’s bed.”
Abby’s breath hitched. Her pulse jumped. Oh dear! He had taken her meaning all wrong. Heat rushed to her cheeks, and her flesh tingles. “What I meant…That is, I should be running your household.”
“We live on a ship,” He leaned back in his chair. He still smiled, but it was now more humorous than…armorous?
She shivered, unable to suppress a brief surge of longing. What would it be like to kiss that hard mouth? To feel his lips pressed against hers?
Dear Lord! What is wrong with me?
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Slightly Noble:
American privateer, Captain Jack isn't really an American, but heir to a viscountcy. When his father dies, he leaves everything not entailed with the estate to his worthless cousin. Jack's only hope of inheriting his mother's ancestral home and honoring her dying wish is to marry and produce an heir before his thirty-fifth birthday—in five months. And he doesn't have a single prospect.
Pregnant and unwed, Abigail Halsey is sent by her father to an Anglican convent until he can find a family to adopt his grandchild or a husband for his daughter. Abby has other plans, but they go awry when she goes into labor early and her rescuer, a pirate captain turned lord, insists on marrying her.
Is Jack too much like his jealous, unforgiving father? Can Abby overcome her fear of men and have a real marriage? Or will she never be anything more than the unwanted wife of a Slightly Noble Viscount?
Available at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Wild Rose Press
About the author: 
Lilly Gayle is a wife, mother of two grown daughters, a new grandmother, and a breast cancer survivor. She lives in North Carolina with her husband. When not working as an x-ray technologist and mammographer, Ms Gayle writes paranormal and historical romances. You can visit her at: http://lillygayle.com, or find her on Facebook at: http://facebook.com/lillygaylebooks and on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/lillygromwriter
