HERS WAS A CONVENIENT ARRANGEMENT

Lady Claire Waterstone has spent more years out of England than she has enjoying English society. In fact, she feels very odd in making her Come Out with girls four to five years her junior. Claire has never known a “home” of her own. And while several gentlemen are eager to claim her hand, she knows their ardor has more to do with the size of her dowry than true affection. Then she encounters Lord Ainmire Fearghal, an impoverished Irish earl, whose tales of how he sees his land creates in her a desire to share it with him. Claire, therefore, abandons decorum and proposes to Lord Fearghal. However, his roguish charm soon has her wishing for more than a marriage of convenience.

HE BARGAINED FOR HER FORTUNE, NOT HER HEART

Fearghal has only one purpose in marrying Lady Claire: Save his estate. Melhman Manor reeks from inherited debt, and Fearghal requires a wealthy wife immediately. Originally, he thought to leave Claire in London, but his wife soon puts an end to those thoughts, but when she suggests Ainmire’s cousin could be working against Ainmire’s efforts to save his land, Fearghal and Lady Claire strike a different type of bargain – one based in trust and loyalty and the beginnings of love.

Five delightful Regency stories, from USA Today bestselling and Award winning authors, all focused around summer weddings. Lose yourself in the Regency world, and be swept away by love!
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This anthology contains:

This anthology contains:
Her Wily Duke by Arietta Richmond ~ A Marquess desperate to protect the Dukedom from his increasingly unstable older brother, a highwayman apparently bent on the destruction of the ducal estates, a young music teacher caught in the middle of it all, a desperate plan which, in the end, leads to love.

Lord Fearghal’s English Bride by Regina Jeffers ~When an Irish Lord, who needs to marry an heiress to save his estates, meets an aristocratic Englishwoman who seeks an interesting life, there is an instant attraction, and a very rapid marriage. But there are those who do not wish them well, and desperate action is called for if they are both to reach their Irish home alive, and save his estate from foreclosure. Will they survive long enough for that attraction to grow into lasting love?

Contradance by Janis Susan May ~ Life looks bleak for Miss Rosemary Coyningham as plans proceed apace for her cousin’s wedding to the Earl she was betrothed to as a child. Once Matilda is married, what will happen to Rosemary? Surely her uncle will no longer wish to have her living in his house? When Matilda’s intended returns from the continent, with a Princely friend, it all gets more complicated… for Rosemary is drawn to Matilda’s betrothed, when she meets him for the first time… and Matilda seems struck with admiration for the Prince… Will there still be a summer wedding?

The Baron Banishes His Rival by Olivia Marwood ~ Lady Anne Calthorpe is delighted when her closest friend and neighbour returns from his studies at Oxford, and even more so when he steps in to protect her from the man who had bullied her as a child – a man who now seems most intent on paying attentions to her. George Marlestone, Lord Houghton, finds his breath stolen when he sees Lady Anne again, and desire for more than friendship fills him. But before he can act on that desire, he will have to overcome the machinations of those who would drive him away from Lady Anne… Will they succeed, between them, in driving off her pursuer, or will their love be torn apart?

Mother of the Bride by Victoria Hinshaw ~ Widowed Amy, Countess of Blakemore is utterly focused on the arrangements for her daughter’s wedding. She needs no distractions, or surely it won’t all get done on time! Then, for the first time, she meets her son-in-law-to-be’s much older half-brother, who proves to be more distracting then she could ever have imagined. William Easton, Baron Hartley, had shown no interest in marrying again, since the mother of his two daughters died. Now, as his half-brother is about to marry, the idea suddenly seems much more appealing. Of course, that might just be because he can’t take his eyes off the beautiful mother of the bride-to-be. But will she accept his suit?

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Now, a bit more about my tale . . .

In writing this tale, my heroine, Lady Claire Waterstone, has been the majority of her life in India, as the daughter of a diplomat. When she first arrives in Ireland as Lord Ainmire Fearghal’s bride, her guide to the estate explains the use of peat bricks, and she mentions “dung cakes.” But what are dung cakes? First, a short excerpt.

“The confluence of the River Allow and the River Dalia,” McFarlane said as he dropped back to ride beside her. “Kanturk Castle be in that direction,” he pointed to an adjoining road leading south. “Yer husband’s place is a mile or so along this road.” 

Claire sat taller in the saddle, knowing she would soon be on display and first impressions were more important than many believed. 

Soon McFarlane was again pointing out markers to her. “A stone cairn marking the southeastern corner of Fearghal land.” They continued their ride for another quarter hour, along a road which was assuredly the property line. Miraculously, the property itself was marked by a brick wall spanning the length of the road and leading off in the other direction from a bricked entrance and a gatehouse, that was empty at the moment, which she thought odd, but Claire made no remark. So, they entered through the gate and followed a well-worn lane. 

She studied it all. Up ahead was a small lake and a stand of trees. If they had been in England, herds of deer would be seen crisscrossing the road, but here, there was not even a rabbit, which confirmed her husband’s tales of want and famine. 

Off to the right, she viewed a group of men labouring in a muddy field. 

“Cutting peat bricks to burn in their hearths,” McFarlane responded before she could ask the question. “They do something similar in India,” she observed, “only rain and water is scarce. Dung cakes were used in a domestic hearth they called a ‘chulha.’ Dung cakes were also called gosse or uple. The cakes are moulded by hand with a curvature to help them to stick to the walls so they can dry. I would be interested in learning something about the process used here.”

The site ClimateLinks tells us, “The use of cow-patties/ cow-dung cakes are a rural tradition in India. They are a sustainable fuel material that form part & parcel of the traditional way of village life in India. Dung cakes, made from the by-products of animal husbandry, are traditionally used as fuel in India for making food in a domestic hearth called a Chulha. They are made by hand by village women & are traditionally made from cow or buffalo dung. One dung cake, on average, gives 2100 KJ worth of energy.”

Dung is undigested waste of plant-feeding animals, meaning what is left from the plant-matter after it has been chewed up and passed through the animal´s guts. The dung of cattle, goats, sheep, yaks, elephants, llamas etc. are all popular cooking fuels. Fresh dung needs to be dried before it can be used as a fuel, It is either left in in its natural shape or it is formed into round dung balls, flat dung cakes, or moulded around a stick. In some regions, dung is mixed with other kinds of fuel such as coal dust, or agricultural residues in order to enhance the burning performance by increasing the energy-density. – from Cooking with Dung

Additional Information:

• Dung-burning Cookstoves, article on energypedia
• “Soil rehabilitation starts with more efficient cookstoves”by Frank Löwen (2008) describes efforts to introduce fuel saving devices such as heat exchanger, thermal insulation and stove improvements in order to lower the dung consumption for cooking and heating in Tajikistan.
• “Biomass Fuel Consumption and Dung Use as Manure”by Mekonnen, A. and Köhlin, G (2008) investigated the household energy situation, the determinants of using dung as a energy fuel instead of using it as a fertilizer in Ethiopia.
• “Emissions of Health – Damaging Pollutants from Household Stoves” by World Health Organization provides emission data on dung burning stoves
• “Indoor air pollution from burning yak dung as a household fuel in Tibet”by Xiao, Q. et al. (2014)
• Solid biomass fuels for cooking – beyond firewood and charcoal. By Frank Helbig & Christa Roth, GIZ 2017. This publication highlights the most common forms of solid biomass compounds, the options regarding their production, and how they can be used for daily cooking. It also presents cook stove technologies that efficiently transfer the energy contained in solid biomass fuels to pots and pans. A selection of projects from international colleagues illustrate marketing approaches and the practical implications of utilizing solid biomass beyond firewood and charcoal for cooking.
• Cooking Fuels

Giveaway: Comment on any or all of the six posts featuring Regency Summer Weddings Anthology for a chance to win an eBook copy of the book. The giveaway ends on Friday, July 5. Winners will receive their copies of the book then. Good luck to all!