Rules of Surrender Read online

  Shocked, Charlotte stared after them.

  "Mama, why did Lord Bucknell take Grandmama?" Leila asked.

  As generations of parents had done before her, Charlotte replied, "I'll tell you when you're older."

  "Come on. Let's go get something to eat." Robbie put his arm around Leila's shoulder and led her away. "And I'll explain."

  Pointing a shaking finger down the drive, Charlotte said, "My lord husband, I recognize your fine hand in this scandal."

  "Yes." Wynter couldn't have sounded more delighted. "Bucknell will make my mother very happy."

  She despaired of ever making him understand, but as the former Miss Priss, she had to try. "You must realize that in civilized society you cannot indulge in the kind of barbarism you so relish."

  Leaning against the railing, he crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her challengingly. "Why not? Bucknell's barbaric behavior succeeded where his domesticated courtship did not, and in the struggle between you and me, dear wife, it is obvious who is the victor."

  Charlotte almost chocked on her indignation. "The victor? I prefer to think that there is no victor between us."

  "You are right. We do not have to say there is a victor." He straightened up and moved toward her. "As long as we are agreed I always get to win."

  She stood her ground. "In marriage, there is no winner and no loser, no right and no wrong."

  Seductively, he crooned, "We can go upstairs. You can take off your shoes, Lady Miss Charlotte, and I will massage your feet."

  "It is obvious to me that removing one's shoes is a symptom of—" Now she backed away from his looming figure, excitement beginning to banish wrath. "—of the kind of crude and uncultured comportment which will result in illicit passion—"

  Wrapping his arms around her stiff form, Wynter brought her close to him and sought her lips with his. At last she collapsed against his warm body and let him kiss her. Kiss her until she was pliant, inarticulate and quite improperly passionate.

  "Then I submit that more Englishmen should remove their shoes, so they can be as happy as we are." He smiled down at her. "My dearest and only love."

  About the Author

  New York Times-bestselling author Christina Dodd has written more than twenty-one historical romances. Her first such novel, Candle in the Window, won both the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart and RITA awards. In celebration of her new novel, Scandalous Again (2003), HarperCollins is publishing Ms. Dodd’s classic backlist, including: That Scandalous Evening; The Governess Brides Series: My Favorite Bride; Lost in Your Arms; In My Wildest Dreams; Rules of Surrender; Rules of Engagement; Rules of Attraction; The Princess Series: Someday My Prince and Runaway Princess; and The Well Pleasured Series: A Well Favored Gentleman and A Well Pleasured Lady. Please visit www.christinadodd.com.

  By Christina Dodd

  Candle in the Window

  Castles in the Air

  The Greatest Lover in All England

  In My Wildest Dreams

  A Knight to Remember

  Lost in Your Arms

  Move Heaven and Earth

  My Favorite Bride

  Once a Knight

  Outrageous

  Priceless

  Rules of Attraction

  Rules of Engagement

  Rules of Surrender

  Runaway Princess

  Scandalous Again

  Scottish Brides

  Someday My Prince

  Tall, Dark, and Dangerous

  That Scandalous Evening

  Treasure of the Sun

  A Well Favored Gentleman

  A Well Pleasured Lady

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  RULES OF SURRENDER. Copyright © 2000 by Christina Dodd. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Epub Edition © NOVEMBER 2003 ISBN: 9780061795282

  Version 08312012

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

  25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)

  Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900

  Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited

  P.O. Box 1

  Auckland, New Zealand

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  77-85 Fulham Palace Road

  London, W6 8JB, UK

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  10 East 53rd Street

  New York, NY 10022

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com