Lady of the Lock

At age eleven, Miss Amanda Merriwether encounters a rather rude young man on the banks of the Kennet & Avon canal and embarks on a decade-long relationship which suffers enough blows to discourage the strongest will. The young man is the Marquess of Montsale, heir to a dukedom; she, the daughter of the architect-engineer who designed the Kennet & Avon, a man the nobility consider little better than a tradesman. Scarcely a suitable family background for a marchioness! But the blood of a man capable of heading a massive construction project that has taken most of her lifetime to build runs through Amanda's veins. Even when she finally learns to spurn her long-time love, somehow a spark remains.

Author's Note: Lady of the Lock is a "traditional" Regency in the style of my previous Regenices, Lady Silence, A Gamble on Love, A Season for Love, The Temporary Earl, The Harem Bride, The Courtesan's Letters, Steeplechase, and my two Christmas novellas, Mistletoe Moment and The Last Surprise. The canal is real, the dates of construction real. All else is fiction. The man who actually designed and supervised the building of the Kennet & Avon canal was John Rennie, a Scotsman. His career includes a number of other canals, bridges, and dock and harbor projects. His design for London Bridge was completed by his son after Rennie's death. One of the outstanding architect/engineers of his day, John Rennie is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.