Affair of Dishonour
They are not ordinary rivals, because they have duelled once before .. when the young nobleman, in his cups, causes the hot-headed soldier to break his leg and then, turning up drunk for their dawn meeting, mistakenly fires early and hits his opponent in the other leg. This time the duel is about a young woman, Miss Anne Thouvenal, whose English mother had married a famous French officer and right-hand man of Napoleon Bonaparte. The duellists are Humphrey Freen the Earl of Begbroke and Major Guy Hipsley. This is an old-time Regency romance with a large cast of characters (and some of them interesting - watch out for the chicken breeder) no love-making, rwo very rushed HEAs and no epilogue.