Character Showcase - Hazard "Haze" Deverell

He’s a man with a colourful past and some painful regrets. According to the newspapers and scandal sheets, he’s done it all and then some: badly-behaved women; drink; brawls, and lost wagers. Not to mention a few midnight swims in the Serpentine, and in the nude. But, as he would be the first to say, you should never believe everything you read about him.

Besides, he’s ready to break free from his regular comedy of errors and start a fresh slate. It’s time for Hazard Deverell to grow up.

And it all began to change for him, about six months ago, when he spied a strange face in a graveyard -- a woman who refuses to smile at him. When catching his eye is the aim of almost every other woman he ever meets, this one seems determined to avoid his notice. She certainly never encourages it. But something about her expression has awoken a long-dormant memory. He can’t think why, but he won’t rest until she’s forgiven him for whatever he’s done to her. Whoever she is.

The son of Rush Deverell, and a grandson of the notorious True Deverell, Hazard has grown up a nomad and adventurer, never quite fitting in wherever he goes, but beating his own path through life. Born in America, he lost his mother when he was only a few days old, and his father brought him to live in England when he was seven. Instantly his accent and manners set him apart from other boys his age and made him a target for the school bullies. Haze learned to fight back with his fists, and he’s been fighting ever since.

Of all his family, Haze is closest to his grandmother, Lady Charlotte Rothsey, a scandalous divorcee. Like him, she’s something of a social outcast, considered by the rest of the family to be a hopeless case. But, in each other, these two difficult people have found a connection and a cause that is not, in fact, lost.

Haze visits his grandmother every day and brings treats for her insatiable sweet tooth. In return, she gives him her advice on “gentlemanly” behavior and manners. She wants him to find his place in life and a good wife – somebody she can approve of this time, unlike the first. Lady Charlotte is planning to go off on a grand adventure before Christmas (a season she has never enjoyed) and before she leaves, it’s important that her favourite grandson finds somebody to take her place in his life. Somebody to love him properly. Somebody for whom he will finally settle down.

He’s spent thirty-two years living up to his names. Both the “Hazard’ and the “Deverell”. Now, he is a champion pugilist and owner of a gymnasium for young boys from all walks of life. He is also a widower and parent to a ten-year-old girl, Clementina, who is almost a stranger to him these days. But his past decision to put her daily care into the hands of two maiden aunts from his wife’s family is one of the mistakes he now has plans to amend. It’s the first order of business in his scheme for improvement.

To win back his daughter’s affections he might have to tempt her with those delicious white fondant snow birds he found in a curious little confectionery shop. And while he pleases his daughter and his grandmother with these sweet treats, Haze soon finds himself equally tempted by the unsmiling angel who makes them.

Find out what happens when Hazard Deverell meets Tuppence Sparrow in  The Snow Birds