Everyone
loves Cinderella story. Why not have one with a mystery about why and
how such a lovely woman is so impoverished and treated so badly by
her relatives?
Lady Varney’s Risque Business
My website: http://cerisedeland.com
Cerise
DeLand does it for you in Rendezvous with a Duke, the
second in her Regency Romps series. (The first is Lady Varney’s
Risque Business.)
Anna
Fournier never intended to fall in love. Not with any man. Especially
not a duke. But Hugh Lattimer persists in courting her despite the
scandal that surrounds her—and the innuendo that could ruin him.
Can
she escape her past and embrace a future as Hugh's duchess? Or will
the man who murdered her father ruin her future once and for all?
Need
a nibble?
Of
Course you do!
Excerpt
“Your
Grace?”
Hugh
whirled to face his coachman, the wind biting into his hope that Anna
would venture out to meet him on such a bitter day.
“Yes,
Warren. What is it?”
The
man huddled in his woolen livery, frozen, rubbing his hands together.
“We
hired the man’s hack for two hours. But the horses are very cold
standing as they are, Your Grace. Can I not make a circle of the
garden to stir their blood a bit?”
“Yes,
do.” He could not keep his good servant out in such hideous
weather.
That
was unkind. Unnecessary.
She
was…
There!
Coming toward him. It was she in that horrible brown hat and coat.
He
strode toward her. Then broke into a jog. His hat bobbed and he
whipped
it
off, tucked it under his arm. “Anna!”
She
broke into a smile, beaming at him, her pace quickening, her lips
tremulous with what? Cold? Fear? Delight?
He
caught her to him. The thrilling feel of her, her curves to his form,
her warmth to his welcome. His lips went to the corner of her eye,
the point of her nose and hovered over her lips.
“You
waited,” she breathed, her words laced with panic, her golden gaze
flowing over him with triumph.
“I
did. I had to hope.”
She
cupped his jaw. “I apologize for being late. I could not get away.”
“But
you came. How?”
“A
hack. And then, I left him at the bridge and walked.”
Hugh
enveloped her in his arms. “There is no one here to see you or me.
It’s too damn cold.”
She
chuckled, her arms wrapping around his waist as easily as if she
belonged to him and he to her. She trained her eyes on his
breastplate and ribbons. “But you wore a uniform.”
“I
did. As you commanded.” He turned to one side and wove her arm
through his. “Come, let me get you into a carriage.”
“Oh,
no.” She hung back. “I cannot. Really, Kendal.”
“You’re
frozen. So am I. And there beyond,” he said nodding toward Warren
who stood with the hack door open, “is my coachman. I hired a
vehicle. Did not bring my own.”
“You
have crests on yours, I suppose,” she said, sounding tentative but
walking briskly with him anyway.
“Yes,
they all do. I would not chance discovery.”
“I
do appreciate that.”
They
stopped in front of the hack’s open door.
Hugh
took both her gloved hands, her fingers cold as icicles. “Few seem
to be in the Gardens. I’ll take you if wish. Or you can step into
my conveyance, hired especially for this afternoon, and warm yourself
with the bricks and the brandy I have tucked inside.”
Her
eyes, alive with yearning, examined his. Still she hesitated. “I
don’t want to walk.”
He
understood her tentative tone, an objection to the privacy of his
coach. “I would never hurt you. If you will do me the honor to
climb up in there, we might have an hour or more of good
conversation.”
“And
brandy,” she added with a twinkle in her brilliant eyes.
“And
bricks.”
“I
want to.”
“Do.”
She
swallowed, then smiled at Warren with a hint of apology.
Hugh
told her, “You can sit in one corner and I in the opposite seat.”
Acceptance
defined her exquisite features. “And here I had imagined us sitting
side by side as we did at dinner last night.”
If
he had envisioned himself as a cave man seizing her, enjoying her, it
was nothing to the urge now to grasp her in his arms and take her
lips, her heart, her mind and make them his. Reason, somehow,
arrested him instead. “Sit wherever you like, my darling. I live to
make you smile.”
She
flowed up to him. Her gloved hands cupping his jaw, she rose on her
toes and brushed her lips on his.
My
god.
She
undid him. All his noble intentions gone. His earnest statements that
he would protect her from his baser urges now hollow. Still, he
could not move, paralyzed with wanting more of her.
“You
must climb in first,” she told him, an impish glimmer in her eyes.
“The better to give me a choice.”
He
grunted, incapable of words. Then he did as she bade him. Falling
back against the far corner of the wooden bench, he shoved his shako
to the floor.
He
watched her as she put one foot upon the block and let Warren take
her
hand
to lead her up inside. And there before him, she met his gaze and
waited as Warren shut the coach door. She seemed cast in bronze,
unmoving, studying him. Then putting one knee to his bench, she
leaned over him, descending to a breath away. “Kiss me, won’t
you, Kendal? I’ve dreamed of no one but you for months.”
*
* * * *
Rendezvous
with a Duke
Lady Varney’s Risque Business
Find
Cerise:
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1 comment:
Hi, Cerise,
I do love your stuff! Thanks for being my guest.
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