Hello everyone,
So great to be here and able to
tell you all about my latest release, The Deception Game, which is out from
Evernight Publishing, and you can find it here
It’s what my mum would have
called a bodice ripper—you know think Errol Flynn and swash buckling. I do like
a bit of swash and buckle. Snigger and boy, my hero can’t half do both. Not that my heroine will let him rip
her bodice, well not unless its her calling the shots. She’s quite determined
that way.
I love
her.
I often
wonder what it would be like to have characters who aren’t quite so demanding.
You know so I could plot out their story and stick to it. One day I might find
out, but not with Bea and Jack. They kept me on my toes.
Mind
you, I’d rather it be that way than predictable.
When you discover a man who has
been both your downfall and your salvation is expected to offer for your
sister, who loves another, what do you do?
Run interference of course.
Beatrice has been told Jack, Lord
Trevithan is about to offer for her sister Louisa. Several years earlier,
Beatrice had been banished from the ton due to Jack, and his escapades. Perhaps
now it was time to get her own back?
It sounded all well and good,
except both Jack and Bea have hidden agendas
Ones that could chance their
lives forever.
If only each is prepared to
listen to the other.
For all that her tummy was full of butterflies,
Bea’s heartbeat quickened. The cottage was her haven, her retreat, hers and
hers alone. Jack would never know he was the first—and probably the only—guest
to be invited there. She made sure she kept Jack in her line of vision, as she
bent and reached under a large flint to retrieve a key. “Not long now.” She
tugged him forward so she could insert the key into the lock where it scraped
and stuck.
He chuckled.
“It’s usual not to be able to get out of your
prison, not to be unable to get in.”
Bea fought back the instinct to throw the key
at him. “Shut up, my lord, or once you’re inside I may well lock the door and
throw away the key.” The lock released and she pushed the door wide open.
“After you.”
“To show I’m no gentleman?”
“No, to show you I’m no lady. Go in.”
His laugh was long, loud and as far as she
could tell, genuinely mirthful. He took the two steps inside and waited until
Beatrice shut and locked the door, and joined him.
“What now?”
Bea swallowed. “Go into the room on your left.”
She nudged him in the back, and to her relief Jack moved in the direction she
indicated. How long she could rely on his compliance she had no idea, but while
it was there she would use it. After…she tried not to think about what would
happen then.
Once inside the tiny parlor he shuffled to the
couch and sat down heavily. Satisfied it would be harder for him to get up and
accost her, Bea moved to the fireplace and stirred the embers of the fire she’d
lit earlier. With a few more coals it took seconds for flames to spring up and
send flickering shadows dancing around the room. Bea was so used to the elegant
furnishings, so out of place in the cottage, she wondered why Jack chuckled.
She looked up in query, and her heart lurched. Even disheveled and with a
scratch down his right cheek he was heart-stoppingly handsome. His dark eyes
shone in the firelight and the planes and angles of his face stood out starkly.
Some almost forgotten pulse beat deep inside Bea and her skin itched with the
need for something she thought she’d never want again. She raised one eyebrow,
confident her hat kept her face in shadow.
“So incongruous.” Jack waved his hands in the
air. “I expected little or no furniture, and a rough and ready hovel. This is
elegant.”
“Of
course. I have no intention that your stay should be uncomfortable.” Bea sat
back on her knees and faced him. “Well, no more than is necessary.” She tugged
the hat down and her collar up.
“No? What do you intend?” He stretched his legs
out in front of him, and his cloak fell open to showcase his sculpted body. Bea
remembered hearing how the Earl of Trevithan went several rounds with Gentleman
Jackson and proved himself credibly. The knit of his pantaloons stretched tight
over his thighs, and the long hard ridge that stretched upward toward his waist
drew her gaze toward it like a beacon. Bea looked away in a hurry. How could he
be aroused by his situation?
Mind you, her body thrummed with that
rediscovered emotion of excitement, and the sense she was standing on the cusp
of something that would change her life forever. Banishment probably if I don’t sort this in a suitable way.
“Cat got
your tongue? Ah,” He looked down at his erection and then at her. “I see. Yes,
it seems the fact I’m in your power excited me. The body works in mysterious
ways, one is that fear…or intrigue, acts as a powerful aphrodisiac. What to do?
Alas.” He raised his hands. “That is up to you. So? Your intentions, my dear?”
Bea stood up. “To feed you, my lord. And then
well, we wait.”
****
Hope
you enjoyed that wee tease. To find out more about this book, or any other of
mine, just pop over to my website by clicking here
Happy
reading,
love R x
Thank you for hosting me
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