Bluestocking Belles

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Meet new Belle Aileen Fish

The Bluestocking Belles are thrilled to welcome three new members this week. Today, I’m introducing Aileen Fish.

Next is, Aileen Fish. Read her bio and discover her links and her books on the Belles’ website. Today, I have a list of ten things she’d like you to know about her. Which two are false?

  1. I can speak three languages fluently
  2. I am an only child
  3. I once worked as a grease monkey at a truck stop
  4. I’ve visited four continents
  5. I was the lead singer in a rock band in the 70s
  6. My favorite color is lime green
  7. My first job was at McDonald’s
  8. I went to the same high school as Kurt Russell and Michael Richards
  9. I once managed a dog boarding kennel
  10. I’m a grandma twice over
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Meet new Belle Barbara Monajem

The Bluestocking Belles are thrilled to welcome three new members this week, and I’ll be introducing one a day for the next three days.

First up, Barbara Monajem. Read her bio and discover her links and her books on the Belles’ website. Today, I have a list of ten things she’d like you to know about her. Be warned! Two are false!

Ten things about Barbara

  1. I want to learn how to read Anglo-Saxon
  2. I have a stammer, which is sometimes embarrassing
  3. My favorite color is red
  4. I love walking in the rain
  5. My greatest culinary masterpiece is asparagus pudding
  6. I am in the ‘crone’ stage of life
  7. I participated in an archaeological dig when I was 12 years old
  8. My favorite food is baked beans
  9. My sunhat was stolen by monkeys in Swaziland
  10. I won first place in rope climbing when I was 13 years old

If you think you know which two are false, go to The Belles Brigade group on Facebook, and comment in the Ten Things post. All correct answers from all three introductions will go into a draw, and there’ll be a prize.

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Spotlight on Irene’s Fall

By Elizabeth Donne

Pride comes before her fall. Love helps her stand again.

Irene Sangford has willingly cast herself as the villain of her own story. After all, her family has taught her that arrogance and manipulation are suitable qualities in a lady if she’s seeking a husband with a title. Especially when there are so few such men to be had, and she is competing with her own sister to snap one of them up.

Nathaniel Macrae not only has no title, he has immersed himself in low society in his role as a secret investigator. Miss Sangford would never have given him a second glance, but when an attempted murder leads his inquiries right to her door, and a shocking secret from her past threatens to unravel her entire life, Irene discovers that Mr. Macrae is more compelling than any man she has ever met.

As Irene’s world falls apart, and she questions everything she has ever known, Nathaniel becomes her anchor in life’s greatest storm. Except this storm threatens to destroy them both. They will have to challenge everything they know and trust each other if they are to survive and find the love that has eluded them.

Tropes You’ll Love:

  • Fake Rake
  • Mystery
  • Secret Life
  • Secrets Galore
  • Forbidden Love
  • Hero Investigates Crime
  • Female Redemption Arc
  • Meet “by Accident”

Ladies of Munro (complete series)

Sophia’s Letter
Ellena’s Secret
Verity’s Choice
Jillian’s Wild Heart
Irene’s Fall

Below is an extract from Irene’s Fall for you to enjoy.

Go to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G1VMJKS9  to access a much longer sample.

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The two men had barely removed themselves from earshot when Olivia leaned forward and said with great glee, “You like him! You should have seen your face when he carried you out to this bench. You can’t be in love with him, Irene. He’s a scoundrel!”

“I am not in love with him,” Irene replied hotly. “Your imagination has run wild.”

“I saw it too,” Mary chimed in. “You were definitely all doe-eyed.”

Irene glared at her friends.

“Don’t misunderstand me,” continued Mary. “The gentleman is as dreamy as they come. But you have never allowed that to lead where your future cannot follow. You wouldn’t want Mr. Macrae to think you can be toyed with. You are much too good for him.”

Am I? Irene was not convinced. Nothing in her character gave her the right to claim superiority over him. More importantly, would she want to? What if she wished for a man who was good for her, someone her parents would never approve of? With her prospects looking slim indeed, could she… dared she choose someone who might love her, just a little?

Meet Elizabeth Donne

Elizabeth Donne’s writing is a natural outpouring of a lifelong love affair with English literature. Although she has spent most of her life in Cape Town, South Africa, she now lives in the American Midwest, where she enthusiastically introduces her visitors to the joys of drinking rooibos tea. With a biscuit, of course.

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Spotlight on “His Merry Housekeeper” in Merry Belles

HIS MERRY HOUSEKEEPER By Cerise DeLand

Lord Bettington in Number 42 Dudley Crescent needs a new housekeeper. Because his three raucous motherless sons constantly create chaos, he requires someone bold to tamp down his boys’ hijinks.

But the earl wants so much more. He has ordered his young chatelaine, Miss Winifred Mathers, up from his country estate to take charge. Lovely Winn has won his heart.

But can he win her mind if Winn knows the ton will oppose her wedding the only man she’s ever loved?

Excerpt from His Merry Housekeeper

He ran both hands through his hair. He was done arguing with her! “Very well. Stay until Advent is over. Go back to him then. And take your salary.  Give what you will to your father. I am sure Detwiler will be thrilled with a subtantial bridal dowry.”

She blinked, angry with insulted. “He asks for nothing.”

“I bet.”

“You know, sir, you are not nice when you are angry.”

He fumed. But he had her. “Remember that unlike Detwiler, I am slow to anger, my dear.”

She stomped her foot. “I won’t accept your overblown salary.”

“Detwiler won’t like extra money?” he chided her. That man was as bad as her father looking for money in every cubbyhole.

“That’s outrageous, Wal… Sir.”

“I’ll pay it, Winn. Stay.”

He watched her as wheels turned in her head. Her father happy. Her husband to be, thrilled.

She scowled at him. “When it ends I go then.”

“Ah, really? On Christmas Day? It is so sad for anyone to travel on Christmas Day. I cannot let you go then.” If ever. But I see I must try to make my case in ten days.

“I must go home. My father loves Christmas and I must be with him. Plus, I have to manage Christmas at The Grange.”

“With your efficiency, I am certain they all know what to do without you, Miss Mathers.” He took both her hands again in gentle warmth. His hold had her knees melting. “Stay with us. Celebrate Christmas.”

She locked her dark gaze on his and he knew she looked for reassurance he would keep his hands—and his lips—to himself.“The day afterward, I return to Bettington Grange.”

“Of course,” he said.

But she narrowed her eyes at his tone.

She did not trust him.

And she shouldn’t.

 

Buy Merry Belles now.

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Spotlight on “Maggie’s Wheelbarrow” in Merry Belles

Maggie’s Wheelbarrow, by Jude Knight

Maggie hasn’t heard from her husband Will in more than a year—not since he marched out of Spain with his regiment. When she and the children followed him, the battles were over and his regiment was gone. Letters have brought no answers. With all her worldly goods and her son in a wheelbarrow, and her daughter on her back, Maggie sets off from Portsmouth to walk to the Midlands to find out what has happened to Will.

Will Parker has been invalided out of the army. The scars and the limp he has as souvenirs of the Battle of Toulouse are not the worst of it. He also left behind two years of memories. Back home with his mother, he is building a new life. But what is it he is forgetting? 

Meet Will Parker

Will Parker has nearly recovered from battle injuries received more than a year ago, but a blow to his head left a two-year gap in his memory. Invalided out of the army, he lives quietly with his mother and earns his living as a clerk. Deep inside he is restless, as if he yearns something he doesn’t know he has lost.

Meet Maggie Parker

Maggie Parker is determined to take her baby daughter and her little son to their father’s family, though she is not certain where in the Midlands he lives. She buys a wheelbarrow in Portsmouth, puts into it her baggage and her son, and sets out with her daughter on her back to walk as many hundreds of miles as are needed.

Excerpt from Maggie’s Wheelbarrow

Will has just read a letter from the wife he did not know he had. He has read it out loud, and he is surprised at his mother’s reaction.

While he was reading, he was aware of his mother sinking into another chair, but he had not looked directly at her. He did now.

Her eyes were filled with tears but she was smiling. “Thank God,” she said. “I have been so worried.”

“You knew I had a wife and you didn’t tell me?” Will couldn’t help but feel betrayed.

“What could I say, Will?” his mother asked. “You had forgotten them, and I had no idea what had become of them. Had she deserted you? Had they all died? How would it have helped to tell you what little I knew?”

She scrambled to her feet and pulled out a drawer on the kitchen dresser. She handed him a package tied with ribbon. “Here. Here are your letters. When you’ve read them, you’ll know as much about your wife as I do. Oh, my dear son, perhaps when you see her you will remember everything.”

Or perhaps not. What would he do if he didn’t know this wife of his? A thought occurred to him. “Margaret. Not… No, it couldn’t be… I didn’t marry Maggie Finch, did I? Sergeant Finch’s daughter?”

Ma nodded. “That’s it. Are you remembering, Will?” She sounded hopeful.

He shook his head. “Not from after Ciudad Rodrigo. From before. She… I doubt there was a man in the regiment who was not at least a little in love with Maggie Finch. Not that any of us would risk the sergeant’s reaction if we showed her the least disrespect!”

He could feel his lips spreading in a grin as he remembered the cheerful pretty daughter of the formidable soldier. “I married Maggie Finch!”

“So, I should hope, Will Parker, since you had two children by her,” said Ma, rather sharply. “Go and wash up for dinner, lad. You can read your letters after.”

Will obediently got to his feet. Maggie Finch. Maggie Parker, now, and wandering the Midlands with his two children in tow. Wandering where? He checked the date and location at the top of the letter. It was dated two weeks ago, and she was not here yet. She had included a village name, as well, and he knew it. Not more than thirty miles hence, but he supposed a woman with two children might travel slowly. On the other hand, perhaps she was heading for a different Ashton.

As he washed his hands and face, he pictured her out in the cold and the rain and shuddered. He hoped she had found somewhere safe and warm to wait out the storm. She and the little ones.

He had a powerful urge to race out the door and start searching for them. In the dark and the rain, it would be pointless. Possibly even dangerous. He would leave in the morning, once it was light, riding in the direction of the village she had left weeks ago.

 

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“The Angel’s Announcement” in Merry Belles

The Angel’s Announcement, a Holiday Homicide by Caroline Warfield

They found the shepherd eight days before Christmas. Dead. Sybilla and Seth have a week to solve it. Will they heal the hurt that lies between them?

Sybilla Somer was seventeen when Seth Caulfield disappeared without a word. For nine long years she wondered why. Now he’s back and she needs his help to solve a murder. There is no one else to do it. 

Seth hadn’t been much older when Sibby’s father and brother drove him out with shouts of “bloody presuming bastard.” They delivered him to press gangs in Great Yarmouth. He assumed she knew. She didn’t, and she certainly didn’t care that his birth was irregular. The navy set him to helping the ship’s surgeon, a stroke of luck. He has returned a warranted surgeon himself.

When Sybilla and Seth are thrown together to solve the murder, to care for a small angel with a broken ankle — and to face the hurt between them, will the work and the season heal what lies between them?

Meet Sybilla

With her father dead, her worthless brother now viscount, and the big house rented out to uncaring tenants, the estate and half the shire relies on Sybilla Somer the spinster daughter for care and leadership. She loved a man once, but he left her. Now she is on her own. At least she was until Seth reappeared.

Meet Seth

Seth Caulfield always knew he was a bastard. The woman he loved, though far above his touch, never cared. When her father separated them ruthlessly, he spent nine years in His Majesty’s navy. He didn’t expect to become a surgeon, to receive a bequest in his sire’s scandalous will, or to discover that he was one of the notorious Clarion bastards. Memories—and hope—drew him home.

Excerpt from The Angel’s Announcement

“Why did you come back?” Sibby demanded. She had asked him that three times now. He choked on an answer and filled her bowl with stew. Hungry as she was, she licked her lips and stared at it, sending a frisson of desire through him.

This isn’t the time for that, Caulfield.

“Slice that bread, if you please, Sibby. There’s a bigger question than the one you asked.”

She did as she was asked, her brow drawn up in a question. She didn’t speak.

“You never asked me why I left. Maybe we should start there.” He accepted a plate with slices of warm bread she had slathered with butter. It ought to be delicious, but he had never felt less like eating in his life. Considering some of the things he had endured, that was saying much.

Sibby waved her spoon in the air. “You disappeared. I went to the fishing shack the afternoon after the one when we, erm, enjoyed each other, expecting to see you, but you never came.”

Her face and tone made it a bald accusation of desertion. They had been young, so very young. Seth opened his mouth and closed it again.

“All right, then why. Why did you disappear without a word, and why did you reappear?” She put her spoon down and glared.

“Why not ask your brother?” he retorted.

“Samuel? What does he have to do with it?”

“You really don’t know?”

Suspicion flooded her expression. “Tell me,” she whispered.

He sank against the back of his chair. “I went to Somerton Hall to ask your father’s permission to marry you.”

“You felt honor bound.” Sibby didn’t appear pleased by that notion.

“I loved you desperately,” he shouted and drew in breath to calm himself. “I wanted you so badly I went, hat in hand, like a damned fool and offered to marry a viscount’s daughter and live with her over a store.” He shook his head at the innocent he’d been.

“He threw you out, and you ran. I’d have run with you if you had asked.” More accusation laced with hurt echoed in the words.

“Oh no. Your father was shrewder than that. He knew you were young and obstinate enough to try it. He beat me with a horse whip and turned me over to Samuel.”

“Samuel? My brother always resented you. You were smarter than he for one thing. Did he beat you as well?”

Seth grunted. “Samuel and the stable master were none too gentle when they hogtied me, bound me over a horse, and took me to Great Yarmouth. They gave me to a press gang.”

Sibby blinked, and her chin quivered. “Press gang? Forced into the navy?” She put her serviette on the table and swallowed. “No one told me.”

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Spotlight on “Forever Hold Your Peace” in Merry Belles

Forever Hold Your Peace, by Rue Allyn

Home from the wars, Captain Prescott Drake is shocked to learn that his fiancée plans to wed someone else. Can he reach her in time to prevent the nuptials? Will she want him, or has their treasured love died the slow death he nearly suffered in a French prison?

Desperate and believing the man she loved is dead, Miss Elizabeth Feddleston seeks rescue in the form of marriage to a kind friend. He knows she does not love him now but has hopes that once she has mourned the man who first won her heart that she will turn to him.

Meet Prescott Drake

Ensign Prescott Aelfwyn Drake, only son of an obscure country baron answered his country’s call to arms. What good was the comfortable life of a baron, if Boney ruled the world with his iron fist. Prescott had been on leave before receiving his first orders when a friend invited him to a local assembly. There Prescott met the woman of his dreams. He knew the charming Miss Elizabeth Eloise Feddleston was meant for him. Lacking in fortune, her stellar reputation and innate kindness were far more important to him. On the night before he was to leave to join his regiment he proposed. She accepted and they planned to wed as soon as Boney was defeated and Prescott could resign his commission.

Meet Elizabeth Feddleston

Miss Elizabeth Eloise Feddleston had expected to marry for convenience. Betts was the daughter of a widowed country squire, whose gambling losses had devastated the family. From the age of eight she’d managed the household and raised her twin siblings. The local vicar had helped where he could. Her father passed shortly after she reached her majority. His heir was a self-righteous, penny-pincing bigot who at their first meeting informed her she would marry as he pleased or be thrown from the house. Her siblings would be sent to a school for orphans sponsored by the religious sect he favored. She’d sought refuge with highly placed friends who offered shelter and safety for both her and the twins. Under a duke’s protection she attended her first assembly and fell in love.

An excerpt from Forever Hold Your Peace

A treasured locket open in her hands, Miss Elizabeth Eloise Feddleston sat by the window of the elegant sitting room—part of the suite assigned her at Leigh Chase. She stroked the pad of one thumb across the miniature within.

The handsome soldier depicted stared out at her with an intent moss-green gaze. His square chin framed a generous mouth. The resolute set of his broad shoulders spoke of the strength of his courage and determination. Captain Prescott Aelfwyn Drake had given her the locket as a remembrance on the day she accepted his proposal of marriage. A marriage that would never be, for darling Prescott was dead.

Betts sniffled back a tear. She had cried too much already. ‘Twas past time to lay Prescott and his memory to rest.

Outside the December day was gloomy and drear, entirely too close a match to her thoughts. The wind howled as it battled with the branches of the trees which more often than not fell to the snow, ice and cold of the windy assault. In Betts’ heart, fear and worry did battle with her every attempt at the calm control she relied on to deal with disasters big and small, since the day of her mother’s passing. That had been sixteen years ago. She’d been seven when she’d made her way from the nursery to her father’s study and found him mumbling into a glass, which she later learned was Scotch whisky. Strathnaver’s best—nothing but the best for Squire Feddleston, regardless of what economies were necessary to acquire said best.

“London gentlemen won’t respect a man who wears shoddy clothes, serves second rate whisky, rides ill-bred hacks…” the list went on.”

She pushed painful memories aside and tried to concentrate on the future. Tried to convince herself she was doing the right thing. The only thing. To save her brother and sisters from soul-killing lives planned by their cousin and new guardian, marrying Sir Tellus Leigh was the right thing, the only thing.

In a few short weeks, on Christmas Day, she would be married. Not to Prescott, the man of her dreams, but to a kind, warm, generous man, a friend who deserved better than the half measure of love that had been all she could promise him in exchange for the protection he offered her and her family.

She knuckled away a second tear. It should have been Prescott standing beside her in the church. However, Prescott Drake was dead, as were all of the dreams they had shared. In the wake of the news that he was missing presumed dead had come a string of disasters that had led her to this moment.

It was imperative she marry quickly. Her lips twitched with a failed smile. No, she wasn’t enceinte. It was her siblings’ welfare that necessitated her quick nuptials.

 

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Spotlight on “Single Belles” in Merry Belles

Single Belles, by Elizabeth Donne

For Violet Hughes, this Christmas does not ring in a season of good cheer. One friend betrays her confidence, telling a certain gentleman Violet has feelings for him, while another begins her own bold pursuit of the very same gentleman. Despite being determined to fight for what she wants, Violet is thwarted deliberately at every turn. Someone among the single belles is her secret enemy. Surely it’s not her best friend, her infamous pranks suddenly taking a darker turn? Whomever it is, Violet will have to foil their plot to make her Yuletide wish come true.

Meet Violet

Violet Hughes, a serious-minded young woman, has tolerated the pranks of her best friend for years until they begin to interfere with Violet’s growing feelings for Victor Blayne.

Meet Victor

Victor Blayne, a sterling fellow and heir to the Blaynes’ estate at Hamptonlea House, has enjoyed the close and comfortable friendship of Violet Hughes since childhood. This Christmas, however, his decision to take a wife might very well change that.

Excerpt from Single Belles

“It’s not too late, you know.” Her brother pressed on. “At present, she is fascinating merely because she brings talk of new adventures. When that novelty wears off, she will become like the rest of us. But if she endears herself to him in these early days, he will never realize how ordinary she is.”

Violet’s mouth fell open. “You think she is ordinary? Come now, Donovan, Pearl is so much more than that. Her beauty, the way she carries herself…”

“Are all learned,” he finished for her. “Do you think a man cares for these things when looking for a wife?”

“Why, certainly I do! You show me a man for whom beauty and poise are not attractive elements. I will not believe it unless I see it with my own eyes.”

“Elements, yes, dear sister, but not the essence of what he looks for. If Pearl had remained here with us, she would have nothing to offer him now. You and Victor, on the other hand, have always been kindred spirits. Take your love of riding, for example. The two of you are like centaurs, at one with your steeds. I cannot imagine Victor happy with a wife who is unable to ride with the same passion he does.”

Violet fell silent at these words. There was so much of her kinship with Victor that she had simply taken for granted. It had formed organically over their entire lives, and she had never questioned it. Their closeness just was. She hadn’t really considered how enviably comfortable they were with each other. It would certainly be a sound foundation for a life together. Goodness, some marriages never reached such solid connection, only enduring years of dull co-existence.

What had she been thinking, handing it all over politely to Pearl Thompson as if she had no claim of her own? She wouldn’t just be losing the chance to be with Victor. She would lose the freedom they had to ride like two spirits unleashed. No more walking on his arm in the garden, talking of constellations, or lying side-by-side on the lawn, watching as clouds drifted by and trying to outdo each other for the most obscure image the floating shapes conjured up.

If he married someone else, he would have to be respectable. The dynamic in the group would shift. Their friendship would become a shadow-version of its former self.

Fear gripped Violet’s heart with fingers that squeezed until she gasped aloud.

“Are you alright?” her brother asked.

“I… I don’t know,” she answered truthfully.

Donovan considered her in silence. Then, as if reaching a conclusion, he nodded his head slowly and smiled with satisfaction. “You understand at last. Good. Now, what are you going to do about it?”

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Spotlight on “Mistletoe and Midnight Wishes” in Merry Belles

Mistletoe & Midnight Wishes

By Sherry Ewing

Can the magic of a midnight wish dispel the dark clouds of the past?

Mr. Joseph Morledge has taken on an almost impossible task. He has purchased the manor house that came to his family in his mother’s dowry. But his father’s deeds have left it haunted with memories best forgotten. Determined to fully renovate the house and reclaim the future, he sets Christmas as his target. But the woman he has long held in his heart has plans of her own.

For more years than she can count, Miss Charlotte Darby has hidden her feelings for Joseph Morledge, her brother’s best friend. Some untold code of honor between men has made him keep her distance. But when the opportunity comes to help him redecorate his house, she won’t take no for an answer.

As Joseph and Charlotte work to remake the manor into the home it should be, Joseph begins to realize that his house will not be a home without Charlotte as his wife. Has he left it too late to declare his love? Or will mistletoe and midnight wishes work their magic?

Preorder for December 20th: https://bluestockingbelles.net/belles-joint-projects/merry-belles/

Meet Charlotte

For more years than she can count, Miss Charlotte Darby has hidden her feelings for Joseph Morledge, her brother’s best friend. Some untold code of honor between men has made him keep her distance. But when the opportunity comes to help him redecorate his house, she won’t take no for an answer.

Meet Joseph

Mr. Joseph Morledge has taken on an almost impossible task. He has purchased the manor house that came to his family in his mother’s dowry. But his father’s deeds have left it haunted with memories best forgotten. Determined to fully renovate the house and reclaim the future, he sets Christmas as his target.

Excerpt from Mistletoe and Midnight Wishes

Still… he always kept Charlotte at a distance, since she was his best friend’s sister which by an undeclared gentleman code of honor made Joseph feel she should be off limits. And then there were Michael’s feelings for the lady. He could never act against his brother’s possible happiness even if it cost Joseph his own.

Her hand came to rest on his arm. “You’re lost in thought, Joseph. Are you sure this was a good idea?” she asked softly.

“Everyone keeps asking me that and it’s the same thing I’m beginning to question. But the answer remains the same. The deal is done and the manor is once again with my family,” Joseph stated, as he began ushering her from the house. “I would prefer if you don’t come inside. I’d rather you see the place once the renovations are complete.”

“But we came to help, didn’t we, Garrett,” she replied, as they met her brother outside.

“Any way we can,” Garrett said, slapping Joseph on his back.

“And I appreciate your offer but I’ve got this in hand,” Joseph answered, even as a wagon began making its way up the drive. “Besides, won’t you be busy with your charge this summer?”

Charlotte waved her hand in the air. “Lola and her father the Earl of Stanhope are off on an extended holiday together. Father, daughter time I suppose.”

Garrett chuckled. “The earl will have his hands full without Charlotte as the girl’s governess, and only a nanny to help him manage the child for the summer.”

“Lola won’t need lessons in reading and writing or any of the other academic studies I have planned for her upon their return,” Charlotte answered. “So, you see, Joseph. We have more than ample time to help you in any way we can lend assistance.”

“We can discuss this more at a later date. First, I need to access the manor and voice my plans with the workmen for the refurbishment. Garrett, we can talk later about how you might help. Charlotte will need to abide by my wishes.” Joseph watched as Charlotte took on a look that said an argument was forthcoming.

“Really, Joseph, I am not some delicate flower that cannot withstand a bit of hard work. Why, I’ll have you know—”

“Charlotte!” Michael’s voice called from the doorway as he hurried to reach her side. “How wonderful to see you… and Garrett, too.” Michael beamed staring at the young lady who was of the same age.

The adoration his brother felt for Charlotte was more than evident, and Joseph stepped back as he always did. But he did not miss the brief glance the lady bestowed upon him, causing his heart to flip end over end in his chest. Joseph wasn’t sure if he imagined the whole encounter but he kept the memory in his heart until their paths would cross again.

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Spotlight on “My Gift to You” in Love’s Perilous Road

My Gift to You

By Mary Lancaster

A rocky marriage and too many secrets…

The young Marchioness of Corey comes from a family of expensive rakehells. The world knows she married the marquis for his money – a conclusion Corey reached the day after their wedding.

Only, it was never true…

Attending the Normanton House party, each hopes for happiness. Only her wretched family gets in the way again, as does the local highwayman, and it seems their secret love is perpetually doomed… 

Buy now in Love’s Perilous Road: https://books2read.com/u/mqx0W6

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An Excerpt from My Gift to You

Gaby enjoyed the journey to Normanton more than she had enjoyed anything since her wedding night. They talked of his Bill, of his parliamentary allies and enemies, and how to change the minds of the latter. The discussion was not without humor and their laughter led them down lighter roads. 

Their al fresco breakfast brought them physically closer. Her heart leapt foolishly at every accidental touch, and she did not move away. Neither did he. Gaby was enchanted, for that secret smile was back in his eyes. She loved his dry, subtle humor that was rarely unkind. During their brief courtship between betrothal and marriage, this had been a revelation to her who had grown among loud, jeering people focused entirely on their own pleasure.

Once, when they were discussing the entertainments likely to be on offer at the party, she said lightly, “The rubies are even more beautiful than I expected. Thank you for trusting me with the family treasure.”

He looked for the jest, of course, and she didn’t blame him. She had used flippancy as protective armor too often. 

“I mean it,” she said ruefully.

“They’re more than family treasure. They are my gift to you.”

Pleasure brought a flush to her face. Impulsively, she touched her cheek to his shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispered. Then, afraid he would dislike such a demonstration, she straightened. “Should I save them for the grand ball?” she wondered. “Or tease the company with a few pieces beforehand?”

“Whatever amuses you.”

She was actually sorry to arrive at Normanton House, a large and gracious property, but the excitement stayed with her. She could swear this new friendliness was not mere politeness on his part. He did seem to genuinely like her still.

Which begged the question, why had he drawn away from her after that first night? Had she disappointed him so badly in bed? Or in other ways?

It doesn’t matter, as long as we are truly together now…

They arrived late in the afternoon, and both host and hostess greeted them warmly.

“Welcome to Normanton House,” Lady Sommerville cried. “I quite feel you have handed us the coup of the year by your presence.”

“I trust your journey was unremarkable?” Sir Peter added. “We’ve had bother with a highwayman on the Brighton roads.”

“Really?” Gaby was almost disappointed to have been spared such excitement until she realized that such a miscreant would almost certainly have stolen the Corey rubies. And the pearls.

“I expect your outriders made him think twice,” Sir Peter said with approval. 

“Come, I’ll show to your rooms,” Lady Sommerville said. “Where you may rest in comfort before tea, when you will meet all our other guests. I do hope you will be comfortable…”

Gaby had been sure that in a house so full of guests, she and her husband would share a bedchamber. But she had reckoned without their rank. The marquis and marchioness were given their own rooms, each with a sitting room.

Just like at home, they had no need ever to meet except in company.