Love, Lies and Spies

by Cindy Anstey

Seeing her struggle with words, Spencer leaned closer. “Please consider; even if only for a moment. For if you consider, I may kiss you.”

  Juliana lifted an eyebrow and smiled. She met his dancing eyes. “You may?”

  “Yes, for while you consider, we are both engaged and not engaged at the same time. I would not be upsetting propriety to kiss you under those circumstances, for we might be affianced.”

  Juliana laughed lightly and opened her mouth to argue, but Spencer was no longer hesitant. He placed his bandaged hand behind her head and drew her close. With his other hand, he gently tilted her chin and then slowly trailed his fingertips down the side of her neck until his hand came to rest on her shoulder. He pulled her closer still, even as their lips touched.

  It was a tender kiss at first. Their lips barely met. But the warmth of their shared breath, the press of their bodies, and the heat pulsing between them lengthened the kiss and deepened it. Juliana grabbed tightly at Spencer’s lapel.

  She heard a soft moan and a hum of pleasure but had no idea which one of them made which sound. It didn’t matter. Her eyes were closed, and the only things that existed in the world were Spencer’s tender strength and the sense of intoxication rushing through her body, warming her all over. When he let her go, he did so slowly, pausing when their lips were still only inches apart, and then pressing little soft-lipped kisses on her nose and eyes. Then he pulled her back into another embrace that curled her toes and left her with no doubt as to why people would enjoy a love match.

  Juliana opened her eyes to see that Spencer had put no distance between them. If she leaned at all, their lips would meet again. A very pleasant thought.

  “Juliana, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to spend the rest of my life with you, learning about you, having a family, and growing old together. I love you.”

  “I love you, too, Spencer, with all my heart. To know that you feel the same way … well, it fills me with rapture. There are not enough superlatives in the English language to capture even a tenth of my emotions.”

  “Say you will marry me.”

  Juliana looked into the clear blue sky and heard the brook babbling. She smelled the freshness of the fields and knew she would remember this moment forever. She took a deep breath. “Yes.”

  She was quite pleased with Spencer’s nonverbal response.

  Glossary

  ADDLEPATED: mixed up, confused

  BANNS: public announcement in church of a proposed marriage

  BEAU MONDE: the world of high society and fashion

  BLUESTOCKING: a clever, learned young lady/woman

  BLUNT: money

  BOUNCER: a large lie

  CAT’S PAW: an exploited person

  CORKY: bright and lively

  CUTTING SHAMS: lying

  DANDY: gentleman who pays particular attention to his appearance

  DILLYDALLY: waste time, delay, dawdle

  DUN TERRITORY: in debt

  FRIDAY-FACED: sad-looking

  GABSTER: chatty person

  GULLGROPERS: moneylenders to gamesters (gamblers)

  HAVEY-CAVEY: something of a shady or dishonest nature

  HELLS: seamy gambling clubs

  LADY BEETLE: ladybug

  MEGRIMS: a migraine

  PELISSE: woman’s coat

  POSTHASTE: with all possible speed

  QUIZZING GLASS: a monocle

  RETICULE: decorated drawstring bag/purse

  SARCENET: fine soft fabric, often silk

  SPENCER: short-waisted fitted jacket

  SPOONY: silly or overly sentimental

  TERRA FIRMA: a Latin phrase meaning “solid earth”

  THE TON: commonly used term referring to British high society

  WALKING STICK: cane

  WOOLGATHERING: absorbed in thought

  HISTORICAL NOTES

  The Regency

  When British King George III was declared unfit to lead in 1811, his eldest son, George, was appointed Prince Regent, ruling as such until his father’s death in 1820. These nine years became what is known as the Regency period or era. For the upper crust, it was perceived as a time of frivolity, scandal, and high living.

  Napoleonic Wars

  Britain fought France in the Napoleonic Wars from 1803 to 1815. At the time this book takes place (1813), Napoleon was a significant threat to England and the rest of the Continent. He was forced to abdicate in 1814, and, after a brief return to power, he was finally defeated in Waterloo, Belgium, in 1815.

  War Office and Home Office

  The War and Home Offices were two departments of the British government. The War Office was responsible for the British Army from the seventeenth century until 1964, when it was rolled into the Ministry of Defence. The Home Office deals with domestic issues such as smuggling, immigration, and public safety. It is still headquartered in London.

  REFERENCES

  For those interested in learning more about the British Regency period, I have compiled a short list of research books (very short, for there are many):

  Downing, Sarah Jane. Fashion in the Time of Jane Austen. Oxford: Shire Publications, 2010.

  Fullerton, Susannah. A Dance with Jane Austen. London: Frances Lincoln Ltd., 2012.

  Kloester, Jennifer. Georgette Heyer’s Regency World. London: Random House, 2005.

  Pool, Daniel. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.

  Ross, Josephine. Jane Austen’s Guide to Good Manners. New York: Bloomsbury, 2006.

  A TEA DATE

  with author Cindy Anstey and editors Christine Barcellona and Holly West

  “Romance Novels”

  Christine Barcellona (CB): What was the first romance novel you ever read?

  Cindy Anstey (CA): When I was younger, I read Nancy Drew, and when I started reading romance in my early teens, I went straight into Gothic. I read Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney, Madeleine Brent—those types of books, a style that doesn’t seem to exist anymore. I used to devour those. But as to which particular one, I don’t know. It was more a genre that I looked for than one book.

  Holly West (HW): Do you have a favorite Regency romance now that you’re particularly fond of?

  CA: I have favorite Regency romance writers. Jane Austen, of course, Jude Morgan, and some—but not all of—Georgette Heyer. I also enjoy Mary Balogh’s traditional regencies. I like the comedy-of-manners style.

  HW: In all of media, not just books but movies, TV shows, whatever, do you have a favorite fictional couple?

  CA: My favorite couple is Amelia Peabody and Radcliffe Emerson from the Amelia Peabody mysteries, starting with Crocodile on the Sandbank. The series is written by Elizabeth Peters, and I absolutely love them.

  “Just for Fun”

  CB: What’s your favorite way to spend a rainy day?

  CA: I’d like to say something interesting, like walking down a deserted beach or volunteering at the library, which I have done, but my usual rainy day is spent curled up with a good book or playing Candy Crush.

  HW: This one is my favorite question: If you were a superhero, what would your power be?

  CA: I would love to be very wise—perpetually wise—and I’d like to fly, and I’d like to be a healer. So I would choose to be a wise, flying healer.

  CB: Swoon-approved superpower! Next question: If you were stranded on a desert island, who or what would you want for company?

  CA: I know it’s hokey, but I’d want my husband. He’s really smart and he’s very handy. He cooks and he makes me laugh. What more do you want on a desert island, right?

  HW: I’m sold. So do you have any hobbies?

  CA: Yes, I have a plethora of hobbies. Most of them are artsy-fartsy because I’m an artist. Recently I’ve done mostly graphic design. But when I paint, I use watercolors, and I cross-stitch, which is painting with thread, and I garden, which is painting with flowers.

  ORIGINAL COVER OF LOVE, LIES AND SPIES POSTED ON SWOONREADS.COM


  CB: Did you do the original cover for Love, Lies and Spies?

  CA: I did. I always thought it would be fun to design a book cover, but I didn’t know whether I could do a reasonable job. I tried to do it in a cutout sort of style for a youthful look. It really was fun.

  “The Swoon Index”

  HW: On the site, as you know, we have the Swoon Index, which is meant to measure the amount of heat or laughter or tears or thrills in each book. But for this particular interview, we always like to twist it, and have you tell us what your favorites are. What is something or someone that always turns up the heat for you?

  CA: Tenderness and caring.

  HW: What always makes you laugh?

  CA: Play on words or the absurdity of everyday situations. Like a skit that Ellen [DeGeneres] did when she compared the packaging of batteries and lightbulbs: how batteries are packed so you can’t get into them, whereas lightbulbs are barely covered by thin cardboard; it was hilarious. That’s the type of thing I find really funny. The absurdities of life.

  CB What makes you cry?

  CA: Sacrifice. When somebody gives up something for somebody else. That gets to me every time.

  HW: What always sets your heart pumping? What’s filled with adventure for you?

  CA: Travel, I guess. I love traveling, going somewhere new, somewhere different, exotic.

  HW: And what always makes you swoon?

  CA: Simple moments, simple things. Like a candlelight dinner when we’re focusing on each other, sitting on the beach looking at the stars or watching the ocean, or looking up for no reason and finding my husband looking at me, and he smiles or he winks.

  “The Swoon Reads Experience”

  HW: Let’s talk about Swoon Reads. We always like to talk about us. How did you learn about Swoon Reads?

  CA: I read Katie Van Ark’s article in the October Romance Writers Report. She wrote “An author’s perspective on Swoon Reads.” We were moving from Europe at the time, and when that issue finally caught up to me, I was super excited. I uploaded A Modest Predicament [now retitled as Love, Lies and Spies] right away.

  HW: What about Swoon Reads drew you to the site? What made you decide “Oh, you’ve got to do this”?

  CA: I really love the idea. Having readers give a critique and seeing if there is any kind of connection. Reaching people right away. You don’t have to wait until the book is out. I love that.

  CB: What was your experience like on the site before you were chosen?

  CA: It was very positive; everyone wrote nice things. It’s one thing to have people you know or you love say wonderful things about your work, but to have perfect strangers tell you how much they like your book, it puts you on cloud nine. At first, you make one person happy and then it’s two, and so on. It’s incremental, but the fact that you’ve made anybody happy is just amazing. I love that aspect of it.

  HW: Once you were chosen, we kind of swore you to secrecy, at least for online and social media. Was it hard for you to keep it a secret?

  CA: Oh boy, was it. I wanted to tell everybody. I wanted to stand on the roof and shout it out to the world … but I had to wait. It was hard.

  CB: Who was the first person you told?

  CA: My husband.

  “Writing Life”

  HW: Let’s talk a little bit about being an author and the writing life. When did you realize that you wanted to be a writer?

  CA: Not long after I learned to read. I’ve always, always wanted to write. I have boxes of stories from high school days … and even before. I’ve always written. I get cranky if I don’t write.

  HW: Do you have any rituals when you write? Do you have a specific place where you write or anything like that?

  CA: As long as my butt’s in the chair and nobody’s talking to me I can write. And I like it. I don’t understand some authors who say they try to avoid writing. I don’t get that. I love writing. It’s fun; you can live in a different world. When I first started writing seriously, people would call and it would take me a while to refocus. My mind would be in the nineteenth century, and it would take me a few sentences to get my head back in the twenty-first century.

  CB: What’s your process? Are you an outliner or do you just start writing?

  CA: I’m definitely a plotter. I start with a complete outline … but characters can and do take over; they change the story. You have to let them, otherwise it’s like trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. If you have to redo your plot, you do. That’s the way I work, anyway. My characters often dictate where we’re going.

  HW: For Love, Lies and Spies, where did the idea start? Where did it come from?

  CA: Most of my ideas come from research followed by “what if?” So, if I remember correctly, I read about the smuggling during the Napoleonic era, when British smugglers passed French messages. I believe that was the seed, and it grew from there.

  CB: What kind of research do you do? I know you’re a big researcher.

  CA: I love research! I love learning social and cultural history, and I focus on the nineteenth century. I like to read novels that were written in that era as well. I’m more comfortable using books as opposed to the Internet.

  CB: Do you remember how extensively you researched for Love, Lies and Spies, or are you kind of just always researching a period?

  CA: I’ve always got a nonfiction on the go, as well as a novel, reading back and forth between them all the time. I have more than a few books; my nonfictions are down here. And we have a library upstairs with my fictions.

  CB: What was your favorite thing about writing Love, Lies and Spies?

  CA: Playing with the dialogue. I love writing banter. I can organize a conversation; everybody says what needs to be said. No regrets, no “I wish I had said that.”

  HW: Do you ever get writer’s block?

  CA: I never have. Not yet. Knock on wood. If I start rewriting a paragraph or rewriting a page over and over, I’m in the wrong spot. I go back a page or two, and—this is what I love about computers—I put what I have written in another document. If I want to retrieve it, I can. But often the story heads in another direction. So as soon as I start having a problem, I know I’m in the wrong spot and I have to try something else.

  “The Editing Process”

  HW: That’s really great. So what was it like getting the edit letter?

  CA: It was a little overwhelming. When I first opened it up, it seemed like a lot of changes. But then you called me and said, “Don’t worry about it. It’s not very much.” And when I started looking at it and figuring out how to address the problems, it really wasn’t. I like editing; I know that’s weird. I like making things a little stronger, making them better. So once I stopped thinking Oh my god, it was fine.

  HW: What was the biggest change that you made, and what was the hardest one for you?

  CA: The biggest change was flipping the ending. To me that was the hardest and the biggest. I had resolved the romance first on purpose, because I like to know a little about the characters after their declaration of love; I like to see what happens the next day, or the next few months. But I also understood why you preferred it the other way around. It made sense. I did find it hard to do, but I think it turned out well. I was pleased with the way it turned out in the end.

  CB: I think you did a great job resolving everything.

  CA: Oh, thank you. It was hard to clean up all the broken threads, to make sure that everything was in the right sequence. My sister picked up on the bruises. She said, “Oh, by the way, if it was a week ago, these bruises aren’t blue anymore; they’ve gone yellow.”

  CB: What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever heard or gotten?

  CA: Read—I think that’s the standard advice. Somebody once said you have to read, but you have to read what you’re really interested in, something that resonates with you. If it doesn’t resonate, don’t read it. Get something else. I think that is the best advice: read, read, read, read, read.

&n
bsp; LOVE, LIES and SPIES

  Discussion Questions

  Why was Spencer so surprised by Juliana? What may have made her stand out as different from other women in the Regency period?

  How did different characters underestimate each other? How did they deceive each other?

  Early nineteenth century sounds like all parties and matchmaking; what is the reality?

  Juliana thinks she has a clear understanding of who her father is. Why is she then surprised by his acceptance of Spencer into their lives? Do you think all parent-child relationships have misconceptions?

  At eighteen years old, Juliana manages an estate and, by the end of the book, she is engaged to be married. Why was an engagement at Juliana’s age the norm in the nineteenth century?

  Do you think Lord Bobbington and Carrie are well suited for each other? Why or why not?

  At the beginning of the book, Juliana had very firm opinions against marriage. Do you feel they were realistic? What made her opinions change?

  In Regency England, formal introductions provided entrance into one’s social circle. Discuss why this was so important to people who lived during this period.

  Servants made the lives of the gentry possible in Regency England. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of living so closely with strangers.

  What are the similar interests of girls in this century with those in the nineteenth? What are the differences?

  The only thing more dangerous than a gentleman with deadly superpowers is falling in love with one.

  Keep reading for a sneak peek.

  One

  DEATH. THIS CARRIAGE was taking me straight to my death.

  “Rose,” I said, turning to my younger sister. “In your esteemed medical opinion, is it possible to die of ennui?”

  “I … can’t recall a documented case.”

  “What about exhaustion? Monotony?”

  “That could lead to madness,” Rose offered.

  “And drowning in a sea of suitors? After being pushed in by your mother?”