A Lady Most Lovely
Page 33
Although I was unable to find out any more details about the racehorse, as a writer this little piece of information was really all I needed. I knew it would be a wonderful way to introduce the animal that would come to mean so much to Tom Poole. Tom and the stallion are the only survivors of a terrible shipwreck that left them washed up on the coast near Melbourne, Australia, in early 1851. Tom was aboard that ship in the first place because he was chasing after the man who had murdered his best friend. By the time he meets Margaret Vaughn in A LADY MOST LOVELY, Tom has been involved in two other real-life events as well: a massive wildfire near Melbourne, and the gold rush that would ultimately make him a wealthy man.
As you may have guessed by now, Tom Poole is a man of action. This aspect of his nature certainly leads him into some interesting adventures! However, when he arrives in London and meets the beguiling but elusive Miss Margaret Vaughn, he’s going to discover that affairs of the heart require an entirely different set of skills, but no less determination.
From the desk of Erin Kern
Dear Reader,
There are two things in this world that I love almost as much as dark chocolate. One of them is a striking pair of blue eyes framed by thick black lashes, with equally dark hair just long enough for a woman’s fingers to run through… Excuse me for a moment while I compose myself.
And the other is fried pie.
Okay, I just threw that last part in as an FYI. But what I’m really doing is tucking that useless tidbit away for a future project. That’s just how my weird mind works, folks.
But in all seriousness, while I really do love a blueeyed man, even more than that I love a wounded soul. Because I love to fix things. In my books. In real life I kind of suck at it.
Way back when I first started writing the Trouble series, as was kicked off with Looking for Trouble, I had an atypical wounded soul already forming in the cavernous recesses of my mind. I just needed to find a home for her.
Yes, I’m talking about a wounded heroine. I know that sounds kind of strange. Most romance readers love a scarred hero who gets his butt kicked into shape by some head-strong Miss Fix-It. Not that I don’t love that also. But I also knew Looking for Trouble wasn’t the place for her.
Lacy Taylor needed her own story with her own hero. And not only her own hero, but one with an extra tough brand of love that could break through her well-built defense mechanisms.
But make no mistake. Lacy Taylor isn’t as much of a tough cookie as she’d like everyone to think. Oh, no. She has a much softer side that only Chase McDermott could bring to the surface. Of course, she tries to keep Chase at arm’s length like everyone else in her life. But he’s too good for her defenses. Too good-looking. Too loosehipped. Too quick with his melt-your-bones smile. Not to mention his blue eyes. Gotta have those baby blues.
But Chase underestimates Lacy’s power. And I’m not talking about her tough-girl attitude. Never in Chase’s years as an adult would he have expected Lacy Taylor to get under his skin so quickly. Not only that, but nothing could have prepared him for his reaction to it.
Or to her.
You see, Chase and Lacy have known each other for a long time. And that’s another one of my weaknesses—childhood crushes turned steamy love stories. And Chase and Lacy can cook up steam faster than a drop of water on hot pavement. But it wasn’t always like that for these two. You see, Lacy blew out of Trouble years earlier, and after that Chase hardly gave the tough blonde a second thought.
But then she comes back. Now that’s when things get interesting.
Mostly because Lacy had to all but beg Chase for a job, which, in Lacy’s opinion, was almost as painful as a bikini wax. So then they’re working together. Seeing each other often. Subtle brushes here and there… you get the picture.
It gets hot. Real hot.
But the most fun part is seeing how these two wear each other down. Lacy thinks she’s so tough, and Chase thinks he can charm the habit off a nun. Well, actually he probably could.
Needless to say, heads butt, tempers flare, and the clothes, they go a-flying.
But which of these comes first? It’s all in HERE COMES TROUBLE. Because every woman needs some Trouble in her life.
Especially the blue-eyed kind.
Steamy readin’,
Erin Kern
From the desk of Lily Dalton
Dear Reader,
History has always been my thing.
Boring? Never! I’ve always viewed the subject as a colorful, dynamic puzzle of moving pieces, fascinating to analyze and relive, in whatever way possible. I used to have a history professor who often raised the question, “What if?”
For example, what if Ragnar Lodbrok and his naughty horde of Vikings had decided that they adored farming, so instead of setting off to maraud the coast of England in search adventure and riches, they had just stayed home? How might that omission from history have changed the face of England?
And jumping forward a few centuries: What if historical bad boy Henry VIII had not had such poor impulse control, and had instead just behaved himself? What if he’d tried harder to be faithful to Catherine? What if he’d never taken a shine to Anne Boleyn? There wouldn’t have been an Elizabeth I. How might this have changed the path of history?
At the heart of history, of course, are people and personalities and motivations. Characters. They weren’t flat, dusty words in black and white on the pages of a textbook. Instead, they lived in a vivid, colorful, and dangerous world. They had hearts and feelings and suffered agonies and joy.
Just like Vane Barwick, the Duke of Claxton, and his estranged wife, the duchess Sophia, who stand on the precipice of a forever sort of good-bye. Though the earlier days of their marriage were marked by passion and bliss, so much has happened since, and on this cold, dark night, understanding and forgiveness seem impossible.
Of course, in NEVER DESIRE A DUKE, the “what if?” is a much simpler question, in that the outcome will not change the course of nations.
What if there hadn’t been a snow storm that night?
Hmm. Now that I’ve forced that difficult question upon us, I realize I don’t want to imagine such an alternate ending to Vane and Sophia’s love story. Being snowbound with someone gorgeous and intriguing and desirable and, yes, provoking, is such a delicious fantasy.
If there hadn’t been a snow storm that night…
Well… thankfully, dear reader, there was!
Hugs and Happy Reading,
www.lilydalton.com
Twitter@LilyDalton
Facebook.com
From the desk of Debbie Mason
Dear Reader,
So there I was, sitting in my office in the middle of a heat wave, staring at a blank page waiting for inspiration to strike. I typed Chapter One. Nothing. Nada.
And the problem wasn’t that I was writing a Christmas story in the middle of July. I had the air conditioner cranked up, holiday music playing in the background, a pine-scented candle burning, and a supply of Hammond’s chocolate-filled peppermint candy canes on my desk. FYI, best candy canes ever!
No, the problem was my heroine, Madison Lane. I didn’t get her, and honestly, I was afraid I wasn’t going to like her very much. Because really, who doesn’t love Christmas and small towns? At that point, I was thinking of changing the title from The Trouble with Christmas to The Trouble with Madison Lane.
It took a couple of hours of staring at her picture on my wall before Madison finally opened up to me. Okay, so I may have thrown a few darts at her, drawn devil horns on her head, and given her an impressive mustache before she did. But she won me over. Once I found out what had happened to her in that small Southern town all those years ago, I fell in love with Madison. She’s strong, incredibly smart, and loyal, and after what she suffered as a little girl, she deserves a happily-ever-after more than most.
Now all I needed was a man who was up for the challenge. Enter Gage McBride, the gorgeous small-town sheriff and single father
of two young girls. A born protector, Gage is strong enough to deal with Madison and smart enough to see the sweet and vulnerable woman beneath her tough, take-no-prisoners attitude. But just because these two are a perfect match doesn’t mean their journey to a happily-ever-after is an easy one. The title of the book is THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS, after all.
I hope you have as much fun reading Gage and Madison’s story as I did writing it. And I hope, like Gage and Madison, that this holiday season finds you surrounded by the love of family and friends.
Wishing you much joy and laughter!
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
About the Author
A Preview of An Heiress at Heart
Also by Jennifer Delamere
Praise for An Heiress at Heart
The Dish: Where Authors Give You the Inside Scoop
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Jennifer Harrington
Excerpt from An Heiress at Heart Copyright © 2012 by Jennifer Harrington
Cover design by Diane Luger
Lettering by Danny Pelavin
Cover art by Aleta Rafton
Cover copyright © 2013 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First ebook edition: September 2013
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ISBN 978-1-4555-1895-1