It is Saturday and that means it’s time for a Sweet Sample from one of my books. It’s been several months since I’ve had opportunity to do so, but I mean to get back into the habit.
Enough of that. Let’s get to the sample. ☺
This is taken from Chapter Four of my newest Regency release, Intrigue. The heroine (Malvina) is engaged to a man she barely knows (Gideon), has a teenage son who is a wee bit unbalanced (Wolf), and is being blackmailed by a scoundrel (...we don't know his name at this point). Enjoy! ♥
About a week after Wolf’s homecoming, Malvina received an unexpected, yet expected, visitor.
The weather was still balmy at the peak of the day. Malvina had taken to walking about unescorted in the woods near the house. She used the time to think and as her problems had increased of late, she had much to occupy her mind.
An insect buzzed close to her ear and she waved it away. As her arm came down, she was grabbed from behind. A hand closed over her mouth, stifling her cry of alarm and cutting off her air. Her captor dragged her backwards, into the trees, until they were hidden from the view of any casual passersby.
She struggled against the arm, desperate to escape as her air slowly dwindled, black edging her vision. Then a voice whispered close to her ear, “If you don’t scream, my lady, I will release you.”
After a brief nod she was released. She stumbled and nearly fell to the ground but her companion reached out and steadied her with a hand under her elbow.
“Where have you been?” she snapped, her eyes probing the shadows in an attempt to make out his features. “I began to think you had decided to leave me out of your plotting.”
“Hoping, more like,” scoffed the man. “Unfortunately for you, I still have need of you. I will contact you soon about your next assignment.”
“Very well,” she answered, knowing she had no other choice. What this man held over her head was enough to make her do just about anything he could think to request.
The man glanced around the wooded area with a distracted look on his face. A patch of sunlight lit his face and he stepped out of it, squinting up through the leaves overhead. His brow crinkled.
In that moment of brightness, Malvina caught ordinary features, handsome yet nothing out of the common way, dark brown hair peeking out from beneath his hat. Then he was hidden in shadow again.
“I hear you have a man staying with you. Care to explain that?” His eyes swiveled back to hers, sliding over her face and down to her bosom. He paused there, eyes narrowing. She could only assume he stared at the pendant she’d taken to wearing, the pretty little gift bestowed on her by the very man he wanted to discuss.
Malvina felt an overwhelming urge to kick him in the shin and run away. A childish desire, to be sure, but one she couldn’t help but feel. “I am engaged. You may wish me well.”
“Indeed?” he replied, his brows raised slightly. “And will he be a problem for you? I would hate to have to remove him from the scene because he put his nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“He will not be a problem,” lied Malvina. She schooled her expression into one of annoyance, trying to cover her desperate hope that Gideon would prove to be just that. But at the same time, she feared for him.
“And who is the lucky man? All I can uncover is a vague description and his abject laziness.”
“Does it matter?”
“It does if you want him to survive the night.”
She studied him for signs of an empty threat. She was used to such, having lived with a man who was quite fond of empty threats. Finding nothing but dark promise, she capitulated. “He is Gideon Mallory,” she told him, giving him the name her betrothed had given the headmaster at Wolf’s school.
A look of sheer amazement crossed the man’s face. He snorted a laugh that contained hints of genuine amusement. “Did you say Gideon Mallory?”
“Do you know him?” she asked, unable to hide her surprise.
“The question is, my dear lady, do you?”
This book is currently available on Amazon HERE.
Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to read my excerpt! Please take a moment and check out some other Sweet Saturday Samples by clicking HERE.
♥Happy reading, writing, and blogging!!♥
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♫♪ LotR (Return of the King) Soundtrack ~ The Return of the King
3 comments:
It sounds like she doesn't know her fiance as well as the unnamed scoundrel does! Interesting scene.
Whoa! I think Malvina may be in over her head! Nice sample, Jaimey!
Thanx! ♥
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