Today I wanted to let you know about the GoodReads Book Giveaway I’m running over at Goodreads! To win yourself a copy of Miss Radley’s Third Dare (book 3 in the Miss Mayhem series) all you need to do is click on the Enter Giveaway link shown below. There are two copies up for grabs, and its open worldwide.
Giveaway ends August 20, 2015
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Goodluck!
WHEN A LADY IS ABDUCTED BY MISTAKE…
Melinda Starling doesn’t let ladylike behavior get in the way of true love. She’s secretly helping with an elopement, when she’s tossed into the waiting coach and driven away by a notorious rake.
REVENGE REALLY DOESN’T PAY.
Miles Warren, Lord Garrison, comes from a family of libertines, and he’s the worst of them all—or so society believes. When Miles helps a friend to run away with an heiress, it’s an entertaining way to revenge himself on one of the gossips who slandered him.
Except that he drives off with the wrong woman…and as if that wasn’t scandalous enough, he can’t resist stealing a kiss.
Setup: Miles and Melinda have just been united in a marriage of great inconvenience which neither of them wished. They haven’t consummated the marriage yet (for a reason Melinda would rather I didn’t mention here). Miles is taking advantage of the next few days to work up to it, though.
Miles guided the greys between two wagons. “Putting on an act, pretending to be madly in love, worked well enough in a pinch, but now that we’re married, we should take a different approach.”
“Which is?” asked Melinda.
“We should get to know one another,” he said.
She huffed. “Obviously we’ll do that.”
“By means of flirtation.”
That delicate flush arose in her cheeks again. “I beg your pardon?”
“Think about it. If I were courting you, we would flirt.” He paused to let her absorb the notion. “Wouldn’t we? You must have flirted with many men.” His heart beat painfully at the thought that she might continue to do so.
“Only if I knew they weren’t serious,” she said. “The moment they got that intent expression in their eyes, as if they wanted to steal a-a kiss…” Her eyes widened. For a hushed second, her gaze hovered on his lips. Abruptly, she looked away. “I wouldn’t let them.”
“Ah.” He suppressed a smile. “That privilege fell to me, and I seized it most unfairly.”
She took a deep breath. Did she realize how it made her bosom rise and fall? “And if it seemed they were on the verge of making an offer, I stopped flirting straightaway.”
“But that was then and this is now, and you’re already married to me. Think of the next few days as our courtship. We’ll drive in the Park, we’ll perhaps have ices at Gunter’s, we may even get invited to a ball or two, and…”
“We’ll flirt.” She glanced at him from under her lashes—at his mouth again—and away.
“But it will be much different from before. Instead of stopping at the first sign of serious intent, you’ll carry on as if your interest is as genuine as mine.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. She toyed with the fingertips of her glove.
“As if it’s leading somewhere,” he said.
Melinda knew perfectly well that he meant the consummation of their marriage, but why must she blush so easily? She’d mentioned that kiss, and all of a sudden she couldn’t keep her eyes away from his mouth. “Which it is,” she said gruffly. There wasn’t much room on the seat of the curricle—enough for the two of them, but very little space between. She’d never flirted with a man in such close proximity before. It certainly added spice to the experience.
“So there’s no reason to shy away or give me the cold shoulder or whatever you did to those fellows,” he said. “You may indulge your natural enjoyment of flirtation as much as you like.”
She bristled at that. “Who told you I enjoy flirting?” Then she remembered. “Is it something Lord Bottleford said? He was forever reprimanding me for being too friendly, and saying a lady should maintain a proper distance at all times. To him, that meant ignoring everyone else and listening enraptured while he prosed on and on. And on.” She rolled her eyes. “And on.”
His lips twitched. His eyes gleamed. Something inside her did a strange little flip.
She pulled herself together. He disconcerted her without even saying a word. “Who, then? My grandmother?”
“No, I didn’t mean you in particular, but rather one’s natural tendency to flirt with members of the opposite sex. It’s quite primitive, I think—rather like mating rituals of birds or beasts.”
Primitive. What an odd word to use of flirting, which had always seemed a highly civilized behavior until now. And yet…how very enticing.
She wanted him to kiss her again.
Winner of the Holt Medallion, Maggie, Daphne du Maurier, Reviewer’s Choice and Epic awards, Barbara Monajem wrote her first story at eight years old about apple tree gnomes. She published a middle-grade fantasy when her children were young. When they grew up, she turned to writing for grownups, first the Bayou Gavotte paranormal mysteries and then Regency romances with intrepid heroines and long-suffering heroes (or vice versa). Some of her Regencies have magic in them and some don’t (except for the magic of love, which is in every story she writes).
Barbara loves to cook, especially soups, and is an avid reader. There are only two items on her bucket list: to make asparagus pudding and succeed at knitting socks. She’ll manage the first but doubts she’ll ever accomplish the second. This is not a bid for immortality but merely the dismal truth. She lives near Atlanta, Georgia with an ever-shifting population of relatives, friends, and feline strays.
Julia tried to shake off Valentine’s grip. “Tomorrow you will ignore me again and I’ve had enough of that.”
The best thing for her was to go. He pushed her harder toward the door.
In the candlelight, her eyes widened and she resisted him. “I thought you were a gentleman. Unhand me!”
“I’m not in the mood for misunderstandings, Miss Radley. You simply must leave.”
Her hands lifted to curl about his biceps and squeeze. The discomfort her digging fingers inflicted was a surprise. Julia was stronger than he’d expected—and then he was the one being moved. They wrestled for dominance a moment but unless he wanted to risk hurting her, they were reasonably matched. He took a breath. “Why do you provoke me?”
“I’m not.” And yet she did not let go of his arms. “I don’t believe that because you are a man, you must be obeyed at all times. Linus is just as overbearing.”
“I’m nothing like Linus and you know it.” Frustrated by her obstinacy, he jerked her against him.
Julia landed against his chest, her fingers pinched into his arms as she stared up at him.
Her lips parted in surprise. “Valentine?”
“Must you always be so bloody stubborn?”
“But we’re not done speaking.” Her eyes flashed with fire again, the same spark of life and excitement that had convinced him to accept her dare.
He nudged the door shut with his foot instead of throwing her out and pressed her back against the door. “God help us both if my cousin spots us together.”
“Teresa would say nothing about it once I explained why I am here.”
“Why are you here? You know what people will say about us if we are found.” As he stared at her, a sudden urge to bend her to his will overtook him. She was wild, and a firm hand could tame her. The idea took hold as he stared into her glorious green eyes.
Could the reason she pursued him like this be that she’d grown to like him?
[hr]Love it? Want it? Pre-order now. The current 99cent price tag for the digital edition ends August 7th
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It’s just two short weeks until the release of Miss Radley’s Third Dare and I’m sharing the first page of my new book on the blog today. It’s been three months since the events of Miss George’s Second Chance. Julia Radley’s challenge against Valentine Merton is long over (she won) but still the dust has not settled.
There is nothing like having a past to shake up a happy present.
Julia Radley flopped onto her bed and groaned into her pillow. The concept of being so grievously ruined because of her harmless little dare three months ago had not truly occurred to her at the time Valentine Merton had accepted the challenge. She had thought any scandal would have blown over soon after the event that proved her an equal to a man when it came to swimming fast. To her dismay, all these months later, she had become a target of her brother’s unending fury and society’s scorn.
She had to escape.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me, young lady,” Linus, her brother and constant pain in her side, bellowed as he followed into her bedchamber to continue delivering his latest assessments of her predicament from the doorway. “You have no idea what strain this places upon me. What this has done to me. And—”
“What have I done to you?” She sat up, blowing a lock of red hair from her eyes. “All I have done is determined that I can swim faster than one man. Just one member of the male gender to prove my point that women possess more skills than merely wielding a needle. I did not parade myself around in my undergarments for the benefit of the masses. The entire event took no more than half an hour and you act like it is such a long-lasting disaster. You were there. You saw everything and said nothing at the time.”
“How could I have stopped you when I was the last to know my sister had been conspiring with a neighbor behind my back?” Linus turned an unhealthy shade of puce when he referred to her opponent, Valentine Merton. Once he’d called the man his best friend, but no more. Not since the race had they been seen together. “Everyone tried to prevent the race. If you were a lady in any shape or form, no one in Brighton would have any idea of what you look like underneath that gown. As it is—”
A loud knock pounded on the door one floor below them and Linus glanced over his shoulder swiftly.
At last, a caller had come to distract Linus from his daily lecture before he really got going. She held her breath as her brother turned on his heel and marched downstairs without another word.
You can grab a copy of Miss Radley’s Third Dare from these retailers:
Are you ready to get to know Miss Radley? This is a snippet from a scene between Miss Radley (Julia) and Lady Imogen Watson
“What will you do about your brother?”
“Endure.”
Imogen burst out laughing. “Are you not being a trifle melodramatic, my dear?”
“It’s all I can do.” Julia sighed and twisted a red curl around her finger and tugged savagely. “Mr. Merton spoke to me on my way here but I could tell he’d rather have ignored me again. That’s almost as bad as being shouted at.”
Lectured, expected to give up her hoydenish ways and concentrate on finding a husband. Yes, ignored and avoided was ten times worse than anything her brother had thrown her way.
Don’t forget to pre-order your copy before the price increases.
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Miss Merton’s Last Hope is back from the editor so I can announce the release date now: October 13th! Cover reveal and more details coming soon.
I’m working on Reason to Wed again this week, a story featuring Lady Heathcote (Esme) from An Improper Proposal. That will be Distinguished Rogues, book 7.
