In order to research the ill-fated love affair between her great-grandfather and a British aristocrat’s daughter, historical fiction writer Vivienne Dupree travels to The Downs, the sweeping English country estate where the affair took place, and the ancestral home of the Duke of Burleigh and his three sisters. But instead of long-lost letters, Vivienne finds herself getting wrapped up in a family that is shrouded in secrets and sorrow, past and present, and falling for the very handsome but infinitely bossy Duke. All that, coupled with a touch of the supernatural, and you have an unputdownable Kristen Ashley romance that is truly Perfect In Every Way. AND I have one of my favourite scenes to share with you today!
Excerpt
“What the fuck?” I asked.
He closed the door he’d barely cleared before I confronted him and turned back to me.
“I didn’t make a secret of the fact I liked you in that dress,” he said, like it was the most natural thing in the world to say what he’d said in the other room in front of his friends…and his sisters.
“Listen, I don’t know what’s going on with that woman, but I want no part in it,” I declared.
“Allow me to educate you in English manners. Even if you have no idea someone is going to arrive at your door with luggage, you open your door for them and their luggage.”
“I’ll file that tidbit away for the never I’m going to need it.”
He let out a massive breath and shared, “Somehow, she found out. In other words, she knows you’re here.”
“Well, obviously, since I just got used in whatever game you’re playing.”
“It’s not my game, it’s hers. And I didn’t use you. I stated a truth.”
My head ticked to the side angrily. “No?”
“Again, Vivienne, she knows you’re here,” he stressed. “Did Prue or Chassie tell you who she is?”
“Your ex.”
“She was not at one with my decision to end us.”
“No shit?”
His lips twitched.
As hot as that was…
Oh no he didn’t.
This was not funny.
“Leave me out of it,” I ordered.
“Unfortunately, I’ve no choice. You’re in it.” “
So now you’re going to pretend something is happening with you and me so you can use me as your shield to keep your ex at bay?”
“I’m not pretending anything, Vivienne. I very seriously wanted to fuck you in that dress.”
I stared.
But my thighs quivered.
“Or, more accurately, fuck you after that dress hit my bedroom floor,” he amended. “Though, the way you looked in that dress, I might not have been able to wait that long.”
Ugh!
This man!
“So it’s back to games, is it?” I asked.
“I don’t play games.”
“Could have fooled me,” I shot back.
He dipped his face so close, the tip of his nose nearly brushed mine.
“Hear me, Vivi,” he whispered, and him using my nickname for the first time, coupled with him being so close I could smell his musky, woodsy cologne, regrettably at that juncture, all of that did a number on me. “I. Am. Not. Playing. Games.”
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Manors and Mysteries - Recommended Reading Order
(standalone stories with interconnected characters)
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