“Wait, Miss Calvert,” he called as he ran to catch up to her. But Emily was already turning away from him, turning toward the path that would lead her back to her aunt’s house, back to face his family, who had made her into a joke. “No.” He lurched away from the tree trunk, tripped over a gnarled root, righted himself. “Good Lord, you really are a stallion in search of a mare,” she finally said, amazement lacing the words. “What’s your name?” he finally inquired with what she supposed was meant to be a charming, self-deprecating smile.īut Emily didn’t feel like being charmed and she wasn’t for a moment fooled by his attempt at boyish humility. No words for the ridiculousness of the situation in which she found herself. “The stable master’s daughter,” he admitted with a wry shrug.Įmily opened her mouth, snapped it shut again. “When you kissed me, who did you think you were kissing?” “You didn’t recognize me?” she repeated as realization dawned. “But when you followed me into the stables, surely you could have asked me then?” “No, not a joke precisely, more a humorous game,” he amended. Then it became something of a family joke…” It was his turn to allow his words to wither away. “I kept thinking someone would say it eventually.
“You forgot? We were nearly betrothed to be married and you could not be bothered to remember my name? Why did you not ask your father or your brother? Surely they…” her words faded away when he slowly shook his head. He had the grace to look abashed, but only barely. “Oh, are we pretending you are a gentleman?” “A gentleman does not ask a lady her given name.”
Nicholas opened his eyes and looked at her the very same way her brother Charlie looked at her when he knew he’d been found out in some mischief. His chest rose and fell, his panting breath sawing in and out through his open mouth. Nicholas dropped his hands to his thighs, leaned his head back against the tree and closed his eyes. With her hopes and dreams sinking to the bottom of the sea like so much lost treasure, Emily Calvert falls into the pretty poison she finds in a little blue bottle.Ĭan Nicholas Avery, a charming aristocrat with a faulty memory for names and a family in dire need of financial salvation, convince the wounded lady that the blessed oblivion she finds in his arms is sweeter than opium?Įmily took an unsteady step back, then another. What’s an American heiress to do when a pair of britches, a plunge into a pond in the dead of winter and a broken betrothal force her to set sail across the ocean to an arranged marriage with a fortune hunting Englishman? Click the banner above to follow the tour and increase your chances of winning. Lynne will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
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