CLOSER TO SIN
Elizabeth Squire
Released April 15th, 2016
Escape Publishing
Elizabeth
Squire brings a fresh voice to historical romance in this tale of intrigue and
passion.
CLOSER TO SIN
Liliane Desailly travels to
Napoleonic France after receiving a plea for help from her French cousin. She
learns she is the key to fulfilling her grandfather’s legacy, but to do so she
must masquerade as a spy and courier secrets on behalf of the British
Admiralty.
Sinclair Charlcroft is the British Admiralty’s
last hope. Napoleon’s Grande Armée is poised to invade Britain, an English spy
is missing and a traitor has infiltrated the Admiralty’s intelligence network.
Pursued by Napoleon’s agents,
Liliane and Sinclair cannot reveal their true identities until they unlock the
secrets of the legacy—and only then can they unlock the secrets in their
hearts.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
France,
February 1805
Liliane
sat opposite her cousin Solange, gingerly sipping a mug of honey mead. Around
them the air was thick with smoke, layered with the pungent smell of onions,
hops and sweat. The local village inn was loud with the lunchtime patronage of
local farmers and fishermen whose conversations were punctuated with raucous
laughter and ribald jokes. One of the men nudged his companion and gestured
towards her. She fidgeted self-consciously and tucked her blue woolen shawl
more securely across her shoulders. Goodness, they behaved like they'd never
seen a woman in here before.
A
hush momentarily descended upon the room. Solange leaned towards her and
whispered. ‘Be ready, ma petite. He's
here.’
Liliane
glanced over her shoulder. As her gaze swept the room she was arrested by the
sight of a figure silhouetted in the doorway.
Heavens above. She momentarily closed
her eyes, his image imprinting upon her brain. Now this man was definitely no
fisherman. Even in the crowded noisy tavern his presence was imposing.
Mesmerized, she studied him further. His body was encased in a white linen
shirt and buff breeches, while ink black hair fell across his brow, drawing her
attention to hooded eyes and a firmly set jaw. He stepped into the room and
casually looked around the tavern, running his hand through his hair to push it
back from his face. Her fingers tingled, and she lifted her own hand to her
hair, twisting the sable strands between her fingers, wondering if his hair
would feel as soft and silken.
Liliane
froze. Oh Lord, he was watching her.
The loose tendrils that tangled about her fingers singed as though she had been
caught running her hands through his hair. The air around her seemed to ripple
and she felt, rather than saw, the moment he decided to move. Holding her gaze,
he moved from the doorway and light flooded back into the room. Her breath
caught in her throat. It was incongruous that a man of his height could move
with such surety and grace, almost a menacing prowl. Although one thing was
certain, there was absolutely nothing dandified about him. As he made his way
through the tavern his commanding posture induced the inn's patrons to step
aside in deference.
He
drew closer and she jerked back around to face Solange. How mortifying to have
been caught staring at him. She flicked a look of uncertainty towards her
cousin. Surely he wasn't the man they were here to meet? This man didn't accord
with the image she'd painted in her mind. She wasn't sure what she'd been
expecting—perhaps someone older, less imposing. Someone safe. Not someone whose
very presence drew the attention of every person in the room. And certainly not
someone who, with a single glance, could induce her to forget precisely why she
was on the wrong side of the Channel, drinking mead and speaking in French,
instead of shopping on Bond Street.
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Elizabeth
Squire’s love of writing romance couldn’t be further from the life she had
carved out for herself. Raised in outback and rural Australia, Elizabeth was
determined to live a life vibrant with passion, travel, adventure and
discovery—other than the one she had already lived through the pages of the
innumerable she read and loved. And so, turning her back on a life in the bush,
she invested a lot of years chasing her dreams—she enjoyed a career as a
commissioned in the Royal Australian Navy, and counts white-water rafting the
Zambezi River, travelling by safari truck through Africa, and back-packing
through Eastern Europe with her young family as just a few of her many adventures.
But
amongst the adventure, the urge to write intensified as story lines and
dialogue continued to materialize from the recesses of her mind. She finally
accepted that the voices in her head were really characters enmeshed in the
tumultuous Georgian and Regency periods, vying for life on paper.
After a nomadic lifestyle, Elizabeth has now settled into her own home and loves nothing better than bringing her passionate heroines and daring rakes to life. She lives with her own hero and one true love, two beautiful daughters and two delinquent miniature long-haired dachshunds. Closer to Sin is Elizabeth’s debut novel.
After a nomadic lifestyle, Elizabeth has now settled into her own home and loves nothing better than bringing her passionate heroines and daring rakes to life. She lives with her own hero and one true love, two beautiful daughters and two delinquent miniature long-haired dachshunds. Closer to Sin is Elizabeth’s debut novel.
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