To Seduce a
Stranger
Susanna Craig
Kensington Publishing/Lyrical Press
Spotlight: 4/13
Blurb
After her much
older husband dies—leaving her his fortune—Charlotte Blakemore finds herself at
the mercy of her stepson, who vows to contest the will and destroy her life.
With nowhere to turn and no one to help her, she embarks on an elaborate
ruse—only to find herself stranded on the way to London . . .
More than twenty years in the West Indies have hardened Edward Cary, but not enough to abandon a helpless woman at a roadside inn—especially one as disarmingly beautiful as Charlotte. He takes her with him to the Gloucestershire estate he is determined to restore, though he is suspicious of every word that falls from her distractingly lush lips.
As far as Charlotte knows, Edward is nothing more than a steward, and there’s no reason to reveal his noble birth until he can right his father’s wrongs. Acting as husband and wife will keep people in the village from asking questions that neither Charlotte nor Edward are willing to answer. But the game they’re each determined to play has rules that beg to be broken, when the passion between them threatens to uncover the truth—for better or worse . . .
More than twenty years in the West Indies have hardened Edward Cary, but not enough to abandon a helpless woman at a roadside inn—especially one as disarmingly beautiful as Charlotte. He takes her with him to the Gloucestershire estate he is determined to restore, though he is suspicious of every word that falls from her distractingly lush lips.
As far as Charlotte knows, Edward is nothing more than a steward, and there’s no reason to reveal his noble birth until he can right his father’s wrongs. Acting as husband and wife will keep people in the village from asking questions that neither Charlotte nor Edward are willing to answer. But the game they’re each determined to play has rules that beg to be broken, when the passion between them threatens to uncover the truth—for better or worse . . .
Buy links
Amazon: https://amzn.com/B01ILZHQFC
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-seduce-a-stranger-susanna-craig/1124115940?ean=9781601836199
Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Susanna_Craig_To_Seduce_a_Stranger?id=OxSwDAAAQBAJ&hl=en
Excerpt
Leaning forward,
Edward curved his fingers around the handle of the brush and drew it from Charlotte’s
grasp. His touch was warm and soft, as she had known it would be. “Allow me,”
he said.
“I really don’t
think—”
“Surely a husband can
do as much for his wife, Mrs. Cary,” he insisted, his voice gently teasing now.
“A repayment, of sorts.” Before she could reply, the boar’s bristles tingled
against her scalp, sending off little fireworks of ecstasy, followed by ripples
of relaxation that seemed to flow from the top of her head through every limb,
every vein, every cell. “Relax.”
She had been without
the gentle touch of another person for so long . . . forever, really. Though
she craved it, she had schooled herself not to need it. Yet here she was,
tormented daily by the touch of a man who was all but a stranger to her. She
could still feel where his hand had circled her arm and jerked her to safety;
where his arm had clutched her waist, brushing the underside of her breast with
each bounce of the horse; where his fingertips had skated with care over her
injured palms. And now, his deft hands, his long fingers, made her forget the
pain of her own hands and the tightness in her shoulders, in favor of an
entirely different ache, in a place no one had ever touched her. A place no one
ever would.
Realizing it would be
a terrible mistake to surrender to his command to relax, she kept her spine
straight as ever. Still, her eyes drooped closed and a sigh escaped her lips as
he dragged the brush downward, again and again, stroking its bristles through
her hair until it crackled and shone.
Too soon, he laid the
brush aside. Unwilling to let the moment of pure indulgence come to an end, she
refused to open her eyes. When he gathered her hair in one hand and swept it to
the side, over one of her shoulders, a few strands caught on his work-roughened
fingers. Then she heard the tell-tale creak of leather as he shifted his
weight. Caught the scent of him, wool and shaving soap and man. Felt the warmth
of his body as he leaned closer still.
Please.
How did her body know
to want the press of his lips against that curve of skin he had exposed, at the
base of her neck where it joined her shoulder? Were those forbidden cravings a
part of her blood, as everyone had always insisted? An instinct, prowling
silently along the shadowy edges of her mind, like Noir in search of a mouse?
Would she have a moment to react, to save herself, when the tension coiling
tighter and tighter within her finally sprung?
Previous books in Runaway Desires
series
To Kiss a Thief
Sarah Pevensey had hoped her arranged
marriage to St. John Sutliffe, Viscount Fairfax, could become something more.
But almost before it began, it ended in a scandal that shocked London society.
Accused of being a jewel thief, Sarah fled to a small
fishing village to rebuild her life.
The last time St. John saw his new wife,
she was nestled in the lap of a soldier, disheveled, and no longer in
possession of his family’s heirloom sapphire necklace. Now, three years later,
he has located Sarah and is determined she pay for her crimes. But the woman he
finds is far from what he expected. Humble and hardworking, Sarah has nothing
to hide from her husband—or so it appears. Yet as he attempts to woo her to
uncover her secrets, St. John soon realizes that if he’s not careful, she’ll
steal his heart…
Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Susanna_Craig_To_Kiss_a_Thief?id=QgkACwAAQBAJ&hl=en
To Tempt an Heiress
After her beloved father dies, Tempest
Holderin wants nothing more than to fulfill his wish to free the slaves on
their Antiguan sugar plantation. But the now wealthy woman finds herself
pursued by a pack of unsavory suitors with other plans for her
inheritance. To keep her from danger, her dearest friend arranges a most
unconventional solution: have Tempest kidnapped and taken to safety.
Captain Andrew Corrvan has a reputation as a ruthless, money-hungry blackguard—but those on his ship know differently. He is driven by only one thing: the quest to avenge his father’s death on the high seas. Until he agrees to abduct a headstrong heiress…
If traveling for weeks—without a chaperone—isn’t enough to ruin Tempest, the desire she feels for her dark and dangerously attractive captor will do the rest. The storm brewing between them will only gather strength when they reach England, where past and present perils threaten to tear them apart—even more so than their own stubborn hearts…
Captain Andrew Corrvan has a reputation as a ruthless, money-hungry blackguard—but those on his ship know differently. He is driven by only one thing: the quest to avenge his father’s death on the high seas. Until he agrees to abduct a headstrong heiress…
If traveling for weeks—without a chaperone—isn’t enough to ruin Tempest, the desire she feels for her dark and dangerously attractive captor will do the rest. The storm brewing between them will only gather strength when they reach England, where past and present perils threaten to tear them apart—even more so than their own stubborn hearts…
Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Susanna_Craig_To_Tempt_an_Heiress?id=GLq7CwAAQBAJ&hl=en
Bio
A love affair with historical romances led Susanna Craig to a degree (okay, three degrees) in literature and a career as an English professor. When she’s not teaching or writing academic essays about Jane Austen and her contemporaries, she enjoys putting her fascination with words and knowledge of the period to better use: writing Regency-era romances she hopes readers will find both smart and sexy. She makes her home among the rolling hills of Kentucky horse country, along with her historian husband, their unstoppable little girl, and a genuinely grumpy cat.
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1 comment:
Thanks for having me!
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