A
Kiss for Lady Mary
The Marriage Game # 6
The Marriage Game # 6
By: Ella Quinn
Releasing May 26th, 2015
Kensington Books
Blurb
Ella Quinn’s bachelors do as they like and take what they want. But when the objects of their desire are bold, beautiful women, the rules of the game always seem to change…
Ella Quinn’s bachelors do as they like and take what they want. But when the objects of their desire are bold, beautiful women, the rules of the game always seem to change…
Handsome,
charming, and heir to a powerful Viscount, Christopher “Kit” Featherton is
everything a woman could want—except interested in marriage. So when he hears
that someone on his estate near the Scottish border is claiming to be his wife,
Kit sets off to investigate.
Since
her parents’ death, Lady Mary Tolliver has been hounded by her cousin, a
fortune-hunting fool after her inheritance. Refusing to settle for anything
less than love, Mary escapes to the isolated estate of rakish bachelor, Kit
Featherton. Knowing he prefers Court to the country, she believes she will be
safe. But when Kit unexpectedly returns, her pretend marriage begins to feel
seductively real…
A
couple of days later, Mary joined her grandmother and aunt in the dower house’s
elegant but cozy morning room. Small paintings and miniatures encompassing
generations of Tollivers covered the walls and surfaces. In the Queen Anne
style, the furniture was old, but comfortable.
Long
windows gave a view over the rose garden and the marble fountain in its center.
The curtains had recently been changed from the velvet used during the colder
seasons to a cerulean blue watered silk trimmed with gold braid. Even though
they were experiencing one of their few warm days this spring, a log spat and
popped in the fireplace.
In
fact, the only disturbing part of the normally tranquil atmosphere was the
conversation.
Doing
her best to keep her jaw from dropping in shock, Mary stared at her
grandmother. The older woman’s thick silver hair was face held few lines. Her
gaze seemed as sharp as ever. Generally she was the picture of health, except
for this recent burst of incipient insanity, for that was all it could be.
Mary
opened her mouth, then closed it again. Several moments passed in silence as
she struggled to make sense of what she thought she’d heard. After rejecting
retorts such as, Grandmamma, are you
feeling quite well? Or, are you sure you wouldn’t like a nice room in Bedlam?
And finally unable to come up with another way to ask her question, she simply
voiced the nicest thought in her mind. “Surely I have not understood you
properly. You want me to do what?”
“Well,
I think it’s a wonderful idea.”
Mary
shifted her gaze to her aunt. Perhaps madness had always run in the family and
it had been kept a secret so as not to ruin them socially. After all, who would
deliberately marry into a family where lunacy was rampant?
“He
has a face like a fish.” Aunt Eunice opened her eyes wide and moved her lips in
a fair imitation of a fish.
“Hake.”
Grandmamma nodded decisively. “It’s the way his eyes protrude.”
Mary
closed her eyes, repressing a shudder. “I agree, but surely there must be less
drastic measures I can take.”
Grandmamma
leaned forward and pounded her silver-headed cane on the floor. “He may look
like a fool, my girl, but he’s canny, and, if what Cook told me is true”—Mary
should have expected that— “which I have no doubt it is, he almost caught you a
few days ago.”
“Yes,
well.” Not the cleverest of replies. Surely, she could think of something more
to say. “I got away from him,” she ended lamely.
“This
time.” Grandmamma’s lips thinned.
“And
every other time previously.” Mary let out a frustrated huff. Unfortunately,
her grandmother did have a point. It was becoming more and more difficult to
evade her cousin. “Did Barham receive an answer to his last letter to Uncle
Hector?”
After
a few moments, during which Grandmamma turned so red it appeared as if she
would have apoplexy, Aunt Eunice replied, “Yes. But it won’t serve. Barham said
Hector continues to insist your father promised you would marry Gawain, and he
will not release your funds until either the marriage takes place—”
“In which case that spendthrift, Gawain,” Mary
almost growled, the anger in her voice surprising her, “would control
everything.”
“Or
you turn five and twenty.”
Her
aunt’s voice interrupted her silent railing. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“When
the trust ends,” Eunice replied patiently.
“Unless
you plan to spend the next two years inside the house,” Grandmamma said,
emphasizing her speech with another loud thump of her cane, “you will do as
your aunt and I advise.”
Mary
eyed the silver headed stick. What would her grandmother do if she hid it?
Still, what they were suggesting was complete insanity. “But I—”
“He’s
found you everywhere we’ve tried to hide you, my dear.”
Eunice
stared at Mary, a compassionate look on her face. “Drastic times call for
drastic measures.”
Mary
slowly shook her head. “I don’t think I could pretend to be someone else for
that long a time.”
“But
you won’t have to pretend.” Her aunt beamed. “That is the brilliance of the
plan! You can be yourself . . . with a slight change in your last name for the
time being.”
“We’ve
been very careful,” her grandmother said as calmly as if she were choosing a
dinner menu, “to select a remote area where there are no important families.”
There
was something very wrong about all of this. “May I ask who the owner is?”
Her
grandmother waved her hand as if dismissing her question. “The less you know
for time being, the safer you’ll be if Gawain comes sniffing around.”
Grandmamma
tapped her cane for at least the fourth time. Mary’s fingers itched to grab the
thing away and throw it in the fireplace. “It’s decided. We’ll leave early
tomorrow morning.”
Link
to Follow Tour: http://www.tastybooktours.com/2015/03/a-kiss-for-lady-mary-marriage-game-6-by.html
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24980059-a-kiss-for-lady-mary?from_search=true
Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/106521-the-marriage-game
Author
Info
Ella Quinn lived all over the United States, the Pacific, Canada, England and Europe before finally discovering the Caribbean. She lives in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands with her wonderful husband, three bossy cats and a loveable Great Dane.
Ella Quinn lived all over the United States, the Pacific, Canada, England and Europe before finally discovering the Caribbean. She lives in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands with her wonderful husband, three bossy cats and a loveable Great Dane.
Rafflecopter Giveaway (Three iBOOK
copies of A KISS FOR LADY MARY)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
1 comment:
Thank you for hosting A KISS FOR LADY MARY!
Post a Comment