This week on Excerpt Thursday we're welcoming our founder CarrieLofty back to celebrate the release of her latest unusual historical
romance, Flawless, set in colonial South Africa. Join us Sunday
when Carrie will be here to talk about this exciting new Victorian series from
Pocket Books, answer questions, and give away a copy. Here's the blurb:
A passion this seductive is more precious than diamonds. . . .
Sir William Christie, ruthless tycoon and notorious ladies' man,
is dead. Now his four grown children have gathered for the reading of his will.
What lies in store for half-siblings Vivienne, Alexander, and twins Gareth and
Gwyneth? Stunning challenges that will test their fortitude across a royal
empire...and lead them to the marvelously passionate adventures of their lives.
Lady Vivienne Bancroft fled England for New York, hoping to shed
the confines of her arranged marriage to unrepentant rogue Miles Durham,
Viscount Bancroft--though she never forgot the fiery desire he unleashed with
his slightest touch. And when the gambling man arrives on her doorstep for a
little sensual revenge for her desertion, he is met with Vivienne's dilemma:
she must earn her father's inheritance by profitably running a diamond business
worth millions in colonial South Africa.
Swept together in an exotic undertaking filled with heated passion
and hungry temptation, will Vivienne and Miles discover that the marriage vows
they once made are the greatest snare--or the most treasured reward?
**An Excerpt from Flawless**
In this scene, Miles and Viv have just arrived on the docks at
Cape Town. Their showdown begins right away, as Miles has claimed possession of
Viv's baggage. Let the negotiations begin!
She stood like a
silk-encrusted statue. Never a crack, no matter how many whispered rumors. Only
his touch had ever revealed the passion lurking beneath. Rare moments when
she'd lost control, gasping his name, were more precious than all the diamonds
in the Cape.
Miles planned to seduce her,
just for the fun of proving that she loved it.
"Make your demand,"
she said. "I expect I know what you'll say."
"Not at all, my dear. I
don't want your money, and I don't desire marital privileges--well, not yet.
Not here on the docks."
Rosy lips parted on a quiet
sound. Her expression sparked with something very close to hatred. More like a
cousin to hatred, perhaps, because he'd seen her well and truly angry. This
little farce of a reaction meant they were only getting started.
"Out with it," she
said.
"I want you to ask."
After a flicker of surprise,
her composure returned. Miles wanted to retrieve his pocket watch and measure
the span of time between flustered and restored. He'd place heavy wagers on her
abilities, if anyone dared take him up on such a bet.
"Ask?"
"That's all. Ask that I
instruct Mr. Kato to take your bags to the train station."
"And then?"
"Then we'll take your
bags to the train station," he said, as if to a child. "The concept
is not a difficult one, Vivie."
"Don't call me
that," she snapped.
"Why not?" He
touched a lock of shimmering blond hair where it curved along her ear.
"Remind you of something?"
"You know it does."
"Yes." So much time
had passed, yet her warm floral scent still left him ready to beg. "Nights
to remember."
"To forget, you mean."
His ardor chilled. Memories,
both fervent and tender, flayed him with the mistakes of their shared past. The
intensity of her passion had been the one great surprise of his utterly
predictable life, and her constant need to deny it had been the undoing of
their marriage. He'd always wanted what she refused to offer.
If any begging were to be
done on that morning, it would be her task.
Miles scraped his gaze down
along her body, then climbed into the back of the wagon with Adam and the maid.
Every bit of his wife, from her ire to the frown that drew a line between her
brows, was busy shocking frozen pieces of him back to life. But he would bend
her, bully her, bed her--on his terms, not shaking and frothing like a servile
dog.
"Ask, Vivie, or I'll
unload it all into the harbor."
"You wouldn't!"
"Indeed, I would."
He spread his arms wide. "I don't back down from bets and you know it. Or
was it some other Viscount Bancroft who swam naked across the Thames?"
"Then I'll inform the
police!"
"They'll only remand you
into your husband's custody," he said, feeling giddy and mean. "Oh,
wait...that's me. And all the while, your knickers will be floating out to the
Atlantic."
"You're disgusting."
"Perhaps, but I'm also a
Peer of the Realm. Hard to believe, I know, but I do have influence." He
tugged at his bloodied shirt, buttoned his waistcoat, and stared her down.
"I can make the success of your daddy's company more likely...or bloody
near impossible."
