Feature and Giveaway: Season For Scandal by Theresa Romain

UNLADYLIKE RISK

Jane Tindall has never had money of her own or exceptional beauty. Her gifts are more subtle: a mind like an abacus, a talent for play-acting—and a daring taste for gambling. But all the daring in the world can’t help with the cards fixed against her. And when Edmund Ware, Baron Kirkpatrick, unwittingly spoils her chance to win a fortune, her reputation is ruined too. Or so she thinks, until he suggests a surprising mode of escape: a hasty marriage. To him. On the surface, their wedding would seem to satisfy all the demands of proper society, but as the Yuletide approaches, secrets and scandals turn this proper marriage into a very improper affair.

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Jane’s chin jerked. “I most certainly am not.”

“Yes. You are.” He lifted a hand, as though he wanted to touch her, then let it fall again. “If you have so much faith in me, why did you leave?”

A face she knew so well; every plane and contour. Who was the man behind those handsome features, though? What did she know of his heart?

Not enough. Far too much.

“It wasn’t you I was trying to protect.” The admission was as painful as that first time she’d said she loved him, and he apologized.

“I see.” He started to turn his head to the side, then paused. The effect was of a man with a dreadful crick in the neck.

“You can do your sideways-head peek,” Jane said. “I won’t tell your secret.”

He smiled. “No need for such subterfuge. Not right now.” He stepped closer to her; so close, she could see the freckle at the corner of his mouth. He smelled like clean linens and citrus; good enough to bathe in, good enough to eat. “May I kiss you good-bye?”

She blinked at him. “What? You want to kiss me?” The question seemed better suited to a couple just coming to know one another, not trusting the depths of their regard. It seemed odd to hear such a request from her husband, who had kissed every part of her body; who had never felt the need to ask before.

Perhaps he had never doubted her answer. Now Jane wasn’t even sure if anything made him her husband besides a special license, a few signatures, and a witness.

And…and this question. Say it again. Please.

He did. “Well. Yes. That is, there’s mistletoe above us. Do you see? But if you think a kiss would—”

“Yes,” she interrupted. “Yes. You may kiss me.”

His eyes went dark, as though he was ready to loose the emotion he’d been bottling up. He caught her face in his hands, and Jane let out a sigh, ready, melting already.

For a few long seconds, he only looked at her, cradling her face as though astounded by the sight of her. And just when Jane began to feel self-conscious about his scrutiny, he lowered his mouth to hers.

Not a hot tangle of lips; not a sign of frantic lust. It was a light, deliberate brush of his lips over hers. Slow, so slow that every fiber of her body seemed to wake and unfurl toward him. Sweet, so sweet that she felt herself dissolving like sugar. He simply held her, teasing her mouth as though he was learning the feel of it. As though he liked the lesson.

Then he stepped back. His hands traced the curves of her ears, the slope of her jaw, then dropped to his sides. “Thank you.”

The first time she had told him she loved him, he thanked her, and it sounded like an apology. It was the beginning of the end for them.

But this thanks—this sounded like gratitude. Like a simple, unexpected joy had caught him unawares.

Jane didn’t know what it meant. She didn’t trust her own impressions; she’d been too muddled and scrambled and hope-filled and let down even to know her own mind or heart.

“Come back any time you like, Jane,” he said quietly. “But only if you intend to stay.”

He helped her into her cloak; found her gloves on a side table and drew them onto her hands. Each gesture was so simple, so tender, that her icy resolve cracked into jagged pieces. “Is that a threat, Edmund? Or a promise?”

He traced the line of her cheekbone, then let his hand fall. “It’s a promise. With me, it’s always a promise.”

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Historical romance author Theresa Romain pursued an impractical education that allowed her to read everything she could get her hands on. She then worked for universities and libraries, where she got to read even more. Eventually she started writing, too. She lives with her family in the Midwest, where she is working on her next book. This September, she’ll begin a new historical romance trilogy with IT TAKES TWO TO TANGLE. In October, her third holiday historical romance—SEASON FOR SCANDAL—will be released.

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