Here’s a classic time-travel
Regency for a classic holiday season!
TIMELESS DECEPTION
Author: Susanne Marie Knight
Genre: Time-Travel Regency
Available electronically at Amazon.com and Smashwords.com
Price: $4.99
Buy link:
Blurb:
TANGLED WEB: Her identity switched against her will,
Alaina Sawyer wakes up in the year 1818 as the Countess of Saybrooke. Can she
convince the man of her dreams--her new “husband”--that she is cut from an
altogether different cloth than his unfaithful wife Alicia?
WISHFUL THINKING: Richard
Cransworth, the Earl of Saybrooke, must come to grips with his wife’s sudden
descent into virtue. Is her new behavior wishful thinking on his part, or can
it possibly be that she is now his, and his alone?
Scene Set-Up:
Alaina is pretending to be
Lord Saybrooke’s wife, Alicia. He finds her behavior at the dinner table
puzzling, so he has a private meeting with her to discover what is going on.
Excerpt:
This battle of wits
invigorated her. It was quite a challenge to manufacture answers in response to
Lord Saybrooke’s questions. Of course, it was easy to make a false step, but so
what? Until Alaina did, she would let her imagination run rampant.
Besides, her replies fueled
the man’s anger; she enjoyed that, she enjoyed that very much.
With both elbows, Lord
Saybrooke leaned on the mantle and observed her from his superior height.
“Perhaps the strangest piece of the puzzle is you addressing me differently. I
have known you many years, m’dear. You have never used my first name.”
For once, Alaina was
stumped. She had called him “Richard,” following his mother’s lead. Wasn’t that
his name? What else could her double have called him?
Then, very clearly, Alicia’s
words came back to her: “Saybrooke” she had said.
Slowly approaching the
fireplace as if it was the lion’s den, Alaina looked up into his face. How
good-looking he was. Such a hard and lean jaw-line, smooth and square. His
hooded eyes had brows that threatened to meet at the slightest sign of
displeasure.
“Well, I decided I would get
your attention if I called you ‘Richard.’“
Those brows moved together
as she prophesied. “And why did you want my attention?” he asked dangerously.
She fidgeted with the folds
in her dress. If only he would look at her with less disgust.
Avoiding his probing eyes,
she struggled to come up with a reason. “I hadn’t seen you in a long time. I
wondered... if... if....”
Her voice trailed off. Her
imagination finally failed her.
“You wondered if you could
still make my life miserable.” He supplied the rest of the words. “Indeed, you
can be assured on that count. As you have surmised, you retain that particular
talent, m’dear.”
The Earl of Saybrooke made a
small bow and quickly left the room, allowing the solid mahogany door to slam,
giving evidence to the violence of his feelings. The echo was the only sound in
the grand State Dining Room to keep Alaina company.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Happy Holidays!
Susanne Marie Knight
Read outside the box: award-winning Romance
Writing With A Twist!
