Thank you so much for joining me at Goddess Fish. My name is Christi Caldwell and I'm the bestselling author of Historical Romance novels and novellas set in the Regency era.
Tonight, I'm sharing an excerpt from my latest release in the Scandalous Seasons series, "Always Proper, Suddenly Scandalous"!
I'll be offering one free copy to one commenter!
Warm Regards,
Christi Caldwell
Geoffrey Winters, Viscount Redbrooke was not always the hard, unrelenting lord driven by propriety. After a tragic mistake, he resolved to honor his responsibility to the Redbrooke line and live a life, free of scandal. Knowing his duty is to wed a proper, respectable English miss, he selects Lady Beatrice Dennington, daughter of the Duke of Somerset, the perfect woman for him. Until he meets Miss Abigail Stone...
To distance herself from a personal scandal, Abigail Stone flees America to visit her uncle, the Duke of Somerset. Determined to never trust a man again, she is helplessly intrigued by the hard, too-proper Geoffrey. With his strict appreciation for decorum and order, he is nothing like the man' she's always dreamed of.
Abigail is everything Geoffrey does not need. She upends his carefully ordered world at every encounter. As they begin to care for one another, Abigail carefully guards the secret that resulted in her journey to England.
Only, if Geoffrey learns the truth about Abigail, he must decide which he holds most dear--his place in Society or Abigail's place in his heart.
Author Biography
Christi Caldwell blames Judith McNaught's "Whitney, My Love," for luring her into the world of historical romance. While sitting in her graduate school apartment at the University of Connecticut, Christi decided to set aside her notes and try her hand at writing romance. She believes the most perfect heroes and heroines have imperfections and she rather enjoys tormenting them before crafting a well-deserved happily ever after!
Christi makes her home in Southern Connecticut where she spends her time writing and being a full-time wife and mother!
And Now an Excerpt!!!
Geoffrey took a step toward a liveried servant bearing a
tray full of champagne, when the tip of his black Hessian boot snagged upon the
hem of a young lady’s skirt.
The tear of fabric ripping blended with the din of
conversation around them.
The lady gasped, and pitched forward. Even as the glass of
ratafia in her hand fell to the floor, her hip collided with the passing
servant who teetered on his feet. The young man’s serving tray tilted
precariously, and for an infinitesimal moment Geoffrey thought the servant had
steadied his burden.
But the servant’s tray slipped from his fingers. Champagne
flutes careened to the floor, and sprayed the bubbling liquid onto the gown of
several matrons standing nearby who cried out in shock, and scurried off.
“Pardon me,” Geoffrey murmured to the servant, and then returned
his attention to the woman he’d inadvertently sent reeling. A mere five or so
inches smaller than his six foot frame, she stood tall like a Spartan princess.
She smiled up at him. “Forgive me. Are you all…?” His question died upon his lips. The unknown
woman who’d unwittingly beckoned from across the ballroom mere moments ago,
stood beside him. His eyes traveled the high planes of her cheekbones, the
steel gray irises of her eyes, her full red lips.
…and then her slipper met the moisture upon the marble
floor. Like one of the skaters at the Frost Fair on the River Thames, she slid
forward, into the nearby pillar. “Ouch.”
Geoffrey’s arm shot out and he sought to steady her.
“Thank you,” she said. She shook out her sea foam green
skirts and unlike the horror that wreathed the faces of the surrounding ladies,
wry amusement fairly glittered in her gray-blue eyes. “I am not injured,” she assured him.
His eyes widened and with alacrity, released her.
She cocked her head to the side. “Are you injured?”
Her flat accent did not possess the clipped proper tones of
a proper English lady. He blinked. “Injured?”
“You appear unwell ,
sir.”
By God…
“You are an American,” he blurted.
A mischievous smile played at the woman’s too full, red
lips. “I am.” She looked around and then back to him. “Never tell me you’re
scandalized by me being an American?”
He was scandalized by the wicked direction his thoughts had
wandered that involved an American woman. Geoffrey shook his head. If his
mother was outraged at the prospect of a Scott assuming the Redbrooke title,
what would she say to an American lady having ensnared Geoffrey’s attention?
“Ahh, you do smile,” the young woman said.
Geoffrey frowned. “I beg your
pardon?”
“Alas, it is gone,” she said with an exaggerated sigh.
Geoffrey suddenly noted the appalled stares of Polite
Society’s most respectable peers, trained upon them. From across the room, his
mother who stood alongside Lady Tisdale glared at him with blatant disapproval.
It was the much needed reminder of past failings and inner weaknesses that had
wrought much agony upon his family. By stand here engaging this…this…stranger,
in the midst of Lord and Lady Hughes’s ballroom, he opened himself up to public
censure. His intentions were marriage to Lady Beatrice, and any hint of
untoward interest in another would not be countenanced by the Duke of Somerset
or his daughter.
Geoffrey folded his arms across his chest. This American
upstart might have a face and body to rival Helen of Troy, but possessed the
uncouth manners one would expect of an American. “Miss,” he said from the
corner of his mouth. “We’ve not been properly introduced; therefore, all manner
of discourse between us is improper.”
Her lips twitched in what he suspected was mirth. “I would
say toppling over the host’s servant and spraying his guests with champagne and
glass is also improper, but you’ve done that, sir.”
Geoffrey felt heat climb up his neck, and resisted the urge
to tug at his suddenly tight cravat, shamed by the accuracy of her charge. He did not create scandals. Not anymore. He
was proper. And poised.
And…
She arched a brow.
Well, in this instance he’d created a small scandal. Still,
he needn’t raise further eyebrows by talking to the vexing miss.
Even if he wanted to.
He needed to go. Immediately. Anywhere but within mere
inches of the lady who smelled like lilacs and lavender and now champagne.
“Again, forgive me for causing you distress.” He bowed deeply and beat a hasty
retreat.
Geoffrey had made a fool of himself once over a young lady.
He’d not be so foolish again.
2 comments:
You got to Love Christi!!
Aww, Ki Pha
You are always so sweet! : )
And you're good for my ego! ; )
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