A Sneak Peek For You
Dec 02, 2023 2:31 am
Hello, dear readers!
The end of the year is sprinting to an end, and I'm in total hibernation mode. Trying to be productive but just wanting to curl up with a good book. I know you know the feeling.
My next book out is January 4, but shhhh, I've not said much about it yet. And it's not anywhere you can pre-order or grab it yet. The covers are done but they're waiting for the right time to see the light. I will say that if you follow me on Instagram, you'll have seen a 3 question interview I did with a lovely bookstagrammer, and in it I give a small sneak peek into Never Woo the Wrong Lady--a newspaper man and bastard meets a duke's daughter with a secret. It's delicious and I can't wait to give you more.
Until then, take a sneak peek at my January 16 release, an Art of Love novella in the Dukes and Diamonds multi-author anthology!
In the scene I'm sharing with you, our heroine--Jeweler's daughter Miss Posey Frampton--is scheduled to meet with her unlikely friend--Archer Halston, Duke of Crestmore.
Enjoy!
~~~
The door flew open, and there he was. The most handsome man of her acquaintance.
The light in his whisky-colored eyes sparked like fire glinting off a crystal decanter. A sweep of golden-brown curls pushed away from his forehead and fell loose around one temple. He’d stripped his jacket off at some point and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, showing his muscled forearms off to advantage as he folded his arms over his chest. His crossed arms also revealed the smallpox scars that trailed from just below the back of his elbow to his wrist. He grinned at her, a mischievous tilt of the lips she’d come to know well.
“Posey. You’re late. I sent for you this morning.”
“I had work to attend to, Your Grace.”
“You had work to attend to, Archer.” That grin, flashing white teeth and lips that looked so, so soft.
Her knees gave out. Butter melting in the summer sun. But she snapped them straight just as quickly, freezing them solid like butter in the wicked cold days of winter.
She inched into the room, and he stalked toward her, one slow boot to the unbelievably soft carpet beneath them at a time, until he was stopped right before her.
She quite lost her every thought. And her breath. How could a woman with a brain forget how to use a body she’d been using for thirty years? Infuriating. Yet unavoidable with his broad shoulders and chest so near … She could see the stubble on his jawline too. Summer returned and her knees melted once more. Only he did this to her—disarmed her, melted her, made her anew into a creature of softness and need.
He leaned forward, his frame towering over her, forcing her backward a step, and placed a hand on the door behind her. Slowly, he closed the door, his body leaning nearer hers, forcing her back. What was he doing, stalking so close? Several more steps and then her backside hit the closed door. Nowhere to run. Didn’t want to run. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip as she looked up at his cocky grin. Ah, that’s what he was up to—another empty flirtation. He braced his palm on the door above her head and settled his weight into it, then he settled his gaze on her. His grin dissolved into a look less tamed, the soul peeping out from his eyes wild as she’d ever seen it. She knit her hands together before her belly, a useless shield. At least it kept her from reaching for him. He dipped his head lower, closer, as if he meant to … to …
As if he meant to kiss her.
The climax of flirtation, a heady storm she desired and feared. She’d dreamed of it but had never thought to actually experience it. They shouldn’t.
But she wanted it.
His gaze fell to her lips, narrowing in on his target—her own parted lips, waiting, welcoming the incoming miracle. His breath on her skin, his mouth so close to devouring hers. Oh, to be devoured. A delight.
Then he rolled, placed a shoulder on the wall beside her and made a smooth turn as he stepped to the side to lean against the wall, their shoulders touching. Breath rushed out of her lungs all at once, riding a curse she hissed between her disappointed lips. The tease. The horrid man. What a tormenting tease to build a buzz within her body then leave it unsatisfied. He’d never meant to kiss her at all.
What a fool she was. A besotted fool. She stuffed the shame into the bonnet strings she clutched tight in her fists at her belly.
His grin returned, all mischief and merriment. “It’s so entirely delightful to … rile you.”
“Humph.” She raised her chin and picked a bit of lint off her sleeve. “I cannot be riled.”
His shoulder bumped hers. “You can. And it’s glorious.”
Rotten rubies, he was an arrogant donkey’s bottom! Her body sizzled, and she’d have to find a way to turn off the feeling of his fingers ghosting all over her body or she’d never pay attention to the reason he’d brought her here.
She closed her eyes and inhaled until she’d steadied her nerves, banished the longing, another unnecessary jewel, for the moment. “You summoned me?”
He bumped her shoulder with his again. “I did.” He bounced off the wall and strode to his desk—a giant mahogany affair in the very middle of the book-lined room—to snatch a box off the desk before striding back to her. Retaking his place by her side—so close but somehow not close enough—he passed the box to her. It was of a dark wood with vines carved into the top.
She recognized it immediately.
“The Halston bridal jewels need cleaning,” he said. “Mending, too, by the looks of them. You’re the only one I’ll entrust them to.”
She melted. Just a bit. Because he trusted her. He was one of the few people who knew exactly who did all the work at Frampton’s, and instead of being scandalized, he was … well, he always seemed rather proud of her. Likely why she’d fallen for him despite his damnable arrogance.
She cleared her throat and held on tight—to the box, to her emotions. “Quite right, Your Grace.”
He snorted. “Not ‘Your Grace.’ Archer. As it ever has been and as it ever will be.”
Head held high, and box held tight, she said, “You could have sent them to the shop and saved me a walk.”
“I only want you to touch them.”
With Dukes, Diamonds, and Other Desires coming out January 16, now's a great time to start reading through the rest of the Art of Love series if you haven't already. Books 1 and 2 are on sale! You can grab them and pre-order the rest in the series here.
Last month, I let you guys know about a US and Canada giveaway, which you can enter here, but now I've finally got my 2023 international giveaway set up. This one was a bit difficult because I wanted to find some great digital prizes, and I think I did! If you click here you can enter to win some printable bookmarks, codes to receive 2 Debutante Dares audiobooks free, and an ecopy of a special edition boxset I'm currently creating. It will feature two of my previously published books (that have a strong connection to one another, though not in the same series), and it will have an entirely new cover from those two books. I'm really excited about it, and I'll let you know more as I do.
Any guesses as to which two books might the two included?
Take a look at a new book!
Have you read Emmanuelle De Maupassant's Love in the Scottish Highlands? You can grab it here! I can't wait to read for some holiday cheer!
And Anna St. Clair's The Trouble with Her Duke looks like a delight! You can grab your copy here!
Happy reading!
Charlie Lane
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