Fancy a Brand New London Secrets Scene?

Oct 16, 2021 6:31 pm

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Hello lovely readers!


I hope everyone is well and happy with a large stack of books. For this mid-month email, I've got a special treat for you, a series epilogue to London Secrets! Scroll to the bottom to read.


For now, check out a new book through one of the links below.


And, I'd love to know, what's your favorite book you've read recently? I'm reading The Starless Sea right now and loving it. My guess is there will be no HEA in this beauty, but the happily ever afters are so much sweeter after a more bitter sweet book.


How about Melanie Rose Clarke's next book! I'm excited for it!


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Check out these laugh-out-loud comedies!


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Or, pre-order some great historical romances so that they're ready to go as soon as they release!


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Finally, I know you're always in need of good historical fiction. Check out these titles!


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And here we are, a special scene from London Secrets. I hope you enjoy this little bit of unedited nonsense!


***


Lola stepped out of her townhouse, Henrietta, Willow, Maggie, and Allison surrounding her. They all looked both ways down the street. 

“Where are they?” Maggie asked. 

The husbands they’d expected to be waiting for them outside where decidedly not outside. They were up to something. She’d been expecting it, waiting for the day they put their individual brain cells together and did something other than mope around outside, waiting.

Lola turned and marched back into the house. “Nathan!” 

Maggie and the others followed her upstairs. 

Lola stood silent at the front of the hallway, listening. Ah, there. Deep voices. She followed them all the way to her dressing room. Her dressing room? She rolled her eyes, not surprised in the least, really. Nathan would take such direct attack. 

Lola tried to open the door. “Locked. Nathan, open up.” 

The door cracked open and the Earl of Beckingham, her husband of the last twenty years grinned at her through the narrow slit. “We’re busy.” He shut the door. 

Aunt Lola’s eyes widened. The bravado! She adored it. But she steeled her features and her voice. “With what?!” She went to knock on the door once more but stopped before her fist made contact. She slipped her hand into a pocket. “It’s my dressing room. I have a key.” 

“What going on?” Allison whispered. “Why are our husbands in Lola’s dressing room?”

Willow shrugged. “Perhaps Bax is helping them perform an experiment.” 

Henrietta groaned. “Not again. The last time Grayson smelled of garlic for weeks.” She scrunched her nose. 

Under Lola’s ministrations, the door swung open. The five men in the room swung to view the interlopers. Maggie strode to the side of a tall man with golden hair and the most horrid yellow monstrosity of a waistcoat Lola had ever seen. But Henrietta and Allison held back, suspicious. 

Mr. Tobias Blake, Maggie’s husband, welcomed his wife with a peck on the cheek and eyes full of joy. He lounged near the window, his long legs stretched out in front of him, and he gave Maggie a wicked grin, then slid it slyly toward Lola. “We’re starting our own club. London’s Harried Husbands.” 

The Earl of Beckingham scowled. “That’s not it, Blake.” 

Willow’s husband Bax looked down at a notebook spread open on a table. “We have not decided yet. The top three possibilities are the London Lords Club.” 

“Not a lord,” Tobias drawled. 

“That’s why,” Bax continued, “The Gentlemen’s Club is another choice. You don’t have to be a lord to be a gentleman. And of course, The Scandalous Lords of London.” 

Tobias sighed. “I’m surrounded by men with less imagination in their entire beings than I have in my big toe.” He stood and approached Maggie. “I suggested The Gentlemen Who Wait.” 

“No,” every other male in the room said. 

“But that’s what we do, isn’t it? That’s the binding tie of our group. We wait for our scandalous ladies to be done with their club meeting.” 

“Not just that,” Allison’s husband, Carson, said. “There’s Bax’s experiments.” 

“True,” Tobias conceded. “Those are highly entertaining, especially that time Grayson smelled of garlic for a month.” 

“Not a month,” Grayson mumbled. 

“And,” Carson added, “we plotted out the perfect duel that one time. Went to Green Park, we did.” 

Bax’s eyes lit with interest. “That was a fascinating exploration. I’m still not convinced your procedure is the best, Tobias.” 

“Trust me,” the man currently being worn by a yellow waistcoat said, “I’ve actually done it. Can you say as much?” 

Bax nodded, a wordless concession.

The earl took his wife’s arm and led her to a chair. “If you insist on breaking up our meeting, you might as well sit.” He stood behind her and rested his hand on her shoulder. 

Lola smiled up at him, with more than a little mischief in her eyes. “Are you inviting me to sit? In my own private room?” 

The earl crossed his arms over his chest. “You routinely commandeer my personal study. This seems the perfect place for us gentlemen.” 

“I like this room,” Tobias said to no one in particular. “Much nicer than the old man’s study. Brighter colors. I think we should stay.” 

Lola flicked a gaze at him then quick as lightening returned it to her husband. She crossed her arms over her chest too.

“Tell you what, darling,” the earl said. “Let us play a game, a challenge, and the winner takes my study. If I win, you cannot take it from me every week. And if you win, you can.” 

Lola narrowed her eyes. It must be some trick. But she could not see what it was. Not yet. But she could play the game until she did. 

“Deal,” she said. 

Henrietta gasped. 

Carson jabbed his elbow into Allison’s ribs and whispered, leaning low to reach her ear, “This is better than a Hellwater production.” 

Allison nodded violently. 

Bax cleared his throat. “What is to be the challenge? I can suggest a few, if need be.” 

“I’ve a few ideas myself.” Tobias ran his hand up and down his wife’s back.

She swatted him away. “Too much, Tobias,” she scolded. 

He didn’t even try to look sorry. 

“No.” The earl’s single word echoed in the air. “I need no suggestions, though keep your minds sharp, men. We’ll need all our wits about us to win this challenge.” 

“Do not leave us in suspense any longer, Beckingham,” Tobias said. 

“Let him finish, Blake,” Grayson hissed.

The earl held up a hand. “We must let the ladies set the terms. It’s only sporting. Lola, my dear, have you any ideas?” 

Lola tilted her head to the side. She tapped her jaw to help her think. Why did Nathan hand a win to her? He loved her, she knew this, but he was … ah, he was ensuring their little game at the study door continued. But he was making a show of wanting it to end. Dear man. Hm. Well, she’d set them a challenge they could not help but lose. 

“I do have an idea, Nathan,” she said. “The first to bring a man or a woman a happily ever after wins.” 

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Carson said.

“Me neither,” Grayson admitted.

Tobias rubbed his hands together in glee. “Oh, I think I do.” 

“Matchmaking,” Lola said. “Should the men help another gentleman to a happily ever after first, the ladies will never use the study as a meeting place again. Should the ladies help a heart to happiness before them, however, the gentlemen must take up their usual posts. At the front door.” 

The room erupted in a chorus of objections as everyone shot to their feet. 

Lola merely smiled, relaxed in her armchair. She barely had to raise her voice to gain their attention. “I’m tired. You may all leave now.” 

And without argument, they did as she asked, filing out of the room, full of chatter. 

“Is she serious?” 

“God, I hope so. What a lark.”

“She can’t be.”

“Undoubtedly she is.” 

“But I’m not a matchmaker!”

“I suggest books.” 

A laugh. “Didn’t work for you.” 

Nathan closed the door then knelt at Lola’s side. “Do you mean to go through with it.” 

Lola closed her eyes. “It will prove amusing. And you know how I like helping others. What better way than bringing them what you and I have.” 

Nathan picked up her hand and kissed the knuckles. “You are amusing. In the best of ways.”

Shivers rippled through her. She opened her eyes and found his gaze warm upon her. “Will you amuse me, Nathan?” 

“Every time you ask it of me.” 

She’d barely stood when he swept her into his arms, strode into their bedroom, and placed her on the bed. He kissed her growing belly, then he kissed her nose, then he kissed her lips. 

Perhaps the silly challenge could help some other lost soul to their matching heart. She already had her own. And everyone deserved a chance at love. 

***


I hope you enjoyed this series epilogue and the tiny hint at more to come from London Secrets.


Happy reading!


Charlie Lane




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