The heroine of Reluctance is Frances Bowes, the widowed heiress who insists she does not wish to re-marry at any cost. When a childhood friend returns to the neighbourhood, she is shocked to discover him drunk wandering the lanes at midnight and visits his home early next morning to see that he did not come to grief.
Excerpt:
“What the hell are you doing
here?”
“Please step back, sir.” To her
shame, her voice sounded like a child pleading for comfort. When a floorboard
creaked, she assumed he had stepped back. She laid her brow against the smooth,
cool wood, closed her eyes, and spoke quietly. “I am not here to do you harm.
The opposite, if only you will believe me.”
“Then why invade my home like some
meddling, interfering busybody who—”
“I resent that!” Frances gathered together
what shreds of dignity she possessed, turned, and met his sardonic gaze. “I am
neither meddling nor interfering! I came to see…” Her voice faded into nothing.
A flicker of fear ran through her skin. Grimly, she took a few swift breaths.
He
waited, his head tilted to one side.
“I came to see that you were safe,”
she added. “Last night you were as drunk as…as I have ever seen anyone, and I
feared you would not arrive home without mishap.”
“And what is your scale of
drunkenness, Lady Rathmere? How do you judge? I should wager you have never in
your life seen a man drunk!”
Frances acknowledged the accuracy
of his statement and worried her lower lip. “I am truly sorry,” she blurted at
last. “Please believe my intentions were good.”
Streatham threw his hands in the
air. “You invaded my bedchamber. What if I was not alone? What if I had a
companion here? For God’s sake, woman, what were you thinking?”
“Oh.” Such a possibility had never
crossed her mind.
“Oh, indeed.”
She flushed under his mockery, but
met his gaze and held it. “I may have made a mistake,” she said, “but I find
your behaviour both inappropriate and…detestable, sir.” It was only when her
thigh knocked against the corner of an open trunk she realised that, step by
step, she had retreated toward the windows. Somehow he had moved between her
and the door and now lounged against it, watching her with disbelief in his
eyes.
“Really?” His brows lifted. “And
your invasion of my house, my room, is appropriate? I do not think you have any
grounds on which to lecture me, madam.”
Frances found her way to the
battered rocking chair in the corner and dropped into it. Her legs might stop
shaking if she rested for a few moments. The relief was instantaneous, but when
she met his gaze she knew she should not have taken such a brief respite. It
would look as if she wished to stay. Immediately, she rose to her feet.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reluctance-ebook/dp/B007ROL46Q
Posted by Jen Black, http://jenblackauthor.blogspot.com
Far After Gold, Fair Border Bride and Victorian Beauty
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