A Scandalous Adventure
Victorian Marriages, #3
Author:
Lillian Marek
Pubdate:
August 2nd 2016
ISBN:
9781492602231
They’re hiding a scandalous secret
When his monarch’s flighty fiancée
disappears, Count Maximillian von Staufer is dispatched to find her. His search
leads Max to discover not the princess, but a look-alike who could be her
double. Desperate to avoid an international crisis, he conceives a plan that
will buy some time—and allow him to get to know a beautiful Englishwoman.
And time is running out
Lady Susannah Tremaine and her young
friend Olivia are staying at the Grand Hotel in Baden, where so far the most
exciting part of the visit has been the pastries. But when a devastatingly
handsome royal Germanic officer asks Olivia to impersonate a missing princess,
Susannah finds herself drawn into a dangerous world of international intrigue
as she tries to protect her friend—and her heart.
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An
Excerpt:
Lady Susannah burst into their hotel sitting
room and marched furiously about, her hoops swinging wildly about her,
endangering the ornaments cluttering the numerous small tables. It was most
unladylike behavior. She did not care. She did not feel ladylike at the moment.
Far from it. “Of all the improper, infuriating, arrogant, high-handed,
overweening, pompous, insolent…” She pressed her lips tightly together.
“Have
you run out of adjectives, dear?” asked Lady Augusta as she untied her bonnet
and set it aside. “That was exciting, was it not? Positively exhilarating. But
now, if you will excuse me, I believe I will take a short nap. Enjoyable though
that little interlude was, I am not accustomed to so much excitement.” She smiled
cheerfully at the girls and walked to her bedroom.
“Oh
dear,” said Olivia. “Did we hurry back too quickly? Have we tired her out
excessively? She was walking quite energetically on the way back. More
energetically than usual. Unless that’s why she’s tired now.” She sat down on
the sofa of their sitting room and looked worriedly at the door Lady Augusta
had just closed.
Ignoring
them both, Susannah continued to pace about, pulling off the remains of her
hat. Its ribbons hung down dirty and dispirited. It looked as if that…that creature
had stomped on it. “Look at this! It’s battered out of recognition. And it was
my favorite.”
Olivia
looked around at that. “It was? I thought you said this morning that you didn’t
care for it and you wished the wind would blow it away.”
Susannah
had the grace to look a bit embarrassed. “Well, all right. It wasn’t my
favorite. But that doesn’t mean I want some ill-mannered behemoth to be
responsible for its demise.”
“He
was enormous, wasn’t he?” Olivia shivered delightedly. “Almost frightening,
like the villain in a novel. Or the hero. You know—the dark, brooding one you
can’t be sure about. You were really quite brave, the way you stood up to him.”
“Frightening?”
Susannah raised her brows. “I wouldn’t call him frightening. And he certainly
wasn’t brooding. He was even laughing at me. Maddening is more like it.
Aggravating. Infuriating. Insufferable. I’ve never been treated in such a way.”
“But
he was so very big. And he was so angry that he certainly frightened me when he
appeared out of nowhere.”
Susannah
wasn’t listening. “Maddening,” she repeated. “Insulting. Completely
ill-mannered and boorish. Paying absolutely no attention to anything anyone was
saying. He had one idea inside that thick skull of his, and nothing anyone said
would even penetrate.”
Olivia
tilted her head to the side and considered. “Well, he did listen to Lady
Augusta. At least, he did eventually.”
“Ha.
Listen to her, did he? He certainly didn’t believe her. Didn’t you notice that
he followed us back to the hotel?” Susannah flopped down onto a chair and
scowled.
“He
did?” Olivia sat up in momentary alarm. “How do you know? You weren’t looking
behind us.”
“I
didn’t have to. There are so many windows on the Kurhaus that they reflect
everything several times over. Shop windows too.”
“Does
that mean he knows where to find us?”
“Well,
of course he knows where to find us. Aunt Augusta told him where we are
staying, remember? He was following us because he thought she was making it all
up. He’s obviously incapable of recognizing the truth when he hears it. As if a
lady like Aunt Augusta would tell lies.” Susannah sat up straighter and drummed
her fingers on the arm of the chair. She ignored the fact that Aunt Augusta was
capable of making up all sorts of tarradiddle if it amused her.
“Oh.”
Olivia sat there chewing on her lip for a long minute. “Does that mean he still
thinks I’m that princess? Is he likely to try to drag me off again? I don’t
think I would care for that.”
“I
wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. If he has any sense—and I’m not saying
he does—but if he has any intelligence at all, he will ask about us at the
hotel, and they will tell him how long we have been here. Sooner or later he
will have to accept that we are who we say we are. After all, he can’t refuse
to believe everyone in Baden.”
Unable
to sit still any longer, Susannah sprang up, shook out her skirts, and strode
over to the window. Holding the heavy velvet drape to the side, she looked out
at the busy street in front of the hotel. Busy, but not hurried. People walked
slowly, many of them with the aid of canes. Even the horses pulling the open
carriages plodded along, moving scarcely faster than the pedestrians. Every now
and then a breeze would come along to swirl the leaves that had begun to fall.
How depressing that the most exciting sight from her hotel window was the dance
of autumn leaves.
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Lillian’s Marek’s Travel Tip:
When
a street urchin urges you to follow him down a dark alley where you can see
several men lurking in the shadows, refuse politely. Adventurous is not the
same as stupid.
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About the Author:
Lillian Marek was born and
raised in New York City. At one time or another she has had most of the
interesting but underpaid jobs available to English majors. After a few too many years in journalism, she
decided she prefers fiction, where the good guys win and the bad guys get what
they deserve. The first book in her Victorian Adventure series, Lady Elinor’s
Wicked Adventures, won first prize in both the Launching A Star and the Windy
City Four Seasons contests. She was also a first prize winner in the Beau
Monde’s Royal Ascot contest.
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Giveaway:
3 Complete Sets of Lillian Marek’s Victorian Adventures Series
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