Twice the Temptation
Book 1 of The Temptresses Trilogy
Contact Beverley Kendall:
Dear Beverley Kendall Fans,
This is the third update and second excerpt for Beverley Kendalls's upcoming regency historical Twice the Temptation. We're all impatiently awaiting its arrival, but I'm certain the book is worth every second of that wait.
Twice the Temptation is book one of Kendall's "The Temptresses Trilogy"
and is expected to release in the beginning of 2013. "The Temptresses"
is life after Kendall's "
Elusive Lords Series".
Twice the Temptation tells Catherine "Katie" Rutherford (the twin sister to Charlotte, heroine of An
Heir of Deception) and Lucas Beaumont's (dear friend of Charlotte, appearing
in An Heir of Deception) story.
Read the first post
here for The Temptresses Trilogy's unedited blurb and
Twice the Temptation's excerpt.
Read the second post
here for
Twice the Temptation's cover reveal.
On July 6, 2012 Beverley posted the below unedited excerpt on her Facebook page:
TWICE THE TEMPTATION - Unedited Excerpt
Catherine and Lucas at a ball hovering on the fringes of the dance floor.
~~~
“You cannot be seriously meaning to pursue that—” Catherine snapped her mouth shut. What she’d intended to say would have been offensive. Almost as offensive as the woman herself.
Lucas’s broad shoulders rose and fell in a negligent shrug as he shot her a sidelong glance, his hazel eyes revealing not even a flicker of interest. So close to dismissive was his look, it took every bit of her composure to remain dry-eyed. But she’d wept over this man quite enough the month past. She’d not shed another tear.
“And that is of concern to you because…?” he drawled.
By nature, she wasn’t a violent woman but when he raised one eyebrow, giving him such an infuriatingly cocksure look, she could have gladly slapped. Instead she schooled her features and replied in a detached a manner as she could muster, “The countess has the worst sort of reputation.”
And for her warning—born of possessiveness and jealousy to be sure—what did Lucas do? The wretched man laughed. The kind of laugh that tarried briefly in his chest, rose to his throat, the sound like the distant roll of thunder, before emerging from his mouth low and amused. Highly amused.
Wretched, wretched man.
How she utterly despised him.
How she loved him to distraction. Still.
He turned and regarded her steadily with hazel all-too-knowing eyes. “My intention was not to accompany her to church. Her reputation suits for what I have in mind for her.” He returned his attention back to the horrid woman with her scandalously low décolleté and painfully tight-looking, purple gown.
Hurt, fury and jealousy coalesced in her chest so Catherine couldn’t decipher one emotion from the other. “I knew I should not have believed you.” Her words came out half choked, half hissed as she addressed his profile.
For a brief moment Lucas went still. Slowly this time, he angled his head in her direction until he was staring her directly in the eye. “Pardon?”
“You never loved me,” Charlotte accused, her lips barely moving, her voice soft and fierce. The hurt was there too. And to her utter chagrin, tears began to smart her eyes. She shouldn’t care. At the very least, she needn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing she cared.
Lucas’s regard narrowed and his eyes darkened. His jaw grew hard and tight. “You seem to forget that it was you and not I, who called things off between us. You are the reason I must seek gratification in another woman’s arms. Or perhaps, you’d rather I continue my exhaustive and ineffective pursuit of you? Is that it, Catherine, do you want me groveling at your feet?” he asked. The hard note in his voice firmly declared he would not. “I am a man with needs, and if my needs are not to be met by you, I will find a woman who will fulfill them.”
He then leaned in, coming closer to her than she’d permitted him in almost a month. It required considerable effort, but Catherine managed not to reach up and press her mouth against sensitive spot of skin just below his left ear—and lick. “Unless you have reconsidered,” he continued, the burning heat of his gaze on her lips. “Tell me now, Catherine, will I have need of the countess this evening or have you decided to fulfill my needs?”
.jpg)
I can hardly wait for this book to come out, I am loving all her books.
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with you. Clearly ;)
Delete