3/03/2016

It happened one night with a perfect stranger in a carriage…







A Too Convenient Marriage
Georgie Lee


Late one night, Susanna Lambert, the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Rockland, bursts uninvited into a stranger's carriage, turning both their worlds upside down. Suddenly, fun-loving Justin Connor finds himself forced to consider marriage!
For Susanna, marrying Justin is a chance to finally escape her cruel stepmother and forget about the rake who ruined her. But as wedding bells begin to chime, Susanna discovers she's carrying a huge secret…one that could turn to dust all promises of happiness as Justin's wife!

4 Stars from RT Book Reviews! 
A Too Convenient Marriage is book two in the Business of Marriage series.


Buy Links:  Amazon   Barnes &Noble 


A lifelong history buff, award winning author Georgie Lee hasn’t given up hope that she will one day inherit a title and a manor house. Until then, she fulfills her dreams of lords, ladies and a season in London through her stories. When not writing, she can be found reading non-fiction history or watching any movie with a costume and an accent. Please visit  www.georgie-lee.com to learn more about Georgie and her books.

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Website: www.georgie-lee.com

An Excerpt from A Too Convenient Marriage

London—May 1818



Justin slammed the chaise door shut and slumped against the squabs. It galled him to think she'd waited until he'd proposed to reveal her true impression of him, though he supposed it was better now than after the parson's mousetrap was sprung. Justin roughly stuffed his shirt back in his breeches and did up the fall, not bothering to button his coat or redo his cravat. Outside, the excited chatter of ladies and gentlemen passing too close to the chaise as they filed into the gardens filled the air.



Then the door swung open. He jerked upright, thinking Helena had come back, but it wasn't her.



A stunning woman with eyes the colour of the emeralds he'd once handled as collateral fixed her gaze on him, not with the coy calculation of a vixen, but determination. She opened her full lips as if to say something, then changed her mind, pressing them tight together. Gold earrings swung from the small lobes as she raised her foot to step inside the chaise, then paused, as she took in his partial undress and began to back away. Male voices outside the carriage caught her attention and, in a sweep of chestnut curls, she looked to the sound of the noise, then climbed inside and pulled the door shut behind her.



"Drive away, at once,"" she commanded, pressing herself against the squabs and out of view of the window.

'

"No." Justin pushed open the door, inviting her to leave. Whatever nuisance this was, he wasn't in the mood for it, no matter how pretty it might be.



"Please, you must." She leaned out of the chaise to pull the door closed, bringing her face much too close to his. A few freckles dotted her nose and her eyelashes were thick and dark above her vivid eyes. She licked her lips nervously, making the red buds glisten in the low light. Her jasmine perfume encircled him like the cool night slipping in through the open door. She was tempting, but she was trouble, he could feel it.

'

"I've had enough female companionship for one night and don't intend to pay for more.'"

She closed the door and sat up across from him with unwarranted indignity. "I don't want your money, or anything else.'

She waved a bare hand at him, making the gold bracelet adorning her wrist slide down.

"

"Then what do you want?" He dropped his elbow on the sill of the window and touched his fingers to his chin, more intrigued than annoyed. She wasn't dressed in the flamboyant colours of the night birds, but in a silhouette of shimmering green material which hugged her high breasts, the tops of which rose in lush half-circles above the bodice.



"To be away from here, as fast as possible." She could barely sit still, but still he didn't give the order to the driver.



"Why?"

"It's none of your business." The irritation mingling with anxiety in her eyes made them sparkle even brighter.



He levelled one finger at her. "You're in my carriage, so I think it is my business. Besides, you don't strike me as the kind of woman whose family approves of her jumping in a strange man's vehicle."

She glanced out of the window, a new panic dimming the slight sweep of pink across her fine nose. "You don't know the half of it."



"Enlighten me. I have nothing else to do this evening."


Question for Commenters: Have you ever had a close encounter with a perfect stranger in any sort of moving vehicle? Taxi? Shared a rental car? Carriage? The dining car of a train? If you have, please share in comments!  


6 comments:

  1. Why no but it might be exciting love the sound of this one :)

    Have Fun
    Helen

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  2. On a business trip to NYC, I arrive at JFK and this really handsome guy walks up to me and says (swear to God true story) "If we rent a car together it's cheaper than a cab—share a ride with me?" I'll leave it up to you to guess if I said yes or no. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have not had any of this encounters. I like to know the man first. I bet Jill said no. That sounds kind of risky.

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  4. Yes I've had plenty of encounters with strangers some of them friendly some not so friendly I even made a friendship with a stranger on a plane once

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