Aaand it's here!
This is the last full-length novel in the Brazen Burrells series is the story of Bianca, The Duchess of Whiston. She was the first Burrell to marry, and the last to find her forever love. After a disastrous start, Bianca finds her forever love in the least expected place.
Her hero is an industrialist, who goes from self-made wealth to an unexpected inheritance that adds a lot of complications to his life. The research was really interesting, uncovering all kinds of things I'd had no idea happened this early. The Victorians are famous for the shift of society, from inherited wealth to the industrial magnates. That's why you can find so many 19th century art masterpieces outside London, in the museums and art galleries of the newly rich Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.
Alex knows he's the third heir to a marquessate, but he's not interested in waiting around, or servicing the marquess, who has long been estranged from his nephews. He's rich in his own right, so he didn't need or care about inherited wealth. But then, the unexpected happens, and there he is, with a new empire of his own to build, and the bitter legacy from his family.
Then he finds Bianca. Her reputation is as a feckless, extravagant duchess, but Alex finds somebody completely different. Thoughtful, kind, intelligent...where had this woman been hiding in her scandalous years?
Added to which, there is a murder. To tell you who and how would definitely be a spoiler, so I'll just leave it at that.
So here it is, with the links so you can preorder the book.
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The Talk Of The Town.
Once Bianca was the talk of the town. Now all she wants is a quiet life. Until murder and mayhem erupt around her - again.
When Bianca, Duchess of Whiston is invited to a house party at Stonyhurst, she is looking to restore her reputation. But it doesn't work out that way. The marquess's heir, Mr. Alexander Fraser, draws her as no other man has, not even her late husband.
Events escalate, until Bianca finds herself in the middle of a scandal she may never recover from.
Alex's father turned his back on his aristocratic heritage. He made a name for himself in the new, exciting world of industrial enterprise. He was so successful that his son came to be called the Midas of The North. But when the Marquess of Stonyhurst's three heirs die in battle, Alex becomes the heir, despite his desire not to be so.
Until he meets Bianca. Then he's not so sure about anything any longer, except that he wants her.
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Here’s your extract. I do hope you enjoy it, and you want to read more!
Recent portraiture preferred to show the sitters in more casual attitudes. Her sister Viola had been painted in fancy dress, as the goddess Diana, a depiction her husband loved. George had wanted to see Bianca painted as Venus, but that commission had never come to pass. Too many debts to settle, too much to do. Like most of George’s schemes, it had dissolved into thin air.
“I didn’t know my older uncle and cousins’ deaths put me in the line of fire. All three of them, father and sons, died at Waterloo.”
“That’s so sad.”
“Yes it is. Officers above the rank of major are not expected to take the field, but they all ignored that. I salute their bravery.” They gave the three men a moment of silence.
“I thought I could ignore all this family duty,” he confessed as they moved on. “I wanted to.”
“Do you really want no part of all this?” She waved her hand, indicating the estate and by implication, the rest of the marquessate.
“I really don’t.” He turned to her. “I have no interest in old portraits. I confess, I did want to know if they looked anything like me, but apart from a superficial resemblance, I favor my mother’s side of the family more than my father’s.” He smiled. “My curiosity is satisfied in that. But I want to commemorate the first time I saw my ancestors in an unforgettable way.”
“Like what?”
“I want to remember this room as the place where I first kissed you.”
Lifting his hand he stroked her lower lip. Not as gently as he’d touched her nose, but he kept his touch light. Sensation radiated through her. She stood still, mesmerized by those dark, liquid eyes. “I want to know how your lips would feel under mine.” His voice lowered. “How good you taste.”
Lowering his head he kissed her, so gently he made her feel fragile. Untouched, as once she had been. When he slid his arm around her waist she didn’t resist, or step back as she should have. Torn, she waited. He deepened the kiss.
She waited no more. The objections rampaging through her head could just be quiet. One kiss? She would take it.
Bianca flung her arm around Alex’s neck, reveling in the fine tremor of his lips on hers as he registered her response. Did he think the desire was all on his side? He was about to discover different.
When he pressed harder, she opened to him, tilting her head so their kiss could deepen, become more passionate.
His tongue entered her mouth, hot and thrusting, desire burgeoning between them. His body hardened, muscles strengthening under her questing fingers. He cinched her close enough for her to feel his erection, as questing as her fingers. She answered him, curling the tip of her tongue around his, teasing, coaxing. Persuading.
He rewarded her with a groan low in his throat, a sound that reverberated through her body.
Then she heard something else. A gasp. Not hers.
Spreading her hand over his chest, ignoring her desire to explore, she pushed him away. “Did you hear that?”
“What?”
It was nothing. This woman was jumpy. He needed to take care of her.
He shoved his hand through his hair, pushing it into a rough approximation of his style. Hers would take more work. He’d cupped the back of her head while he kissed her.
He lifted his head and gazed at her, smiling. “We shouldn’t be doing this, but I’m glad we are.”
