November 2016
On Sale: November 1, 2016
Featuring: Lily Chadwick; Earl of Harte
416 pages ISBN: 1492618756 EAN: 9781492618751 Kindle: B01HN3X3F0 Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
Lily still did not move. As if understanding the reason for her resistance, he
lifted the glass and took a drink before offering the water to her again. This
time she took it in a tenuous grip.
Something about knowing his mouth had touched the rim of the same glass made her
belly tremble, but the clean water was heavenly on her parched tongue and
slipped gracefully down her throat. She took a long drink and then another
before lowering the glass.
She thought she heard him give a sound of approval before he turned and claimed
a seat in one of the chairs. Her courage strengthened, Lily lifted her chin to
look at him only a few feet away and swallowed hard past the knot of doubt
lodged in her throat.
Dressed in elegant evening wear, he sat with his back stiff and straight despite
the plush cushion of the chair. His knees were spread and his feet braced
squarely on the floor. His hands, with his long masculine fingers, splayed on
the surface of strong thighs. He was the epitome of masculine sophistication and
mystery.
Dark, enigmatic, handsome, and intense.
Her heart raced as he stared back at her, and she fell headlong into the deep
draw of his gaze.
She could not crumble with weakness again. Her pride, if nothing else, would not
allow it. Drawing her uncertainty inward, she straightened the muscles along her
spine.
“Why am I here?”
“What do you remember?” His voice rolled through her, smooth and penetrating.
Lily sifted through the vague images swirling in her brain. Some of the fog had
lifted, and various impressions were becoming clearer. She remembered again the
lady in black…what was her name? There had been a glass of heady
wine…the sense of growing numbness through her limbs…a strange softness
invading her mind…
There were so many shadows. She closed her eyes, and more images floated past.
More women, talking in soft voices but holding her arms with relentless grips.
The lady in black again. A room of men with wicked grins and blatant lust.
And then him. The Earl of Harte. Standing beyond the farthest reaches of the
light, staring at her as though she belonged to him.
She remembered surrendering to his gaze. Falling into it as though it were a
dark and secret corner where she could hide.
Opening her eyes, she drew in long, deep breaths. A chaotic whirl of unsettling
emotions and physical sensations fought for purchase. She gathered enough
strength to meet his penetrating focus.
“Tell me,” she said.
His expression seemed to harden even more, and his eyes darkened. When he spoke,
it was in a low, even tone.
“You were auctioned off in a pleasure house. Your virtue, a prize for the
highest bidder.”
Though his words rang true and fit with everything she was slowly coming to
remember, she still rejected the statement. Such things simply did not happen.
It was too fantastic. Too horrible.
More than that, she wanted to believe the earl’s role in the night’s events were
that of savior, but it was difficult to hold on to that hope when he stared at
her like he did now, with that deep, unfathomable focus.
“Were you the highest bidder?” she asked in a whisper.
He gave a shallow nod. “I was.”
Heat spread out to her fingertips. A strange breathlessness claimed her. It was
a sensation completely unlike her earlier fear.
“Why?”
His frown was fierce as he stared at her. She saw the small tick in his jaw as
he clenched his teeth. Then he tipped his head just the slightest amount to the
side as he asked, “Do you think me a beast, Miss Chadwick, to leave an innocent
girl at the mercy of lustful men?”
Lily met his gaze, doing her best to show him she was not afraid of him.
“You were one of those men.”
“I was,” he agreed darkly without elaborating further.
He implied that his purpose in claiming her had been to save her from a ruinous
fate, but something in his manner had her wondering if there was some other
motivation behind his actions.
From the moment Lord Harte had entered the bedroom, she had begun to experience
everything differently. Her thoughts, feelings, and reactions originated from a
deeper source. Her fear and confusion had made way for other, more urgent
sensations. The longer she sat under the earl’s harsh and heady regard, the
further she slipped into a state of expectancy.
She felt on the verge of something, but she had no idea what.
As the weakness in her mind and limbs continued to dissipate, she acknowledged
that she could not blame her odd reactions on the aftereffects of the drug.
He was the cause of her heightened responses.
It was more than the wealth of secrets and mystery contained behind his midnight
eyes. It was how he made her feel. Intrinsically. Viscerally. When he looked at
her with his hooded gaze, she experienced something in the marrow of her bones,
in the blood flowing through her veins, in the ether of her mind.
“Are you afraid?” “Yes,” she replied in a soft voice. “But I love the way you frighten
me.”
Lily Chadwick has spent her life playing by society’s rules. But when an
unscrupulous moneylender snatches her off the street and puts her up for auction
at a pleasure house, she finds herself in the possession of a man who makes her
breathless with terror and impossible yearning…
Though the reclusive Earl of Harte claimed Lily with the highest bid, he hides a
painful secret—one that has kept him from knowing the pleasure of a lover’s
touch. Even the barest brush of skin brings him physical pain, and he’s spent
his life keeping the world at arms’ length. But there’s something about Lily
that maddens him, bewitches him, compels him…and drives him toward the one woman
brave and kind enough to seek to heal his troubled heart.
Romance Historical
[Sourcebooks Casablanca, On Sale: November 1, 2016,
Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781492618751 / eISBN: 9781492618768]
Amy Sandas' love of romance began one summer when she
stumbled across one of her mother's Barbara Cartland books. Her affinity for
writing began with sappy pre-teen poems and led to a Bachelor's degree with an
emphasis on Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She
lives with her husband and children in Wisconsin.
I like the sound of this historical! (Colleen Conklin 9:15pm November 2, 2016)
Your book sounds like one I wpuld enjoy and I love the cover...so beautiful. (Jackie Wisherd 9:39pm November 2, 2016)
This looks so interesting. Marilyn (Marilyn Collins 9:40pm November 2, 2016)
I do love historical romances and this one sounds like one I really would enjoy! Thanks so much for the great giveaway! (Bonnie Capuano 7:29am November 3, 2016)
Sounds interesting (Bonnie James 12:16pm November 3, 2016)
Love historical romance books,and The Untouchable Earl sounds fantastic! Thanks for the great excerpt,enjoyed reading :) (Bube Petreska 9:16am November 4, 2016)
Sounds like a great story (Rhonda Laney 2:41pm November 4, 2016)
Steamy historical romances are difficult to find. I would read and post your review on Goodreads (Cecilia Rodriguez 10:10am November 5, 2016)
This sounds great & I love the cover. Very hot. Thanks for the chance. (Jana B 7:19pm November 5, 2016)
Love the excerpt and the blurb. A disease that prevent physical contact and to find out if Lily and Lord Harte will be able to get past this disability is captivating in finding their HEA ending. (Kai Wong 12:35pm November 7, 2016)
This looks sooo good. Can't wait to read! (JoAnn White 3:27pm November 7, 2016)
I like plots that start out like this. It always makes me wonder how they will end up. (Laura Gullickson 7:31pm November 7, 2016)