St. Martin's Paperbacks
Featuring: Lord Lyonwood; Adeline, Dowager Countess of Wake
304 pages ISBN: 1250214300 EAN: 9781250214300 Kindle: B07H7C2XZ2 Mass Market Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
She's opening a girls boarding school with her two friends.
Adeline, Lady Wake is a widow who doesn't want to remarry
after her disastrous first marriage. The Earl of Lyonwood is
looking for the perfect woman to fall in love with. Then a
misunderstanding brings him barging into her home. Can they
fight the immediate and strong attraction between them? Will
her past marriage get in their way? Can Lyon change her mind
about love and marriage?
Adeline is day dreaming about sexy things while looking over
fabrics and garments that are accidentally delivered to her
house. When a man comes barging into the room making lewd
and inappropriate comments and suggestions, she's outraged
with his actions and yet can't deny the desire that
instantly hits her. Lord Lyon was sent by his aunt and
neighbor to get rid of the pleasure house they think is
moving in next door to him but he's immediately attracted to
the woman he meets. High jinxs from her students and a nosy
neighbor keep them on their toes and on the edge of scandal.
THE EARL NEXT DOOR is the first book I've read by Amelia
Grey. I found the story engaging, entertaining and very
enjoyable. The backstory of the how the three women were
widows was plausible and unique. I didn't want to put it
down. Can't wait to find out which of the other two widows
is next to find the second love of their lives. Will it be
Julia Kitson Fairbright or Brina Feld? I'll be back for more
of the First
Comes Love series.
What does a fiercely independent young widow really want?
One determined suitor is about to find out...
When Adeline, Dowager Countess of Wake, learns of her
husband’s sudden death, she realizes she’s free. At last,
she can do, go, and be as she pleases. Finally, she can have
the life she has always dreamed of. She doesn’t need, or
want, to remarry. Especially not the supremely dashing
future Marquis of Marksworth, who makes Adeline yearn for
his desire. . .
Lord Lyonwood, son of a philandering marquis, will not be
like his father. He wants to run his estates and watch them
flourish—and find a wife who brings love to his life. When
he meets spirited and self-reliant Adeline in a case of
near-scandalous mistaken identity, Lyon feels he’s met his
match. But Adeline isn’t interested in a marriage proposal.
She will only accept becoming his lover—and Lyon finds it
hard to refuse. Unless the fire of his passion can melt
Adeline’s resolve. . .
Excerpt
As misunderstandings go, the one that led to the Dowager
Countess of Wake to be mistaken for a lady of the night
would qualify as rather large, unfortunate, and beyond
insulting. That it was made by a man who caused the very
proper Adeline to imagine just the sort of things that might
go on in a house of ill repute only served to make her even
more furious than perhaps the misunderstanding warranted.
In her defense, she'd just had a somewhat startling shock
after pulling a crimson corset from a stack of neatly folded
fabrics when the forceful clank of the door knocker sounded
throughout the house. She was working her way through the
swatches in the drawing room, trying to make decisions on
the gowns she would have made for her first Season since
becoming a widow. That the modiste had included the under
apparel must have been a mistake. The red was Adeline's
favorite color, a flaming decadent shade that no lady would
ever wear—even under her clothing.
Especially not a widow.
No doubt it was the "especially not a widow" thought that
got to her. When Adeline realized she'd never have another
opportunity to put on something so utterly unacceptable, she
did, well, the unacceptable. Before she could think better
of it, she loosened the front laces and slipped the corset
over her head, letting the extraordinary garment settle over
her dark widow's dress. The knock at the door was all but
forgotten as she inhaled deeply and tightened the crimson
ribbons under her breasts before tying the ends together.
It was magnificent. Naughty. But she didn't care. It made
her feel, of all things, feminine.
She spied a length of luxurious fabric that surely confirmed
this box had been delivered to the wrong address and was
intended for someone else. Someone so very unlike her. Not
that it stopped Adeline from pulling the gold swath of tulle
from the stack and wrapping it twice around her waist. In no
time at all she had fluffed the gossamer cloth and fashioned
the sash into a big, perfect bow.
It was completely out of character for her to indulge in
such unfitting behavior, but why stop now that she'd
started. Feeling deliciously wicked to be so brazen, she
pulled the sleeves of her dress low on her shoulders and
twirled a couple of times. She admired the forbidden
elegance enhancing her shape, which was always hidden behind
the straight waist-less fall of her skirt.
What would the ton think if she, a dowager countess, showed
up for the first ball wearing such a brilliant shade of red?
Or her stays outside her gown? She smiled just thinking
about all the horrified expressions she'd see on the faces
of Society's elite ladies of the ton. And then Adeline
wondered what the handsome gentlemen would think of her.
Widow or not, twenty-two was much too young not to ever look
at or think about a man again. To want his eager kisses and
the soft stroke of his masculine hand against her skin.
So caught up in the freedom of her improper thoughts, the
richness of the fabrics, and the childlike innocence of
spinning around as if she didn't have a care in the world,
she didn't hear the footsteps down the corridor. Somewhat
belatedly, she did hear her housekeeper's gasp.
But it wasn't Mrs. Lawton she noticed standing in the
doorway when she stopped whirling.
Adeline took in the tall, black-cloaked figure whose gaze
was staring straight at her as her skirts settled around her
legs and she regained her balance. The housekeeper was
trying her best to keep the stranger at bay, but her petite
form was no match for the powerful-looking man whose brows
suddenly knitted together in a frustrated frown of resolve.
Adeline's first thought was to hurriedly rip off the stays
and restore her clothing to suitable order. Knowing that was
impossible without making matters worse, she pulled her bare
shoulders back and stood fast. She was good at handling
embarrassing situations and concealing her true emotions.
She would remain seemingly unruffled by the unexpected
invasion and deprive the man the entertainment of seeing her
flustered or trying to remove the corset.
The stranger regarded Adeline so closely she wondered if he
could see inside her and know exactly what she'd been
thinking and feeling when she'd donned the stays and lowered
the sleeves of her dress. She was looking him over, too, and
realized there was something familiar about the man's thick,
dark, sand-colored hair and how it waved naturally across
his forehead and fell to the top of his collar at his nape.
They had met but she couldn't put a name to his face.
Whether or not she'd ever met the gentleman before her now,
this wasn't the way to start a new neighbor visit.
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