A Scandal in Surrey NovelShe wants an affair...
Maggie, Lady Parker desires a man, but she's not willing to leave freedom in Surrey to find scandal in London. Widowed for years, she wants to conduct a big enough scandal that a gentleman might come calling merely to see if the rumors about her are true.
He wants a shot at Parliament...
Stephen Tarkington is a self-professed rogue but if he had his way, he'd be a philanthropist. The only thing prohibiting his dream is his lack of sponsorship for a spot in Parliament. Marrying Lady Parker's niece could solve his problem.
Sometimes the heart wants more...
Imagine his surprise when he meets the widow and she's not an old bird he can charm. She's vibrant, sharp-tongued and enchanting to boot. Passion flares between them, and Stephen gives up on his plan… in search of a more pleasurable gamble.
Maggie is immediately drawn to the charming, handsome gentleman, but will a simple affair fulfill her needs? A scrape with public scandal will toss them into a situation that may just satisfy both of their secret desires.
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***Excerpt from Lady Parker’s Grand Affair from Chapter One***
Companionable silence, broken only by the clomp of the horses’ hooves against the earth, cropped up between them. Finally, Maggie sighed and glanced at her brother. "I sense you disagree with my viewpoint."
"I do, slightly." His smile softened the censure in his voice. "You’ve been by yourself for eight years, Mags. Are you sure you’re happy living your unorthodox life?"
"Unorthodox how?"
He sighed, as it was a conversation they had many times. "Causing mischief through the countryside, or spending all your time alone. Have you ever considered marrying again? Giving me another niece or nephew?"
Another twinge of sadness squeezed her chest. "Oh bother. No doubt I’m too old to bear more children."
"You are just thirty-two. You are not a crone."
"No, but I’m quite firmly on the shelf and a widow besides."
Sometimes, in the quiet of the night, she’d lie in bed and imagine the musky smell of a masculine body clinging to the sheets, the feel of a man’s arms around her, the insistent nudge of his cock or the sweet erotic bliss of love making. Her core throbbed. In the eight years since Robert’s death, she’d never taken a lover, not even when the urge for coitus had nearly driven her out of her mind. In the daytime, she lived for her, but in the quiet of midnight, she missed having someone to share her experiences with, having someone to talk to or with whom to share her joys and fears.
"Be honest, sis."
She willed the wayward desire to settle. "Marriage and childbearing made me vulnerable to a point. I don’t know if I’m willing to offer my heart for more pain."
"I understand that, but nothing good in life comes without a certain risk."
Maggie swallowed around the lump in her throat. "I fear I’m too set in my ways to warrant interest from a gentleman. I was naïve when I married Robert, much like Amanda is. Now, I know more about life and what I want from it. I have a feeling most gentlemen won’t want a woman who knows her own mind."
"Mags, is that really what you think? That has never held you back before. You were a wild girl. Marrying Robert stole some of your zest."
"Well—"
"Do you wish to stagnate here in the country and grow old without causing one great scandal that might launch your own coming out of sorts?"
Unexpected laughter burst from her throat. "What makes you think I haven’t caused enough scandal around here already? Don’t you remember the time I was caught swimming nude by the parson?" Her cheeks warmed. Oh, that had been hilariously ridiculous, being confined to the pond until she could convince the parson to move along after he’d prayed for her immortal soul.
Alfred’s chuckle rang clear in the afternoon air. "What about the time you held the impromptu drinking contest at the local pub? You near drank everyone under the table."
"I did, much to the chagrin of the grey-haired dragons." Maggie laughed at that memory and the scoldings she’d received from everyone for a week afterward. "My, but the headache from the alcohol had me in bed for days."
Her brother’s lips twitched. "I mean the big stories, the stuff gossips live for, the jaw-dropping on dits beyond the countrified gentry in Surrey."
"Such as?" Her heartbeat tripped fast as she waited.
He leaned closer. "An affair."
"Pardon me?"
"If you had done something along those lines, don’t you think it would have reached London by now? Don’t you think gawkers would angle for invitations to the estate for the sole purpose of seeing if you are the woman the tales said you were?"
"This is true. Maybe I haven’t been nearly as naughty as I ought." Again, her thoughts fell to Robert and the fact no one in the area remembered him a year after his death. She shifted her focus to her father, the man of a thousand stories, the man of big exploits and bigger adventures, the man who loved his wife with a passion as fierce as his love of the Navy. Her heart ached. She’d not attained that level of commitment in her own marriage. How did she want to be remembered, because she most certainly didn’t want to be forgotten?
"If flouting London society is your main goal, perhaps enacting a grand affair would gain you the attention you want and portray the story you are trying to tell. It might be just the thing to bring a worthy gentleman calling. Or..." The glance he slid her brimmed with mischief. "When you accompany Amanda to London, you could conduct your scandal there."
"Are you trying to have me ostracized from all of England, Alfie?" A thrill swept down her spine just the same. To have one grand affair, a dalliance with a rugged or charming gentleman, and then leave him happy, sated and pining. It was something she’d never attempted, but now that the idea had bloomed, she rather wanted to plan for it.
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