Tote Bags 'n' Blogs: Lara Temple: Sneak Peak at the “Meet Cute” of #3 of my Wild Lords Series

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Lara Temple: Sneak Peak at the “Meet Cute” of #3 of my Wild Lords Series

This month my fifth book was published, exactly two years to the day since my first book saw light with Harlequin Mills&Boon, and my sixth book will see the light of day in May. What a ride! So I thought I’d celebrate here by sharing an excerpt from the final in my wild Lords series: Lord Stanton’s Last Mistress.

This is the “meet cute” scene which takes place five years before the bulk of the story – in it Christina, the English companion to the princess of a Greek Island, has been told to nurse a wounded and unconscious Englishman. In this scene she is reading aloud from advertisements from the agony columns in The Times and he awakes...

‘Here, listen to this advertisement,’ Christina informed the unconscious form on the bed. ‘This is a very passionate fellow. ‘To M-A,” which I presume is Maria, or could it be Margarita? That would add an exotic touch. Anyway, this is what he writes: ‘DO I DESERVE THIS?” In capital letters, too. I wonder if that costs more? Then he continues: “Is it generous? Is it equitable? If I hear not from you by Wednesday hence I will strike thy graven memory from my heart and endeavor to efface thy sweet smile from my soul. Orlando.” This was three weeks ago so Wednesday has come and gone and I shall never know if Orlando has been blessed by his Maria or whether she has chosen someone rather more sensible. I think living life in capital letters might be a little tiring. Oh, no. This is even worse. Here, Just at the bottom of the page. “To P---. If you could conceive the sorrow and despair into which I am plunged, you would not raise your head. With you I could suffer every privation. Alone I am all misery. A hint of kindness could obliterate all pain. S. B.” Goodness. Well, I think it is very brave to put such pain on paper but I cannot imagine ever writing something so…’

‘Maudlin.’

The paper scrunched between her hands. The word was faint but decisive and for a moment she searched the room for its source until she realized it came from the Englishman. He was awake, not the brief fevered awakenings of the past few days but awake and inspecting her. Lucid, his eyes were even more dramatic – as sharp and steely as a sword.

‘Where the devil am I?’ he asked as she remained tongue-tied, her pulse as fast as his had been at the height of his fever.

‘Illiakos.’

‘Illi…bloody hell. I remember. The storm. They shot at us.’

‘They thought you were pirates,’ she tried to be conciliating, thinking of the King.

‘We were flying Maltese colors. Clear as day.’

‘Yes, well, it wasn’t. A clear day, that is.’

He groaned as he tried to shift on the bed.

‘I remember. The blasted fog. We rode up on the shoals. Why are you reading the agony columns? Out loud too, for pity’s sake.’

‘King Darius requested I read the English papers to you. He thought it would help you recover.’

‘That mawkish pap is more likely to send me into a decline. I had no idea people wrote such drivel.’

‘It is not drivel to them. Anyone willing to bare his or her soul like that deserves some sympathy, whether you approve or not.’

‘You didn’t sound very approving yourself just now, so I don’t think you can claim the moral high ground,’ His mouth relaxed into the beginning of a smile, amusement lighting his grey eyes. It was the first time she had seen that expression on his face and her pulse, which had begun to calm, went into another gallop.

Wild Lords:

#3: Lord Stanton’s Last Mistress: http://mybook.to/Stanton

#2: Lord Ravenscar’s Inconvenient Betrothal: http://mybook.to/Ravenscar

#1: Lord Hunter’s Cinderella Heiress: http://mybook.to/HuntersCinderella