Excerpt: There was no way the lady on horseback could be Honora.
“I thought it was the earl’s property. Perhaps we should make a quick ride over and make sure the woman’s horse is under control,” Lancaster returned in solemn tones. He turned his horse and urged her in the direction the woman had disappeared only moments before.
I have no choice but to follow and confront a ghost.
A slight movement in the distance to the right of her caught her attention. It was two gentlemen on horseback. She could not make their faces out from the distance but sensed it was a meeting she needed to avoid. “I am sorry, Biscuit. We will not be getting to look for rogue apples today. Get me away from here and the pocket full of carrots I have with me are all yours!”
Refusing to look in their direction, she squeezed her horse, urging her to run. Honora was unwilling to face the prospect of being seen by her neighbors. How could I have been so careless?
Because your parents are here and you have been starved for any sense of normalcy in your life, she answered herself.
Without glancing back, she maintained her speed and hoped Randall would follow. The last thing she needed was for her groomsman to find himself stopped and questioned. The groves were close. She would cut through them. A strong sense of foreboding told her she needed to lose those men.
The trail grew brighter, and she recognized the path’s end was near. Good! Almost home. The pink-brick manor house surrounded by well-placed hardwood and flowering trees stood on a hill in the distance, and the sight of it shook her from her reverie and renewed her sense of urgency, fearing Papa would come looking for her.
Finally, emerging from the path, she stopped to take a rejuvenating breath, hoping for a more measured pace back to the stables. “You have earned these carrots, girl,” she said, touching the pocket containing them.
Two men on horseback emerged from the side, startling both Honora and her horse. She pulled back on the reigns out of habit and her horse nickered and slowed to a stop.
His Grace urged his horse closer. “Hello, Honora.”
A startled mount and rider pulled up short. It was her—and she appeared to be flesh and blood. Benjamin looked at his friend, unable to speak.
Her face said it all as her lips moved to form words. The footman moved in between them, appearing to help her.
Benjamin could only stare.
“’Tis fine, Randall. They mean us no harm,” the woman said, nodding toward an area off to the side. The groomsman helped her from her horse. Taking Biscuit’s reins, Randall walked the black and white horse about ten yards away to give them privacy. The black and white horse whinnied in her mistress’ direction.
Honora worried her bottom lip as she watched in the direction of her horse. Once the animal appeared settled, she spoke. “I owe you an explanation.
Benjamin opened his mouth and closed it, unsure of what he wanted to say. He felt bad for Lancaster. And for her. He tried not to stare but noticed she had changed over these past few years. She was more beautiful. Fleetingly, he wondered if men had a code of honor that prevented them from courting women from friends’ previous relationships. He could not, of course, considering what this relationship had done to his best friend. He could never countenance it.
“That would be a good start,” the duke acknowledged. “I was told . . . I thought you were dead.”
About My Lord, My Rogue: Entangled in a web of danger, espionage, and deception, can he find love with the woman he thought long dead? Or will the danger deprive them of a chance for love and happiness?
Lady Honora Radcliff was betrothed to the most sought-after man of the Season— just not the man she loved. Too much champagne and too many dances with a handsome stranger leaves her life in tatters and she finds herself married to an abusive man whose only interest is the dowry her father refuses to release. Desperate to save her life and that of her unborn child, she fakes her death and disappears.
Lord Benjamin Crewe, the Marquess of Willington, planned to enjoy the Christmastide season relaxing. Instead, he accepts a dangerous assignment from the Crown and while working it, comes face to face with the woman he always wished he had married. Only she has been thought dead for three years.
Needing answers, he pursues her at the same time a treacherous enemy of England surfaces, and the two of them become tangled in a web of danger, espionage, and deception. Can Honora and Benjamin survive the danger in which they find themselves and gain a chance for love and happiness?
Available: March 15, 2022
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About Anna St. Claire: Anna St. Claire is a big believer that nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself. She sprinkles her stories with laughter, romance, mystery and lots of possibilities, adhering to the belief that goodness and love will win the day.
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