Deck The Halls With Love: Lost Lords Of Pembrook Novella (11 page)

She paused in the middle of her exit, turned slightly, and looked him dead in the eye. “You most certainly may not, Mr. Summersby.” And before Ryan had a chance to dispute the matter, she had vanished back inside, the white cotton of her gown twirling about her feet.

An Excerpt from

A
S
UMMERSBY
T
ALE

by Sophie Barnes

Lucy Blackwell throws caution to the wind when she tricks Lord William Summersby into a marriage of convenience. But she never counted on falling in love . . .

“D
o you love her?” Miss Blackwell suddenly asked, her head tilted upward at a slight angle.

Lord, even her voice was delightful to listen to. And those imploring eyes of hers . . . No, he’d be damned if he’d allow her to ensnare him with her womanly charms. She’d practically made fools of both his sister and his father—she’d get no sympathy from him. Not now, not ever. “You and I are hardly well enough acquainted with one another for you to take such liberties in your questions, Miss Blackwell. My relationship to Lady Annabelle is of a personal nature, and certainly not one that I am about to discuss with you.”

Miss Blackwell blinked. “Then you do not love her,” she said simply.

“I hold her in the highest regard,” he said.

Miss Blackwell stared back at him with an increased measure of doubt in her eyes. “More reason for me to believe that you do not love her.”

“Miss Blackwell, if I did not know any better, I should say that you are either mad or deaf—perhaps even both. At no point have I told you that I do not love her, yet you are quite insistent upon the matter.”

“That is because, my lord, it is in everything you are saying and everything that you are not. If you truly loved her, you would not have had a moment’s hesitation in professing it. It is therefore my belief that you do not love her but are marrying her simply out of obligation.”

Why the blazes he was having this harebrained conversation with a woman he barely even knew, much less liked, was beyond him. But the beginnings of a smile that now played upon her lips did nothing short of make him catch his breath. With a sigh of resignation, he slowly nodded his head. “Well done, Miss Blackwell. You have indeed found me out.”

Her smile broadened. “Then it really doesn’t matter whom you marry, as long as you marry. Is that not so?”

He frowned, immediately on guard at her sudden enthusiasm. “Not exactly, no. The woman I marry must be one of breeding, of a gentle nature and graceful bearing. Lady Annabelle fits all of those criteria rather nicely, and, in time, I am more than confident that we shall become quite fond of one another.”

The impossible woman had the audacity to roll her eyes. “All I really wanted to know was whether or not anyone’s heart might be jeopardized if you were persuaded to marry somebody else. That is all.”

“Miss Blackwell, I can assure you that I have no intention of marrying anyone other than Lady Annabelle. She and I have a mutual agreement. We are both honorable people. Neither one of us would ever consider going back on his word.”

“I didn’t think as much,” she mused, and before William had any time to consider what she might be about to do, she’d thrown her arms around his neck, pulled him toward her, and placed her lips against his.

C
OPYRIGHT

Excerpt from
Lord of Wicked Intentions
copyright © 2013 by Jan Nowasky.

Excerpt from
Nights of Steel
copyright © 2012 by Nico Rosso.

Excerpt from
Alice’s Wonderland
copyright © 2012 by Allison Dobell.

Excerpt from
One Fine Fireman
copyright © 2012 by Jennifer Bernard.

Excerpt from
There’s Something About Lady Mary
copyright © 2012 by Sophie Barnes.

Excerpt from
The Secret Life of Lady Lucinda
copyright © 2012 by Sophie Barnes.

DECK THE HALLS WITH LOVE
. Copyright © 2012 by Jan Nowasky. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition DECEMBER 2012 ISBN: 9780062219336

Print Edition ISBN: 9780062219343

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