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AVAILABLE: Friday, January 24th
This Regency Romance novel continues with Brianna’s story where Tea Leaves and Tarot Cards left off.
In the Regency London of 1816, Brianna is lost and without a shilling. Successful businessman James Winthrop comes to her rescue. However, he is both attracted and suspicious of this beautiful, mysterious young woman. Who is Brianna? What secrets lurk in her past? What is she hiding? But James has his own secrets to contend with. Neither will easily resolve their problems even as they are drawn together romantically while dealing with kidnapping and solving a murder.
PUBLISHER NOTE: Historical, Regency Romance, Romantic Suspense. 64,700 words. All characters depicted in this work of fiction are 18 years of age or older.
Without warning, a young woman who appeared to be struggling with a carpetbag began to fall into a faint in front of him. If not for his quick reflexes, she would have dropped to the ground. He caught her in his arms.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She did not answer. Her eyes were closed, her cheeks flushed. He could not help but notice that she was both pretty and young.
“Rob,” he called out to his footman. “A hand here if you will.” The girl, though slender, seemed to be growing heavier by the moment, a total dead weight.
“Of course, sir,” Rob said as he hopped forward. He was young and well-muscled, just what James needed in this situation.
Together, they lifted the young woman and placed her inside the carriage. She still appeared to be unconscious.
“Get my mother. She is at the millinery shop up the street. Tell her she is needed immediately.”
The footman left to do his bidding. James removed a handkerchief and mopped his brow. In his twenty-six years, he had never faced such an odd situation. But he was confident his mother would know what to do.
James was glad when his mother arrived. It seemed like an eternity, although in reality, it had only been a few minutes. Apparently, Rob had already informed his mother of the problem because she immediately hurried to the carriage. He helped her step inside.
“James, please reach into my reticule and remove the smelling salts.”
He joined his mother on the cushy seats of the well-sprung carriage, while rummaging around in her reticule that seemed to hold something for every imaginable occasion.
“You will find the vinaigrette is a small bottle with a perforated top. It is scented with lavender,” she instructed.
After his mother applied the smelling salts, James was relieved to see the young woman revive. She moaned softly as unfocused large, dark blue eyes flickered open.
“James would you please have a word with our coachman. I believe William always carries a flask of spirits,” his mother said. “Perhaps you might borrow it from him? This girl requires some form of liquid. The clothing she is wearing is unsuitable, much too warm for such a day.”
James was only too happy to comply. Most of all, he was grateful the young woman was alive. He’d feared she might be dead or dying.
