Except & Giveaway: How to Marry a Royal Highlander by Vanessa Kelly
How
to Marry a Royal Highlander
The Renegade Royals # 4
The Renegade Royals # 4
By:
Vanessa Kelly
Releasing
June 30, 2015
Zebra
Blurb
Illegitimate
yet thoroughly irresistible, the Renegade Royals are leaving behind
their careers as daring spies for the greatest adventure of all…
At
sixteen, Alasdair Gilbride, heir to a Scottish earldom, fled the
Highlands and an arranged betrothal. Ten years later, Alasdair must
travel home to face his responsibilities. It’s a task that would be
much easier without the distracting presence of the most enticing
woman he’s ever met…
After
one escapade too many, Eden Whitney has been snubbed by the ton. The
solution: rusticating in the Scottish wilderness, miles from all
temptation. Except, of course, for brawny, charming Alasdair. The man
is so exasperating she’d likely kill him before they reach the
border—if someone else weren’t trying to do just that. Now Eden
and Alasdair are plunging into a scandalous affair with his life and
her reputation at stake—and their hearts already irreparably lost…
Excerpt
When
Edie hesitated for a fraction of a second, Alec’s heart stuttered
with dismay. But then her hands slipped up to his shoulders and she
slowly parted her lips. He surged in, taking too much too fast, but
she didn’t retreat. Instead, she tangled her tongue with his, going
up on her tiptoes to meet him.
He
was finally getting her measure. Edie had enough charm and confidence
to launch a thousand ships. But innocence lurked behind that bold
façade, as did an entirely unexpected vulnerability. Her kiss was
eager, open, and without artifice. It was all Edie, wild and sweet,
giving as good as she got with a heady promise of more to come.
He
had every intention of taking her all the way down that road.
She
let out an engaging little moan and snuggled closer, brushing her
full breasts against his waistcoat. Sensation bolted through him,
driving what felt like every ounce of blood down to his cock.
Instinctively, he slipped his hand to her delightfully round
bottom—good God, the woman was a lovely handful—and nudged her
into him, flush against his erection. Then he picked her up and took
a step forward, trapping her between his body and the passage wall.
Edie
froze in his arms. Alec went still as well, suddenly all too aware
that he was preparing to make love to a virginal spinster—in a
corridor, against a wall, in broad daylight.
Jesus.
Then
she came to life in his arms, and not in a good way. She jerked her
head away and a funny little growl issued from her lips.
“Get
off of me,” she hissed, trying to struggle her way out of his
embrace. “Are you deliberately trying to destroy my reputation?”
Alec
mentally sighed. He almost wished someone would catch them, since it
would make things a damn sight easier for both of them, although she
had yet to realize it. But now that a small portion of his blood was
finally heading back to his brain, he realized what an idiot he was.
If he had any hope of winning Edie over, this certainly wasn’t the
way to go about it.
She
was worse than a nest full of French spies when it came to playing
havoc with his plans. It was time to get the situation—and
her—under control.
“Do
I have to kick you in the shins to make you let me go?” Her cheeks
were pink and her eyes shot daggers at him. But her full mouth was
rosy and damp from his kisses, and her breasts heaved against her
trim bodice. She looked so damn tempting that it took every ounce of
his discipline not to carry her off to the nearest empty bedroom and
have his way with her.
That
was the most enticing image to come into his brain in a very, very
long time.
No,
ever.
“Stop
wriggling about like a worm on the end of a hook,” he growled.
“I
cannot believe you just called me a worm,” she snapped, wriggling
harder as she tried to escape.
“Oh,
for Christ’s sake.” He wrapped his hands around her waist and
picked her straight up off her feet. She squeaked out a startled
protest, but he simply plopped her back on the padded window bench
and braced himself in front of her to prevent her from bolting.
Her
eyes flashed from behind her spectacles, promising all sorts of
retribution, but her lenses had gone partly foggy.
“Can
you even see?” he asked.
“Confound
it.” She whipped off her spectacles and rubbed them on her sleeve
before jamming them back on her nose.
Her
gaze said quite clearly that she would like to rend him, limb from
limb.
“You
needn’t look at me like I’m some sort of ogre,” Alec said, “or
like I’m going to ravish you right here in the hallway. I promise
you, I’m not.”
She
stared at him a moment longer, then looked down pointedly at the fall
of his breeches. “Really? You could have fooled me,” she said.
Author
Info
Vanessa
Kelly is an award-winning author who was named by Booklist, the
review journal of the American Library Association, as one of the
“New Stars of Historical Romance.” Her Regency-set historical
romances have been nominated for awards in a number of contests, and
her second book, Sex and The Single Earl, won the prestigious Maggie
Medallion for Best Historical Romance. Her current series, The
Renegade Royals is a national bestseller. Vanessa also writes USA
Today bestselling contemporary romance with her husband, under the
pen name of VK Sykes.
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