Later today Rose Lerner will be joining us in celebration of her debut release, In for a Penny. In the meantime, Rose has given us an excerpt to tease you share with you.
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Nev and Penelope were eating breakfast. At least, it had started out
that way. Somewhere along the line, it had shifted into Nev watching
Penelope eat breakfast. She ate a good deal, but very neatly. She cut
everything up into ladylike bites, chewed slowly, and washed it all
down with ladylike sips of tea. It was refined, sensible, and a little
too careful, like everything about her. Just now she was spreading a
thin layer of jam on her toast, with an adorable frown of
concentration.“Are you going to cut your toast into tiny pieces too?” he teased.
She flushed. “Of course not. Whoever heard of cutting up toast?”
“I just wondered.”
She looked away. “When my parents sent me to finishing school, the
girls made fun of me for how I ate. I suppose I overcompensated.”Nev felt guilty suddenly, and angry. “Wretched cats. You ought to have
eaten with your elbows on the table and your fingers in the food. That
would have shown them.”“Perhaps, but it wouldn’t have been very attractive.”
“Who cares?”
“I rather think you would. You’ll have to sit across the breakfast
table from me for the rest of your life.”A life sentence. Penelope only, always, forever. Nev thought of all
the times he had eaten breakfast with Amy. They would rise late and
make their way to the breakfast room, and Amy’s cook would make them
buttered eggs and crumpets. Amy hadn’t had good table manners—she ate
quickly and used her fingers sometimes. But Nev had never minded; it
just meant he could eat as messily as he wanted too. They would always
laugh and talk and read each other things from the morning paper, and
sometimes he would feed her strawberries. Of course, he and Amy would
have just risen from a night of lovemaking. He and Penelope hadn’t
even kissed since his proposal.Penelope began to take a bite of her toast, then pushed it away, with
a blush and a little laugh. “I can’t eat it now, you’ve made me
embarrassed!”Nev wondered if he would ever know the right thing to say again.
“I suppose I’ll have more tea.” She poured herself a cup and reached
for the jar of honey. But as she opened it, she glanced up at Nev. She
fumbled with the spoon, and honey flew all over her fingers.Nev stared at the sticky molten gold sliding down his wife’s
ink-stained fingers.Penelope saw his fixed look and misinterpreted it. “Don’t look at me
like that! I know I’m hopeless!”“That’s not it,” Nev said with utmost sincerity. “That…looks like it
tastes good.”“Well, it’s wasted now. Unless you want to lick it off?” She spoke
sarcastically, as if she were proposing an obviously implausible
alternative.“Of course I want to lick it off. But I said I wouldn’t touch you till
we knew each other better, and—”Penelope looked at him in perplexity, then laughed. “A few weeks of
celibacy, and this is what men descend to!”“It’s not that,” Nev told her with sudden conviction. “It’s you.
You’re driving me mad. Just watching you eat breakfast is enough to
make me want to—”“Really?” A mischievous light came into Penelope’s eyes, and she
raised her honey-spattered fingers to her mouth. She sucked lightly on
her index finger, then withdrew it, letting her mouth drag open. Then
she licked a drop of honey off her lip.She was teasing him, he realized—to her, this was only a game. She
felt nothing.Nev’s eyes narrowed. He was fairly sure he could do something about that.
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Isn’t that wonderful? Be sure to stick around for a chance to win a signed copy!
This book looks very intersting.
I love the cover too.
Helen L.
Oooh – fabulous excerpt! I can’t wait to dive into my copy!
ok,, now im hooked.. gonna have to read this