Distracting the Duke
by Elizabeth Keysian
Publication Date: February 20, 2017
Genres: Adult, Entangled: Select, Historical Romance
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SYNOPSIS:
Devonshire, England, 1820
Determined to avoid the strife-filled marriage of his parents, Marcus, the Duke of Ulvercombe, wants an amenable, biddable wife, and has set his cap for a certain pretty miss. Unfortunately, her vastly opinionated, frustrating, and lamentably beautiful guardian, Lady Clara Tinniswood, keeps distracting him, tempting him to consider a far more tempestuous—and passionate—union.
Recently widowed Lady Clara Tinniswood wants only to organize a quiet new life for herself, beyond the control of any man. But one shockingly unguarded moment while confronted by Marcus’s gloriously naked body catapults her headlong into a forbidden passion and threatens to undermine all her well-laid plans.
Even if Marcus abandons his sweet ideal and surrenders to his growing desire for Clara, there’s one unalterable issue which could destroy their hopes forever…
EXCERPTS from DISTRACTING THE DUKE by Elizabeth Keysian
EXCERPT #1
Worn
out by the effort of restraining his wayward thoughts and trying to both battle
with and be polite to Lady Clara, Marcus turned back to his inhaling.
A few minutes
later, he heard someone bring in the items they'd asked for. After taking in a
few more soothing lungfuls of steam, he lifted the towel and turned round.
His
mouth went dry. Clara had just pulled the neck of her gown away from her
breasts and was blowing down the front of it.
"I
would be most happy to assist you with that," he murmured before he
realized what he was saying.
Good
God, was he really trying to flirt with this woman, in his current pitiful
state?
She
removed her hand immediately and gave him a quelling look. "You're
supposed to be steaming yourself. Pray continue, for the sooner you're done,
the sooner we can conclude our business."
Unabashed,
he ran the towel over his face and hair, and remarked, "I'm done
now."
It
really was getting horribly hot in here, but he needed to sweat out the fever
if he could. He was so weary, too. The bed looked very tempting. How was he
going to get rid of Clara so he could lie down and sleep?
"Are
you still determined to remain in this room until I change my mind about the
duel?" he asked.
She
clasped her hands tightly together. "I am."
"Then
you may wish to turn away."
To
hell with the compromising position he was placing himself in. She was not a
conniving miss out to trap him into marriage, and he was about to fall over
from exhaustion.
He
stood up, grasped the edges of his nightshirt, and pulled it up and over his
head. Casting it on the floor, he padded across to the bed, slid beneath the
linens, and glanced at Clara to gauge her reaction.
Her
hands were over her eyes, but he knew she'd been looking at him. Her cheeks,
visible between her fingers, were bright scarlet. Had he not had a sore throat,
he'd have laughed outright.
There. Maybe she'd see sense and leave right now.
His
foot came into contact with her bottom as he eased himself down the length of
the bed, and she shot up like a jack-in-the-box, propelling herself speedily
across the room.
"Come
now, spare me your blushes," he drawled as she peeped at him between her
fingers. "You're a widow. You know what a man looks like without clothes
on."
She
removed her hands slowly, her eyes flickering over his bare chest and shoulders
before they came to rest on his face once more. "If you mean to scare me
away, you won't succeed," she said. "A man's naked... A man's
naked—"
She
swallowed, poured herself another cupful of water, and drank it down so fast
some of it escaped and trickled down the front of her bodice. He watched its
progress with avid interest.
He coughed, then coughed again. Damn
this chill! Why did his body have to let him down when he wanted to appear in
perfect control?
EXCERPT #2
Clara
crept softly across the carpet of pine needles until she came to where a
rivulet split the dunes on its way down to the sea, and halted. She caught
sight of Ulvercombe standing at the water's edge with his back to her, hands on
his hips.
She
stepped aside swiftly, her heart beating hard. She would have to hide behind
one of the dunes to avoid being seen, if he should turn round. Fortunately, the
tide was still some way out and he was thus a considerable distance away,
giving her time to make her escape if he spotted her.
Plucking
off the old shawl she was wearing, she spread it over the grass-matted dune,
then lay down on her stomach so only her head—with the telescope pressed to her
eye—might be seen. Hopefully, with the waving sea grasses fanning across in
front of her, she was well-hidden from any casual observer.
Eventually,
she managed to locate Ulvercombe with the glass, and when she did her mouth
dropped open in shock. In the time she'd taken to settle herself, he'd stripped
off boots, stockings, jacket, and breeches, and now stood in nothing but his
shirt, looking out to sea.
Clearly,
the man had every expectation of being alone, and had no idea he was being
covertly observed. It was early in the morning, it was his beach, his pine
forest, his sand. She should back away and return to the house as quickly as
possible.
A
small attempt to move was made, but then he pulled his shirt over his head and
she was transfixed.
The
muscles rippled across his shoulders and she recalled, far too quickly, the
feel of that hot body pressed against hers.
"Drat
it!" The glass lens against her face had misted.
Crossly,
she rubbed it with a corner of her shawl, and scanned the beach again until she
found the duke.
The
completely naked duke.
Her
breath hitched in her throat. "Sweet Lord in heaven..."
It
was not the splendid symmetry of his body, nor the very pleasing curve of his
buttocks, nor even the straightness and supple power of his legs that had
elicited her exclamation of shock.
It
was the scars.
She
hadn't seen the backs of his thighs when he'd disrobed that day in his
bedchamber. Now she could see them very clearly, and she could also see a
complex pattern of pale, crisscross lines etched across the skin. They were
scars, surely?
Had he received
them in battle or in some horrible accident? Had he been taken prisoner and
tortured by the French? Maybe he'd been involved in a fire and something hot
had branded him thus.
The
chance to observe the marks more closely was abruptly removed as the duke, who
had been walking straight out into the waves, suddenly dove in with a splash
and began swimming out to sea with deft, powerful strokes.
She
shuddered. The water must be absolutely freezing. How could he stand it?
"Good
morning, Lady Tinniswood. A very fine one, is it not?"
ABOUT ELIZABETH KEYSIAN
Elizabeth Keysian felt destined to write historical romance due to her Cornish descent, and an ancestral connection to the Norse god Odin. Being an only child gave her plenty of time to read, create imaginary worlds, produce her own comics, and write sketches and a deplorably bad musical for an amateur dramatics group.
Three decades spent working in museums and archaeology fired Elizabeth’s urge to write, as did living on a Knights Templar estate, with a garage full of skeletons, a resident ghost and a moat teeming with newts.
Elizabeth lives near Bath in England with her partner and cats.
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