They’re
hiding a scandalous secret
When
his monarch’s flighty fiancée disappears, Count Maximillian von
Staufer is dispatched to find her. His search leads Max to discover
not the princess, but a look-alike who could be her double. Desperate
to avoid an international crisis, he conceives a plan that will buy
some time—and allow him to get to know a beautiful Englishwoman.
And
time is running out
Lady
Susannah Tremaine and her young friend Olivia are staying at the
Grand Hotel in Baden, where so far the most exciting part of the
visit has been the pastries. But when a devastatingly handsome royal
Germanic officer asks Olivia to impersonate a missing princess,
Susannah finds herself drawn into a dangerous world of international
intrigue as she tries to protect her friend—and her heart.
Lillian
Marek was born and raised in New York City. At one time or
another she has had most of the interesting but underpaid jobs
available to English majors. After a few too many years in
journalism, she decided she prefers fiction, where the good guys win
and the bad guys get what they deserve. The first book in her
Victorian Adventure series, Lady Elinor’s Wicked Adventures, won
first prize in both the Launching A Star and the Windy City Four
Seasons contests. She was also a first prize winner in the Beau
Monde’s Royal Ascot contest.
Buy
Links:
Lillian’s
Marek’s Travel Tip: It is not necessary to accept all
invitations. When an unsigned note is slipped into your hand asking
you to come to the ruined tower at midnight and tell no one,
use some common sense.
An
Excerpt
Lady
Susannah burst into their hotel sitting room and marched furiously
about, her hoops swinging wildly about her, endangering the ornaments
cluttering the numerous small tables. It was most unladylike
behavior. She did not care. She did not feel ladylike at the moment.
Far from it. “Of all the improper, infuriating, arrogant,
high-handed, overweening, pompous, insolent…” She pressed her
lips tightly together.
“Have
you run out of adjectives, dear?” asked Lady Augusta as she untied
her bonnet and set it aside. “That was exciting, was it not?
Positively exhilarating. But now, if you will excuse me, I believe I
will take a short nap. Enjoyable though that little interlude was, I
am not accustomed to so much excitement.” She smiled cheerfully at
the girls and walked to her bedroom.
“Oh
dear,” said Olivia. “Did we hurry back too quickly? Have we tired
her out excessively? She was walking quite energetically on the way
back. More energetically than usual. Unless that’s why she’s
tired now.” She sat down on the sofa of their sitting room and
looked worriedly at the door Lady Augusta had just closed.
Ignoring
them both, Susannah continued to pace about, pulling off the remains
of her hat. Its ribbons hung down dirty and dispirited. It looked as
if that…that creature
had stomped on it. “Look at this! It’s battered out of
recognition. And it was my favorite.”
Olivia
looked around at that. “It was? I thought you said this morning
that you didn’t care for it and you wished the wind would blow it
away.”
Susannah
had the grace to look a bit embarrassed. “Well, all right. It
wasn’t my favorite. But that doesn’t mean I want some
ill-mannered behemoth to be responsible for its demise.”
“He
was enormous, wasn’t he?” Olivia shivered delightedly. “Almost
frightening, like the villain in a novel. Or the hero. You know—the
dark, brooding one you can’t be sure about. You were really quite
brave, the way you stood up to him.”
“Frightening?”
Susannah raised her brows. “I wouldn’t call him frightening. And
he certainly wasn’t brooding. He was even laughing at me. Maddening
is more like it. Aggravating. Infuriating. Insufferable. I’ve never
been treated in such a way.”
“But
he was so very big. And he was so angry that he certainly frightened
me when he appeared out of nowhere.”
Susannah
wasn’t listening. “Maddening,” she repeated. “Insulting.
Completely ill-mannered and boorish. Paying absolutely no attention
to anything anyone was saying. He had one idea inside that thick
skull of his, and nothing anyone said would even penetrate.”
Olivia
tilted her head to the side and considered. “Well, he did listen to
Lady Augusta. At least, he did eventually.”
“Ha.
Listen to her, did he? He certainly didn’t believe her. Didn’t
you notice that he followed us back to the hotel?” Susannah flopped
down onto a chair and scowled.
“He
did?” Olivia sat up in momentary alarm. “How do you know? You
weren’t looking behind us.”
“I
didn’t have to. There are so many windows on the Kurhaus that they
reflect everything several times over. Shop windows too.”
“Does
that mean he knows where to find us?”
“Well,
of course he knows where to find us. Aunt Augusta told him where we
are staying, remember? He was following us because he thought she was
making it all up. He’s obviously incapable of recognizing the truth
when he hears it. As if a lady like Aunt Augusta would tell lies.”
Susannah sat up straighter and drummed her fingers on the arm of the
chair. She ignored the fact that Aunt Augusta was capable of making
up all sorts of tarradiddle if it amused her.
“Oh.”
Olivia sat there chewing on her lip for a long minute. “Does that
mean he still thinks I’m that princess? Is he likely to try to drag
me off again? I don’t think I would care for that.”
“I
wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. If he has any sense—and
I’m not saying he does—but if he has any intelligence at all, he
will ask about us at the hotel, and they will tell him how long we
have been here. Sooner or later he will have to accept that we are
who we say we are. After all, he can’t refuse to believe everyone
in Baden.”
Unable
to sit still any longer, Susannah sprang up, shook out her skirts,
and strode over to the window. Holding the heavy velvet drape to the
side, she looked out at the busy street in front of the hotel. Busy,
but not hurried. People walked slowly, many of them with the aid of
canes. Even the horses pulling the open carriages plodded along,
moving scarcely faster than the pedestrians. Every now and then a
breeze would come along to swirl the leaves that had begun to fall.
How depressing that the most exciting sight from her hotel window was
the dance of autumn leaves.
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