#MidWeekTease where Tessa wonders just what is going on...

#MidWeekTease again. Where you get the chance to check out new books and WIP's of some of your favourite authors... and me...

This week I'm teasing from Lord Suitor, book 2 in the Cursed Treasure series. Book one, Compromised, the prequel is free on all major sites including Evernight.  you can  get it  by clicking 

here

blurb...

A smuggler and an aristocrat. Who should Tessa chose?

Both professed their love for her, both intrigued her. How could she pick one over the other?

When Tessa was accosted by a smuggler her life took a turn for the better. Or so she thought. Until Nathaniel, Lord Fenniston indicated his interest in her. She had to marry to help her family, but her loyalties are torn. 

Either man could be the one, but how can she decide? Torn between them, Tessa must think hard and fast.

Luckily, fate has its own way of deciding, and Tessa had no option but to do as it dictates.

~~~~~~~v~~~~~~~

And your tease...

"What on earth are you doing?" Tessa twisted on the seat to glare at him. "Where are we going? Where is my maid?"

"Taking you for a drive to Hyde Park. On her way home, with my tiger. With whom, before you ask, she is stepping out." He ignored the half query about his nonappearance, and steered the equipage through the gates into the park. There was, he judged, around an hour before he would have to return her to her parents. At this hour the park wasn't too busy, but soon it would be bustling for a while. He intended to be away by then.

"It will be very handy for when we are wed. I have a cottage earmarked for them at Fenniston." He turned along one of the tracks that crisscrossed the park and urged his horses into a brisk trot.

"What? Take me home at once. I'm not marrying you." She stamped her foot on the floor of the curricle. "You, my lord, are deluded."

"Not at all, and before you decide so, neither am I compromising you. Look, your maman is sitting under the tree with Lady Jersey."

"What?" This time it was a shriek. "Please tell me it isn't so. Not Silence. She'll have us married and me with child before we leave the park. Which I insist you do now."

Nat chuckled. "I knew that would get a response. However, in one respect I must disappoint you. Even I would find it hard to ensure you were with child before we left the park."

"Argh..."

"Never fear. Your maman is actually sitting with your papa."

"Argh."

"Repetitive, my dear."

"Argh, argh, and argh," Tessa said, her voice rising as she spoke. She ended on a muted shriek.

Nat didn't think he'd ever heard a lady say that one word in such a tone, in public. It was a mixture of a hiss and a groan, even in her tone of voice, and he thought, very arousing. The last time he'd heard anything akin to it was when the lady he was with was in the throes of passion and he had his mouth on her quim and his tongue inside her channel as he lapped up her juices.

As ever his cock responded to that feminine noise like a bee to nectar, and he was hard pressed not to adjust it under his unmentionables.

"Just so," he said agreeably. "Now shall we have one more tool along the row before I bring you back to your parents?"

"Hmm. No more talk about weddings?"

"No more today, at least," he promised.

"Hmm."

Nat grinned. It seemed she loved that word almost as much as argh. "Well?" He prompted her. "Do we have a deal?"

She laughed. Her inability to stay annoyed was one thing he'd noticed and admired about her.

"A deal, my lord. I'd love to feel the breeze on my cheeks."

"Do you miss Devon?" he asked as he moved the horses forward, curious to know her feelings on the county of both their births.

Tessa sighed. "Every day, my lord. I am no town bird. I prefer the countryside, be it cloaked in mist, frost, snow, or sunshine. I suffer town. I enjoy Devon. Even the rain at home is softer and more welcoming."

He nodded as he rounded the end of the row with a flourish and urged his horses back the way they came. "I will not state the obvious."

"Please don't. We've had harmony for all of five minutes. Let us not spoil it."

He risked a glance at her and was reassured by the humor in her expression. "As you say. I also prefer my country estate. A little of the capital goes a long way, although I tend to be here when the house is in session. I refuse to be a non attendee lord. And, no, I do not pay lip service to my role. I believe it is my duty to serve my country as I can. Now my father is dead, I can no longer command a regiment, so I work to make sure those who do get the monies and backup they need." He knew his voice was grim, but after having had to buy himself out to take over the reins of Fenniston, and seeing Napoleon escape from Elba, Nat often yearned for the camaraderie and discipline of his regiment. Somehow it was galling to know they would soon see active service and he would be left behind.

"Do you worry?" Tessa's voice was low. "About Napoleon having landed in France one more?"

"Of course." He drew the horses up by the bench where Mijo and Theo sat. "Anyone with an ounce of sense would. But as I can't fight, I'll do my bit here."

Theo walked over and took hold of the horses' heads while Nat sprang down to help Tessa alight. Nat kissed her hand, very properly, and moved across to Mijo to do the same.

"Did you enjoy your ride?"

"It was a surprise," Tessa said. "However, we are both still alive."

"It was interesting," Nat said guardedly.

Mijo laughed and leaned toward him. "The fainthearted never succeed. A good general picks his battles carefully. You, I think, are one."

"I like to think so as well." Nat jumped up into the body of the phaeton and gathered up the reins. "A good general, not a battle. Until later."

Tessa's head jerked up. "Later?"

He inclined his head. "Why, yes, your maman has kindly agreed she will accompany me to the theater."

The look of astonishment on her face was all he could wish for.

"She has?"

"But of course," Mijo said complacently. "Who would turn down such a treat? It is Mr. Kean in Othello at Drury Lane."

"Ah, well, I'm sure you will enjoy it."

"Do you think you will not?" Nat held his restless horses in check. He was enjoying himself far too much to cut the interchange off.

"I, my lord?"

"But of course you." He clicked his tongue to urge his horses forward. "Why? Did you think you were to miss the treat? Of course you won't. Your maman has accepted on your behalf as well."

She opened her mouth and closed it again. Twice. "You…you…argh…" Tessa took a deep breath. "Grr."

It promised to be an interesting evening. Nat whistled tunefully as he tooled his horses back to their stables.

You can buy Lord Suitor at all major retail sites and at Evernight Publishing by clicking

here

and catch all the other #MidWeekTease right 

here

Happy reading,

love, R x