#MidWeekTease #TeamHarry. Where Harry wants one thing and Lydia another

Hi and welcome to this week's #MidWeekTease. 

Where I've decided to tease you with an excerpt from my forthcoming book, The Lord's Persuasion of Lady Lydia.

#TeamHarry

Which is sitting in (on?) Amazon and Kobo and Are, just waiting to be loved, and is out on 27th October.

Seducing the wallflower…

Over the years, Lydia Field has perfected the art of being a wallflower. It’s the only way to avoid the attention of unwanted suitors – and the perils of a convenient, loveless marriage! Instead, she dreams of the day she can leave London’s high society behind her, trading the glamorous balls and afternoon teas for a quiet life in the country.

But in an unguarded moment, she finds herself catching the eye of notorious rake ‘Handsome Harry’, Lord Birnham. Now that he’s glimpsed the wildness and fire that lurks beneath Lydia’s demure exterior, Lord Birnham will not rest until he has unleashed the full extent of her passion!

For if there’s one skill that Lord Birnham is known for, it’s the art of persuasion…

and here's your tease...

‘Lydia my dear, everyone expects us to announce our betrothal on your birthday. The rumours are that is what we are waiting for. Plus.’ Oh how he wished he didn’t have to say it. ‘I will not be called out by your father for ruining you.’

 ‘Eh? How are you ruining me?’

‘By not agreeing the rumours are correct and making it official.’

‘That is rubbish.’ She jumped up and began to pace the room. ‘I will not be coerced by you them or anyone else. Lord can’t you see how wrong it all is?’ she appealed to him. ‘I have not said yes. I will not say yes and this, this idiocy has gone on long enough. I will issue a statement myself and tell everyone it is so.’

‘You’ll ruin yourself if you do,’ Harry warned her. ‘People will think you started the rumours yourself.’

She shrugged. ‘Let them. I do not care.’

His heart sank. ‘I do. Your parents would. If nothing else think how it would reflect on them. Yes I know your mama started it, but even you have to admit she thinks she has your best interests at heart.’

‘By forcing me into something abhorrent,’ Lydia asked passionately. ‘Incredible.’ She swung around so violently her skirts rocked the firedogs. ‘Parental love is very strange.’

Harry stood up and stopped her pacing by the simple method of pulling her into his arms. Lydia glared up at him as she stood stiff and unyielding in the circle of his arms. ‘What?’

He tilted her chin up with one long finger and looked at her anger filled eyes. ‘Ah, love, if only I had the answer you want.’

She sniffed. ‘You do but you choose not to say it.’

Her tear-filled eyes and woebegone expression was too much. Harry pulled her closer and put his chin on top of her head. ‘Do you feel the world is against you?’

She sighed, but didn’t pull back. ‘All of it. Is it too much to ask for peace to do one thing on my own?’

He firmed his lips and then gave into temptation to kiss her hair. ‘It’s our world, love. For good or bad we have to work with it not against it. Although, I suspect together we could change it if we had a mind to. What say you?’

‘Oh, Harry please don’t. I just want peace for a while. Life is miserable, topsy-turvy and not conducive to thinking about anything except no. Just let me go, please.’

Catch all the other #MidWeekTease posts~here~

Happy reading,

love Raven x