BOOK INFORMATION
A Kiss for
Lady Mary
The Marriage Game # 6
The Marriage Game # 6
By: Ella Quinn
Releasing May 26th, 2015
Kensington Books
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BOOK SUMMARY
Ella
Quinn’s bachelors do as they like and take what they want. But when the objects
of their desire are bold, beautiful women, the rules of the game always seem to
change…
Handsome,
charming, and heir to a powerful Viscount, Christopher “Kit” Featherton is
everything a woman could want—except interested in marriage. So when he hears
that someone on his estate near the Scottish border is claiming to be his wife,
Kit sets off to investigate.
Since her
parents’ death, Lady Mary Tolliver has been hounded by her cousin, a
fortune-hunting fool after her inheritance. Refusing to settle for anything
less than love, Mary escapes to the isolated estate of rakish bachelor, Kit
Featherton. Knowing he prefers Court to the country, she believes she will be
safe. But when Kit unexpectedly returns, her pretend marriage begins to feel
seductively real…
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EXCERPT
A couple of days
later, Mary joined her grandmother and aunt in the dower house’s elegant but
cozy morning room. Small paintings and miniatures encompassing generations of
Tollivers covered the walls and surfaces. In the Queen Anne style, the
furniture was old, but comfortable.
Long windows
gave a view over the rose garden and the marble fountain in its center. The
curtains had recently been changed from the velvet used during the colder
seasons to a cerulean blue watered silk trimmed with gold braid. Even though
they were experiencing one of their few warm days this spring, a log spat and
popped in the fireplace.
In fact, the
only disturbing part of the normally tranquil atmosphere was the conversation.
Doing her best
to keep her jaw from dropping in shock, Mary stared at her grandmother. The
older woman’s thick silver hair was face held few lines. Her gaze seemed as
sharp as ever. Generally she was the picture of health, except for this recent
burst of incipient insanity, for that was all it could be.
Mary opened her
mouth, then closed it again. Several moments passed in silence as she struggled
to make sense of what she thought she’d heard. After rejecting retorts such as,
Grandmamma, are you feeling quite well?
Or, are you sure you wouldn’t like a nice room in Bedlam? And finally
unable to come up with another way to ask her question, she simply voiced the
nicest thought in her mind. “Surely I have not understood you properly. You
want me to do what?”
“Well, I think
it’s a wonderful idea.”
Mary shifted her
gaze to her aunt. Perhaps madness had always run in the family and it had been
kept a secret so as not to ruin them socially. After all, who would
deliberately marry into a family where lunacy was rampant?
“He has a face
like a fish.” Aunt Eunice opened her eyes wide and moved her lips in a fair
imitation of a fish.
“Hake.”
Grandmamma nodded decisively. “It’s the way his eyes protrude.”
Mary closed her
eyes, repressing a shudder. “I agree, but surely there must be less drastic
measures I can take.”
Grandmamma leaned
forward and pounded her silver-headed cane on the floor. “He may look like a
fool, my girl, but he’s canny, and, if what Cook told me is true”—Mary should
have expected that— “which I have no doubt it is, he almost caught you a few
days ago.”
“Yes, well.” Not
the cleverest of replies. Surely, she could think of something more to say. “I
got away from him,” she ended lamely.
“This time.”
Grandmamma’s lips thinned.
“And every other
time previously.” Mary let out a frustrated huff. Unfortunately, her
grandmother did have a point. It was becoming more and more difficult to evade
her cousin. “Did Barham receive an answer to his last letter to Uncle Hector?”
After a few
moments, during which Grandmamma turned so red it appeared as if she would have
apoplexy, Aunt Eunice replied, “Yes. But it won’t serve. Barham said Hector
continues to insist your father promised you would marry Gawain, and he will
not release your funds until either the marriage takes place—”
“In which case that spendthrift, Gawain,” Mary
almost growled, the anger in her voice surprising her, “would control
everything.”
“Or you turn
five and twenty.”
Her aunt’s voice
interrupted her silent railing. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“When the trust
ends,” Eunice replied patiently.
“Unless you plan
to spend the next two years inside the house,” Grandmamma said, emphasizing her
speech with another loud thump of her cane, “you will do as your aunt and I
advise.”
Mary eyed the
silver headed stick. What would her grandmother do if she hid it? Still, what
they were suggesting was complete insanity. “But I—”
“He’s found you
everywhere we’ve tried to hide you, my dear.”
Eunice stared at
Mary, a compassionate look on her face. “Drastic times call for drastic
measures.”
Mary slowly
shook her head. “I don’t think I could pretend to be someone else for that long
a time.”
“But you won’t
have to pretend.” Her aunt beamed. “That is the brilliance of the plan! You can
be yourself . . . with a slight change in your last name for the time being.”
“We’ve been very
careful,” her grandmother said as calmly as if she were choosing a dinner menu,
“to select a remote area where there are no important families.”
There was
something very wrong about all of this. “May I ask who the owner is?”
Her grandmother
waved her hand as if dismissing her question. “The less you know for time
being, the safer you’ll be if Gawain comes sniffing around.”
Grandmamma
tapped her cane for at least the fourth time. Mary’s fingers itched to grab the
thing away and throw it in the fireplace. “It’s decided. We’ll leave early
tomorrow morning.”
CAT'S REVIEW
"A Kiss for Lady Mary" by Ella Quinn is wonderful for a summer read! This is a lovely read that includes humor and companionship and respect. I truly enjoyed the relationship between Kit and Mary. Kit is not the typical alpha male that tries to control all. And Mary is a strong woman yet a bit on the shy side, especially when it involves men. What was also so enjoyable were the secondary character's stories as well. Although I haven't read the previous books, I never felt lost and grew to love all the characters in this one. Ms. Quinn has written a well balanced tale that has a bad guy, a couple that are truly meant for each other yet unsure of how to go about it, secondary characters that didn't overtake the story but added to it, and some wonderful scenes that had me smiling from ear to ear. I look forward to reading more from Ms. Quinn and hope to catch up on this series soon. (received copy for honest review).
★★★★
AUTHOR INFO
Ella Quinn lived all over the United States, the
Pacific, Canada, England and Europe before finally discovering the Caribbean.
She lives in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands with her wonderful husband, three bossy
cats and a loveable Great Dane.
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