He was going to ask for her hand in marriage. What would she say? What should she say?
Kate touched her mouth lightly with a fingertip, imagining James kissing her. She wasn’t a complete innocent. She knew something of what the marriage bed entailed: kissing, and much more intimate acts. To do those things with James would be marvelous beyond anything—except that he wouldn’t really want to touch her. He’d do so because he had to, because it was his duty, not because he desired her.
And why should James desire her? She was too tall to be considered feminine, and quite plain. The natural curl in her hair might be the envy of other ladies, but the color was a garish red and was accompanied by that worst of disfigurements, freckles. Looking as she did, it was inconceivable that any man would feel passion for her.
Kate closed her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to marry James—only not like this, without his love. He’d said that one woman was like another in the dark, but he was wrong. He might be able to imagine away her hair and her freckles, but darkness couldn’t give her a voluptuous figure. He would touch her and, even if he couldn’t see her, he would know that she wasn’t the woman he wanted in his bed.
She couldn’t do that to him. Or to herself.
Kate opened her eyes. She reached out and picked up a diary. It was dated 1813. Three years ago. She flicked through the pages. James has sailed to Spain again with his regiment. I am so afraid . . .
She closed the diary. Eight years he’d served in the 10th Hussars. She touched the calfskin cover lightly with her fingertips, tracing the date and remembering the changes she’d seen in him. It had been more than the uniform. He’d become quieter, more serious, although he’d never stopped laughing. The loss of laughter had occurred in the past nine months. Perhaps it had something to do with the action he’d seen at Waterloo, which she’d heard had been bad, but she thought mostly it was because of his father and brother. Grief could stop a person laughing, and so could responsibility.
She wanted James to laugh again, and she wanted him to have a wife he loved. Not someone he could tolerate, such as herself, but someone he could love. Someone who would make him happy.
When he asked her tomorrow, she knew how she would answer.
Like to read the rest?
The Earl’s Dilemma is available online.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A number of people helped to make this book what it is. I would particularly like to thank my copyeditor, Maria Fairchild, and my proofreader, Martin O’Hearn, for their hard work.
The cover is the work of the talented Kim Killion, of The Killion Group. Thank you, Kim!
And last—but definitely not least—my thanks go to my parents, without whose support this book would not have been published.
EMILY LARKIN GREW up in a house full of books—her mother was a librarian and her father a novelist—so perhaps it’s not surprising that she became a writer.
Emily has studied a number of subjects, including geology and geophysics, canine behavior, and ancient Greek. Her varied career includes stints as a field assistant in Antarctica and a waitress on the Isle of Skye, as well as five vintages in New Zealand’s wine industry.
She loves to travel and has lived in Sweden, backpacked in Europe and North America, and traveled overland in the Middle East, China, and North Africa. She enjoys climbing hills, yoga workouts, watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, and reading.
Emily writes historical romances as Emily Larkin and fantasy novels as Emily Gee. Her websites are www.emilylarkin.com and www.emilygee.com, and you can also find her on Facebook.
Never miss a new Emily Larkin book! Join her Readers’ Group.
OTHER WORKS by EMILY LARKIN
THE BALEFUL GODMOTHER SERIES
THE FEY QUARTET (SERIES PREQUEL)
Maythorn’s Wish
Hazel’s Promise
Ivy’s Choice
Larkspur’s Quest
ORIGINAL SERIES
Unmasking Miss Appleby
Resisting Miss Merryweather
Trusting Miss Trentham
Claiming Mister Kemp
Ruining Miss Wrotham
Discovering Miss Dalrymple
OTHER HISTORICAL ROMANCES
The Countess’s Groom
The Spinster’s Secret
The Earl’s Dilemma
My Lady Thief
FANTASY NOVELS (WRITTEN AS EMILY GEE)
Thief With No Shadow
The Laurentine Spy
THE CURSED KINGDOMS TRILOGY
The Sentinel Mage ~ The Fire Prince ~ The Blood Curse
Copyright © 2017 by Emily Larkin
Originally published as The Unmasking of a Lady, by Emily May
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
Where such permission is sufficient, the author grants the end user the right to strip any DRM which may be applied to this work.
www.emilylarkin.com
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Book Layout © 2014 BookDesignTemplates.com
Cover Design: The Killion Group, Inc
Made with Jutoh
My Lady Thief / Emily Larkin. -- 2nd ed.
ISBN 978-0-9941443-3-1
