Welcome back to Sweet Saturday Sample.  My great thanks to all who’ve been coming by each week.  I appreciate your comments very much.  And thank you also to the first-time visitors.  I appreciate everyone’s feedback.

This week I’m continuing to post from my Georgian historical novel Only Scandal Will Do.  This week we go back to our heroine Katarina or Kat, whose situation has gone from bad to worse.  She’s been kidnapped and taken to a house  run by a ominous woman somewhere in London.  (I’m sorry but the picture’s abduction is a bit more pleasant than Kat’s is.)  Please enjoy the sample!

With a curt nod the woman lit their way with a single yellow candle down a shadowy corridor.  Opening a door at the far end, she lifted the brass candlestick high to examine Katarina’s outfit, then cocked her head.  The woman’s features were stark in the harsh light: ghostly white skin, delicate dark brows puckering over a petite nose, and the dark red mouth pursed, dispassionately appraising her captive. Uncommon beauty coupled with cruel detachment. Turning away she called, “Marco!  Change into the Roman costume now!”

A snarled a reply from the dim hallway caused the woman to step toward the surly voice.  “You’ll do it or I’ll turn your pretty face over to Nigel.” The discordant sound of the softest, most menacing voice imaginable sent a chill racing down Katarina’s spine.  The dark-haired woman thrust the candlestick into the other kidnapper’s hand and rushed off, her full skirts swishing in her haste.

As the woman disappeared into the shadows, Katarina was hustled into a narrow room barely wide enough to hold its plain washstand and wooden close stool.   They plopped her down on the convenience chair and untied the ropes.  As soon as her hands were free, she drew back for a blow to the nearest brigand, but the tall, thin man who stood over her pushed a sword into her face and shook his head.

“Lay a hand on either one of us, girl, and I’ll carve your face so your own mother wouldn’t know you.”  His flat voice and icy gray eyes told Kat he spoke in earnest.  She reached to untie the gag, and the sword tip waved dangerously close to her nose.  “Nay.  The gag stays until the deal is done.  Afterwards, you can try to talk your way out of it.”

Kat did not understand that last statement but lowered her hands as the other kidnapper, an unremarkable man with a jovial face, finally finished untying her legs.  She rotated her ankles and wiggled her toes, trying to force feeling back into them.  She needed to be able to run at the first opportunity.

The kneeling kidnapper grabbed first one and then the other foot, stripping off shoes and stockings with lightning efficiency.  He stood up, grinning, and Kat longed to kick him for his effrontery.  The man elbowed his companion, remarking, “I’m thinking that’s not all’s coming off before the night’s over, eh Nigel?”

The swordsman said nothing, but a lecherous gleam in his eye told its own tale.  Nigel.  The dark-haired woman’s threat to Marco now made sense.   The woman must employ them all.  Did she engineer my kidnapping?  Outrage warring with her fear, Katarina narrowed her eyes at the pair and concentrated on memorizing their features.  They would pay for their part in tonight’s assault when she got out of this predicament.

Katarina’s a resourceful girl, but can she overcome all these obstacles?

Thanks again for sampling my sweets.  Come back next week for another “Sweet Sample” or join in the fun with your own.  Follow this link to Sweet Saturday Sample to find more “sweet” offerings.

If you liked the above sample, you might also like some of my published work.  Heart of Deception, set in Victorian England, is available at Books to Go Now.  Hog Wild, an erotic contemporary retelling of The Three Little Pigs, is available at New Dawning Bookfair.  And both are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and All Romance Ebooks.  Blurbs for both books can be found on my Published Works page.