Welcome back to Sweet Saturday Sample!  All excerpts here are rated PG-13 or milder. Today I’m posting not from Only Scandal Will Do, but from the second book in my House of Pleasure series, Only Marriage Will Do, also set in Georgian London.  I’ve come to the point in Scandal that’s not exactly PG 13 any more. LOL  To continue with Scandal, check out Six Sentence Sunday starting next week.

This book begins about halfway through the timeline of Only Scandal Will Do, beginning on July 2, 1761.  This is the opening scene.

 “For God’s sake, help me!  Agree with whatever I say.”

The urgent whisper in his ear startled Amiable Dawson almost as much as the kiss that grazed his cheek.  The young woman who greeted him thus was not the one he expected to see here. 

An anxious maid had answered the door looking wary, almost as though she would refuse him entrance.  She got as far as asking “Who may I . . . .” when a man’s raised voice followed by a woman’s, sharp with terror, rang out from inside the house.  “No!  I don’t believe you!” 

Amiable, used to command decisions, barged past the stunned maid and strode down the hall toward the source of the commotion.  He burst through the doorway, expecting to defend the woman he loved, then stopped dead at the sight of narrowed and frowning eyes set in the lovely face of a complete stranger.  

The unknown woman before him—honey-blonde hair swept up underneath a fashionable lingerie cap and dressed in a mauve striped gown that accentuated her curvaceous figure—turned big brown eyes to him and gasped as if in relief.  “Here he is.  Now you will have to believe me!”  The charming creature flung the words at the scowling man who stood before her. 

Amiable had the quick impression of a sullen young man of medium height, dressed foppishly in a robin’s egg blue satin coat that dripped with too many layers of frothy lace at throat and wrists, before the enchanting blonde ran swiftly to Amiable’s side, reaching up to graze a kiss over his cheek and whisper the frantic words, “For God’s sake, help me!  Just agree with whatever I say.”

Automatically smiling down into the upturned, pleading face, Amiable grasped her hands and gave them a gentle squeeze, signaling his acquiescence to her request.  “Whatever is the matter, my dear?”  He had no idea what might be required of him, but five years as a captain in Colonel Fitzwilliam’s regiment had honed his wits to a razor-sharp point.  He would let the lady lead and follow as well as he could.

Her look of relief at his words spoke volumes.  She was terribly, terribly afraid of something.  Either the fop himself or some threat he carried.  Amiable figured to make short work of him either way.  The woman smiled nervously then took a deep breath.

“My dear, may I present Philippe Tondereau, Viscount St. Cyr.  Philippe, my husband, John Fitzwilliam, the Earl of Manning.”

Seems to be a little mystery afoot here.  The Earl of Manning, if you may recall, is Katarina’s brother from Only Scandal Will Do.  But definitely not this gentleman.  Curiousier and curiousier!  LOL

Hope you enjoyed this little introduction to Only Marriage Will Do.  Stop by SSS tomorrow for another  little snippet, from a newly completed work.  And today be sure to click here to visit more Sweet Samples.