We normally do a ‘raw and unedited’ excerpt with Lisa but it dawned on me last week that Mz Kleypas is already editing this so while this isn’t a final copy and still subject to change… it isn’t ‘raw and unedited’ (all the more reason we should get one for the next book even sooner yes *eg*)
Lisa said to think of it as ‘medium rare‘ . I don’t have the cover yet but as soon as we do we will put it up. REMEMBER this doesn’t come out until summer of 2010 – read at your own risk ;).
Everything below does not belong to us but copyrighted to Lisa Kleypas & posted at TGTBTU with permission. Enjoy!
This scene was actually deleted from Chp.23 of Tempt Me At Twilight, and is now part of the opening of Married By Morning.
Leo, Lord Ramsay, has just uncovered a secret about Catherine Marks, the family governess and companion:
Leo stared at Catherine Marks’s downbent head, trying to absorb the information. The sense of being duped, betrayed, ignited a bonfire of rage. “There could be no good reason,” he said, “for such information to have been kept secret.”
“The situation is complicated.”
“Why have neither of you said anything before now?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“You should have told me. You were obligated.”
“By what?”
“Loyalty, damn you. What else do you know that might affect my family? What other secrets are you hiding?”
“It’s none of your business,” Catherine shot back, now twisting in his grip. “Let me go!
“Not until I find out what you’re plotting. Is Catherine Marks even your real name? Who the hell are you?” He swore as she began to struggle in earnest. “Hold still, you little she-devil. I just want to–ouch!” This last as she turned and jabbed a sharp elbow in his side.
The maneuver gained Marks the freedom she sought, but her spectacles went flying to the ground. “My spectacles!” With an aggravated sigh, she dropped to her hands and knees and began feeling for them.
Leo’s fury was instantly smothered by guilt. From the looks of it, she was practically blind without the spectacles. And the sight of her crawling on the ground made him feel like a brute. A jackass. Lowering to his knees, he began to hunt for them as well. “Did you see the direction they went in?” he asked.
“If I did,” she said, fuming, “I wouldn’t need spectacles, would I?”
A short silence. “I’ll help you find them.”
“How kind of you,” she said acidly.
For the next few minutes the two of them traversed the garden on their hands and knees, searching among the daffodils. They both chewed on the gristly silence as if it were a mutton chop.
“So you actually need spectacles,” Leo finally said.
“Of course I do,” Marks said crossly. “Why would I wear spectacles if I didn’t need them?”
“I thought they might be part of your disguise.”
“My disguise?”
“Yes, Marks, disguise. A noun describing something that serves to conceal someone’s identity. Often used by clowns and spies, and now apparently governesses. Good God, can anything be ordinary for my family?”
Marks glared and blinked in his direction, her gaze not quite focused. For a moment, she looked like an anxious child whose favorite blanket had been set out of reach. And that caused an odd, painful twinge in Leo’s heart.
“I’ll find your spectacles,” he said brusquely. “You have my word. If you like, you can go into the house while I keep searching.”
“No, thank you. If I tried to find the house on my own, I’d probably end up in the barn.”
Seeing a metallic glimmer in the grass, Leo reached out and closed his hand around the spectacles. “Here they are.” He crawled to Marks and faced her in an upright kneeling position. After polishing the lenses with the edge of his sleeve, he said, “Hold still.”
“Give them to me.”
“Let me do it, hardhead. Arguing comes to you as naturally as breathing, doesn’t it?”
“No, it doesn’t,” she said immediately, and colored as he gave a husky laugh.
“It’s no fun to bait you when you make it so easy, Marks.” He placed the spectacles on her face with great care, running his fingers along the sides of the frame, viewing the fit with an assessing glance. Gently he touched the tips of the earpieces. “They’re not fitted well.” He ran an exploring fingertip over the upper rim of one ear. She was remarkably pretty in the sunlight, her gray eyes containing glimmers of blue and green. Like opals. “Such small ears,” Leo continued, letting his hands linger gently at the sides of her fine-boned face. “No wonder your spectacles fall off so readily. There’s hardly anything to hang them on.”
Marks stared at him in bewilderment.
How fragile she was, he thought. Her will was so fierce, her temperament so prickly, that he tended to forget she was only half his size. He would have expected her to slap his hands away by now–she hated being touched, especially by him. But she didn’t move at all. He let his thumb brush the side of her throat, and felt the tiny undulation of her swallow. There was something unreal about the moment, something dreamlike. He didn’t want it to end.
“Is Catherine your real name?” he asked. “Will you at least answer that?”
She hesitated, fearful of yielding any part of herself, even that insignificant scrap of information. But as his fingertips slid along her neck, the light caress seemed to disarm her. A bloom of color rose from her throat.
“Yes,” she choked out. “It’s Catherine.”
They were still kneeling together, her skirts having billowed and settled everywhere. Folds of flower-printed muslin had been caught under one of Leo’s knees. His body reacted strongly to her nearness, heat sliding beneath his skin and gathering in inconvenient places. Muscles tightened, thickened. He would have to put an end to this, or he was going to do something they would both regret.
“I’ll help you up,” Leo said brusquely, making to rise. “We’ll go inside. I warn you, however, I’m not through with you yet. There’s more I–”
But he broke off, because as Marks had tried to struggle upward, her body had brushed against his. They went still, caught front to front, their breath mingling in uneven surges.
The dreamlike feeling intensified. The two of them were kneeling in a summer garden, the air weighted with the perfume of hot crushed grass and pungent daffodils . . . and Catherine Marks was in his arms. Her hair shimmered in the sunlight, her skin petal-smooth. Her upper lip was nearly as full as the lower, the curves as delicate and smooth as a ripe persimmon. Staring at her mouth, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck lift in reflexive excitement.
Some temptations, Leo decided hazily, should not be resisted. Because they were so persistent that they would only keep returning, time and again. Therefore such temptations absolutely had to be yielded to–it was the only way to get rid of them.
“Damn it,” he said raggedly, “I’ll do it. Even knowing I’ll be annihilated afterward.”
“You’ll do what?” Marks asked, her eyes huge.
“This.”
And his mouth descended to hers.
©2009 Lisa Kleypas
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Ugh. 2010? Summer? Ugh. *pout*
I thought there was something suspicious about those daffodils!!! Thanks Sybil and great excerpt. 🙂
What an amazing excerpt! I’m so excited for Married By Morning to come out…over the summer! Such a long wait, but I know it will be worth it, as all of Lisa’s books are. I absolutely love Leo and Marks together. They are such an arguing/loving/funny pair! I loved all the Hathaway books, especially Mine till Midnight, but I think this will be even better, if that’s possible! Tempt me at Twilight was amazing also, but I didn’t like Seduce Me at Sunrise quite so much as the TMAT or MTM. I’m still eagerly awaiting this book and will get it on pre-order as soon as I can, just like what I did with TMAT! It was well worth it 🙂
Oh, so happy it’s posted…Can’t wait ’til this coming summer. Good excerpt.
Oooh, those pungent daffodils, how could he resist!
So now the end of TMAT makes a little more sense. And I just reread the end of ch. 23, too, to figure out where to place this scene. Maybe Leo walked up on Cat and Harry when they were talking about being siblings…
What a lovely excerpt—so much yearning and suppressing of emotions going on that everything between Cat and Leo crackles with intensity. I always look forward to Lisa Kleypas’ book, but wow, the wait for MARRIED BY MORNING is going to be more painful than the others.
Ok, now I’m even more impatient to read their story. 😉
Thanks for posting up the excerpt!
*sigh*
.
How wonderful. Thanks Lisa and Syb!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Lisa and Sybil!!!! *bear hugs and squeezes* What an amazing excerpt. Several things I loved: “Yes, Marks, disguise. A noun describing something that serves to conceal someone’s identity. Often used by clowns and spies, and now apparently governesses.” ROFLMAO. God, I love Leo Hathaway. And, “Let me do it, hardhead. Arguing comes to you as naturally as breathing, doesn’t it?”
“No, it doesn’t,” she said immediately, and colored as he gave a husky laugh.” I also adore how she actually needs the glasses, unlike other novels where the hero simply chunks them and declares her vision will get stronger now that she’s not wearing them (I’m looking at you, my beloved “Charm School” by Susan Wiggs…it would be awesome if she were wearing the spectacles on the cover/in-set…
Thanks for sharing Ms. Kleypas and Sybil!! Summer 2010 is a long way off. 🙁
Oh, and this gem: Leo–“I’ll find your spectacles,” he said brusquely. “You have my word. If you like, you can go into the house while I keep searching.”
Cat–
“No, thank you. If I tried to find the house on my own, I’d probably end up in the barn.” God, I love Catherine Marks/Real Identity. Lisa, if you’re anywhere around, if the rest of the book is this wonderful, then I’ll be camped outside Ye Olde Printing Press for the first copy. xD
And we got yanked away right there? AAAAHHHHHHHH!!
This excerpt was beyond amazing. Better than I had even hoped for. I can’t wait to find out the actual release date.
And the cover art!
Delicious!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Awesome. I can’t wait. Thanks for the excerpt!
OH! Now the wait will be harder!!
😀
But I had to read it anyway!
AG
How about ‘Spring 2010’… doesn’t that sound lovely? 😀
Wow, thanks! I can’t wait for their story. I think Leo is going to end up being one of Kleypas’s best, and that is saying A LOT! (And to think I hated Leo in the first book of this series, now I am utterly in love with the guy!) And Catherine is really turning out to be a great character too. It’s looking like perfect chemistry so far. Please see if you can get more excerpts to tide us over until May, OK??!! Pleeeeease?? Maybe one a month, even a tiny little one each month????
So agree with KarLyn, tid bits along the way to keep us going for the long wait would be wonderful.
I third KarLyn and Linny’s idea…I know, I know, we always want something ;D I can’t wait until Amazon’s Look-Inside feature goes up for this book. You can glean some really interesting information that way, and it (mostly) blocks the really juicy parts so you don’t get *that* spoiled…just pumped up for the book. I can’t wait until the summer of next year, though. Marie and I would, however, settle for spring. 😉 I wish Lisa would pop by and join our discussion, but she’s probably incredibly busy. And one more thing about the excerpt: I thought it telling that even though he and Cat have never gotten along, he still felt a, it seemed, personal sense of betrayal that she had kept something from him. He’s still so gallant, even though he tries to hide it. I wonder, though…if whomever is tracking Cat is dangerous enough that she has to where a disguise, wouldn’t Baddy McVillain(s) pose a danger to the Hathaways as well? Or at the very least to their reputations, seeing as Catherine’s had rumors of scandal following her for years? If she doesn’t even have to work, why would she risk exposing the Hathaways, loving them as she does, to the potential for the sort of danger so powerful that she felt compelled to change her looks and her name to hide from it? And, something I’ve always wondered, if the ton knows who she is (and they do, since they gossip about her and her past, so her disguise must be completely useless), then certainly whomever she’s hiding from could track her down by simple word-of-mouth: “Oh, she works as a governess for the Hathaways in Hampshire.” Anybody else ever wonder that? Am I, yet again, over-analyzing?
Meg: I wondered the exact same things concerning the relationship of Cat’s disguise to her known reputation (UNLESS, as I surmised at one point, perhaps Catherine Real-Name turned became Catherine Marks before the reputation-marring scandal happened (hence how society knows of it in relation to her), really having no idea that the scandal-ridden governess is actually Catherine Real-Name who’s fleeing from baddies. In other words, the two events are independent because they happened to two separate identities (and as far as the ton knows, two separate women). Time to stop for breath, there. But that would, happily, negate the idea of her blithely putting people she’s come to love in some sort of heinous danger. I think.
What I’m super-excited to see is how Lisa slowly uncovers the development of Cat’s regard, affection (and, hee hee, lust) for Leo. Considering we’ve seen him mentally lose himself over her, but only the barest whiffs of her feeling anything other than ‘I get why women might find you compelling, but I still think you’re a useless rodent’ where he is concerned thus far.
Let’s see – you say summer so I’ll go with June. We are almost at the end of October so that means November, December, January, February, March, April, May
Dang but that seems a long way off doesn’t it?
Wooo hooo! Thanks to Lisa for such brilliant work and thank you Sybil for posting the excerpt. I hope you are feeling well. While I can not wait for MBM; I must admit that I find all of the observations and speculations hugely entertaining and so much fun to read! And, Lisa if you happen to pop in….how about pairing Bea with one of those beastly American Bowman brothers…I recall from the Wallflower Christmas that Rafe was the older of the brothers…which means there was another brother or two in that crazy ass American family.
Meg, that last point you brought up about the ton gossiping about her has always puzzled me since she’s working as a governess and attends the functions. So if she really was being pursued…she wasn’t exactly hiding very well. Never got that and her disguise. Maybe it has something to do with Harry when he helped her from the bad situation, since he never openly acknowledge their relationship? Anyway, picking stuff out of the air now. Still, the fact that she made enough impression to be worthy of gossip has also been something that has been on the back of my mind.
TINA: Very interesting idea. It happening the way you described, with Catherine Marks being the perpetrator instead of Catherine Real-Name, makes sense. She (and the Hathaways) would at least be safe from the baddies that she’s hiding from. Her identity would still be safe in that respect. But I still have to wonder why the Hathaways would have chosen a scandal-ridden governess to teach Poppy and Beatrix the intricacies of social etiquette. 😛 I know that Leo claimed quite hilariously that they “couldn’t give a monkey’s arse” about being accepted into polite society, but I have to call bs on that. Because having even the faintest whiff of oddness or scandal attached to one’s name meant no marriage back then, and Miss Marks certainly caused enough of a scandal that even Doc Harrow was taunting her about it. LINNY: Harry will very likely use his power and influence to shut people up about her. I’m sure whatever she did is nothing this mundane, but back in the Victorian period, all you had to do is show a millimeter of ankle to be considered a big ol’ ho, lol! 😀 And yet they could shove their boobs up to their chins…
Meg: In cracking open SMAS again to ~research your question~, I discovered that the first person to remark on Marks’ ‘scandal’ is Poppy, saying she’d heard a few whiffs of it while at some ton function. Leo seems surprised and intrigued, so he definitely hadn’t heard it before, but then I remembered he’d been in France for the two previous years. Hence it had to have been Amelia who’d done the hiring. Since it’s presented in such a way so as to seem the family knew nothing of it until Poppy heard those rumours, either Amelia was just so grateful to have someone smart actually willing to work for her crazy family that she didn’t dig too deeply into Marks’ past, references, etc, OR Amelia must have known at least a few of Catherine-as-Marks’ secrets the whole time and felt like giving her a chance (which I’m not sure I find as plausible, however they seem pretty cozy in that one scene in TMAT where Amelia calls her by her first name; I don’t know if this suggests a previous closeness or intimacy or anything, but hey, it could happen).
And by ‘known of her secrets’ I guess I mean maybe Cat was up-front about whatever the scandal was, not that it was so widespread it would have reached Amelia before they even met. I mean, if you think about it, the concept of ‘becoming a governess because you were involved in a scandal’ by necessity is a little interesting… you know, you’d have to find a family willing to overlook what people are saying and everything. Once Poppy mentions the rumours, it’s not like any of them, even Leo, feel inclined to say something to her about them… quite the opposite, actually.
‘Her’ in the last sentence being Marks. Ugh, this is what comes from not being able to edit my posts 😉
Whoa, you really did your homework! 😀 And I agree completely, Amelia will likely have known something about the scandal from the beginning. It would be too risky for Catherine-as-Marks to not be upfront about it when she was hired, considering most families of means would dismiss her on the spot later on anyway if they found out she was involved in something unsavory, and then she’d have to find another family to “hide” with. She’d have known the Hathaways would’ve caught wind of it eventually anyway, so it makes perfect sense that she’d be upfront with Amelia. And probably vice-versa, because working for a family that includes Gypsies wouldn’t exactly be stellar for Cat’s personal/professional reputation, either, and I doubt few (if any) governesses of the time would’ve been willing to go there. So I’m thinking there was some upfront ‘fessing up on the part of both Amelia (who needed someone willing to take on the weird Hathaways) and Cat (who needed a place to hide and belong). And what I find to be your most interesting point is that Leo hasn’t ever expressed much interest in the specifics of the scandal. He teased her about it once in only an offhand way when they were trying to stop Doc Harrow in SMAS, and in TMAT he lamented her secretive nature. But you’d think, obsessed with her as he is, he’d have driven himself ’round the bend by now trying to find out what it is, especially since it involves her “squandering her favors” with men. I’m sure we’ll get a lot of that in MBM, but it looks like, loving to tease her as he does, he’d have dug a little deeper to try to unearth her secrets by now.
Oh, and Amelia and Cat’s coziness in TMAT raised a few red flags for me, as well. I don’t think Amelia knew anything about Cat being Harry’s half-sister from the get-go; she wouldn’t have kept something like that from Poppy, I don’t think; Amelia and Cat probably bonded over that piece of info while they were de-greening her hair. But it still doesn’t rule out Amelia knowing The Other Thing about Cat. And I meant to second your sentiment in one of your posts above about being eager to see how Cat evolves from hating Leo’s guts to him being her One and Only. You’re right, she absolutely is physically attracted to him, but thus far she hasn’t shown any tenderness…well, unless you count the scene before the wedding where he fixes her spectacles and she admits to being lonely in a roundabout way. Still wondering if there will be a beginning-of-book emergency anvil wedding at Gretna Green or an end-of-book love-affirming marriage…
Have you voted for St Vincent yet?
http://thebookbinge.com/2009/10/last-lk-hero-standing-final-round.html
Go forth and vote!
And to answer the Amelia/Cat question she tells her about her relationship with Harry after they are married. It is in TMaT, Amelia explains that Catherine told her and Cam everything…
Nope, I voted for Derek… GO Derek!!! 😉
I do not approve! LOL
Thanks for the peak into the next book. I have recently become a fan of Lisa’s and this series is by far my favorite.
Sybil, looks like I’ll have to read TMAT again! *sigh* I’m so put upon… ;D So Amelia, Cam and Poppy know so far of the Hathaways. Leo’s gonna be so peeved at being left out of the loop. Oh, and I’ll have to back Sybil and go with St. Vincent, although I don’t know what kind of cruel world this is that we have to choose. St. Vincent’s blonde, and I have a thing for blondes, so I guess I’d pick him. Although “Dreaming of You” was the one that got me hopelessly hooked on LK’s books.
Seriously Meg, if you read it one more time, they’ll need to implant the book in your head…hehe. With 59% of the votes, Derek won!!! Yay! ** Cartwheels** What can I say? It’s hard to beat the tall, dark, dangerous and not to mention sentimental favorite. But don’t be disheartened Sybil and Meg, St Vincent is still fabulous. If it were the battle of the blondes, he would have won hands down. Fewer opponents… 😉
I wish they’d automatically implant all Lisa’s books in my head, whenever a new one comes out, lol 😉 Derek won, but it was still pretty close…still, I’m happy for him. I had a tough time choosing between my two fave LK heroes. Other than Alex from “Then Came You,” and St. Vincent, who else has been blonde in Lisa’s stable of heroes? I don’t recall “Stranger in My Arms” that well (not my fave…dead husband/evil twin stories, blech), but wasn’t Hunter (?) blonde? And how could I forget about Gideon Shaw? Technically, he didn’t have his own book, but he should have.
I can hardly wait!
Oh thank you so much for sharing this excerpt! What a great scene–I can barely wait to read the whole book now!
i saw their relationship coming from the moment they met………it’s like Beatrix says they fight because they’re secretly attracted too each other…..Seduce Me at Sunrise is my favorite of all the series…..Magnificent is just an understatement….P.E.R.F.E.C.T.I.O.N!!! I have read every book by lisa kleypas and she always keeps me interested and wanting more
it sounds great! all i hope though is that she’ll edit out the word ‘jackass’. im english and i can say with surety that no born and bred english man in the 1800s in hampshire would even know that word lol
the same is true of the word ‘gotten’ of course. that word is not english. but there we go, i guess her main market is the US huh?
still a lovely teaser all the same, looking forward to it being published
ps. at least, he wouldn’t have known of ‘jackass’ as an insult at the time. very american lol
Caliente, Caliente, Caliente!!! It just leaves me wanting more. I just wish we didn’t have to wait until May for the book. This would have been a great Christmas or birthday present for me. 🙂
I knew it! I knew it was going to happen!
I can’t wait until the cover art and official synopsis is released (although we already know what it’ll be about, hee!) Amazon.com has the release date as May 25th, 2010, which is earlier than I expected. Wooohooooo!!!
Oh. My. God!!!!!!!!! That was awesome! Ugh, I don’t want to wait any longer. I knew from the moment Marks came that she and Leo would get together… They bicker like a married couple. Ooooooh, I cant wait! Hurry up, time! Let May come already!
With 2010 fast approaching, I’m hoping we’ll start to get some more tidbits about this book. I check LK’s website all the time, scanning for news on what is, for me, the most anticipated romance novel ever. 😀
I am with you Meg; I am so excited for MBM! I am driving myself crazy wondering what Leo and Cat are going to be up to for the next five months.
Nancy, I think I might have an idea of what Leo and Cat will be up to ;D, hehe! But seriously, I know whatever Lisa does with these characters will be wonderful. That being said, I think (I hope) that it will be one of her more angsty novels, more in the vein of SMAS than MTM or TMAT. SMAS has been my favorite Hathaways book so far because Kleypas writes deep, obsessive-without-being-creepy, dark-but-hopeful, passionate love stories like no one else. And if Cat is still having nightmares about her past and forced to wear a disguise, methinks this’ll be one of her heavier love stories, instead of the relative lightness of MTM, TMAT, and her Wallflowers series. I can’t wait!!! 😀