Bec McMaster brings together the threads she’s spun in her earlier books for a thrilling conclusion to the London Steampunk series. If you haven’t read this series, then you’re in for a treat as you get to experience Victorian England straight out of the imagination of the author, particularly the oh-so-not-romantic relationship between the young queen and her beloved husband.
Aramina is a lady-in-waiting to the queen, a rare female blueblood who holds a position of power at court. Try as she can to hate Leo and get her revenge against the Barrons family for their treatment of her father, she just can’t seem to resist him. The chemistry between these two will raise your temperature as you follow her into the dregs of London in search of Leo’s secrets. All the characters from the earlier series come on stage to play their part in bringing the series to an exciting finish.
Sourcebooks is offering up a copy of Of Silk and Steam in a Rafflecopy giveaway, so be sure to get your entry in ASAP!
Summary:
ENEMIES. ALLIES. LOVERS.
When her beloved father was assassinated, Lady Aramina swore revenge. The man responsible is well beyond her grasp, but his dangerously seductive heir, Leo Barrons, is fair game. When Mina obtains evidence proving that Leo is illegitimate, she has the means to destroy both the killer and his son, a man who troubles her heart and tempts her body.
A woman of mystery, Mina’s long driven Leo crazy with glimpses of a fiery passion that lurks beneath her icy veneer. He knows she’s hiding something, and he’s determined to unravel her layer by silken layer. He just doesn’t expect the beautiful liar to be the key to overthrowing the corrupt prince consort…or to saving his own carefully walled-off heart.
Barrons looked at her. “Do you trust me?”
“No.” His father would have cut her down without thinking, but Barrons was an enigma. If he were a different man, she would have enjoyed his attentions, but a part of her couldn’t help wondering if his pursuit of her was just a way to get closer, to slip the knife in when she least expected it…
Could she trust that he meant her no harm?
His hand tightened around hers, dark heat sweeping through his irises. He focused on her so intently that she could almost feel it on her skin. “Then let us call a temporary truce for tonight. I shall help you escape. In return…”
“Yes?”
His voice roughened. “I want a kiss.”
A kiss. Tension slid sinuously along her limbs, each muscle clenching. Those motives she could certainly understand. It didn’t mean she had to like them.
Wariness spread through her as he lifted his hand and slowly, carefully brushed the back of his fingers against her lips. She didn’t flinch. Instead she tipped her chin up and glared him down. “Help me escape and I shall grant you such a liberty.” What harm could a single kiss do? “Until then”—she took a step back, her skirts swishing around her ankles—“I’ll thank you to keep your hands to yourself.”
His hand dropped but the ghostly sensation of that touch lingered, reminding her that it had been a long time since she’d been touched in any way intimately, and never like this. Never…soft. Full of gentleness, as if the very sensation of her skin beneath his was a pleasure in itself, not merely a step to greater satisfaction.
He was far more dangerous than she’d ever suspected, and she’d known, since the first moment she’d met him, that he was dangerous indeed. He was the only man who had ever managed to make her feel something.
