Untouched by Anna Campbell
“I am many things,” Lord Sheene said. “Kind is not one of them.”
Beautiful Grace Paget has no reason to doubt these words. After all, she was kidnapped, spirited away to a remote country manor, and told she is to grant this man his every desire…or lose her life. But Grace is no common trollop. So she risks everything to save her virtue by planning a daring escape, even though she finds herself tempted by this dangerously handsome man. There is something in his eyes that makes her wonder if he is not as cruel as he would have her believe…
Sheene knew nothing of the plan to bring him this woman. Locked up as a prisoner, called “mad” by all of society, he will do anything to reclaim his life, and Grace’s sensuous beauty has distracted him from his goals. And although he finds her irresistible, he is horrified to hold her against her will. Now, together, they must both revolt against the strange set of circumstances that have forced them together—for only then will Grace truly surrender to him…forever.
I heart the last line….
E X C E R P T
And I do not think you can see this ANYWHERE else. right now That Anna is just too good to us *g* Read on below the cut.
After another revoltingly drawn-out moment, Filey shuffled away. Dimly through the pounding in her ears, Grace heard the door shut.
Finally she was alone. She gave a great sobbing gasp and opened her eyes.
She was in a pleasant room with white walls and two doors. The first was closed and the other opened onto a sunlit garden. Her sensation of unreality heightened. Surely she hadn’t been abducted off the public street and brought here to service strangers.
The laudanum’s mind-dulling effects ebbed. Some dissolute aristocrat meant to use her before handing her to his abhorrent henchmen.
She needed to get away now. Before her jailers returned. Before the mysterious Lord John who’d ordered a nice clean tart—she cringed at the description—arrived to see what his minions produced for his delectation.
The opiate still clogged her senses and the vile taste filled her mouth. She desperately wanted a drink of water.
No, she desperately wanted to be back at the Cock and Crown waiting for Cousin Vere.
Panting and sobbing, she began to struggle against the leather ties.
“That won’t do you any good.” As if to confirm what she’d already guessed, a man spoke from the garden doorway. “I should know. I’ve tried to break those bonds often enough.”
She whipped her head around in his direction. Light dazzled her. All she could make out was a tall figure with broad shoulders.
But she heard the voice clearly.
A deep voice smooth and rich as the cream she scooped from the new milk on her farm in Yorkshire. That beautiful cultured baritone frightened her more than all Monks and Filey’s ribald speculations.
Then she realized what he’d said. “They’ve tied you to this table too?”
The man stepped into the room. “Of course,” he said mildly as if the admission held no consequence.
The gold-limned shadow resolved into a gentleman in his middle twenties wearing a loose white shirt and buff breeches. He was more than six feet tall and overly slender for his height, although she didn’t mistake his physical strength. He might be lean, but it was sinewy leanness.
He was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. Even terrified as she was, she couldn’t help measuring each detail of his appearance.
Fine dark hair grew back from his high forehead. A long straight nose. Sharply cut cheekbones, prominent because of his thinness. His eyes remained downcast under his winged dark brows. He looked like one of God’s angels humbly awaiting direction from the Deity.
Except no angel would study her prone body with quite that level of curiosity.
The heated inspection licked its way up her form with leisurely thoroughness. It lingered at her breasts, making her burningly conscious of her gaping neckline. Every muscle contracted in fear and refusal.
Grace had lived with fear long enough to know facing it down was her only strategy. She glowered at the man. “Are you Lord John?”
His mouth quirked in an unamused smile. “No. Lord John is my uncle.”
“If you’re not Lord John, will you help me? Your uncle has brought me here for…” Words failed her, although she doubted any description she chose would shock this superb and lascivious angel.
That ghost of a smile again. Like the rest of him, his mouth was perfect. Wide enough to be expressive. A sharply defined upper lip. A generous sweep of lower lip.
“His amusement?” The deep voice darkened with irony as he chose the innocuous term for something they both knew was anything but innocuous. He shifted closer so his shadow fell across her. She fought another wave of panic.
Her fingers curled beneath the restricting straps. “Yes. You must help me get away.”
“Must?” The young man stretched out one long-fingered hand to stroke her cheek. His touch was cool but she jerked away as if scalded. He took her chin and held her for his scrutiny. “Hmm. Pretty.”
He terrified her. But he was her only chance of escape before the unknown Lord John arrived. She moderated her tone. “Please, sir. Please help me.”
She’d closed her eyes. Although somehow she knew that fleeting smile flickered and vanished again.
“Better. Much better.”
The monster toyed with her. He’d toyed with her from the first. She swallowed nervously. “I appeal to your honor, sir. You cannot…” No, insistence hadn’t worked. “I appeal for your help.”
“Ah, I knew you could manage the right note. I find myself moved, madam. That slight break in your voice is a masterstroke. Well done.”
Her eyes snapped open. Strange to be both so annoyed and so scared at the same time. “I protest, sir. You speak like I’m an…an actress trying out for a part.”
“Do I indeed?” He bit out the words. With a flick of his fingers, he released her as though touching her offended him. “How remiss of me when it’s quite clear you’ve already been cast for this particular role.”
He swung away from her with a restlessness she noticed even through her fear. Knowing as she spoke that she’d fail, Grace made one last try for this singular young man’s help. “Your uncle means to rape me. You cannot just abandon me.”
He turned back to her, his remarkable face a mask of well-bred contempt. “This confusion charms, madam. And almost convinces. But we both know you’re here for my use, not my uncle’s. Unless one discounts your purpose as his cat’s paw.”
She licked dry lips. “You must be mad.”
He gave a short huff of humorless laughter and met her gaze for the first time. He had rich brown eyes marked by a sunburst of gold. Beautiful, unusual eyes, colder than anything she’d ever seen.
He spoke quite gently as those strange striated eyes stared into hers. “Of course I am, my dear. Unquestionably and incurably mad.”
Ooh – I want!
OMG, I’m so excited.
SSSSQQQQUUUUUEEEEE!!!!!!!!
I’ll admit, when I saw the abducted whore/heroine and cruel hero elements, I was thinking more of the same…. ,I may have to pass.
I enjoyed the first half of her last release but the second half was problemic, I kept the book because of the characterization and I truly love Ms. Campbell’s voice. Her ‘voice’ has snagged me here again. (Behold the power of the mighty excerpt authors, forget those book-vids!) The set-up seems unique, so this goes on my to-buy list.
Damn you, Sybil, my bank account can’t take much more of your recommends!
Now this is an author who understands the appeal of mandatory sex, of which I expounded at length on my blog a while ago.
http://sherrythomas.blogspot.com/2006/12/give-me-sex-or-give-me-death.html
(Argh, will have to figure out the link tag another time. I’ve a deadline. I shouldn’t even be here.)
Oh, hey, never mind, it works.
Oh my word. This looks positively yummy!
GULP! Um, I passed on her first book, but this may just end up on my Christmas wish list. That’s quite an excerpt.
Such a beautiful cover and an interesting excerpt! Merry Christmas everyone! 🙂
I want this book.
Hey, Syb, thanks for pimping the new release! Mwah in a totally non-icky way!
Sherry, read your blog and I think you’re onto something really profound. I remember Robyn Donald saying that the secret to romance plotting was to get them under one roof and keep them there (she didn’t mention mandatory sex but clearly that’s implied!). And I don’t think readers ever get sick of the set-ups that provide MS. Marriages of convenience, kidnapping sheikhs, vampires with the mating impulse upon them. I know I sure don’t! 😉 And by the way, I feel like I’ve been waiting for your book FOREVER!!! Waaaaaahhhhh! I want it NOW!
This sounds like the perfect Christmas present–to give myself. Fabulous excerpt. Great voice.
EC
Hmm, perhaps I should get a T-shirt printed up with, “Did Santa bring you an Anna Campbell?” or “What’s YOUR reindeer reading this festive season?” At least the cover will tone nicely with all the holly! Thanks for the nice feedback, everyone!
I knew I would be sorry I read it! And now we have to wait until December? That is an awfully long time to anticipate a new deliciously-sounding book.
I think that is cruel.
Very intriguing…
hee meljean I have it ;)…. heeeeeee
You are welcome anna but the funny thing is this is the same post we put up during your author day only with the cover added. I was going to move the other post but when I do that I break any links to the first post.
So I copied it.
Sherry’s book is fabulous as well. I think you will enjoy it.
So you have this one and have already read Sherry Thomas’s.
Um, do you need another reviewer for this site? Cuz, like, I don’t have much time to do reviews, and I kind of suck at them, but I dunno, I’m kind of cute. *bats eyelashes* Pwetty pwease?
Oh, and I like the X-Files. C’mon!!!
YUM. What do I have to do to get an ARC? I want an ARC. December is too, too long to wait.
Meljean, I think you’d make a great reviewer for this site. What do you reckon, Syb? And Meljean, remember I RECOMMENDED YOU FOR THIS POST!!! You’ll owe me A pluses forever, even if you are kinda kewt!
Charlene, in October, I’m having a contest through my website where you can win an ARC. Can’t say fairer than that, can I? 😉
::poohbearthink::
Well you know miss anna will be guesting here in december me think… if she can squeeze us into her oh so busy schedule.
I shall ask avon how many copies they could give me. And if they wanna do a pre-buzzzzz type thing or MM final. Or you know nothing at all *g*. LOL since I need to send them three names as winners for LMR I will see whats doing.
And after anna’s scare in dallas I am pretty sure she could handle it if one of the winners didn’t like the book.
tra la la
LOL meljean I have had this one for ages and ages almost as long as I have had sherry’s 🙂
I would adore to have you do a guest review. In fact I think you owe me one already. And of course there is always that editing your book down a 100000 pages thing….
I thought it was down to 1,000,000 pages. Do I have a decimal point out of place? 😉
You know, Miss Sybil, you owe me like a million bucks for hair dye since the Dallas scary incident. I’m gray underneath the blonde, totally gray!!! And all thanks to you! When I pop over in December, you can give me the check! With more zeroes than Meljean’s pages! Love the idea of the ARCs. But I’ll be giving away a freebie or two when I’m guest of honor (snort) anyway.
Oh beautiful! This book is going to be a Christmas gift to myself!!