Author Visit: A Match for the Marquess by Lillian Marek (Excerpt & Giveaway)

A Match for the Marquess: A Comedy of Manners (Victorian Adventures) by Lillian Marek
on August 7th 2018
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo
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Decisions, decisions...
Should Lady Anne Milhaven marry the wealthy and handsome young marquess, or should she resign herself to living out her life in poverty and disgrace, exiled from the world she was born to?
Should Philip Tremaine, the new Marquess
of Penworth, redeem his honor and marry the proud and beautiful earl’s daughter whom he has unintentionally compromised, or should he prove himself as dissolute as his contemptible family?
They are not fools, but marriage is only the beginning. They have an estate to restore and reputations to repair. In addition, they must learn to work together if they are to thwart the vile plots of their scheming relatives.
A Match for the Marquess is the prequel to the Victorian Adventures series.

In which our heroine receives a letter

1828

Lady Anne Milhaven looked at the letter lying upon the salver as if she had never seen such a thing before. She looked up at the butler who was proffering it to her and raised her eyebrows in query.

“A letter for you, my lady,” said Jeffries.

She could swear there was the ghost of a smile on his face.

“Thank you,” she said, offering a ghostly smile of her own.

She reached out hesitantly and picked it up. It had been so long since she had last received a letter that she had almost forgotten what to do. Uncle Craddock required that all mail be given only to him, and in this house, his word was law. If there had been letters for her—and there must at least have been letters of condolence after her parents’ deaths—she had never received them.

But at the moment, Uncle Craddock was away from home.

This letter was clearly addressed to her, in what looked to be a man’s writing, and franked with an illegible scrawl. Her fingers caressed the letter, enjoying the smooth texture of the expensive paper. She did not recognize the seal on the back, but it had been too long since she had needed to pay attention to such things.

She stiffened her spine and told herself to stop shillyshallying. She was not some faint-hearted ninny. Her father would have laughed and reminded her never to hesitate before taking a fence. With a quick smile for the memory, she opened the letter so she could read it before Aunt Craddock and Cousin Corinne arrived at the breakfast table.

The signature first. It was from the Earl of Greystone, her godfather. That was a surprise. Was he no longer in India? Since she had never heard from him, she was not even certain that he knew of her father’s death.

She read the letter through quickly, and then again slowly. There were more surprises. It was clear from the letter that not only was he in England but he had been back for some time—and he had written before. Her fingers clenched around the paper. Here was proof positive that her uncle stole her mail.

Forcing her fingers open, she smoothed out the letter and read it again. It was an invitation to stay at the earl’s country house. To stay for weeks, perhaps. A door was opening for her, a chance for something, a chance for something more.

If she went and Uncle Craddock found out—no, when Uncle Craddock found out—he would be furious. But he was not here, and the invitation was in her hand. For a moment, she had control of her life. She could hardly believe it. She closed her eyes and reminded herself to stay calm and to keep breathing. This was her chance, and she would seize it!

The sounds of her aunt’s approach recalled her to the moment. She pulled herself together and by the time her aunt arrived, she was once again a subdued creature in a mousey grey gown, eyes down in seeming modesty to keep her thoughts safely hidden. Fearing that if she looked up for a moment the blaze of hope in her eyes would be obvious, she stared down at the grey bombazine of her dress. Once I am free, I will never wear grey again.

To have a chance of winning a digital copy of A Match for the Marquess…

Just comment with your answer to this question…Lillian asks…

Do you like Cinderella stories?

A Match for the Marquess is one. In my first few drafts, I piled on the humiliation a bit too much

and had to cut out a lot of it. I didn’t want my heroine to be too pathetic!

I eventually decided that grey bombazine and an ugly cap were enough. What do you think?

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