A Victorian
Steampunk/Paranormal adventure with strong elements of
romance...
Lady Lily d'Bulier is
prim, proper, and prefers to think of herself as pragmatic rather than timid.
And avoiding life-threatening situations at all costs is just plain practical.
But everything changes when Lord Adair tracks her down in London; searching for
answers he seems to think she has.
Greyston Adair is a
blackguard and a smuggler, although British Customs will have to catch him
red-handed to prove the latter. Fortunately, the dirigibles they float around in
have never been able to get near his air dust.
Hell is rising, One
Demon at a Time...
With Lady Ostrich
hunting them, and the mystery of how their lives tie back to Cragloden Castle
and the powerful McAllister clan, Lily has no option but to throw propriety to
the wind and run off with Greyston to Scotland, away from the immediate danger
and toward possible answers.
********* EXCERPT *********
Evelyn was even more
intrigued when she entered the drawing room. Not only was Lily’s mysterious
gentleman the scrumptious Lord Adair from the previous night, but the two of
them looked as if they’d been caught in flagrante. Lord Adair’s neck cloth
looked as if it had been tied in unseemly haste—by a blind man. Lily’s skirts
were scuffed and wrinkled and her bodice wasn’t sitting quite
straight.
Lily left his side to
meet Evelyn halfway across the room.
“If I’d known you were
being ravished by Lord Dashing down here,” Evelyn declared in a whisper, “I
would have stayed up there—” she raised her eyes to the ceiling “—another twenty
minutes.”
“Don’t be absurd.”
Lily’s hands flew to her hair.
“It’s your skirts that
need patting down.” She linked her arm in Lily’s and strolled in the direction
of Lord Adair, keeping her voice low. “What did he do? Drag you into the woods
and toss you over a log?”
Lily went white in the
face.
“By God.” Evelyn
surged forward. “I’ll deal with the bloody Scotsman.”
“Evie, no, wait.” Lily
dug her heels in. “Nothing happened. Must you always latch onto the most
preposterous conclusions?”
Evelyn’s brows drew
tight. Something felt wrong, but her friend made a valid point. She was rash and
brash, a fact she’d never denied. She kept her sharp tongue on a leash and
turned a smile on the man instead as they drew close. “How charming, Lord Adair,
I was hoping we’d see more of you.”
“Lady Harchings.” He
inclined his head in greeting.
Clearly not trusting
her to keep the peace, Lily inserted breathlessly, “I was just telling Lady
Harchings that we were riding in the park—”
“And your horses
tossed both of you?” Evelyn couldn’t resist.
Lily rewarded her with
a glare. “We were in Lord Adair’s carriage, but, um, yes, a rabbit or fox must
have run across the path because one of the horses took
fright—”
“You really should
train them better,” Evelyn told him.
“The rabbits or the
horses?” Lord Adair riposted dryly, his eyes never leaving Lily and a grin
tugging at his mouth.
Claire Robyns lives in
Berkshire, England, with her husband and twin boys. For so long as she has
memories, she was either reading, dreaming about reading, or planning what she'd
be reading next. Then one day she started dreaming about writing and that was
the beginning of an amazing journey.
When Claire isn't
thigh-deep in laundry, shopping, cooking and general crowd control, you'll find
her head-and-heart-deep in the tangled lives of her
characters.
Visit Claire at her
website www.clairerobyns.com or on twitter
@clairerobyns or on facebook www.facebook.com/clairerobyns
********* GIVEAWAY *********
Claire will be awarding a $50 Amazon gift card to two randomly drawn commenters during the tour. For more chances to enter you can follow the tour HERE
13 comments:
This is a great steampunk read fast paced and good chemistry between Lily and Greyston looking forward to the rest of the series
Thanks for the excerpt! I love reading steampunk and really love the names Claire has chosen for her characters - I especially like "Lady Ostrich" as the villain...Thanks for the giveaway
junegirl63 at gmail dot com
Thanks for having me over today :)
Judy and Maria, thanks so much for the lovely comments
Sounds like a great read, thank you.
Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com
Thanks for sharing the excerpt, I have a feeling I will like these characters
fencingromein at hotmail dot com
This really sounds like a fun and exciting story. I loved the excerpt.
Very nice excerpt
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
I've not read any steampunk. What can I expect from it that will be different from a regular historical?
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com
Already rooting for this couple!
justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Calling a gentleman scrumptious just conjures us all sorts of yummy images.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Sorry for the late post. I’m playing catch-up here so I’m just popping in to say HI and sorry I missed visiting with you on party day! Hope you all had a good time!
kareninnc at gmail dot com
I have to say that the cover is absolutely GORGEOUS!! I totally love it! Perfect for a steampunk gem! Super excited to start reading!
andralynn7 AT gmail DOT com
Looks like a good read. Enjoyed the excerpt.
strive4bst(At) yahoo(Dot) com
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