Hi friends! I’m so pleased to welcome back author Suzan Lauder for her NINTH visit to Austenesque Reviews today! 😮

Suzan is here to celebrate the release of the newest installment in her Cecilia’s Mismatches series – Secret Affairs! 🙌🏼

I think at this point, Cecilia is wracking up more mismatches than Emma Woodhouse! ❌ ❌ ❌ 

And it sounds like Suzan has brought an interesting excerpt to share with us today! 📗

We hope you enjoy! 🤗

As usual, I try not to give Meredith just any old excerpt for her blog. Instead, this is a scene that was left on the cutting room floor due to the clever advice of my editor, Leigh Stewart. The reason is that it was a sidetrack from the main story that focused too much on the rival lover, Lord Catlin, and not enough on the main characters, Lexie and Lord Remington: the bluestocking and the rake who seem an unlikely pairing themselves. Cecilia certainly would never have dreamed of it!

Just prior to this scene, Lord Catlin (Lexie’s mismatch) has been freed from gaol on charges of murder (he was wrongfully accused by Lexie’s dastardly cousin Aubrey Hales) due the efforts of Lord Remington, Lexie, Marcus (Lord Broadmead), and a barrister friend Mr. Tremaine. As we start, Lexie and Remy have met again in the garden as per their wont, and are interrupted while kissing.

Outtake from Secret Affairs – old Chapter 11

…voices were heard outside of the house, and they snapped apart, gasping for air. After a wait to ensure that no one was coming their way, Lexie relaxed somewhat.

“Have you lost your fortune?” she said using her most mischievous tone between deep inhalations. “Because that was sure to make up for it.”

“You are wishing I had so you need not worry about all the ladies who are after it.”

“Touché. But you have experience in jilting them, so I cannot worry too much should I decide I should like to stake a claim.”

“Stake a claim? Now I am some fresh new country to be conquered?”

“I shall conquer you, I assure you.”

“You have a great deal of confidence for such an inexperienced miss.”

“I am a quick learner.”

“Upon that we can agree. You need no lessons at all. You are naturally inclined to kissing as well as making me a crazed man. Those weeks of evenings in Catlin’s gaol were torture, did you know that?”

“In what way?”

“Not that I minded assisting the man. The lack of these secret meetings left me bereft, is all.”

“What happened while you were in the gaol? What was it like?”

“Come, let us sit.” They took a seat on a bench facing the fountain and she snuggled under his arm. “Before I describe it, I am remiss at commenting on your role in the scheme to free him. If anyone was the most important, it was you. Tremaine referred to you as his right hand, and I read those law books and then your notes after the fact. He could not have gone to the magistrate and made his case with such ease without your assistance. I admire you for the skill you showed.”

“Why, thank you. But I thought the admiration of my simple transcription was over earlier. So enough of that.”

Remy took her face in one hand and turned it to his. “I am in earnest. This experience gave me one more reason to admire you. But I have an important question to ask. You were so diligent in your efforts, it makes me wonder if your feelings towards Catlin are deeper than before. Do you care for him?”

“I think of him as a close friend, I assure you. I cannot like him as more than a brother.”

A light kiss on the lips was her reward before he dropped his hand. Heat had rushed to her face and she looked downward in case he could see it in the low light coming from the house.

“Now, Catlin’s hovel room. He was in the best accommodation they could offer, given that he had a private cell and was not housed with the general group of ruffians. Good thing, too, because I do believe he would not have lived to this day with those folk. They had delivered his sentence. He had spare conditions, and it was dirty and not at all private, with barred walls. The three of us just fit in the room standing. The stench from the others was offensive. We brought Catlin fresh water and food each day since all he was fed was a little stew and bread. The gaolers took some of the food and needed a bribe to let us in every time. We left only one book at a time in case they were stolen or defaced by the gaolers. That meant that the time we spent there was the only time he had to review your notes. He is a fast reader, and you have a good hand, so we had that on our side.”

“I hate to think of him in those circumstances. He is a fastidious man, and loves his books.”

“Catlin was the most important mind in the defence. Tremaine had the expertise, but Catlin’s quick deductions outshone him as soon as he had the summaries.”

“His family members are all intelligent. Some are mistaken when they believe black people are less so than white, and even people who think they do not have a prejudice have that one.”

“I wonder if I did. With all things even, though, Catlin is exceptional. I should like to have him on my side should I ever get into trouble.” His fingers had been absently stroking the flesh of her arm below the short sleeve of her dinner gown. “Are you not cold?”

“The evening is warm, but I must confess that your touch is giving me gooseflesh.” Her voice was tremulous to her own hearing. He pulled her closer and began to suckle her earlobe, then kiss a line below it. “You know that tickles.”

“I do, but I adore your reaction. Oh, Alexandra…may I call you Alexandra?”

The implications were great, since the name implicated a closeness in their relationship that was much more than occasional kisses. “You may, if I may call you Remy.”

“No, call me by my given name,” he said in a murmur. “Julian. No one calls me that, and it is special.” He captured her lips in a fiery hot kiss before she had any time to respond.

Now, this is the sort of scene you’ll see in Secret Affairs: Remy and Lexie kissing and bantering in the rose garden. Can she overcome her aversion to his past, and can he commit to a woman who asks too many questions in regard to his past? And are his secrets as vile as reported by the ton? Find out when you read the whole book!

Thanks, Meredith, for allowing me to join you once again with a flight of fancy related to a new release. I hope readers enjoyed this enough to tell me their reactions in the comments for a chance to win an e-book of Secret Affairs! I sure enjoyed being here!

Ooh, I like the playful banter betweeen Lexie and Remy. And I really love the pairing of bluestocking with a rake! I’m already eager to see more of these “secret meetings!”

Thank you so much for sharing, Suzan!

~ Book Description ~

Miss Alexandra Hales is much too clever, and more comfortable with her role as the steward
for her sister and brother-by-marriage than as a lady enjoying the London Season. Lexie has no
need for a husband. After all, what gentleman would accept her as she is? But when Cecilia,
Lady Hoxley, pairs her with long-time friend and neighbour Lord Catlin at her sister Cassandra
Charington’s summer house party, she finds herself obligated to consider him as a potential
husband. At the same time, the enigmatic and disreputable Lord Remington has insulted her not
once, but twice! He is a disagreeable man indeed!

When she and Lord Remington happen upon each other in the garden one evening, an argument
ensues, which is to be expected, but all changes when the rake kisses her. What a kiss! Yet what
about Cecilia’s plans to match her with the likeable yet brotherly Lord Catlin? She has told all
and sundry about the match, but can she love him?

For the first time, a quandary lies before her too complex for her reasoning. What is Lexie to do?
Book Three of the Cecilia’s Mismatches series is a stand-alone novel.

~ Connect with Suzan ~

Website    ❧    Facebook   ❧   Twitter   ❧   Instagram   ❧   Pinterest

~ About Suzan ~

A lover of Jane Austen, Regency period research and costuming, yoga, fitness, home renovation, design, sustainability, and independent travel, cat mom Suzan Lauder keeps busy even when she’s not writing novels based on Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, all of which are published by Meryton Press.

She and Mr. Suze and their rescue tabby split their time between a loft condo overlooking the Salish Sea and a 150-year-old Spanish colonial casita in Mexico. Suzan’s lively prose can be found on her Facebook author page, www.facebook.com/SuzanLauder; on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest as @SuzanLauder; and on her Meryton Press blog, road trips with the redhead www.suzanlauder.merytonpress.com.

Prior to publishing An Accomplished Woman of the Cecilia’s Mismatches series, Lauder had four novels, a novella, and a novelette published by Meryton Press and has short stories in two Austenesque anthologies. All are popular, most earning four-plus star ratings on Amazon and Goodreads. Accolades include Amazon bestseller for Letter from Ramsgate and The Barrister’s Bride, a Finalist for Sexy Scribbles for an excerpt from Alias Thomas Bennet, and several of her books were placed on top ten of the year lists by influential bloggers.

She even finds time to bake muffins!

~~~

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

Meryton Press is generously giving away  1️⃣ ebook copy of Secret Affairs in conjunction with Suzan’s visit today!  

To enter this giveaway leave a comment, a question, or some love for Suzan!

• This giveaway is open worldwide.  Thank you, Meryton Press!
• This giveaway ends May 27th!

Thank you to Janet Taylor, Meryton Press, and Suzan Lauder for making this visit possible!