The second in Susanne Lord’s critically acclaimed
London Explorers series, Discovery of Desire, is out now! To celebrate, we've pulled an excerpt from the book to share.
***
Author’s Note:
Seth has disembarked from the steamship,
onto the crowded, bustling port of Bombay. The other passengers, including the
four dozen lady passengers who had sailed to wed East India Company men, are
rushed by the bachelors and huddled together in the chaos…
“Ladies?”
A woman’s voice. Sweet and
low and nearly swallowed in the fray.
Maybe it was because his
explorer’s senses were honed to seek the rare, the anomalies in nature, but
Seth trailed that voice to a venture girl twenty feet away. She wore a trim
white jacket and green skirt with starry, white flowers all over it. Her sun
helmet concealed all but a bit of brown hair.
“Ladies, as no one has
told us yet what to do, if you are to be met by someone, would you move to this
end?” She gestured and the ladies shuffled to do her bidding, obedient as
soldiers.
Seth jerked to follow,
then paused. He
was to meet someone. Should he wait with them?
A small wave of her hand
and the ladies leaned forward in attention. He did, too.
“And the others can wait
here for Captain Travers,” she said. “He will accompany you to the customs
house.” The women sorted themselves, fear in every pair of eyes clinging to
their officer.
Seth dragged in a lungful
of air that didn’t ease the tightness in his chest. Wasn’t any of his business.
And wasn’t a thing he could do to help.
He turned to plunge into
the crowd, but then the little officer spoke again.
“We are here, ladies,” she
said gently. “And we are fine.”
The words were plain, but
it was like she’d hushed the whole world. He didn’t want to, but he looked
again. The venture girls stood in two close circles, their small valises and
parasols clutched to their chests, and watched the chaos around them with wide
eyes.
But they kept their chins
up now.
For the first time in
months, a real smile curved his lips. People needed someone to depend on. Like
those ladies depended on that little officer.
And she was little,
at least to him. She wouldn’t stand any taller than his chin and his hands
could span her waist. But little or not, she wore that dainty, braided jacket
like a captain of the Eleventh Hussars. There wasn’t a wrinkle on her skirts or
wayward crease in its folds. And that straight spine was all the sight he had
of her—she didn’t fidget and she didn’t turn.
Composed, capable,
orderly-like. He’d drive a woman like that to Bedlam.
But he fell a little bit
in love with her anyway.
He was bumped from behind.
The mustache-man angling for a closer look. “Give the ladies their breathing
room, mate,” Seth said. “They might like a bit of time to repair themselves.”
The man swung about. “You
traveled with them, didn’t you?”
“I suppose.”
“Did you learn any names?
Which are the prime articles?”
“The prime—? Hell, I don’t
know.”
The man turned around to
survey the girls. “Not that I expect them all to be handsome. They couldn’t
find a husband back home, could they? But taking an ugly wife…” He grimaced,
then squared his shoulders. “I mean to have one, just the same.”
Seth stared down at the
man and muttered, “There you go, mate. Words to set a lady’s heart aflutter.”
Irritated, Seth waded
against the stream of bachelors closing in on the ladies. Wasn’t any of his
business.
The men holding signs had
formed a line and were shuffling toward the ladies to be claimed. They obeyed
the little officer, too. His translator might be among them, so he read his way
through the crush. MISS EUNICE SIMMS…MISS LOUISE ALPERT—
Ah,
here! CLAIMING WILLIAM REPTON AND—and?—MISS W. ADAMS.
The man holding the card
eyed him suspiciously. So this was his translator. Brown hair, spectacles,
younger than he’d expected. But he looked clever. He’d do.
“Tom Grant?” Seth asked.
“I am. You’re Will
Repton?”
Seth grinned. “For your
purposes, I am.” He shook his hand. “I’m Seth Mayhew. You’ll be working for me
instead.”
“I—”
“This explains it.” Seth
handed him Will’s letter. “Will couldn’t leave England on account of his being
leg-shackled and expecting a little baby. But Georgie’s my sister after all,
and the orphan in Tibet is who she was after, so I’m here and Will’s not. It’s
all a bit Hamlet-without-the-prince, but there it is.”
Tom Grant blinked behind
his spectacles. “Who are you?”
Maybe he just looked
clever.
“Seth May—” He never was
skilled at explaining. “Read the letter, mate.”
Tom Grant passed the sign
to him, cracked open the letter, and began to frown. That frown wasn’t how Seth
wanted to start their partnership, but the man had agreed to the job, and would
be earning a hell of a salary for the effort.
But Tom’s expression
wasn’t growing any happier as he started page two.
Tom flipped the letter
over and started reading from the beginning. Again.
With a sigh, Seth dropped
his bag at his feet to wait—and remembered the sign: CLAIMING MISS W. ADAMS.
Tom Grant was collecting one of the venture girls then.
W? The
man couldn’t write her name in full?
Wasn’t any of his
business.
Meaning to be helpful,
Seth held the sign high and waited.
***
“Mina!” Emma clutched
her arm. “I see him. I see your Thomas Grant.”
Mina’s stomach rolled.
Thomas was here. Of course he was—of course he would be. If
only the ground would steady. Her sister’s sudden grab had nearly toppled her.
Ninety-nine days on a boat and she couldn’t seem to lock her knees.
Mina reached into her
skirt pocket and squeezed the stone in her hand. Through her lace glove, the
quartz was as cool as if it still held the weather of England within it…
Title: Discovery of Desire
Series: London Explorers, #2
Author: Susanne Lord
Pubdate: September 6th 2016
ISBN: 9781492623533
“If you like your romance with the sweetness of Mary
Balogh's novels or the anguish of Sherry Thomas', this is one to cherish.” —Kirkus
Reviews, STARRED Review
The one man who’s not
looking for a wife
Seth Mayhew is the ideal
explorer: fearless, profitable, and unmarried. There is nothing and no one he
can’t find—until his sister disappears en route to India. His search for her
takes him to Bombay, where Seth meets the most unlikely of allies—a vulnerable
woman who’s about to marry the wrong man.
Discovers a woman who
changes his dreams forever
Teeming with the bounty of
marriageable men employed by the East India Company, Bombay holds hope for
security for Wilhelmina Adams. But when the man she’s traveled halfway around
the world to marry doesn’t suit, Mina finds instead that she’s falling in love
with a man who offers passion, adventure, intimacy—anything but security…
Susanne Lord is a writer of Victorian-era romance and author
of the London Explorer series published by Sourcebooks. Originally from Okinawa, off-base and on, she
now makes her home in Chicago where she is an active member of Chicago North
RWA. When not writing, attending theater
or reading, she enjoys hiking the English countryside and visiting historic
homes and gardens.
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Congrats on the release! I read your article in H&H )or was it Ever After?) this weekend and loved it.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to reading and reviewing this book. The cover is so pretty. Congratulations, Susanne Lord!
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