Excerpt Monday: Take 8

Once a month, Bria Quinlan and Alexia Reed host a bunch of authors who get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t have to be published to participate–just be a writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site or click on the banner above!

This month’s excerpt is drawn from Revealed. Barrington and Marcia have been paired up at dinner and he has no clue why she’s so standoffish with him. She can’t believe even he has forgotten the incident which solidified her introverted tendencies, when after all he was to blame, too bad if he didn’t know her identity at the time.

As always, any comments or criticisms are welcome.

Hugh knew he had not been seated beside the Duchess out of friendship but so she could keep an eye on him. However, the reason the Duchess had paired him with the shy, mousy Miss Drummond puzzled him. Perhaps Tabitha expected the girl to provide a calming influence on him. Ha!

As the first course was served, Hugh turned to Miss Drummond and asked her opinion of the dish. Instead of favoring him with her reply, she stared straight across the table at Lady Henrietta. So, the chit thought to ignore him, did she? A grin spread across his face and he felt the Duchess deliver a kick to his shin.

“Remember, Hugh. You promised.” The Duchess said in a low voice for his ears only.

“Not every thought that brings a smile to my face portends trouble, Your Grace.” She hated when he called her that. An easy friendship had grown between them during her time in Bolster’s employ despite the Duke’s efforts to monopolize her attentions.

Tabitha narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “Please just behave, Hugh.”

He nodded to her and turned his attention back to his plate. Tales of his escapades rarely dogged him as closely or as thoroughly as this time. Usually, he could bask in the attention that amused everyone and had them laughing along with him and forgetting about it as soon as the next scandal broke and swept society’s attention away again.

Footmen cleared the plates from the table and the second course was placed before them. Hugh pondered how to engage Miss Drummond in conversation.

He’d noticed her over the years only because of the way she always clung to the fringes of events. She never danced any more; she never promenaded about a room on anyone’s arm. In fact, the only person capable of drawing an honest and lively response from her seemed to be Lady Daphne Holtcombe. When the two were together, Miss Drummond transformed into a different person, one vibrant with life and passion. When she smiled, everything around her seemed brighter. He decided that would be his mission for tonight: to coax one of those luminous smiles from her. Just for him.

He nudged Miss Drummond’s elbow with his own. Experience assured him that a lady possessed of proper social graces would be hard pressed to ignore him for any substantial length of time.

She discreetly moved her chair over an inch.

This lady was determined. He liked challenges.

Moving his chair over by an inch, he ignored the questioning look Tabitha sent his way.

He smiled across the table at Lady Henrietta. She returned his smile and resumed her conversation with the young pup beside her.

He allowed the napkin in his lap to slide to the floor between his chair and Miss Drummond’s. As he leaned down to pick it up, he gasped as if he’d seen something unexpected beneath the table.

Miss Drummond stiffened beside him. Just the sort of reaction he had anticipated. He vowed to find a chink in her stony silence. Now that she was aware of him, she’d be incapable of ignoring him. Her natural feminine curiosity would have to be satisfied.

Her chair shifted.

He waited.

In vain, it seemed. He retrieved his napkin and straightened in his chair once again. The gasp under the table routine had always proven irresistible to the young ladies of his acquaintance.

Finishing his course, Hugh noted that she had been drawn into a tentative conversation with the gentleman seated on her right.

Apparently, she chose to ignore only him.

He needed something subtler but, at the same time, more provocative to draw her attention. The Duchess’ presence provided an additional challenge since he could not afford her displeasure. Spilling wine on the girl’s dress and the tablecloth would be a sure way to draw both Miss Drummond and Tabitha’s ire.

He needed something more intriguing, less pedestrian.

He considered his options while the second course was cleared and platters heaped with a variety of meats were brought to the table. The clank of tableware and conversation droned on around him and his dinner companion who had fallen silent again.

He turned to face her and was struck by the way the light shone against her honey blonde hair. She handled her cutlery with a quiet competence and grace.

She didn’t simper or flirt with him. There were no sly glances from beneath her batting eyelashes accompanied by a whispered request for him to cut her meat. Her unusual behavior puzzled him. He wasn’t used to females who could and would ignore his presence. What sort of creature was she?

She reminded him of a timid, little mouse. As a boy, he had befriended one in the barn on the estate in WHEREVER_MILKMAID_WAS. A bit of coaxing with the proper incentives, some bread and cheese, had won him a new friend that day.

“Miss Drummond, would you please pass the salt?” He mentally kicked himself. He was making a cake of himself. He could read tomorrow’s scandal sheet headlines now, “Duchess of Bolster Kicks Lord Barrington To Curb”.

The saltcellar appeared beside his plate. Progress! He smiled at her, but she still stared down at her plate.

“Thank you.”

“I-it was n-nothing.” Her fork clattered to her plate. Oh, ho. He’d found a chink. Her good manners would undermine her resolve and provide a way to engage her in conversation.

Her stutter confused him. He didn’t recall that.

“Are you enjoying the beef?”

“Y-yes.” One word again. He looked at her, or tried to since she was focused on her plate and her curls hung forward to curtain her face from his view.

“Are you always so retiring?” Why had that popped out? Great, now he was going to scare her off after he’d finally gotten her to speak to him.

“I have n-no f-fondness for crowds, m-my Lord.”

Looking down the length of the table, he counted no more than sixteen people seated there.

“To call this intimate gathering a crowd is a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?”

“N-no.”

As she fell silent again with this proclamation, Hugh sat back in his chair, stumped. Where was the radiant woman he had seen with Lady Daphne at the Holtcombe rout?

He glanced over at Tabitha. She cut her beef into dainty pieces and ate them with relish. Lord, he envied Bolster some days. He didn’t exactly regret she chose his best friend over him – a Duke would always trump his title – but he still felt the blow to his ego.

He caught Tabitha’s attention and raised an eyebrow, tilting his head toward his dinner companion, who having lapsed into sullen silence beside him, stared at her plate once again.

Tabitha smiled back, nodded encouragingly and stabbed another piece of beef. Clearly, she would be no help.

He plucked one of the flowers from the table arrangement and offered the blossom to Miss Drummond. She didn’t move so much as an eyelash.

Hugh placed the flower on the edge of her plate.

If you enjoyed this, you might enjoy some of my other Excerpt Monday offerings.

Links to other Excerpt Monday writers
Note: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site.

So, to kick it off, our hosts:
Alexia Reed, Urban Fantasy (R)
and
Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG13)

Joining in this week:
Jamie Babette, Fantasy Romance (PG13)
M.G. Buehrlen, YA Fantasy (PG13)
AJ Chase, Paranormal Romcom (PG13)
Stephanie Draven, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Heather S. Ingemar, YA (PG 13)
Cynthia Justlin, Romantic Suspense (PG13)
Julia Knight, Fantasy Romance (PG 13)
Nadia Lee, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Jeannie Lin, Historical Romance (PG13)
R.F Long, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Shawntelle Madison, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Christa McHugh, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Debbie Mumford, Fantasy Romance (PG13)
Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG13)
Megan S, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Dara Sorensen, Historical Fiction (PG13)

Melissa Aires, Futuristic Romance (R)
Kendal Ashby, Contemporary, (R)
KB Alan, Contemporary Erotic Romance (R)
Carly Carson, Contemporary (R)
Cate Hart, YA (R)
Felicia Holt, Contemporary Romance (R)
Ali Katz, Historical Erotic Romance (R)
Inez Kelley, Contemporary Romance (R)
Annie Nicholas, Paranormal Romance (R)
Christa Paige, Paranormal (R)
Mary Quast, Contemporary Romance (R)
Alexia Reed, Paranormal Romance (R)

Sara Brookes, Erotic Paranormal Romance (NC17)
Ella Drake, Historic Paranormal Romance (NC17)
Angeleque Ford, Dark Urban Fantasy (NC17)
J. W. Hankins, Dark Fantasy (NC17)
Kim Knox, Erotic Romance (NC17)
Elise Logan, Contemporary with Paranormal Elements (NC17)
Dawn Montgomery, Paranormal Erotic Romance (NC17)
Kirsten Saell, Erotic Fairy Tale Romance (NC17)
Bryl R Tyne, Erotic Sci Fi m/m, (NC17)

And don’t forget, we have a special Full Read Halloween Monday on October 26th. Stop by the main EM page and get to read whole Halloween stories by some of your favorite EMers.