Sweet Temptation 01

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 may feel a bit familiar because I’ve featured a snippet of the story here before, but I’d ask that returning readers be patient with me. I’ve decided that in 2011 for Excerpt Mondays instead of jumping all over the place from story to story to instead do an installment from the same story each a month. So from now until December, we’ll be visiting with the same characters and watching to see how their story unfolds.

I’ve come to harbor a certain fondness for this couple, although their story might not be as big as some of my others, it’s still one that I feel I must finish. So without further ado, let’s join Camilla and Hubert on their journey and I hope you come to love them as I have.

Sweet Temptation 01

Camilla Fairchild breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped down from the stuffy confines of the carriage. The sun and humidity reminded her less of early May and more of July when London became unbearable.

Every patch of shade beneath the Maples lining Berkeley Square was occupied by a phaeton, curricle or barouche. At the first hint of warm weather the haut ton flocked to Gunter’s pineapple-adorned confectionary to partake of the English, French, and Italian wet and dry sweetmeats. More specifically, they came for the ices.

Millicent Allenby had suggested meeting inside where their unblemished reputations would be preserved and chaperones were considered unnecessary. Camilla surveyed the gathered crowd and hoped her friend had secured a table.

“Take some time for yourself this afternoon, Abigail. Meet me back here at three o’clock.” Camilla dismissed her maid and driver and then headed inside.

Fashionable young couples filled the tables closest to the door and a weary mother and governess attempted to contain the excitement of three young boys as she passed. The shop was an absolute crush today.

“Milla, over here!” Millicent’s frantic wave drew attention to the table for two she had commandeered in the center of the shop.

Camilla wove her way through the other patrons and dropped into the chair across from her friend. “I think everyone else had the same idea today.”

“Even better.” The gleam of mischief in Millie’s eyes alerted Camilla that she had been duped again. “The more people here, the more who can truthfully say they saw us or will have to admit it was too crowded to say for sure.”

“Millie,” Camilla rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Why do I allow you to talk me into your mad schemes? Who is it this time?”

“Lord Estewicke.” Millie tugged at the cuff of her glove and took an extreme interest in straightening the seams to avoid Camilla’s gaze.

“Have you no sense of decency?” She noted her perfunctory objection had lost the edge of shock and dismay in the last three years since their debut.

Millie shrugged and a wicked grin spread across her features. “Have you no sense of adventure?”

“I don’t suppose you would listen to reason.” Camilla sighed, the pattern of their banter long established. Her friend was incorrigible but she loved her anyway.

A server came and placed a chocolate ice before Millie. An unusual choice. Millie preferred bolder, more exotic flavors. Chocolate was quiet, conventional, safe. She, herself, usually ordered the chocolate.

Millie’s ritual reply never came. Instead, her friend tilted her head to one side and stared thoughtfully at her. “I suppose you’ve never been tempted, Milla?”

Elderflower might be a good option as warm as it was, but Millie’s expression was far too serious to be talking about ices. Camilla considered the question a moment. “By what?” she hedged.

Millie frowned and plucked a flower from the vase between them. “What you’ve been missing?”

“I’ve missed nothing. I experience it all vicariously through your escapades. Honest, that’s enough.”

The flower twirled freely in Millie’s fingers. “Since you don’t needn’t worry about attracting an offer, why not live a little until your betrothed shows up to claim you?”

Camilla took a deep breath and braced her hands on the table’s edge. She took no pleasure in the confused and concerned look that crossed Millie’s features. “I’m surprised the news hasn’t reached you. Lord Dendridge called on my parents this morning.”

“Oh, Milla. I’m so sorry.” Her hand clasped on top of Camilla’s.

“Sorry? That’s not even the worst part.” She wanted sympathy, but she needed understanding more. “Apparently he had no inkling what his letter of introduction contained while Mother was ecstatic he’d finally come up to scratch and with a special license in hand.”

“And?” Millie pressed.

She knew what Millie was asking, but the sting of rejection was still too fresh and she didn’t have the answer. She released the breath she’d drawn in a sigh. “And he was quite incensed by the time he left.”

“But did you find Lord Dendridge handsome? Good calves?” Millie leaned closer, eager for details.

“I haven’t any notion. I didn’t see him.” Trust Millie to focus on the important issues. “But I’ve never been so humiliated in my life. His shouting carried all the way to the library.”

“Goodness.” Millie’s laugh pealed above the murmur of conversation around them. “I still say, your opportunities for exploring temptation may have diminished, but not expired.”

Millie always tried to push her beyond her comfort zone. Camilla just didn’t crave excitement and found no need to stretch the bounds of propriety at every turn. “Well, not like there has been anyone tempting thus far. Certainly not Mr. Swinburne.”

Millie grinned and glanced down knowingly. “Your, ahem, dowry isn’t big enough to tempt him either.”

Camilla chuckled. “You know what I mean. It hasn’t signified for none of the gentleman mattered.” Yesterday, she’d been complacent. Her future was secure even if it promised to be as boring as the past three Seasons.

“How about that one? He appears significant.” Millie took her time inspecting the fellow in question, practically salivating over the man as if he were some sweetmeat. “I’m tempted.”

Her friend’s usual taste in gentlemen was superb, but with her betrothed returned to London with a special license already in hand, she couldn’t afford to look long or closely.

In her experience, a quick glance out the window to confirm Millie’s tastes, a smile with a nod and perhaps a brief word of praise on her part would suffice before redirecting the conversation.

She’d just take a peek.

Just one glance.

Camilla turned to peer out the window where Millie gestured. Except when her gaze raked over his form, her eyes refused to move on.

The gentleman in question stood gazing at the display in the window with an almost visible aura of longing. His black hair curled just past fashionable below his collar. The seams of his marine blue tailcoat strained to contain the breadth of his shoulders and the cutaway exposed not only a good two inches of his primrose waistcoat and his watch fob, but it followed a distinctive curve along his hips and down his thighs drawing her gaze to where his calves disappeared into his gleaming Hessians. No padding required. Anywhere.

Beyond his boyish charm, which emanated from him as he eyed the sweets, she sensed a core of Sheffield crucible steel. “He seems frightfully intimidating, Millie.”

“I should say compelling, intriguing or even enticing. Intimidating seems far too lackluster for him.” Millie rose and gathered her reticule, her ice untouched.

“Is something wrong?”

“I must go, I promised Mother I’d be home in an hour and a half. You will stay at least an hour, won’t you?”

“I—”

“Thanks. I knew you could be relied on.” Millie swept in, kissed her cheek and then she was gone.

Camilla sighed and reached for the glass dish, figuring she might as well eat the chocolate ice since they were both there. An hour would be an interminably long time to fill just watching the patrons in the shop as they laughed and gossiped around her.

If you enjoyed this, you can continue reading about Milla and Hubert in Sweet Temptation 02 or you might enjoy some of my other Excerpt Monday offerings.

Be sure to stop by again next month for the next installment of the story.

Links to other Excerpt Monday writers

Joining us this week:
Jaleta Clegg, Sci-fi (PG13)
Victoria Dixon, Historical Fantasy (PG13)

Sable Hunter, Erotic Romance (R)
Ali Katz, Erotic Romance/Fantasy (R)
Allison Kelsey, Chick Lit (R)

Mary Quast, Contemp Romance (NC17)

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.

As always, our hostesses Bria Quinlan (PG13), Alexia Reed (R), Rachel Jameson (PG13) and Kendal Corbitt (R) thank you for stopping by!