Book Excerpt
“I wish to watch you play,” Felton said, leaning closer. “I hear you are quite the gamester. You fleeced my friend Mr. Leeden of two thousand pounds just three weeks ago.”
“Did I? How clever of me.” She laughed
softly and played another card.
“You know I met your sister.”
This cavalier statement brought her up
short. She tried not to react, but Felton saw her hand stop toying with her
stomacher to grip her cards more tightly. Distracting the players was no longer
a priority—distracting herself was the new objective.
“Did you?” This was how she could maintain
control. Asking questions, remaining calm and disconnected.
“You are very different from your sister,
you know.” A little smile tugged at his lips. “Such exquisite raven hair—like
an Italian beauty.”
“Half-sister.”
“I say! Come on, Miss Worth, you are
hardly in this game.” Lord Avers reproached her while laying the winning card
upon the table.
Roused from paralysis, Angelica saw that
she had just lost five hundred pounds. Exhaling sharply, she discarded the rest
of her cards onto the table in a series of flutters.
She could feel Felton watching her. She
hoped that he had missed that initial expression of fear. Five hundred pounds!
Still, all could be well if she could regain her garments of self-possession.
“Unfortunate.” Mr. Felton clicked his
tongue against his teeth. What was wrong with this man? If she believed in bad
luck, she would say that he was it, lingering like the smell of the Thames on
an unpromising morning. She held back a huff of irritation.
“I am not a bird in a cage—stop staring,”
she commanded. There were times she was thankful not to be the proper Caro
Worth, and this was one of them. Let her emotions be seen if he was so intent
on looking.
“So another commanded me.” A lilting grin
appeared on his lips. “And I would call it a gilded cage,” he added
provokingly.
“What?” Her eyes darted towards him in
anger. “I am no kept woman.” Her words snapped like twigs cracking under foot.
“That was not what I meant, but thank you
for clarifying.”
She looked away, ignoring the
embarrassment. This man was infuriating. He led her into one ill-spoken,
impassioned speech after another, whichever of her two roles she was playing.
About the Book
Title: Fool Me Twice
Author: Philippa Jane Keyworth
Genre: Historical Romance
In the gaming hells of eighteenth
century London, orphan Caro Worth is leading a double life. By day she
plays a proper gentlewoman on the lookout for a wealthy husband. By
night she plays the infamous Angelica, her fictional half-sister with a
talent for cards and an ability to finance the life her respectable self
has built. An introduction to a rich Marquis brings marriage and
security within Caro’s grasp…until the arrival of the unpredictable and
totally ineligible Mr. Tobias Felton.
Dismayed by Felton’s persistent
appearances, shocking frankness, and enigmatic green eyes, Caro watches
helplessly as he comes closer than anyone to guessing her secret, but
when complete and utter ruin threatens, she finds that Felton’s
suspicions just might become her salvation. As the walls she has built
to protect herself crumble down around her, Caro learns that no matter
how careful your plans, life and love have a habit of falling quite
spectacularly out of control!
Author Bio
Philippa
Jane Keyworth, known to her friends as Pip, has been writing since she
was twelve in every notebook she could find. Originally trained as a
horse-riding instructor, Philippa went on to become a copywriter before
beginning a degree in History. A born again Christian, Philippa lives in
the south of England with her handsome husband.
Philippa has always written stories and
believes that, since it is one of her loves and passions, she always
will. In her early writing career, she dabbled in a variety of genres,
but it was the encouragement of a friend to watch a film adaptation of
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that began her love affair
with the British Regency. Since then, she has watched every Regency film
and TV series she could get her hands on and become well acquainted
with Georgette Heyer’s novels which gave her the inspiration to write
her own.
Both as a reader and a writer, Philippa
believes it is important to escape into a world you yourself would want
to live in. This is why she writes stories that will draw you into the
characters’ joys and heartaches in a world apart from our own. Her debut
novel, The Widow’s Redeemer (Madison Street Publishing, 2012),
is a traditional Regency romance bringing to life the romance between a
young widow with an indomitable spirit and a wealthy viscount with an
unsavory reputation. The novel has been received well by readers and
reviewers who have praised the heartfelt story and admirable characters.
Her second novel, The Unexpected Earl (Madison Street
Publishing, 2014), explores another romance in the Regency era when an
impetuous young woman has her life turned upside down by the
reappearance of the earl who jilted her six years ago. Her third novel, Fool Me Twice (Madison Street Publishing, 2016), is a Georgian romance that has just been released.
So, what are you waiting for? Get swept
away into another time with characters you will learn to love, and
experience Britain in the 18th century and Regency like never before.
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