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She raised the pistol and waited, trying to stay calm. She felt the warmth of his body behind her and flinched slightly when his hands grasped her shoulders, moving her so that her body faced more squarely down the lane.
‘I know this will feel strange to you,’ he said calmly.
He was so close she could feel his breath, warm against her nape. His hand moved to her upper arm, closing on it gently, urging it back.
‘Move your right foot forward just a bit and lean your shoulder back. Your arm should be at an angle to your body—like this.’
She obeyed, but she could feel her arm start to shake and took a deep breath, trying to focus on nothing but the pistol.
‘Relax.’ His voice was soft and low, soothing. ‘Remember, this is easy for you.’
His hand moved down her arm slightly, steadying it. It felt warm through the thin fabric of her dress. He was mere inches behind her now, and the contrast between the coolness of the underground cavern and the warmth radiating from his body was disorientating.
In my first week as a financial analyst at an investment bank I sat in a large room with twenty young men and one woman. Amidst all the information bombarding us (including an admonition to us two females not to wear trouser suits—and this was in the nineties!) I started thinking … What must it have been like two hundred years ago for women whose skills placed them in predominantly male environments? I had already spent two years in the military, and now there I was again—surrounded by confident, aggressive, ambitious men.
That evening I sat in my little flat in Fulham and began writing about a young woman thrust into the male world of espionage in Regency London—a world shaped by men like my hero Michael, Earl of Crayle, who is driven by the dark cost of that privilege and the deep scars of war.
Sari Trevor, my unconventional heroine, has no such traditions either to ground her or limit her. She has to invent herself, in a world intolerant of female initiative, so when she enters the earl’s world she is both deeply insecure and fiercely determined to succeed. The inevitable clash between them is also at the core of their attraction—it lays bare each other’s scars and needs and allows them … eventually … to find salvation together.
The first draft of this story lay dormant for many years, alongside others in my writing drawer, until my mother—a wonderful poet and editor—drew my attention to Mills & Boon’s So You Think You Can Write 2014 competition. With her inspired help I dusted it off and submitted it, and now Lord Crayle’s Secret World is about to be revealed.
Lord Crayle’s Secret World
Lara Temple
LARA TEMPLE was three years old when she begged her mother to take the dictation of her first adventure story. Since then she has led a double life—by day she is a high-tech investment professional, who has lived and worked on three continents, but when darkness falls she loses herself in history and romance (at least on the page). Luckily her husband and two beautiful and very energetic children help her weave it all together.
Lord Crayle’s Secret World is Lara Temple’s exhilarating debut for Mills & Boon Historical Romance!
Visit the Author Profile page at millsandboon.co.uk.
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