ISBN:TBD

Seduction & Scandal, Book 1 of The Brethren Guardians -- Coming June 2011 from HQN Books His love could save her… In more ways than one. With the scandalous nature of her birth to live down, Isabella Fairmont dreams of a proper marriage – even if a passionless one. She saves her deepest desires for the novel she dares to pen, wherein a handsome lord with dark powers seduces her. But then her courtship with an appropriate suitor is threatened by the sudden attention of the Earl of Black …whose pale blue eyes and brooding sensuality are exactly as she described in her book. Isabella tries to resist the mysterious Earl of Black. Yet as he pursues her with inexplicable knowledge of her past and kisses that consume her, Isabella fears she will succumb. If only the earl could tell Isabella the truth. With very real and treacherous thieves endangering her life, Black will need to protect Isabella from the very people she trusts the most… Read Excerpt

Chapter One


London, 1875

The first time I met death, it was at a ball and we danced a waltz. Beneath the glittering chandeliers, and amidst the swirls of ball gowns, their silk trains decorated with pearls and lace, Death guided me in sweeping circles until I was dizzy and breathless and all the other dancers had seemed to melt away, leaving only Death and myself whirling on the dance floor.

I should have feared him, and his steely embrace, but I did not. Death had been by my side for so many years that I felt a kindred spirit with him. I have seen Death. He is beautiful in his severity, heartrending in his coldness. A dark, shadowy specter whose web draped like an ethereal veil over the humans he would one day lay claim to.


A man, in every appearance, whose isolation and loneliness he could not hide. It shone in his eyes, which were a mesmerizing dichotomy of coldness and warmth.

His irises were a light shade of blue with the faintest chips of pale green, reminding me of the turbulent, chilly waters of the North Sea. But his lashes, thick and luxurious, and black as a raven’s feathers, put me in mind of a sable wrap, warm and comforting, and soft—so supple and inviting. His hair was just as dark, inky and shining as it hung to his shoulders. Like a pelt of fur, I yearned to run my fingers through the long strands, burying them in the thick suppleness and warmth.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked me, his voice deep and velvety. It slithered along my pores, awakening a deep feeling inside me—not fear, but something else. Something that made me warm and languorous, and as though my will were no longer my own.

“Lord Death,” I replied in a breathless whisper.

"You've made it clear that this is the only way I can have you."

"Honesty will set you free."

He smiled, and a soft sound of amusement passed between his lips. "The truth enslaves. It will chain us, bind us in a way that the two of us will fight to get free from."

"I can bear the burden."

"I wonder if you can. Because beyond this door we will cease to be the people we show to the world. Agreed?"

"Yes."

"I will be only Matthew here in this room with you, Jane. Tell me, who am I to expect? Who are you really?"

"I do not know," she said, her voice trembling despite her attempts to appear as though she were firmly in control of her feelings. "I always thought I knew myself so well. But then—" The words froze in her throat and she looked away, but he caught her chin with the edge of his fingers and turned her face to his.

"Only honesty, Jane. We promised. We will not go beyond this door until I have your word that you will be completely honest with me, as I have vowed to be with you."

"I thought I knew what I wanted—who I was—that is, until that night in the hospital. You…you awakened feelings in me that were strange, terrifying yet exhilarating. These feelings were all things I forbid myself—feelings I've never wanted to have. I was quite satisfied with never having felt pleasure or passion, and then when I met you, I questioned everything I have ever believed in. You ask me who I truly am? The truth is, I do not know."
 
"Do you wish to know?"

"I fear the answer I may uncover."

 His expression seemed to soften. She saw the flicker of something in his eye, before he shielded it with his thick lashes as he watched his thumb glide along her mouth, parting her lips. "I, too, am afraid, Jane. I fear what I will find inside me as well. I fear the things you will ask, and the answers I shall have to give you. Shall we forget this bargain of ours, then? Shall we pretend that we never agreed to bare our souls to one another? Should we forget that we ever met, ever touched. Ever kissed?"

"Is that what you want?" she asked, fearing the answer.

"No," he replied in a hard, almost choking voice. "It is not what I want. I want to know you, Jane. I want to understand what makes you different from the women I have known. I want to understand these feelings I had, that I still have."

"Then we will go forward. And we shall never tell a soul what happens in this room. We will never speak of each other's secrets or use them to hurt one another once this week is over. For, a week is all I dare give to you."

"Agreed. Our secret."

Together they released the latch on the door and stepped into the cottage. With a quiet click the door closed behind Matthew. They were now completely alone.

When she turned and looked at him, Jane knew that Matthew would strip her utterly naked, and he would not have to remove one stitch of her clothes to do so.