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  The scent was…good. Not a scent with any negative associations, not overpowering, not French.

  “You are welcome to share it with me,” he said, sipping his little-boy tea and envying her the speed with which she’d denuded the orange of its peel.

  Peeling an orange was a two-handed undertaking, something he’d had occasion to recall in the past three days. This constant bumping up against his limitations wearied him, as Girard’s philosophizing never had. Yes, he was free from Girard’s torture, but everywhere, he was greeted with loss, duress, and decisions.

  “Your orange?” She held out three quarters of a peeled orange to him, no smile, no faintly bemused expression to suggest he’d been woolgathering—again.

  “You know, it really wasn’t very well done of you, Your Grace.” She popped a section of orange into her mouth and chewed busily before going on. “When one has been traveling, one ought to go home first, don’t you think? But you came straight up to Town, and your staff at Severn was concerned for you.”

  Concerned for him. Of what use had this concern been when Girard’s thugs were mutilating his hand? Though to be fair, Girard had been outraged to find his pet prisoner disfigured, and ah, what a pleasure to see Girard dealing with insubordination.

  Though indignation and outrage were also human traits, and thus should have been beyond Girard’s ken.

  “You’re not eating your orange, Your Grace. It’s very good.” She held up a section in her hand, her busy, graceful little lady’s hand. He leaned forward and nipped the orange section from her fingers with his teeth.

  She sat back, for once quiet. She was attractive when she was quiet, her features classic, though her nose missed perfection by a shade of boldness, and her eyebrows were a touch on the dramatic side. A man would notice this woman before he’d notice a merely pretty woman, and—absent torture by the French—he would recall her when the pretty ones had slipped from his memory.

  “Now then, madam. We’ve eaten, we’ve sipped our tea. The weather is delightful. What is your business?”

  “It isn’t my business, really,” she said, regarding not him, not the food, but the fire kept burning in the grate at all hours. “It’s your business, if you can call it business.”

  Something about the way she clasped her hands together in her lap gave her away. She was no more comfortable calling as darkness fell than he was receiving her. She’d barely tasted her orange, and all of her blather had been nerves.

  Lady Greendale was afraid of him.

  Order your copy now: The Captive

  Book Two in the Captive Hearts trilogy: The Traitor

  Book Three in the Captive Heart trilogy: The Laird

  To sign up for Grace's newsletter (she never spams her readers!) click here.

  Grace also recommends:

  The Rogue Spy (November 2014) by Joanna Bourne—a beautiful addition to the Spymaster Series.

  Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran.

  Between the Devil and Ian Eversea by Julie Anne Long.

  And coming from Grace this summer:

  The Captive

  The Traitor

  The Laird

  Followed by the fourth Scottish Victorian in the MacGregor series:

  What A Lady Needs for Christmas (October 2014)

  Or you might enjoy:

  The Windham Series, beginning with The Heir, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2010.

  The most recent book in the Lonely Lords series is Trenton.

  The Lonely Lords series begins with Darius, an iBooks Best Book of 2013.

  The MacGregor Scottish Victorian Series, begins with The Bridegroom Wore Plaid, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2012.

  About the Author:

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes hit the bestseller lists with her debut, The Heir, followed by The Soldier, Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal, and Lady Eve’s Indiscretion. The Heir was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2010, Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish won Best Historical Romance of the Year in 2011 from RT Reviewers’ Choice Awards, Lady Louisa’s Christmas Knight was a Library Journal Best Book of 2012, and The Bridegroom Wore Plaid, the first in her trilogy of Scotland-set Victorian romances, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2012. Her second Scottish Victorian romance, Once Upon a Tartan, was also an RT Reviewers’ Choice winner, and Darius, the first in her groundbreaking Regency series The Lonely Lords, was named one of iBook’s Best Romances of 2013.

  Grace is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland. She loves to hear from her readers and can be reached through her website at graceburrowes.com.