The scene I chose takes place in a village inn where Marie-Ange and Saintclair have stopped for the night on their way to the chateau of Beauregard, where Marie-Ange hopes to receive an inheritance from a relative. Sparks have been flying between Marie-Ange and fiery-tempered Hugo Saintclair ever since they first met, and if they come from very different backgrounds, the young woman can’t deny that she is attracted to him...
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‘Good morning, Madame,’ he said, his eyes skimming over her body. A slow, seductive smile appeared on his lips. ‘There is nothing like a beautiful woman in her nightshirt before breakfast to put me in a good mood.’
He stood up and towered over her. The room was suddenly very small.
‘G-g-good morning,’ she stammered, crossing her arms over her chest. She couldn’t get Christopher’s dressing gown to cover herself with because Saintclair stood between her and the bed. The fireplace behind her didn’t allow the possibility of stepping back either.
Saintclair lifted a hand and gently brushed a curl off her forehead. Her breath caught in her throat. His touch burned her skin and sent shivers through her at the same time.
‘Whatever are you doing, Capitaine? You forget your place,’ she snapped, shocked by his gesture but more so by the way her body had responded.
‘And where would that be, Madame Norton? Of course, I forgot. The stables,’ he said, shooting an amused glance at her before turning away. ‘Don’t worry, I’m going,’ he added before she could answer. He rubbed his chin. ‘I need a wash and a shave. I’ll ask the landlord to have a pail of hot water brought up to you at once.’
Grabbing his boots in one hand, he unbarred the door and went out.
She stood for a moment in the middle of the room, annoyed with the man and at her reaction to him. Around him she sounded snooty and disagreeable, when she had never paid much attention to the issues of class or status. Heavens, how could she ever think she was superior to him, or to anyone else, just because her mother was a Beauregard and her husband a member of the English gentry? She lived in a run-down manor house and the only reason she was travelling across France was to collect an inheritance to enable her to fix a leaky roof.
She didn’t feel superior to Saintclair at all, but it was true she didn’t like him and despised his manners. However she would have to put up with him until they reached Beauregard. After that, she did not plan to ever lay eyes on the man again.
Angel Of The Lost Treasure
When young widow, Marie-Ange Norton is invited to Beauregard in France by the mysterious Monsieur Malleval to collect an inheritance, she has no choice but to accept.
But when she embarks on the voyage with her fiery-tempered travelling companion Capitaine Hugo Saintclair, little does she know what waits for her across the sea in turbulent nineteenth-century France on the eve of Napoleon’s return from exile. When she arrives, she is taken aback by Malleval’s fascination with her family – seemingly inspired by his belief they are connected to a sacred relic he’s read about in coded manuscripts by the Knights Templar.
As it becomes clear that Malleval’s obsession has driven him to madness, Marie-Ange is horrified to realise she is more the man’s prisoner than his guest. Not only that, but Hugo is the only person who might be able to help her, and he could represent a different kind of danger .
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angel-Lost-Treasure-captivating-romantic-ebook/dp/B08TX52MWK/ref
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/angel-of-the-lost-treasure
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