I’m not usually a big fan of relationships built on lies but I just LOVE the sound of this one. ย So anxious to find out why Lawrence is thought to be mad!
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The Lawrence Browne Affair
by Cat Sebastian
Releasing February 7, 2017
Avon Impulse
Blurb:
An earl hiding from his future . . .ย
Lawrence Browne, the Earl of Radnor, is mad. At least, thatโs what he and most of the village believes. A brilliant scientist, he hides himself away in his familyโs crumbling estate, unwilling to venture into the outside world. When an annoyingly handsome man arrives at Penkellis, claiming to be Lawrenceโs new secretary, his carefully planned world is turned upside down.
A swindler haunted by his past . . .
Georgie Turner has made his life pretending to be anyone but himself. A swindler and con man, he can slip into an identity faster than he can change clothes. But when his long-dead conscience resurrects and a dangerous associate is out for blood, Georgie escapes to the wilds of Cornwall. Pretending to be a secretary should be easy, but he doesnโt expect that the only madness he finds is the one he has for the gorgeous earl.
Can they find forever in the wreckage of their lives?ย
Challenging each other at every turn, the two men soon give into the desire that threatens to overwhelm them. But with one man convinced he is at the very brink of madness and the other hiding his real identity, only true love can make this an affair to remember.
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30226770-the-lawrence-browne-affair
Buy Links:ย ย ย AMAZON | B & N | GOOGLE | ITUNES | KOBO
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Excerpt:
Cornwall, 1816
CHAPTER ONE
All this fuss about a couple of small explosions. As far as Lawrence cared, the explosions were entirely beside the point. He had finished experimenting with fuses weeks ago. More importantly, this was his house to burn to the ground if thatโs what he wanted to do with it. Hell, if he blew the godforsaken place up, and himself right along with it, the only person who would even be surprised was the man sitting before him.
โFive servants quit,โ Halliday said, tapping Lawrenceโs desk in emphasis. Dust puffed up in tiny clouds around the vicarโs fingertips. โFive. And you were woefully understaffed even before then.โ
Five fewer servants? So that was why the house had been so pleasantly quiet, why his work had been so blissfully undisturbed.
โThere was no danger to the servants. You know I keep them away from my work.โ That was something Lawrence insisted on even when he wasnโt exploding things. The very idea of chattering maids underfoot was enough to discompose his mind even further. โAnd I conducted most of the actual explosions out of doors.โ Now was probably not the time to mention that he had blown the roof off the conservatory.
โAll Iโm suggesting is a sort of secretary.โ Halliday was dangerously unaware of how close he was to witnessing an explosion of the metaphorical variety. โSomebody to keep records of what youโve mixed together and whether itโs likely toโโhe puffed his cheeks out and made a strange noise and an expansive gesture that Lawrence took to represent explosionโโignite.โ
The Reverend Arthur Halliday did not know what was good for him. If he did, he would have fled the room as soon as he saw Lawrence reach for the inkwell. Lawrenceโs fingers closed around the object, preparing to hurl it at the wall behind the vicarโs head. Sod the man forย even suggesting Lawrence didnโt know how to cause an explosion. He hadnโt invented Browneโs Improved Black Powder or even that bloody safety fuse through blind luck, for Godโs sake.
โBesides,โ Halliday went on, โyou said you need an extra set of hands for this new device youโre working on.โ
Oh, damn and blast. Lawrence knew he shouldnโt have told the vicar. But he had hoped Halliday might volunteer to help with the device himself, not badger Lawrence into hiring some stranger. The vicar was convenient enough, and when he wasnโt dead set on sticking his nose where it didnโt belong, he wasnโt entirely unpleasant company.
โIโve had secretaries,โ Lawrence said from between gritted teeth. โIt ends badly.โ
โWell, obviously, but thatโs because you go out of your way to terrify them.โ Halliday glanced pointedly at the inkwell Lawrence still held.
And there again was Halliday missing the point entirely. Lawrence didnโt need to go out of his way to frighten anyone. All he had to do was simply exist. Everyone with any sense kept a safe distance from the Mad Earl of Radnor, as surely as they stayed away from rabid dogs and coiled asps. And explosive devices, for that matter.
Except for the vicar, who came to Penkellis Castle three times a week. He likely also called on bedridden old ladies and visited the workhouse. Maybe his other charity cases were grateful, but the notion that he was the vicarโs good deed made Lawrenceโs fingers curl grimly around the inkwell as he plotted its trajectory through the air.
โIโll take care of the details,โ Halliday was saying. โIโll write the advertisement and handle the inquiries. A good secretary might even be able to manage the household a bit,โ the vicar said with the air of a man warming to his topic, โget it into a fit condition for the childโโ
โNo.โ Lawrence didnโt raise his voice, but he slammed his fist onto the desk, causing ink to splatter all over the blotter and the cuff of his already-inky shirt. A stack of papers slid from the desk onto the floor, leaving a single dustless patch of wood where they had been piled. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a spider scurry out from under the papers.
โTrue,โ Halliday continued, undaunted. โA housekeeper would be more appropriate, butโโ
โNo.โ Lawrence felt the already fraying edges of his composure unraveling fast. โSimon is not coming here.โ
โYou canโt keep him off forever, you know, now that heโs back in England. Itโs his home, and heโll own it one day.โ
When Lawrence was safely dead and buried, Simon was welcome to come here and do what he pleased. โI donโt want him here.โ Penkellis was no place for a child, madmen were not fit guardians, and nobody knew those facts better than Lawrence himself, who had been raised under precisely those conditions.
Halliday sighed. โEven so, Radnor, you have to do something about this.โ He gestured around the room, which Lawrence thought looked much the same as ever. One hardly even noticed the scorch marks unless one knew where to look. โIt canโt be safe to live in such a way.โ
Safety was not a priority, but even Lawrence wasnโt mad enough to try to explain that to the vicar.
โVillagers wonโt even walk past the garden wall anymore. And the stories they invent…โ The vicar wrung his hands. โA secretary. Please. It would ease my mind to know you had someone up here with you.โ
A keeper, then. Even worse.
But Lawrence did need another set of hands to work on the communication device. If Halliday wouldnโt help, then Lawrence had no other options. God knew Halliday had been right about the local people not wanting anything to do with him.
โFine,โ he conceded. โYou write the advertisement and tell me when to expect the man.โ Heโd say what he needed to in order to end this tiresome conversation and send the vicar on his way.
It wasnโt as if this secretary would last more than a week or two anyway. Lawrence would see to that.
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Author Info:
Cat Sebastian lives in a swampy part of the South with her husband, three kids, and two dogs. Before her kids were born, she practiced law and taught high school and college writing. When she isn’t reading or writing, she’s doing crossword puzzles, bird watching, and wondering where she put her coffee cup.
Author Links:ย ย WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS
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Giveaway:
One eBook copy of THE LAWRENCE BROWNE AFFAIR
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/521ac4c81215/
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