Cursed Once More: The Sequel to With This Curse
Page 27
More Victorian Romantic Suspense by Amanda DeWees
Don’t miss Clara’s previous adventures in
With This Curse!
“A feast for the eye and a joy to devour.” —InD’Tale magazine
Can a curse strike twice in a woman’s life? In 1854, seventeen-year-old chambermaid Clara Crofton was dismissed from Gravesend Hall for having fallen in love with Richard Blackwood, the younger son of the house. Alone in the world, Clara found a tenuous position as a seamstress, but she always blamed the Gravesend curse for the disaster that had befallen her—and for Richard’s death soon after in the Crimean War.
A proposal…
Now, more than eighteen years later, Richard’s twin, Atticus, seeks out Clara with a strange proposal: if she will marry him and live with him as his wife in name only to ease the mind of his dying father, Atticus will then endow her with a comfortable income for the rest of her life. Clara knows that he is not disclosing his true motives, but when she runs out of options for an independent life, she has no choice but to become Atticus’s wife.
A deception…
For Clara, returning to Gravesend as a bride brings some triumph… but also great unease. Not only must she pretend to be a wellborn lady and devoted wife to a man whose face is a constant reminder of the love she lost, but ominous portents whisper that her masquerade brings grave danger. “This house will take from you what you most treasure,” her mother once warned her. But the curse has already taken the man Clara loved. Will it now demand her life?
Follow the adventures of actress Sybil Ingram, Clara’s former employer, in
Nocturne for a Widow!
Widowed on her wedding night! Sybil Ingram is at a crossroads. Once she was the toast of the London stage, but now that she’s 28 years old—very well, nearly 30—her draw isn’t what it used to be, and her theater troupe is foundering. When her trusted mentor asks her to take the blame for his financial misdeeds, Sybil sees no choice but to retire from the life she loves and move to America to marry New York City hotel magnate Alcott Lammle. But her path to happiness is cut short when Lammle dies suddenly—and in financial ruin.
Widowed, nearly penniless, and unable to return to England, the determined diva sets out to stake a claim on Brooke House, a Gothic revival manor in the wilds of the Hudson River Valley. She soon finds, however, that a ghostly presence wants her gone. Even worse, her claim is challenged by the most insolent, temperamental, maddeningly gorgeous man she’s ever met: Roderick Brooke, a former violin maestro whose career ended in a dark scandal.
Soon it’s a battle of wills as Sybil matches wits—and trades barbs—with Roderick, finding herself increasingly drawn to him despite her growing suspicion that there is a connection between him and the entity that haunts Brooke House. But an even greater threat arises in the form of the mysterious and powerful queen of local society, Mrs. Lavinia Dove. For reasons that Sybil can’t imagine, Mrs. Dove is determined to oust Sybil from her sphere… and the lengths to which she will go are chilling indeed.
Winner of the 2012 RONE Award in mystery:
Sea of Secrets
Can she save him from the darkness in his soul... or will it destroy them both?
After her brother is killed in the Crimean War, innocent young Oriel Pembroke finds herself alone in the world. Disowned by the cruel father who has always despised her, she has nowhere to turn until she is taken under the wing of a glamorous relative she never knew: the former Duchess of Ellsworth, who has scandalized society by remarrying soon after her first husband’s death. At the opulent seaside estate of Ellsmere, Oriel thinks she has found a safe haven—but the darkly handsome young duke, Herron, believes otherwise. Haunted by the death of his father, he suspects that Ellsmere is sheltering a murderer.
Even as Oriel falls in love with the duke, she begins to fear that his grief and suspicion are turning to madness. When dangerous accidents start to befall both Herron and Oriel, however, she realizes that someone may be trying to stop them from discovering the truth about the past. And when someone from her past comes back into her life, she learns that he may hold the answer to the most horrifying secret of all…
Learn about these and other books at amandadewees.com.
Acknowledgments
One of the best parts of writing a book is getting to spend more time with some of the wonderful people who helped me bring my previous ones into the world. For Cursed Once More I was delighted to once again draw upon the wisdom of plot whisperer Maurice Cobbs; critique partners Lisa Blackwell, Martha Crockett, and Susan Goggins (Raven Hart); and beta readers Peyton Smith-Hopman and Joani Van Demark.
I’m fortunate to be able to welcome some new companions in adventure, as well. My gratitude goes to Abby Dowling-Baker, beta reader and medieval literature advisor; Paige Rohe, brainstormer and cheerer-on; Charles R. Rutledge, fisticuffs consultant; and Rita Thompson, who drew my attention to a news article about the excavation of European graves that revived my interest in vampire lore.
Finally, writing would not be nearly as much fun without Thursday nights at Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party and the writerly comradeship and enthusiastic support of Lindsey Mitchell, Diana Plattner, and Caitlyn Mitchell Trautwein. Thanks, ladies! Next week the scones are on me.
About the Author
Atlanta author Amanda DeWees received her PhD in English from the University of Georgia and wrote her dissertation on 19th-century vampire literature—the perfect training, although she didn’t know it at the time, for writing Victorian gothic romance novels. Learn more about her and her books at amandadewees.com.
Books by Amanda DeWees
Cursed Once More
Nocturne for a Widow
Sea of Secrets
With This Curse
The Ash Grove Chronicles:
The Shadow and the Rose
Casting Shadows
Among the Shadows
Copyright Notice
Cursed Once More
Copyright © 2015 Amanda DeWees
All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or distributed in any printed or electronic form without the prior express written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by James T. Egan of Bookfly Design
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Epilogue
More Victorian Romantic Suspense by Amanda DeWees
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Books by Amanda DeWees
Copyright Notice
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Epilogue
> More Victorian Romantic Suspense by Amanda DeWees
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Books by Amanda DeWees
Copyright Notice