“I thought Crosby was the thief. I bought up the vowels in case Finch went after him. I… I thought you loved Crosby and I didn’t want him to hang if you loved him. I didn’t want you to… uhmpf!”
Adelaide threw her arms around him so hard they nearly fell down the stairs. “You do mean it, Marcus. You do love me.”
He covered her mouth with his and kissed her as if she were his last supper and he a dying man. They sank to the steps and Adelaide felt every drop of light in the world suddenly inside of her, inside of him, and all around them. They might have made love right there on the front steps of Winfield Abbey had Mrs. Church’s loud Ahem! not broken them apart.
“Hello, Mrs. Church,” Marcus said cheerfully. “Happy to see me?”
“Not as happy as our duchess, I’ll say.” She put her hands on her ample hips. “What took you so long? Were you lost?”
“The duke is never lost,” Addy said as Marcus picked her up in his arms and carried her into the house. “He always knows exactly where he is.”
“On the contrary, my love.” He gazed at her, his glorious green eyes filled with love and joy. “I’ve been lost since the day I took you for that first carriage ride. And I hope to stay lost with you until I breathe my last breath.”
Acknowledgments
This book has waited a long time to enter the world. And there is a long list of people to thank for their help in making it happen.
This would not be happening were it not for the support, knowledge, and direction of Romance Writers of America and especially my home chapters – Southern Magic RWA and the Beau Monde Chapter of RWA. My growth as a writer is a direct result of the immeasurable aid and support of the members of these chapters.
To the ladies of the Avon FanLit Event, especially the Talking Fishbowl Heads Club – You know who you are. Thanks for inspiring and keeping after me to get my work out there.
To the ladies of my first critique group who read my first halting attempts and helped me to make them better – thank you so much, Terry Jo, Beth, Marianne, and Cathy.
To the ladies of the Regency Romance Critiquers and the Historical Romance Ladies, I cannot begin to thank you enough for the encouragement, butt kicking, and knowledge you have shared with me. I could not have done this without you.
I have belonged to a number of blog communities who provided me with immeasurable friendship and support. Some are gone now, but their help cannot be measured. Thanks to The Goddess Blogs, Romance Bandits, Risky Regencies, History Hoydens, and The Word Wenches.
My Golden Heart sisters – the 2008 Pixie Chicks and the 2009 Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood, there are no words to convey my love and appreciation of your sisterhood.
Andrea Stein, thanks for keeping me sane and making me believe it is never too late to be who I was meant to be. I owe you a lot more than potato chip cookies.
The Christmas Revels Crew – Hannah Meredith, Kate Parker, and Anna D. Allen, the day I signed on for this series was the luckiest day of my life. You make me a better writer and a better person.
Christi Caldwell, thank you for simply everything!
Kristine Hughes and Victoria Hinshaw, your friendship and encouragement mean the world to me. NumberOneLondon and you two ladies are an absolute treasure.
Kim Killion and her entire organization. My cover is fabulous thanks to you. Your professionalism and vision and attention to detail made this experience so much easier!
Erin McClune, you were the first person to read Lost in Love. You pushed me to keep at it, to never give up on this story. Your words “Now this reads like a real romance novel.” have stuck with me and kept me going when all I wanted to do was give up. You’ll never know how much those words meant and continue to mean to me.
Other Titles By
Louisa Cornell
CHRISTMAS REVELS
A Perfectly Dreadful Christmas (Christmas Revels Anthology)
A Perfectly Unregimented Christmas (Christmas Revels II Anthology)
LORD CREIGHTON’S BRIDES
Stealing Minerva (Her Perfect Gentleman Anthology)
About the Author
Louisa was introduced to Regency romance at the tender age of nine when her father’s Air Force career took the family to live in the tiny Suffolk village of Kelsale. A pair of sisters, retired librarians, insisted she read Pride and Prejudice and she has been a devoted Anglophile and Regency England fanatic ever since. She even tried her hand at writing her own historical romance. It was notoriously bad. Her mother has the only surviving copy.
A classically trained musician, Louisa’s study of music began at the London College of Music and continued once she returned to the States. After four music degrees and a year of study at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, Louisa was fortunate enough to embark on a singing career in opera houses in Germany, Austria, and most of Eastern Europe.Now retired from an active career in opera, Louisa has returned to her first love – writing Regency-set historical romance. Her novella A PERFECTLY DREADFUL CHRISTMAS (Christmas Revels,) winner of the 2015 Holt Medallion, was her publication debut.
She lives in the wilds of LA (Lower Alabama) with an ever-growing library of Regency research books and a cadre of pets - including a Chihuahua so horrible he has been banned from veterinary clinics in two counties and a cat who thinks she is a Great Dane, known to terminate vermin with extreme feline prejudice.
Louisa spends entirely too much time on the internet. But she does love to talk to her readers! You can find her at the following links when she isn’t chained to her desk writing.
http://www.louisacornell.com/
http://numberonelondon.net/
https://twitter.com/LouisaCornell
https://www.facebook.com/RegencyWriterLouisaCornell
https://www.facebook.com/louisa.cornell
https://www.pinterest.com/louisacornell/
Lost In Love (Road To Forever Series #1) Page 38
