The Look of Love
Page 26
He grinned. “I believe Moray would call that ‘scooping’ the Lothian.”
“Well, this is all excellent!” the blond woman trilled. “I was just telling my husband, Lord Mercer, how much I would love to expand our collection of works by women.”
“Lady Margaret is an inveterate suffragette,” said the gentleman with a smile as though telling a joke he thought rather clever.
“Charles,” his wife chilled him. “If you say it like that, people will believe you think it a bad thing.”
“You must excuse me,” said Ina, a sweat breaking out over her brow, “but did you say that you’re Lord and Lady Mercer?”
“That’s right,” said the woman. She stuck out her hand to Ina. “Lady Margaret, Marchioness of Mercer.”
Stunned, Ina shook the lady’s hand. She’d been standing before two of the preeminent collectors of art in the country, and she hadn’t even known it.
Lady Margaret popped open her reticule and fished out a calling card. “We’re staying at the Ramsey Hotel on Princes Street until Thursday. If you’d care to join us for supper, we’ll be dining in one of the hotel’s private dining rooms. Just a group of a dozen or so of our closest friends in Scotland.” The lady looked around at the circle of Ina’s friends that had closed around them. “All of you should come. We had the pleasure of hearing you sing last Saturday, Mrs. Nell, and I’d look forward to the chance to interrogate you on the new German operas. So forceful and stirring.”
With a twiddle of her fingers, Lady Margaret flitted off, her indulgent husband bobbing merrily in her wake.
Ina looked wide-eyed at Gavin and then down at the card she still held in her hand. “I’m not entirely sure what just happened.”
“I think,” he said, kissing her on the forehead, “you’ve just found your first patron.”
“I may need to sit down,” she said.
“Let’s go home,” he said. Then he leaned in and whispered to her, “But be ready, because once we’re home I plan on dragging you to bed and keeping you there until Lady Margaret’s supper.”
She shivered and tucked her body closer to his. “Is that a promise?”
He laughed. “It is. And I always keep my promises.”
Acknowledgments
I’M GRATEFUL FOR the help a great number of people gave me while writing (and rewriting) this book, but Tamsen Parker and Lindsay Emory in particular lent me sage advice and tough love when I needed to hear it the most. I also couldn’t have finished Gavin and Ina’s story without the help of my fellow HBICs—Alexis Anne, Alexandra Haughton, Laura von Holt, Mary Chris Escobar, and Lindsay—who crossed the U.S. for a writing retreat in the middle of beautiful Virginia. That weekend of writing, cooking, bourbon, and sisterhood would prove to be exactly what I needed to finish the book.
Thank you also to my agent, Emily Sylvan Kim, and to my editor, Marla Daniels. Also to Jean Anne Rose, Polly Watson, Min Choi, Laura Wise, Lauren McKenna and the entire team at Pocket.
This book is, as always, for my wonderful family but especially Justine and Mark, who fell in love in Edinburgh.
Want even more sizzling historical romance? Don't miss the rest of the Matchmaker of Edinburgh series!
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About the Author
Julia Kelly is the award-winning author of sexy historical romances about smart women and the men who love them. She picked up her first romance novel and the bad habit of reading well past her bedtime when she was thirteen. Years later, she decided to try writing books of her own and never looked back. Julia also writes contemporary romances under the name Julia Blake. An Emmy-nominated TV producer and recovering journalist, Julia has called Los Angeles, Iowa, New York, and England home. She never met a pair of stilettos she didn’t love and still stays up too late reading. Readers can visit JuliaKellyWrites.com to learn more about Julia and her books and sign up for her newsletter so they never miss a new release!
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Julia Kelly
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First Pocket Star Books ebook edition October 2017
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Cover art by Chris Cocozza
ISBN 978-1-5011-7290-8