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    The Five Kisses
    The Five Kisses
    The Five Kisses
    Ebook107 pages1 hour

    The Five Kisses

    By Karla Darcy

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    About this ebook

    "Fans of Downton Abbey and Jane Austen (without zombies) will adore this book. Karla Darcy makes us remember why we lose sense and sensibility for a sexy Regency hero and captures the era with a glorious and colorful voice!"
    Roxanne St. Claire, New York Times Bestselling Author

    "Karla Darcy weaves one fabulous Regency Romance after another. Wise, witty and wonderful. Move over Jane for another Darcy you will love!"
    Mary Alice Monroe, NY Times author of Beach House Memories

    If you love Regencies with humor, wit, and fun, Downton Abbey and Jane Austen you’ll love The Five Kisses! This is the Christmas NOVELLA in the Sweet Deception Regency series and there's lots more books to come. The question in The Five Kisses is: can the daughter of a professor with a very small estate interest the heir to an Earl in not just love but marriage? When 13 year old Chad stands up to a bully and rescues a kitten, Gillian saves him from a beating. A thank you kiss surprises them both. If she was older than 9, she might have fallen in love with him right there. But then..." The journey from friendship to love in this traditional Regency will warm the heart of any reader.

    Readers Love Karla Darcy, a RWA Golden Heart award winning author.

    "A heart-warming tale of the beauty of love..."

    "...writing is graceful and witty, plotting is clever, added to this are two characters who will charm and delight you."
    Get your copy today!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKarla Darcy
    Release dateJun 24, 2013
    The Five Kisses
    Author

    Karla Darcy

    Karla Darcy lives with her husband, several tame geckos and an occasional friendly snake on the Treasure Coast on the east side of Florida. She has always felt she lived in the Regency period in a past life. Her early writings were musical comedies and humor columns so it was an easy transition to the romantic and humorous style of Regencies. Lovely dresses, masked balls and witty conversations, which contained saucy double entendres, were the perfect cup of tea for this author. Karla discovered years ago that you don't have to be a bitch to write a Regency but it helps. Tone is everything in the era of witty repartee. Dialogue has to have that snap that makes Regency conversations sparkle.

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      Book preview

      The Five Kisses - Karla Darcy

      THE FIVE KISSES

      BY

      KARLA DARCY

      Presented By:

      Glades Publishing

      Readers love Karla Darcy

      Fans of Downton Abbey and Jane Austen (without zombies) will adore this book. Karla Darcy makes us remember why we lose sense and sensibility for a sexy Regency hero and captures the era with a glorious and colorful voice!

      Roxanne St. Claire, New York Times Bestselling Author

      Karla Darcy weaves one fabulous Regency Romance after another. Wise, witty and wonderful.  Move over Jane for another Darcy you will love!

      Mary Alice Monroe, NY Times author of Beach House Memories

      … creates a particularly attractive heroine to captivate both the hero and the reader alike. Darcy is winning a large readership with her diverting novels in this most competitive genre.

      Romantic Times

      Karla hooks readers and carries them along to a wonderfully satisfying ending.

      …writing is graceful and witty, plotting is clever, added to this are two characters who will charm and delight you.

      The humor and tenderness give this book heart and authentic details and great sexual tension make for a great read.

      Darcy is winning a large readership with her diverting novels in this most competitive genre.

      …. weaves her magic spell once more in this intricately plotted gem of a book.

      The Five Kisses is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

      Copyright 2012 Karla Darcy

      Smashwords Edition

      All Rights Reserved

      Published by: Glades Publishing

      License Notes:

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Publisher’s Note:

      The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without express written permission from the publisher. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

      Published by: Glades Publishing

      www.GladesPublishing.com

      Visit the author website:

      www.KarlaDarcy.com

      eISBN: 978-0-9857614-0-0

      Original cover design by: Tara O’Shea

      Also by KARLA DARCY

      The Masked Heart

      The Marriage Wager

      The Scandalous Ward

      DEDICATION

      For Diane Capri

      None of this would have been possible without your help and encouragement.

      Every writer should have a writing mentor like you.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      The Five Kisses

      The First Kiss

      The Second Kiss

      The Third Kiss

      The Fourth Kiss

      The Fifth Kiss

      Author’s Note

      About the Author

      The Five Kisses

      Gillian Foster stabbed the poker into the logs and sparks rose like fairy dust to dance up the chimney. Heat from the fire pinked her cheeks. She reached up to refasten a chestnut curl that had come loose from the Psyche knot. Her eyes swung to her bedroom window and in the gathering darkness, she could make out the crenelated roofline of Maynard Hall, country seat of the eighth earl of Elmore, Lord Chadwicke Kendale.

      Chad.

      The vision of dark, piercing eyes appeared in Gillian's mind and her heart beat faster. The very vividness of her reaction to the apparition was daunting. To break the spell, she cast her eyes on the travelling cape lying across the green velvet chaise longue. Picking up her candle, she headed for the door. The black skirt of her mourning dress swirled around her with the gentle hiss of silk. She left the bulging portmanteau leaning against the oak wardrobe and, without a backward glance, went out into the hall.

      Even after two months, the emptiness of her father's room jolted her; each day she awoke with the expectation that it had all been a nightmare. But, when she passed the open doorway she was reminded anew that her father was gone forever and she tried to take comfort from her memories of the scholarly, absent-minded man who had raised her. Some days the pain was less intense. She set the candle on the table beside the bed. Stroking the soft nap of the brown velvet edging on the comforter for the last time, she blew out the candle and left the room, closing the door firmly behind her.

      She tried not to think about the evening ahead but as, she stood at the top of the stairs, her eyes were drawn to the kissing bough suspended in the center of the foyer. Apples tied to the red satin ribbons dangled from the circle of rosemary. The candle she had left on the hall table flickered and the shiny apples swayed, caught in the errant draughts of the hallway. Her hand tightened on the walnut handrail as she stared at the mistletoe nestled in the heart of the greenery.

      The kissing bough and apples and Chad. She had fought all day not to think about him but he was wound up so inexorably with all her memories. The tall case clock in the drawing room chimed six. If he were coming tonight, he would not arrive until much later. Gillian sat down on the top step, tucking her skirts around her for warmth. Perhaps she needed to think about the past before she took the fateful step that inevitably would seal her future.

      The First Kiss

      Gillian swung her feet over the edge of the hayloft. Squire Bassington's barn was cold but she was not uncomfortable since she was out of the cutting sting of the December wind. Her father had chuckled when she offered to go to the squire's for some apples for the kissing bough. Knowing it was her favorite fruit, he suggested she take two baskets.

      She bit into the apple, sighing as the sharp flavor filled her mouth; she ate slowly savoring every bite, her mind floating in pure sensation. When she finished it, she licked the last of the juice off her fingers with businesslike precision. She inhaled deeply, feeling contented. She loved the musty, pungent odors of the old barn. The squire's land was close enough that even in winter she could slip away to the barn when she needed to escape the confinement of the schoolroom. Both the squire and her father knew she used the hayloft as her hidey-hole. It was a place to be alone, a place where she could think and plan and, best of all, a place to dream.

      She heard the creak of the side door and stilled the motion of her feet. The voices were muffled beneath the loft and she hugged the basket of apples in her lap as she leaned forward to see who had entered. Recognizing Lester Wheatley, the son of the innkeeper, Gillian shrank back. She hoped he would not

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