Still, Judith knew her. Those eyes. That chin. Her nose. All the years hadn’t changed her sister in any of the essentials.
“Camilla?” Judith’s voice broke. It had been so, so long. They’d looked. They’d advertised. She’d refused to lose hope, no matter how options had dwindled as the months passed.
She’d been right not to lose hope. Her sister was here.
Theresa followed right behind her. “Camilla?”
Judith threw her arms around her sister. “Where have you been?”
“Never mind.” Christian was there. “Come in. We have food and towels.”
Camilla looked into Judith’s eyes. “Judith, I need your help.”
“Anything.”
Camilla took a deep breath. “I’m married.”
In typical Worth family fashion, everyone spoke at once.
“What?”
“To whom?”
“When?”
“Do you love him?” The last was Judith.
Camilla’s chin wobbled a moment. But it was just for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was firm. “It hardly matters,” she said. “You see, I want—no, I need—an annulment. And you’re the only one who can help me.”
Thank you!
Thank you for reading Once Upon a Marquess. I hope you enjoyed it.
So what happens with everyone else in the Worth family?
Once Upon a Marquess is the first book in the Worth Saga—a series about the Worth family that will span years and continents. Obviously, there’s a lot of story left to tell for Benedict, Camilla, Theresa, and Anthony—along with some others you haven’t yet met.
If you want to know when the next book in the Worth Saga will be out, please sign up for my new release e-mail list at www.courtneymilan.com.
What can you tell me about the next books?
Next up is Her Every Wish, a novella about Daisy Whitlaw (Judith’s best friend) and Crash. (Crash doesn’t have a last name.) It will be out in mid-January so make sure to either sign up for my new release list or to preorder it, although preorders won’t be available everywhere.
What do you mean others you haven’t yet met?
There are seven full-length books in the series. The Worth Saga is, of course, a series about the Worth family. But it’s also a series about an organization (which you’ll discover in Book 3, The Devil Comes Courting) and another family (which you’ll meet for the first time in Book 2, After the Wedding). And, as with all my series, there will be a handful of novellas that explore side characters.
After that (as I am sure you have already guessed) is Camilla’s story, After the Wedding.
You can read excerpts from these books right after this page.
When will all these books release?
I’m not a fast writer, unfortunately, and I’m extremely bad at predicting when I’m going to finish a book. At my best guess, maybe late in 2016 for Camilla’s book? Add question marks to the end of any date I ever give you. Add lots of question marks. If you want to get an email when my books become available, you can sign up for my new release e-mail list at www.courtneymilan.com. Or you can follow me on twitter at @courtneymilan, or like my Facebook page at http://facebook.com/courtneymilanauthor.
I don’t want to wait that long! What can I do in the meantime?
I have three other finished historical romance series (as well as a handful of stories that aren’t in any series). If you’re new to my books, I suggest starting with The Duchess War. It’s free on most platforms right now. It’s the first book in the Brothers Sinister series, and it’s about Robert Blaisdell, the Duke of Clermont, who doesn’t want to be a duke, and Minnie the shy wallflower who doesn’t want to be a duchess. Don’t listen to me. I’m terrible at describing my own books.
If you haven’t tried it yet, I also have a contemporary romance series. Trade Me is the first book in the series. It has all the things you know and love about Courtney Milan books (humor, angst, and lengthy author’s notes about things I couldn’t stop researching), but there are bonus smartwatches. Come for the technology; stay for foul-mouthed billionaires and jokes about insider trading.
If you’ve already read all my books, I have a list of recommendations for other authors on my website.
Her Every Wish: Excerpt
Crash has never let the circumstances of his birth, or his lack of a last name, bother him. His associations may be unsavory, but money, friends, and infamy open far more interesting doors than respect ever could. His sole regret? Once lovely, sweet Daisy Whitlaw learned the truth about how he made his fortune, she cut him off.
Daisy’s father is dead, her mother is in ill health, and her available funds have dwindled to a memory. When the local parish announces a charity bequest to help young people start a trade, it’s her last chance. So what if the grants are intended for men? If she’s good enough, she might bluff her way into a future.
When Crash offers to help her prevail, she knows he is up to no good. But with her life in the balance, she’s desperate enough to risk the one thing she hasn’t yet lost: her heart.
From Chapter One
“Daisy,” Crash called behind her.
The snow had changed from delicate white lace to the disgusting, dingy slush of well-trodden streets. Icy water seeped through the seams of her shoes. A cold wind tugged at her, and she cinched her scarf around her neck. She didn’t look back. She wasn’t foolish.
“Daisy.”
She wouldn’t turn. That little skirling breeze coming up behind her would make her eyes water, and she was not, she absolutely was not, going to let Crash see her cry. Not even if her tears were wind-induced.
But Crash had never been deterred by…well, anything, Daisy suspected. Certainly not anything so mild as someone purposefully failing to hear him. He came jogging up to her, settling to a walk at her side.
“Daisy,” he said. “You rushed off far too soon.”
She made the mistake of looking at him just as he cast a glance in her direction. He was a man who had mastered the speaking glance. This one could have been an epic saga. It was the unshakeable look that a farm lad gave to his sweetheart when she was sentenced to be fed to a dragon. Don’t worry, it promised. I’ll save you. I’ve a plan.
It was the kind of look that would have that blushing farm girl spreading her legs for her love in the barn the night before she was condemned to die. She’d give up her virginity, her trust, her love, her future in one trembling hour. When she bid her swain farewell through tears and kisses, she would believe in her soul that he was going to kill the beast. She’d believe he would save her right up until the moment the dragon crunched her between its teeth.
Even now, even knowing Crash as she did, a flush of heat blossomed along the back of her neck at that look.
Daisy’s mind knew all about Crash, even if her body pretended ignorance. She’d already given him everything. She’d had that trembling hour. Eighteen months later, Daisy had no virginity, no trust, no love, and her future was chockfull of dragons.
“Aha,” Crash said, coming to a temporary halt. He snapped his fingers. “Right. Of course. I forgot. I’m to address you as Miss Whitlaw now.”
He gave her a mocking smile, arranged the cloth at his neck that passed for something like a cravat, and shifted his tone. When he spoke again, he sounded almost proper—the way Daisy’s mother sounded at her most querulous. The way Daisy spoke, when she wanted people to take her seriously.
“My dear Miss Whitlaw,” he said in a distinctive, plummy-sounding voice, “I know you’ve little desire to speak with me at the moment. But I have a business proposition to put before you.”
“You may recall,” Daisy said severely, “that I do not care for your line of business.”
That smile on his face flickered. “My line of business is the business of making people happy.”
Ha. “Yes,” she said. “A great many people.”
“A great many people,” he agreed, instead of getting angry
at her implication like a normal person would. “I’m here to offer my services.”
“I had your services once,” Daisy snapped. “I don’t need them any longer.”
“A good thing,” Crash said with a slow grin. “The sort of services I offer don’t come any longer—or thicker—or harder than I have on offer.”
Her cheeks flamed in memory. “Crash. Please don’t say things like that.”
He shrugged. “It’s simple. I saw what happened back there. They’re planning to make a joke of you, you know. All they want is to laugh at you.”
“I know,” Daisy said through clenched teeth.
“You should give up now.”
“I know.” Her teeth ground against each other.
“But you won’t.”
He knew that, too. His knowing things about her had fooled her thoroughly. She’d thought she was special. She had thought he actually cared. She’d been such an idiot.
“And since you won’t give up,” he said, “then you cannot leave them with one single thing to laugh at. You know that’s how it works, yes?”
“I know,” she whispered.
“You will have to be brilliant.” He looked at her. “You won’t be able to hesitate. You’ll have to make them believe that nobody will be able to survive without your chop house. That means…” He paused, a little overdramatically. “You will have to practice.”
“I know all these things,” Daisy growled.
“You’ll need an audience to test yourself against.” Crash continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “Not your friend the marchioness, nor your mother, nor the girls who work in your flower shop. You need to practice in front of someone who you hate. Someone who makes your stomach curdle. Someone who will ask questions while you want to smash his face in. If you can impress that man, you can impress anyone.”
She looked over at him.
He took off his hat and gave her a flourishing bow. “I am, as ever, at your service.”
Want to know what happens? Her Every Wish herewill be available in mid-January of 2016. Click here to find out more.
After the Wedding: Excerpt
From Chapter One
Lady Camilla Worth had dreamed of marriage ever since she was twelve years of age.
It didn’t have to be marriage. It didn’t have to be romantic. Sometimes she imagined that one of the girls whose acquaintance she made—however briefly—would become her devoted friend, and they would swear a lifelong loyalty to one another. She’d daydreamed when she lived in Leeds about becoming a companion—no, an almost-granddaughter—to an elderly woman who lived three houses down.
“What would I ever do without you, Camilla?” old Mrs. Marsdell would say as Camilla wormed her way into her heart.
But Old Mrs. Marsdell never stopped frowning at her suspiciously, and Camilla had been packed up and shunted off to another family long before she’d had a chance to charm anyone.
That was all she had ever wanted. One person, just one, who promised not to leave her. She didn’t need love. She didn’t need wealth. After nine times packing her bags and boarding trains, braving swaying carts, or even once, walking seven miles with her aging valise in tow… After nine separate families, she would have settled for tolerance and a promise that she would always have a place to stay.
So of course she hoped for marriage. Not the way she might have as a child, dreaming of white knights and houses to look over and china and linen to purchase. She hoped for it in the most basic possible terms.
All she wanted was for someone to choose her.
Hoping for so little, she had believed that surely she could not be disappointed.
It just went to show. Fate had a sense of humor, and she was a capricious bitch.
For here Camilla stood on her wedding day. Wedding night, really. Her gown was not white, as Victoria’s had been. In fact, she was still wearing the apron from the scullery. She had no waiting trousseau, no idea what sort of home—if any—awaited her. And she’d still managed to miss out on her dreams.
Her groom’s face was hidden in the shadows; late as this wedding was, on this particular night, a few candles lit in the nave did more to cast shadows than shed illumination. He adjusted his cuffs, gleaming white against the brown of his skin, and folded his arms in disapproval. She couldn’t see his eyes in the darkness, but his eyebrows made grim lines of unhappy resignation.
It might even have been romantic—for versions of romantic that conflated foolhardy with fun—to marry a man she had known for only three days. And what she knew of the groom was not terrible. He’d been kind to her. He had made her laugh. He had even—once—touched her hand and made her heart flutter.
It might have been romantic, but for one tiny little thing.
“Adrian Hunter,” Bishop Cantrell was saying. “Do you take Camilla Worth to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and protect her, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?”
She would have overlooked the gown, the trousseau, anything. Anything but…
“No,” said her groom. “I do not consent to this.”
That one tiny little thing. Like everyone else in the world, her intended didn’t want her.
Behind him, Rector Daniels lifted the pistol. His hands gleamed white on the barrel in the candle light, like maggots writhing on tarnished steel.
“It doesn’t matter what you say,” the man said. “You will agree and you will sign the book, damn your eyes.”
“I do this under duress.” His words came out clipped and harsh. “I do not consent.”
Camilla shouldn’t even call him her intended. Intent on his part was woefully lacking.
“I’m sorry,” Camilla whispered.
He didn’t hear her. Maybe he didn’t care.
She wouldn’t have minded if he didn’t love her. She didn’t want white lace and wedding cake. But this wasn’t a marriage, not really. She was being wrapped up like an unwanted package again and sent on to the next unsuspecting soul.
After being passed on—and on—and on—and on—after all these years, she had no illusions about the outcome in this case.
The candlelight made Mr. Hunter’s features seem even darker than they had in the sun. In the sun, after all, he’d smiled at her.
He didn’t smile now.
There it was. Camilla was getting married, and her husband didn’t want her.
Her lungs felt too small. Her hands were shaking. Her corset wasn’t even laced tightly, but still she couldn’t seem to breathe. Little green spots appeared before her eyes. Dancing, whirling.
Don’t faint, Camilla, she admonished herself. Don’t faint. If you faint, he might leave you behind, and then where will you be?
She didn’t faint. She breathed. She said yes, and the spots went away. She managed not to swoon on her way to sign the register. She did everything except look at the unwilling groom whose life had so forcibly been tied to her own.
She followed him out into the cold winter evening. There would be no celebration, no dinner. Behind her back, she heard the clink of coins as the bishop turned to Mr. Hunter.
“There’s an inn a mile away,” the man said. “They might allow you to take rooms for the night. Don’t expect that I’ll give you a character reference.”
Mr. Hunter made no response. He just started walking down the road.
That was how Camilla left the tenth family that had taken her in: on foot, at eleven at night, with a chill in the air and the moon high overhead. She had to half-skip to keep up with her new…husband? Should she call him a husband?
His long legs ate away at the ground. He didn’t look at her.
But halfway to the inn, he stopped. At first, she thought he might finally address her. Instead, he let his own satchel fall to the ground. He looked up at the moon.
His hands made fists at his side. “Fuck.” He spoke softly enough that she likely wasn’t supposed to hear that epithet.
“Mr.
Hunter?”
He turned to her. She still couldn’t see his eyes, but she could feel them on her. He’d lost his position and gained a wife, all in the space of a few hours. She didn’t imagine that he was happy with her.
He exhaled. “I suppose this…is what it is. We’ll figure this mess out in the morning.”
The morning. After the wedding came the wedding night. Camilla wasn’t naïve. She just wasn’t ready.
How had her life come to this?
Ah, yes. It had started three days ago, when Bishop Cantrell had arrived on her doorstep with Mr. Hunter in tow…
After the Wedding will be out in late 2016. If you want to know when it’s available, you can sign up for my new release mailing list.
Other Books by Courtney
The Worth Saga
Once Upon a Marquess
Her Every Wish
After the Wedding
The Devil Comes Courting
The Return of the Scoundrel
The Kissing Hour
A Tale of Two Viscounts
The Once and Future Earl
The Cyclone Series
Trade Me
Hold Me
Find Me
What Lies Between Me and You
Keep Me
The Brothers Sinister Series
The Governess Affair
The Duchess War
A Kiss for Midwinter
The Heiress Effect
The Countess Conspiracy
The Suffragette Scandal
Talk Sweetly to Me
The Turner Series
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