Lyn Stone - The Wicked Truth

Cover Page

Excerpt “Provoking baggage!” the Earl exclaimed. “Nothing frightens you, does it? You are the most shameless hussy.” Elizabeth knew ’d begun to recover himself, at least enough to be embarrassed about all he’d just told her. No doubt it was the first confession of this sort he’d ever made. And a man as strong as Neil couldn’t be comfortable baring his soul that way. “Kiss me half as well next time round, and I may tell you how I got that way.” She pinched his cheek. “Now, why don’t you take a short nap while I go and make you breakfast?” “Damn it, Bettsy, don’t be so bloody kind! I’m trying to warn you I can be dangerous!” “My God, you are blue-deviled this morning! Now, shut up and lie down or I’ll kick you in the shins. You haven’t seen a vicious rage until you’ve seen one of mine!”

Dear Reader Dear Reader, Every year at this time, the editors at Harlequin Historicals have the unique opportunity of introducing our readers to four brand-new authors in our annual March Madness Promotion. These titles were chosen from among hundreds of manuscripts from unpublished authors, and we would like to take this time to thank all of the talented authors who made the effort to submit their projects to Harlequin Historicals for review. This year’s books include a second-place finisher in the 1995 Maggie Awards, The Wicked Truth by Lyn Stone. In this delightful story set in Victorian England, a woman with a ruined reputation and a straidaced physician join forces to discover the real culprit in a murder they are both under suspicion for. The other three titles are: Emily’s Captain by Shari Anton, the story of a heroine whose father sends a dashing Union spy to get her safely out of Georgia against her wishes; Heart of the Dragon by Sharon Schulze, the medieval tale of a young woman searching for her identity with the help of a fierce warrior, and The Phoenix of Love by Susan Schonberg, a Regency novel about an unusual marriage of convenience between a reformed rake and a society ice princess who must overcome tortured pasts and present enemies before they are free to love. Whatever your taste in reading, we hope you’ll find a story written just for you between the covers of a Harlequin Historical Sincerely, Tracy Farrell Senior Editor Please address questions and book requests to: Harlequin Reader Service U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269 Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

Title Page The Wicked Truth Lyn Stone www.millsandboon.co.uk

About The Author LYN STONE A painter of historical events, Lyn decided to write about them. A canvas, however detailed, limits characters to only one moment in time. “If a picture’s worth a thousand words, the other ninety thousand have to show up somewhere!” An avid reader, she admits, “At thirteen I fell in love with Bronte’s Heathcliff and became Catherine. The next year I fell for Rhett and became Scarlett Then I fell for the hero I’d known most of my life and finally became myself.” After living four years in Europe, Lyn and her husband, Allen, settled into a log house in North Alabama that is crammed to the rafters with antiques, artifacts and the stuff of future tales.

Dedication Love and thanks to Bonnie, Pat, Sabrah and Tammy, my critique group for this book; to my daughter Pam, my Edith Head who also designs clothes with words; to my son Eric, who teaches me to listen with my heart; to Dennis, Katie and Sarah, who raise love to an art form; and especially to Allen, the absolute master of research, historical and hysterical.

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

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Copyright

“Nothing frightens you, does it? You are the most shameless hussy.”

Elizabeth knew ’d begun to recover himself, at least enough to be embarrassed about all he’d just told her. No doubt it was the first confession of this sort he’d ever made. And a man as strong as Neil couldn’t be comfortable baring his soul that way.

“Kiss me half as well next time round, and I may tell you how I got that way.” She pinched his cheek. “Now, why don’t you take a short nap while I go and make you breakfast?”

“Damn it, Bettsy, don’t be so bloody kind! I’m trying to warn you I can be dangerous!”

“My God, you are blue-deviled this morning! Now, shut up and lie down or I’ll kick you in the shins. You haven’t seen a vicious rage until you’ve seen one of mine!”

Every year at this time, the editors at Harlequin Historicals have the unique opportunity of introducing our readers to four brand-new authors in our annual March Madness Promotion. These titles were chosen from among hundreds of manuscripts from unpublished authors, and we would like to take this time to thank all of the talented authors who made the effort to submit their projects to Harlequin Historicals for review.

This year’s books include a second-place finisher in the 1995 Maggie Awards, The Wicked Truth by Lyn Stone. In this delightful story set in Victorian England, a woman with a ruined reputation and a straidaced physician join forces to discover the real culprit in a murder they are both under suspicion for.

The other three titles are: Emily’s Captain by Shari Anton, the story of a heroine whose father sends a dashing Union spy to get her safely out of Georgia against her wishes; Heart of the Dragon by Sharon Schulze, the medieval tale of a young woman searching for her identity with the help of a fierce warrior, and The Phoenix of Love by Susan Schonberg, a Regency novel about an unusual marriage of convenience between a reformed rake and a society ice princess who must overcome tortured pasts and present enemies before they are free to love.

Whatever your taste in reading, we hope you’ll find a story written just for you between the covers of a Harlequin Historical

Sincerely,

Tracy Farrell

Senior Editor

Please address questions and book requests to:

Harlequin Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

www.millsandboon.co.uk

A painter of historical events, Lyn decided to write about them. A canvas, however detailed, limits characters to only one moment in time. “If a picture’s worth a thousand words, the other ninety thousand have to show up somewhere!”

An avid reader, she admits, “At thirteen I fell in love with Bronte’s Heathcliff and became Catherine. The next year I fell for Rhett and became Scarlett Then I fell for the hero I’d known most of my life and finally became myself.”

After living four years in Europe, Lyn and her husband, Allen, settled into a log house in North Alabama that is crammed to the rafters with antiques, artifacts and the stuff of future tales.

Love and thanks to Bonnie, Pat, Sabrah and Tammy,

my critique group for this book;