Title: The Lady’s Daring Gambit (Diamonds of London #2)
Author: Sandra Sookoo
Genre: Historical romance, Regency romance, romantic suspense
Book Blurb:
She needs to ferret out his secrets. He’s doing his level best to keep them.
Miss Honor Winslow wants revenge. Her father has been missing since the war with Napoleon ended. Then a week ago, a letter arrived from him asking for help, but it wasn’t signed, and no address had been included. Needing answers, she enlists the help of one of her friends, who has connections to the Home Office. If the old, pompous windbags there won’t listen, she will do the job herself, despite her physical difficulties following a minor apoplexy.
All Mr. Gideon McGarrett wants out of life is peace, and nearly forty, it’s finally within reach. Ready to close his last mission, the only thing he needs to do is extract a man of high military rank from where he’s hiding after being wounded. The one thing that stands in the way of a spotless career is the damned interference of a clever and vulnerable woman who insists on joining his mission.
As Honor and Gideon bicker during the journey north, heated awareness springs from forced proximity, and all too soon that desire becomes distracting, especially when a faux engagement is offered out of necessity. Once in the Lake District, when they locate her father, the woman who wants him dead has also arrived. It will take some smart negotiating and perhaps a fight to unravel the mess. Only then can the pair make a go at a life together—if they can stop hiding their emotions and let down their guards to enjoy the ride.
Excerpt:
“Agent McGarrett will inform you once the task has been completed,” his superior told her, clearly expecting her to back down and leave them alone. “Let me have one of the junior agents escort you home, Miss Winslow.”
“I refuse to leave this office until you agree to let me go on this mission.”
“You are not going, and that’s final,” Gideon said. He rubbed a hand along the side of his face. God, he couldn’t imagine traveling with someone so bold and outspoken and… female. “This is a matter best suited to men like myself.”
“Ah, arrogant, pig-headed, and unwilling to listen to someone who knows the subject best?” She popped her hands on her hips, which only served to draw his attention down the slim length of her body. With the spencer, it was difficult to discern the exact shape of her, but there was enough curve of her hips to engage a man’s baser instincts.
“While my agent is indeed all of those things, he is also one of the best men I have to put out in the field.” Lord Chettingham cleared his throat to cover a snort of laughter. “Well, I shall leave Miss Winslow in your capable hands, McGarrett, for I have a meeting.” He glanced at Gideon. “I’m certain if you have further inquiries, Winslow’s daughter will be more than capable of answering your questions.”
“But I—”
His superior left the room before he could get out the remainder of his protest.
With nothing else to do, Gideon scowled at Miss Winslow. This wasn’t exactly how he wished to go into retirement. “I have had a spotless career with the Home Office.”
“Then that is merely another reason why having me along won’t be an issue for you.”
He huffed. “No.”
She stamped a slippered foot. “Yes.” And she returned his glare.
The woman needed to leave these offices, and soon. “My apologies for speaking candidly, Miss Winslow, but even for me, this mission has all the earmarks of a fool’s errand.”
“Why would you say that?” When those dark pink lips turned down in a frown, he couldn’t help but stare at her mouth before jogging his gaze away. “It seems simple to me. Go to his address, take him away, bring him back to London.”
“One would like to think that, but no. There is generally more effort than that put into a retrieval mission.” When she didn’t appear convinced, he shoved the fingers of one hand through his hair and then moved to rest his hip against the side of Chettingham’s desk. “As much as I am sorry that your father is missing, if he is involved in espionage or something more sinister than that and truly immobile at his chosen hiding location, I might not reach him in time.” It was imperative she learn the truth rather sooner than later. “The Lake District is at least a journey of five days if traveling by coach, which is what I’ll need to take in order to extract your father and deal with his injury. And that assumes the weather will hold fair the whole time.”
And he did not want any of that complicated by catering to the whims and complaints of a woman, especially one who might be emotionally compromised by having her father missing.
“I see.” Though she remained mostly composed, her chin trembled. That was the only tell his words had made an impression. Then she raised that chin a couple of notches and met his gaze. “That doesn’t matter. He is my only family, Mr. McGarrett. What wouldn’t you do for your father?”
Bloody, bloody hell.
His chest tightened and his heart squeezed. It was his turn to battle with emotions and he didn’t wish to give her an entry point to worm her way into. His own father was in declining health, growing more frail with each passing month and his faculties failing along with his strength. It was one reason for Gideon’s imminent retirement to the country. At least there he could look after his father with more accuracy than he’d been able to over the past ten years or so. Already, he paid his valet to sit in as a companion for his father at his place at the Albany, but eventually, something more permanent would need to be put into place.
What a coil. “If I do this, it might mar my spotless career, which will make a difference on the pension I am able to draw.”
Miss Winslow shrugged. “It seems to me that if a man isn’t failing or making mistakes, then his tasks and his life are too easy, and he won’t grow.” Her gaze never flinched. “At least that is what my father always used to say, but then, he probably has much more courage than you.”
The audacity of this woman! “I’d wager that is not your concern.” Just because he hadn’t failed didn’t mean his missions and cases had been too easy. She had no idea what he’d been through over the course of his career, and he had the scars and stories to prove it.
“Perhaps, but if you won’t go, then I will.” So saying, she made to move around him toward the door, but he wrapped a hand around her upper arm.
“Like hell you will, Miss Winslow.” The heat of her was mildly intriguing, but then he shoved that to the back of his mind. “I rather think you won’t.” He glared down in her upturned face. “I’m going to escort you outside, put you into a hired hack, and sent you back to the Stanwycks.”
Where the hell was Adam when he needed him? Vaguely, he recalled his best friend had something pressing to attend this afternoon and wouldn’t be in the office until later.
“First of all, I took the Stanwyck carriage. I told the driver to wait for me.”
“Well, bully for you.”
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It’s a brand-new year, full of possibilities. Did you make any resolutions/goals for 2025? If so, please share one.
I’m not a resolution girl. I’m more goal-oriented, and yes, I have many goals for both my writing life and my personal life. In fact, my writing and release schedule has already been laid down for the next two years. I love smashing goals.
Why is your featured book a must-read in 2025?
I’m closing out the Diamonds of London series in 2025, and this book is one of my personal favorites in this series. I hope everyone will indulge in this series!
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $100 Amazon gift card.
Open internationally.
Runs January 1 – 31, 2025
Drawing will be held on February 3, 2025.
Author Biography:
Sandra Sookoo is a USA Today bestselling author who firmly believes every person deserves acceptance and a happy ending. That is why her characters are not in the usual style and oftentimes struggle with things out of the norm. She’s written for publication since 2008. Most days you can find her creating scandal and mischief in the Regency-era, serendipity and happenstance in the Victorian era, or historical romantic suspense complete with mystery and intrigue. Reading is a lot like eating chocolates—you can’t just have one book. Give her the chance with one book and you’ll be hooked.
When she’s not wearing out computer keyboards or mice, Sandra spends time with her real-life Prince Charming in Central Indiana where she also runs a gourmet cookie business and makes moments count with the man because the key to life is laughter. Inspired to storytelling by Walt Disney since the age of ten, when her soul gets bogged down and her imagination flags, a trip to Walt Disney World is in order. Nothing fills the well and fuels her dreams more than the land of eternal happy endings, hope and love stories.
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