Beguiled (12 page)

A disturbance at the back of the church
caused the bride and groom to turn around. At the entrance stood a stranger—a
tall, dark-complexioned man of formidable size with a hard beauty in his face.
He hesitated for a moment, and then took a seat in a back pew removed from the
others. The stranger appeared rough, raw, as though hewn from stone; an
uncivilized creature of smoke and mist. He had the look of one who did not come
from Somerset and who seemed desirous to leave as soon as possible.

Branson Hamilton’s shoulders pulled back as
he stared hard at the malformed face. A pair of black eyes stared back at him
in equal measure.

“Who is that gentleman?” Clara whispered.
Her belly protruded.

“You give him too much credit. His name is Tanner
Caine
. He is a hired assassin. He is also my brother.”

THE END

§

DEAR READER: In the age of
ebooks
, readers are the curators of literature. The New
York Times doesn’t have as much influence! Thank you for taking a moment to
leave a review of this novel and helping other readers in making a decision. ~
Catherine Lloyd
~

Mark of
Caine
Trilogy ~ Book One:
In the Shadows

Laura Mayhew is the only witness to a sex
scandal at Windsor Castle and is swiftly dispatched to Gateshead Insane Asylum.
But the girl won’t stop babbling about a stolen baby and the Princess Louise
and her mad tale is beginning to attract attention. Queen Victoria summons
Tanner
Caine
to deal with the problem. The brilliant,
solitary and emotionally damaged ex-naval officer is tasked with silencing the
girl but first he must win her trust. Laura Mayhew has been expecting an
assassin to show up for months; she quickly deduces Tanner’s true purpose in
liberating her. Laura devises her own agenda for the ruthless Mr.
Caine
—if she can only stay alive long enough to see it
through.

§

Enjoy this free sample
of “In the Shadows”

QUEEN VICTORIA turned with a sullen frown
to gaze at the man standing before her. The history she had given him of the
problem was sparse, her reasons were weak, but Tanner
Caine
appeared unperturbed. He stood at attention like an officer awaiting his
orders.

“It has been
rumoured
that madness
runs in our veins but I can assure you, Laura Mayhew is too distantly related
to offer royal blood as an explanation for this bizarre story she is spreading.
Unfortunately, she is also too closely related to the royal family to be wholly
ignored by Parliament. Something must be done to silence her and soon. That is
all I can tell you. The events that have led up to this action cannot be
written down or entrusted to anyone’s hearing. Do you understand? Suffice to
say, the blow to the Crown would be fatal if certain powerful men began to take
her story seriously.”

“What is it you need me to do?”

Victoria’s shoulders sagged with relief. It was this
forthright presence of mind that she treasured most about the former naval
officer. One did not have to waste one’s breath with troublesome explanations.
Tanner
Caine
understood all. He was her boots on the
ground, her spy in the streets. He had more than once extricated the Prince
Regent out of a sexual scrape and cleaned up
Bertie’s
mess. The fellow had become invaluable to her since the Prince Consort’s
untimely death six years before.
Caine
got things
done. Tasks that were too
unsavoury
for Her Majesty’s
Service to take on, she would send for Mr.
Caine
, and
all would be settled discreetly and efficiently.

But even a man as capable and obedient as Tanner
Caine
would have his limit and Victoria hesitated before
trying that limit. She did not want to lose him. She valued the fellow’s good
opinion almost as much as his unswerving loyalty.

“Laura’s father is Horatio Mayhew, a distant cousin of
Prince William of Denmark, now King George I of Greece. Horatio has fallen on a
financial sword since the Emancipation Proclamation in America. I understand he
had holdings in South Carolina. Clearly, he backed the wrong horse. Mayhew lost
everything with the exception of his tenuous claim to royalty. He is weak. He
will sell us out for a price and I cannot rely on him to keep his daughter in
check. As it stands, he does not believe her tale but if she is allowed to roam
the streets of London, God knows the trouble she could stir up.”

“I understand your concern, ma’am.”

“Precisely so.
I knew you would,
Mr.
Caine
. You understand everything. The question is
whether there is anything you can do to help.” Victoria dabbed a lace
handkerchief at the base of her throat. They were having an unbearably damp
spring. Windsor Castle had never been less comfortable.

“I believe I can. What do you have in mind?”

Her shrewd eyes took in the young man. Tanner
Caine
was the most powerful man in England but no one knew
it. He was
dishonourably
discharged from the Royal
Navy almost six years ago for reasons that he refused to discuss. He was a
private citizen now, living in a hunting lodge buried in the Berkshire
countryside when he was not in London. When he was in town,
Caine
could be found at the rooms he rented in Baker Street. He kept a low profile
which perfectly suited Queen Victoria’s purposes.

“Your residence in Berkshire is in the vicinity of
Gateshead
Asylum, is it not?”

“Yes, ma’am.
Hawthorne Hall is in
Bracknell
Forest. The asylum is a two hour journey beyond
on horseback.”

Few in Victoria’s circle of intimates expected the
twenty-nine-year-old Tanner
Caine
to prefer a quiet
country life over the glitter of London, but
Caine
retreated to the lodge as frequently as possible, resurfacing only when Queen
Victoria sent for him.

She had cause now to be deeply grateful for his self-imposed
exile; she wanted as few eyes on the task ahead as possible. She chose well,
the queen thought, sizing him up. There was not even a wife to get in the way.
Though Tanner
Caine
was often seen in the company of
beautiful women, he had never married.

No doubt because of his face.

Caine
was tall, broad-shouldered
with glinting charcoal hair and piercing black eyes. A breathtakingly sexual
man with one flaw: a physical deformity acquired at birth, mild enough, but
disturbing on first meeting. The left side of Tanner’s face was paralytic,
pulled down at the corner of the eye and mouth. His was a half-formed beauty,
which made the queen trust him all the more. Marred men were humble enough to
take orders and ruthless enough to carry them out.

“Mr.
Caine
, Miss Laura Mayhew must
escape from
Gateshead
Asylum and quite soon. She will
need an escort to her home in Dorset. I should appreciate it if she never
arrived.”

§

Follow
Catherine Lloyd on Amazon
to be notified of this release!

Catherine Lloyd loves reading, watching great episodic
television, and writing romance. Love stories that are hot and soul-satisfying
are her drug of choice. She was inspired to write
Victorian Villains
from the gothic romance novels she devoured as a
kid. Phyllis A. Whitney, Victoria Holt and Daphne du
Maurier
combined suspense and romance without the use of vampires.

She decided to release her Victorian stories in
installments in the tradition of serialized fiction of the Victorian Age.
Magazines nicknamed “the penny dreadful” published genre literature at a low
cost in bi-weekly installments. The Victorian Age was an exotic time of
science, exploration, high drama and passionate romance on stage and in books.
The villains were psychologically fascinating. And hot!

The author has two grown children, two stepdaughters, a cat
named Harry (who thinks he’s a dog) and four grandsons. She lives with her
long-suffering spouse in the country where she enjoys having no hobbies and
writes full time. Follow Catherine on Amazon to be notified of new releases in
this series.

Contact Catherine Lloyd at
[email protected]

Or visit:
Writewood
Creations

Or visit her
Author Page on Amazon

Four brides.
Four seasons.
One rocky
road to romance.

THE JILTING
~
Summer

Best friends forever.
Until one of them falls in love
.
The groom is AWOL. It’s Scout Rutherford’s wedding day and in the next 24
hours, she is shot at, lied to, forced to reveal a secret, abducted at gunpoint
and thrown down a ravine. But a night spent in hiding with her best friend
Ryder Dean puts her in the worst danger of all.

LIE FOR ME
~
Autumn

Sworn
enemies, until they pretend to be lovers.
Is the lie really the truth?
Shelby Porter doesn’t like Sheriff
Sawyer McIntyre and everyone in town knows it except Dolly Porter, Shelby and
Sawyer’s much-loved, daffy aunt. Dolly’s health hasn’t been good of late. She
worries too much over Shelby’s single status. To ease her mind, Shelby tells a
little white lie that morphs into a whopper, until she is standing in Sheriff
McIntyre’s bedroom at three o’clock in the morning with a teeny request: “Lie
for me.” And that’s when things really get scary.

THE WAY HOME
~
Winter

The one thing they
agree on is to never fall in love
. Mandrake Falls is cocooned in a thick
blanket of snow when Michael Shannon, the star of
Tomorrow Never Comes
is dropped like a bomb into Hudson Grace’s
bachelor life. For the next seventy-two hours, due to a bureaucratic mix-up,
the forester is stuck with the daytime diva.
A fire on the
hearth.
A raging blizzard.
And
a three-year-old holy terror.
Who will crack first?

LOVE RISING
~
Spring

Nobody expected them
to fall in love
. Nerdy stage manager, Jeremy Marks sees right through
Jocelyn Tate’s stunning beauty to the vulnerable girl she is underneath. It’s
no secret he’s in love with her. Jocelyn thinks Jeremy is sweet but poor and
she’s determined to marry a rich man--preferably a billionaire. Jeremy doesn’t
have a hope until a mysterious notice appears in the Gazette announcing their
engagement. Thrown together, the young
couple form
a
bond to find out who has it in for them.

MANDRAKE FALLS
FOUR SEASONS ROMANCE ~ Boxed Set Edition

Contemporary Romantic Comedy.
Get all
four titles for one low price!

Love.
In a dangerous time.

WANTON

Callie of
Wideopens
is the
beautiful 18-year-old ward of Jane and Ethan. Ethan has had impure thoughts
about his ward. Jane is dying and the crone who supplies her herbs has had a
vision of a terrible act. In a misguided attempt to alter the fate of her
husband, Jane makes a desperate request of Callie. In doing so, she unwittingly
sets in motion the crone’s prophecy.

WASTREL

Lord Sebastian Redford’s drinking, card-playing and
womanizing is legendary at court and his brazen affair with the wife of the
most powerful man in England has put his life in danger. To ward off disaster,
Lord Redford’s man hastily arranges a marriage of convenience to Beatrice Fall.
Sebastian’s bride proves to be anything but convenient when he consummates
their marriage and their marriage of convenience becomes a dangerous wedding of
illicit love.

TRAITOR

The Earl of Dorset has betrothed his only child, pampered
18-year-old Lady Elspeth to the French lord, Tyndale to secure his
favour
with the new French king. The trip to Canterbury is
a great adventure accompanied by her father’s Captain of the Guard, Griffith of
Nottingham. The captain is a skilled bowman, loyal to the Earl and admired by
Lady Elspeth—he is also a double agent working to restore King John to the
throne.

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Swords, horses and medieval adventure! Get
all three for one low price.

SOLDIER
~
A
Medieval Christmas Novella

Two amoral men are transformed by love. In
Mercenary,
Broderick has been made a new
father but his infant son is failing to thrive. Then Tess is brought before
him, the daughter of the lord whose lands Broderick has usurped. The new master
of
Castlemuir
confines the young woman to his inner
sanctum to nurse his son, but his desire for the silent girl drives him to take
dangerous risks. In
Jester
, Dumas is
a hideously deformed clown who travels the countryside in a caravan with his
young assistant, Fallon, a young woman disguised as a boy. In return for keeping
her identity a secret, Fallon must perform for the misshapen man each night.
But Dumas has a secret of his own as Fallon soon learns after a performance at
Castlemuir
Hall.