Can a bluestocking and mathematician admit the truth of their feelings, or will a certain devilish element end a love that’s just begun?
Dive into this tale of gothic mischief, medicine, and murder, and discover the Wakefields, four spinster sisters and the brother who’s determined to see them matched. A DEVILISH ELEMENT by Madelynne Ellis is the first book in the Wooing the Wakefield’s series. Readers of a delicate disposition beware, spicy shenanigans, chemistry, and corpses abound in this tale of gothic Regency romance.
Blurb
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Remote Cedarton Castle is haunted. That’s what Eliza Wakefield's sisters say before she sets off to visit her recently married friend. The crumbling ruin is even more isolated and foreboding than expected. Its inhabitants, a small cluster of Lord Linfield’s closest allies. Moreover, all is not well with the Linfield’s marriage, leading Eliza to fear for her friend’s safety and her mind.
Mathematician Jem Whistler is a man caught in a trap. He’s in love with a woman he can’t have and owned by a lord who demands things he’d rather not give. Unexpectedly reunited with the woman who owns his heart, he struggles to keep his attachment hidden. When the threat from Cedarton’s white lady increases, Jem and Eliza must work together to uncover the true nature of the spectre haunting Cedarton’s shadowy halls. That’s if they can keep their hands off one another long enough to investigate.
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Excerpt
Copyright 2024 Madelynne Ellis
’Twas a fact that when an earl gave you an ultimatum, you knuckled down to it regardless of how badly it smarted to do so. Perhaps, he was being unkind to judge Linfield so harshly. The situation was not entirely of his making. He was as trapped by circumstances as the rest of them.
Jem was about to mutter something to aid them out of the current quagmire when a shrill scream set all their teeth on edge. A kind of rictus besieged them all, so that they didn’t move and barely breathed until the siren’s wail ended.
Bell came to first. He flipped onto his feet in a show of athleticism Jem would never have attributed him. “What the devil?”
He had to give the physician his due, Bell never shirked his duty if circumstances arose where it seemed his services would be in demand. Jem had not forgotten that woman’s death, the way Bell had handled everything with effortless efficiency. There’d been nothing he could do to save her, she’d been dead by the time he reached her, but the fact that he’d made it his duty to take care of her said much for him, where some of his mannerisms and foibles might have given an opposite impression.
“That is Lady Linfield, if I am not mistaken.”
Jem and Linfield caught up with him on the main staircase. A footman was hurrying downwards. “Her ladyship,” he gasped. “She’s… she’s upstairs, by the … Dropped into a dead faint—”
“And you left her?” Jem asked, still on the move.
“Mr Cluett’s there.”
“With my wife?” Linfield brows knotted.
“He came out of his room,” the footman explained. “And was swift enough to catch her when she swooned.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. It’s not like Georgie to be so quick off the mark. But that must mean she’s on the second floor. What the devil is she doing there?”
“Perhaps the questions might wait.” Bell was already halfway up the stairs. “You,” he pointed at the footman. “Fetch my bag.”
By the time Jem reached the upper landing, Bell was already skidding onto his knees. He pushed George aside and took up her ladyship’s wrist to feel for a pulse.
“Is she all right?” Linfield had followed him up the stairs, though he seemed keen to maintain some distance.
“A faint, smelling salts will set her to rights.” Bell produced a glass vial from his pocket and uncapped it beneath her nose. Lady Linfield awoke with a start, followed by some flailing and another anguished cry. “Get away. No… no, you shan’t have me.”
“Lady Linfield… Jane, calm yourself, there’s nothing to be alarmed about.”
“I saw it. Right there.” She pointed dead ahead to where Cluett stood. “Clear as day she was. Oh, she wants me. She means to kill me, I know it. We should not have come to Cedarton. It is cursed…cursed! Such utter folly. Husband. Linfield. Tell him we need to leave. Right now, this very moment. We have to leave.”
“What the devil is she babbling about? Ghosts and nonsense. Utter tripe,” Linfield muttered, prompting Jem to chastise him with a stare. While Lady Linfield was clearly overwrought, there was no need to be so impolite about it. The woman had clearly suffered a major shock, and Jem for one believed there was something to it. No one wound up this terrified without cause.
About Madelynne Ellis
Madelynne Ellis is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author. She wrote her first novel after discovering Black Lace Books in the 1990s. After escaping the Hotel California, she dived into storytelling full time. Her books are filled with bisexual bad boys who like to get down and dirty, and stories so angst-filled you know they’re going to hurt. She lives in the UK near the Welsh border, where you can find her surrounded by books, drinking rapidly cooling decaf coffee, and listening to loud music.
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