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  ALEXANDRA

  Lauren Royal & Devon Royal

  Alexandra is the SWEET YOUNG ADULT edition of Lost in Temptation by Lauren Royal

  1st Edition, June 2015

  Novelty Press

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Book Description

  More Chase Family Books

  A Message from Devon...

  Cover Image

  Dedication

  Prologue: It was almost like touching him.

  1: "Not all of it!" Alexandra Chase made a mad grab...

  2: For the first time in more than three years, Tristan rode over Cainewood Castle's...

  3: "You look lovely, Alexandra."

  4: Alexandra sat at her gold-and-white Chippendale dressing table...

  5: The evening began pleasantly enough.

  6: Alexandra was shocked at her sister's bold suggestion...

  7: "I see," Alexandra said and immediately turned to leave.

  8: "Murder?" Alexandra's elbows gave out...

  9: "Six weeks." Pacing the music room...

  10: Breakfast the next morning was uncomfortable.

  11: "Lady St. Quentin," Alexandra said that afternoon...

  12: Two days later, Griffin woke on the wrong side of the bed.

  13: "What's going on here?" Griffin asked a few days later...

  14: "That was delicious." In the shade of a large elm...

  15: The next month passed in a whirl of preparations for the ball.

  16: "Did you bring the new pump?"

  17: Tristan's assessment of the drainage problem...

  18: Rachael was more businesslike than he remembered...

  19: "Rachael!" Alexandra and her sisters rushed across the drawing room...

  20: The gray day had finally delivered on its promise, and rain pattered...

  21: Boniface's pretty face was even prettier with red cheeks.

  22: With only a day and a half left before the ball...

  23: "There's our thief!" Alexandra proclaimed loudly...

  24: In contrast to Tristan's mood, the atmosphere in the drawing room...

  25: For pity's sake, he'd kissed her...

  26: There were no wallflowers at Cainewood Castle's ball.

  27: When the elegant supper was all but finished...

  28: "What do you think of my son?"

  29: Before any servants could arrive to help, Alexandra...

  30: Alexandra was having the most extraordinary, most incredible...

  31: Alexandra snatched the counterpane up to her chin...

  32: There was an empty space at the breakfast table.

  33: Alexandra felt queasy as she watched...

  34: The sun was sinking in the sky by the time Tristan returned...

  35: "What are you doing up so late?...

  36: Tristan could scarcely believe he was married.

  37: "We're almost home," Alexandra heard softly in her ear.

  38: Light supper at Hawkridge turned out to be a three-course meal.

  39: Alexandra woke first and watched Tris sleep...

  40: An hour later, Alexandra and a large platter of gingerbread cakes...

  41: It had started raining around sunset and hadn't let up since.

  42: Tristan woke in his study.

  43: It took a lot of sugar cakes to feed a village.

  44: Tristan arrived home that evening eager to see Alexandra.

  45: "What in heaven's name is that noise?" Alexandra asked...

  46: There were times in a woman's married life when she wished she could confer with her sisters.

  47: Delicate notes from the harpsichord greeted Tristan...

  48: The nightgown was only the first of the garments in the box.

  49: Alexandra lay in her marriage bed, stunned.

  50: "Good morning, my lady." Peggy bustled into the bedroom...

  51: The quiet ride with Ernest had done little to calm Alexandra's nerves.

  52: Clucking her tongue, Peggy placed a glass of water by Alexandra's bedside.

  53: All that long afternoon and evening, Alexandra had a lot of time to think.

  54: The next day, Alexandra was not good as new.

  55: "I'm so pleased to see you're feeling more the thing today," Peggy said...

  56: "Peggy thinks Maude is dead," Alexandra told Tristan...

  57: When Maude's door closed behind them, Alexandra and Tris...

  58: Alexandra was still snug in bed when she heard...

  Epilogue: Two weeks later, on the peaceful rise overlooking Griffin's vineyard...

  Thank You!

  Bonus Material

  Author's Note

  Books by Lauren & Devon Royal

  Regency Chase Family Tree

  Contest

  Excerpt from JULIANA

  About the Authors

  Acknowledgments

  Contact Information

  Copyright Page

  BOOK DESCRIPTION

  Alexandra is the SWEET YOUNG ADULT edition of Lost in Temptation by Lauren Royal

  England, 1815

  Alexandra Chase has always liked being the perfect daughter, thank you very much. Why would she bother chafing against society’s restrictions when instead she could be basking in the warm glow of its approval? But when her brother’s best friend—and secret obsession—returns from a long spell abroad, she begins losing interest in the suitable young lord she’s expected to marry. Suddenly, family duty and a flawless reputation seem less important than the chance, however slight, that her girlhood crush might notice her now that she’s all grown up…

  Tristan Nesbitt has done some growing up himself over the last few years, what with moving across oceans, inheriting a title, and facing a devastating scandal. But through it all, he’s never forgotten the Chases, the closest thing he had to a family back in his school days. When his old friend Griffin Chase requests a favor, he’s happy to oblige, as long as he can maintain enough distance from the family that his infamous past won’t tarnish their good name. Unfortunately, one Chase seems intent on getting much closer to him than she should…

  MORE CHASE FAMILY BOOKS

  For more information, click on a cover.

  Regency Chase Brides

  Renaissance Chase Family Series

  A MESSAGE FROM DEVON…

  Not gonna lie, I thought it was pretty cool growing up with an author for a mom! I’d always been into books (like, every morning when 1st grade reading time ended, Mrs. Schultz had to physically pry the book from my hands), plus there were perks. Mom was always home with us kids, so we never had to go to daycare. She was also always on deadline, so we got to eat a lot of Pizza Hut for dinner. And I could impress my friends by moseying into Barnes & Noble and casually pointing out my mom’s books on the shelves.

  The only problem: I wasn’t allowed to read them!

  Her romance novels were for and about adults, and I was just a kid. A kid who loved books and hated rules—so you can imagine my dismay.

  Of course, the instant I was old enough, I swiped a full set of her books from the garage and devoured them all in a row. And I wasn’t surprised when I loved every one, because, you guys, my mom is seriously awesome.

  Recently the aforementioned awesome lady had an awesome idea: releasing new, revised versions of her novels geared at a young adult audience, so that people of all ages can enjoy them. To think, all those dismay-ful years could have been avoided!

  I knew instantly I was the girl for the job. My mom and I have been writing together basically since I learned how to type—our first all-new YA release, Alice Betrothed, is a project we started when I was in middle school—plus, I was a real live teenager myself only a few years ago. I’ve got the em
barrassing pictures to prove it.

  There’s a crazy amount of fantastic YA and romance out there right now—we’re SO excited that you’ve chosen our book! Like, spontaneous-dance-party-excited! I would be doing the robot right now if I weren’t busy typing. Maybe I’ll wrap up this letter so I can go do that.

  I so hope you’ll enjoy Alexandra’s story!

  xoxo

  June 2015

  To see the Regency Chase Family Tree, click here!

  For Alex Royal & Bella Royal,

  because we were thinking of you

  while we wrote this book.

  With love and gratitude for your help!

  PROLOGUE

  Cainewood Castle, the South of England

  Summer 1812

  IT WAS ALMOST like touching him.

  Lady Alexandra Chase usually sketched a profile in just a few minutes, but she took her time today, lingering over her work in the darkened room. Standing on one side of a large, framed pane of glass while Tristan sat sideways on the other, she traced his shadow cast by the glow of a candle. Her pencil followed his strong chin, his long, straight nose, the wide slope of his forehead, capturing his image on the sheet of paper she’d tacked to her side of the glass. Noticing a stray lock that tumbled down his brow, she hesitated, wanting to make certain she caught it just right.

  Someone walked by the open door, causing Tris’s shadow to flicker as the candle wavered. “Are you finished yet?” he asked from behind the glass panel.

  “Hold still,” she admonished. “Artistry requires patience.”

  “It’s just a profile.”

  Alexandra flushed, though she knew better than to take offense. He was simply impatient. He’d always been an admirer of her work.

  As well he should be. Alexandra made excellent profile portraits.

  ”You promised you’d sit still,” she reminded him, injecting authority into her girlish voice. “Just this once before you leave.” She’d been asking Tris to sit for her for months, but he never seemed to have the time. This would be her only chance.

  “I’m sitting,” he said, and although his profile remained immobile, she could hear amusement in his tone.

  She loved his good-humored forbearance, just like she loved everything about Tris Nesbitt.

  She’d been eight when they first met. Her favorite brother, Griffin, had brought him home between school terms. In the six years since, as he and Griffin completed Eton and then Oxford, Tris had visited often, claiming to prefer his friend’s large family to the quiet home he shared with his father.

  Alexandra couldn’t remember when she’d fallen in love, but she felt like she’d loved Tris forever.

  Of course, nothing would come of it. Now, at fourteen, she was mature enough to accept that her eminent father, the Marquess of Cainewood, would never allow her to marry plain Mr. Tristan Nesbitt.

  But that didn’t stop her from wishing. It didn’t stop her stomach from tingling when she heard his voice, didn’t stop her heart from skipping when he looked at her with his silver-gray eyes.

  Not that he looked at her often. After all, as far as he was concerned she was little more than Griffin’s pesky younger sister.

  Knowing Tris couldn’t see her now, she skimmed her fingertips over his silhouette, wishing she were touching him instead. She’d never touched him, not in real life. Such intimacy simply didn’t occur between young ladies and gentlemen. Most especially between a marquess’s daughter and a commoner.

  The drawing room’s draperies were shut, and the low light seemed to enclose them together—alone!—in the room. She desperately wanted to say something clever or diverting, something he would remember after they parted. But she could think of nothing. ”Where are you going again?” she asked instead, although she knew.

  Let him think she’d barely noticed he was leaving.

  “Jamaica.” He sounded excited. “My uncle wishes me to look after his interests there. I’m to learn how his plantation is run.”

  “Is that what you wish to do with your life?”

  “He doesn’t mean for me to stay there permanently. Only to acquaint myself with the operation so I can manage it from afar.”

  “But do you wish to become a man of business? To manage property? Or would you rather do something else?”

  He shrugged, his profile tilting, then settling back into the lines she’d so carefully drawn. “He paid for my education. Have I any choice?”

  “I suppose not.” Her choices were limited, too. “How long will you be gone?”

  “A year or two at the least. Perhaps more.”

  Everything was changing. Griffin would leave soon as well—their father had bought him a commission in the cavalry. Although Griffin and Tris had spent much of the past few years away at school and university, these new developments seemed different. They’d be oceans away. It wasn’t that Alexandra would be alone—she’d still have her parents, her oldest brother, and her two younger sisters—but she was already feeling the loss.

  “Two years,” she echoed, knowing Griffin would likely be gone even longer. “That seems a lifetime.”

  Tris’s image shook as he laughed aloud. “I expect it might, to one as young as you.”

  He seemed so much older, already twenty years of age. Alexandra could scarcely imagine being two decades old. And young boys experienced more of the world than girls, leaving home as adolescents to pursue their educations. They spent time hunting at country houses and carousing about London while girls stayed at home with their mothers.

  She was counting the months until she’d finally turn sixteen and have her first London season. She used to spend hours dressing up in Mama’s old gowns and playing with her younger sisters, imagining the balls, the finery, and the grand young lords who would sweep them off their feet. One of those charming gentlemen would be her entrée to a new life as a society wife. And she would love her husband, she was certain, although right now she could hardly imagine loving anyone but Tris.

  “Will you bring me something from Jamaica?” she asked, startling herself with her boldness.

  “Like what? A pineapple or some sugarcane?”

  It was her turn to laugh. “Anything. Surprise me.”

  “All right, then. I will.” He fell silent a moment, as though trying to commit the promise to memory. “Are you finished yet?”

  “For now.” She set down her pencil and walked to the windows, drew back the draperies, and blinked. The room’s familiar blue-and-coral color scheme suddenly seemed too bright.

  She turned toward him, reconciling his face with the profile she’d just sketched. She wouldn’t describe him as pretty. His jaw was too strong, his mouth too wide, his brows too thick and straight. As she watched, he raked a hand through his hair—tousled, streaky dark blond hair that always seemed just a bit too long.

  Her fingers itched to touch it, to sweep the stray lock from his forehead.

  “It will take me a while to complete the portrait,” she told him as she walked back to where he sat beside the glass, “but I’ll have it ready for you before you leave.”

  “Keep it for me.”

  She blew out the candle, leaning close enough to catch a whiff of his scent, smelling soap and starch and something else she couldn’t put her finger on. “Don’t you want it?”

  He rose from the chair, smiling down at her from his greater height. “I’ll probably lose it if I take it with me.”

  “Very well, then.” She’d been hoping he’d say she should keep it to remember him by. “I wish you a safe journey, Mr. Nesbitt.”

  She’d called him Tristan—or Tris—for years now, but suddenly that seemed too informal.

  His gray gaze remained steady. “Thank you, Lady Alexandra. I wish you a happy life.”

  A happy life. She could be married by the time he returned, she realized with a shock. In fact, if he were gone two whole years, she very likely would be.

  Her heart sank at the thought.

  But at le
ast she’d have his profile. When it was finished, she’d have a perfect likeness of his face, black-on-white in an elegant oval frame. And she’d been alone with him while making it.

  As he walked from the room, she peeled the paper off the glass and hugged it to her chest.

  ONE

  RATAFIA PUFFS

  Take halfe a pound of Ground Almonds and a little more than that of Sugar. Make it up in a stiff paste with Whites of five Eggs and a little Essence of Almond whipt to a Froth. Beat it all well in a Mortar, and make it up in little Loaves, then bake them in a very cool oven on Paper and Tin-Plates.

  I call these my magical sweets…my husband proposed directly after eating only one!

  —Eleanor, Marchioness of Cainewood, 1728

  Cainewood Castle, three years later

  June 1815

  “NOT ALL OF IT!” Alexandra Chase made a mad grab for her youngest sister’s arm. “We’re instructed to add a little more sugar than almonds.”

  Corinna stopped grating and frowned. “I like sugar.”

  “You won’t like the ratafia puffs if they’re all sugar,” their middle sister, Juliana, said as she took the cone-shaped sugar loaf and set it on the scarred wooden table in the center of Cainewood Castle’s cavernous kitchen.

  “Here, my arm is tired.” Alexandra handed Corinna the bowl of egg whites she’d been beating, then scooped a proper amount of the sugar and poured it into another bowl that held the ground almonds. Stirring them together, she shook her head at Corinna. “You really are quite hopeless with recipes. If you didn’t look so much like Mama, I’d wonder if you’re truly her child.”

  A sudden sheen of tears brightened Corinna’s brilliant blue eyes. She quickly blinked them away. “She always made good sweets, didn’t she?”

  “Excellent sweets,” Juliana said in a sympathetic tone, shooting a look at her older sister.

  Alexandra felt abashed and maybe a little teary herself. She looked away, her gaze wandering the whitewashed stone walls of the kitchen. She’d meant only to tease her sister, not remind her of their mother. Mama had been gone less than two years, and memories could still be painful.