Sometimes the perfect person is right under your nose!
An expert in pottery restoration, Frances Longworth spends her days in the basement of a museum, applying her skills to damaged artifacts so they can be put on display. If only she didn’t have to constantly prove herself to men who expect her to be a man.
The bastard son of an earl, Gabe Wellingham eschews a life of leisure by accepting a position as a museum archivist, cataloguing Ancient Greek artifacts. He has no qualms about a woman reassembling the latest arrival from an archaeological expedition. He does find her manner rather prickly, however. Annoying, defensive, and far too uptight for his tastes.
So why does he feel the need to pull the pins from her too-tight bun and kiss her senseless?
Having just returned to London after a lengthy absence, James Burroughs seeks a quiet place to stay. With the rest of her extended family gone for the holiday, childhood friend Emily Grandby offers him a room at the estate. Secretly grieving the loss of a man she might have married, she never imagines James' desire for a perfectly quiet life might also include her.
But then, neither does he in The Puzzle of a Bastard.
Genre: FICTION / Romance / Historical / VictorianTwo romances in one, this novel has 494 ratings on Amazon averaging 4.3 stars. The word "bastard" in the title refers to the illegitimacy of the main character; however, it has made it hard to promo the book (some email promoters change the title slightly to avoid using the word).
Gabe took a deep breath and used his hands to move aside the excelsior that protected the first crate's treasure—an Ancient Greek krater that featured a scene with the god Apollo. He lifted it from the bed of packing material, awestruck. The krater was intact. No obvious chips on the rims. There was a slight imperfection in the figure of Apollo, but he knew that could be repaired.
The museum employed an expert in pottery restoration. He hadn't yet me the man, but the evidence of his expertise cold be seen by the trained eye in several artifacts already on display in the museum.
Setting the krater on a nearby table, Gabs turned his attention to the other crate. Pushing aside the lengths of wood strands, he frowned when he couldn't find what the packing list claimed was inside—a rhyton. The conical drinking cup wouldn't be especially large, but it should have been evident in the crate.
Gabs continued to push aside the packing material until his hand intersected something.
A shard.
He winced as he pulled out the dark brown curved piece of pottery. He pushed his hand back into the crate, reaching to the bottom to discover that the entire rhyton was in pieces.
Had it broken en route? Or had it been shipped this way?
He finally started scooping excelsior from the one crate into the other, moaning when he discovered the remaining pieces of the rhyton at the bottom. "Dammit," he murmured.
"Really, sir, it's not as bad as that," a voice said from his right.
A female voice.
One he was sure included a very slight Stoke accent.
Gabe straightened to regard the owner of the voice—a dark-haired woman who might have been his age.
| Language | Status |
|---|---|
|
Portuguese
|
Already translated.
Translated by Tânia Nezio
|
