Dance with Deception: Scandalous Secrets, Book 1 - Exclusive Edition (Scandalous Secrets - Exclusive Edition)
Authors: Tracy Goodwin
Dance with Deception
SCANDALOUS SECRETS, BOOK 1
TRACY GOODWIN
Dance with Deception
Reviews & Awards
"A stellar debut by gifted author, Tracy Goodwin.
Dance with Deception
expertly blends romance, danger and lush sensuality in one brilliant novel.”
– FIVE STAR REVIEW FROM LETTETIA ELSASSER, SINGLE TITLES
"A brilliant introduction to a promising new author."
– HANNAH HOWELL, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
“Tracy Goodwin is a fresh new voice in historical romance. In
Dance with Deception
, Ms. Goodwin has penned an engaging tale of true love overcoming lies and duplicity. Sebastian and Gwen must work through numerous obstacles to reach their well-deserved happy ending. The reader will find herself cheering them along on their journey.”
– GAYLE WILSON, TWO-TIME RITA AWARD WINNER
“Tracy Goodwin is a promising new voice in historical romance.”
– BARBARA DAWSON SMITH, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
“
Dance with Deception
is a lush and endearing romance – as touchingly romantic as anything I have read recently.”
– 5 CUP REVIEW FROM COFFEE TIME ROMANCE
"
Dance with Deception
is a riveting story from beginning to end … the depth of emotions expressed will touch the heart and have readers cheering this couple on. This was a highly satisfying read and it is a definite page-turner!!!”
– FALLEN ANGEL REVIEWS
“Spectacularly written is this well put together tale of love, hope and passion. Tracy Goodwin has managed to rekindle a sense of joie de vivre into my being with the colorful characters of Sebastian and Gwen as they find each other and find love in the process.
Dance with Deception
is truly a keeper.”
– FIVE STAR REVIEW FROM EURO REVIEWS
“A bit dark at times, Goodwin's Regency is filled with emotions, affairs of the heart and a flesh-and-blood hero who isn't perfect but deserves points for vowing to make the lady of his heart his wife. The heroine also is worthy of kudos.”
– FOUR STAR REVIEW FROM ROMANTIC TIMES
“
Tracy Goodwin is definitely an author to look out for. She writes a sensual and clever novel that makes for an enjoyable read. I personally read this book in three sittings, I couldn’t put it down.”
– WW BOOK CLUB BLURBS, PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, BARBARA VEY BLOG
“… emotionally intense.” – NIGHT OWL ROMANCE
Awards for
Dance with Deception
- 2nd place winner of the Anne Bonney Readers Choice Award for Favorite Hero
- 3rd Place Winner for the Anne Bonney Readers Choice Award for the Most Emotional category
- 2nd place winner of the Judge a Book By Its Cover Contest
- Finalist in the LASR Best Long Print Romance of 2007 category
Dance with Deception
ISBN-13: 978-1500541439
ISBN-10: 1500541435
Copyright © Tracy Goodwin
Proofreading Editorial Credit: Theresa Kowalczyk
Front Cover Credit: Jeannie Ruesch
Cover Photography © Jimmy Thomas
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblances to any person or persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Acknowledgements
Dance with Deception
was first released in 2007. Since then, I have so many people to be grateful for, beginning with each and every reader who purchased the original
Dance with Deception
. Thank you for receiving the debut novel of my heart with such warmth, for attending my book signings, and for your kind words and positive reviews. It is because of you, that
Dance with Deception
quickly reached several bestseller lists and was a best seller for my original Publisher. This exclusive enhanced edition and the subsequent novels in the
Scandalous Secrets
series are dedicated to you, with my heartfelt appreciation. With this exclusive edition as well as upcoming
Enticing Eve
and
The Skilled Seduction
, I want each reader to know that I am grateful for your support and hope that all readers – new and existing – enjoy how the
Scandalous Secrets
series plays out.
Thank you, also, to bestselling Authors Hannah Howell, Barbara Dawson Smith and Gayle Wilson for giving me such wonderful Author quotes for
Dance with Deception
and to bestselling Author Lucy Monroe for allowing me to be a guest blogger at her website. Thank you to award winning Author Deborah MacGillivray for her five star review of
Dance with Deception
on Goodreads. It was more than I could have ever dreamed possible from talented Authors that I truly admire and respect.
A special acknowledgement to all of the Autism and ADHD moms out there. Your blogs and Tweets have helped me so much through the past three years. You, and all special needs moms, are amazing. It is a club no one wishes to belong to but I am grateful to each and every one of you.
Dedication
For my husband, Greg.
I am forever blessed to be loved by you.
Chapter 1: 1845 Northamptonshire, England
1845 Northamptonshire, England
Feeling sorry for oneself was a trait Gwendolyn MacAlistair usually despised; however, on this particular evening, she indulged. What made this night so different than any other? Why was it that this date would be etched in her memory as the one upon which her life had forever changed?
Gwen ticked off the many attributes that made this day appear so ordinary at first. She awoke in her comfortable bed, dressed with the assistance of her maid in her cozy bedchamber then joined her father for breakfast. Such was her usual routine. Yet routines lull you into a false sense of security, don’t they? Such was the case on this day for it was during breakfast that Gwen’s world as she knew it crumbled around her.
On this morning, her father announced with an aloof finality that he was dying.
Although his declaration alone was life-altering, he hadn’t concluded there. No, Lachlan MacAlistair declared that he would see his daughter wed before his imminent demise, causing a knot of suspicion to coil within Gwen’s abdomen. Try as she might, Gwen was unable to free herself from the notion that she wouldn’t approve of her father’s choice of suitor.
As her sense of impending doom escalated, Gwen’s breath became labored by her tight corset. Gasping for air, she hurried out of the overcrowded
ballroom, her slippers tapping against the marble beneath her feet like a drumbeat until she emerged onto the cool terrace. The white taffeta fabric of her gown rustled against the soft spring breeze as she left a throng of animated members of the
haut ton
in her wake. With great care, she proceeded in the opposite direction of the ballroom in a deliberate attempt to get as far away from the gathering as possible.
Fingering the demure, colorless ball gown her father had insisted she wear, an exasperated sigh escaped Gwen’s lips. In comparison to the other women in attendance, clad in vibrant colors of the latest fashions, she felt like a child. Why would her father force her to wear such a dowdy frock if he intended to find a suitor for her? Surely adorning his eligible daughter in a garment that could best describe her as resembling a snow sculpture wouldn’t attract many eligible gentlemen? Again that nagging suspicion warned Gwen that he’d already made up his mind, this time causing hot thorns of anxiety to prick a path up her spine.
Gwen perceived human shadows shifting between the moonlit outline of shrubbery in the gardens below and lifted her skirts before quickening her pace. Delicate female laughter turned into a smothered giggle and she avoided glancing in that direction, choosing instead to race toward the deserted end of the terrace.
Her sanctuary.
The farther she journeyed from the open terrace doors, the softer the laughter and music became. She welcomed the sweet scent of jasmine that
tickled her nose, deeply inhaling its familiar scent as the combination of it and the faint music drifting from the interior of the ballroom began to numb her taut nerves.
Gwen was in no mood for celebrating and her cheeks ached from the polite smiles she offered the fops who approached her in the hopes of dancing with her, the same gentlemen whose smiles never quite met their eyes. She felt as if they pitied her, the outcast just returned from Scotland. Was there, perhaps, a bet wagered as to who could get the gossip about her first? Regardless, even if her assumptions were wrong, Gwen didn’t want to smile, laugh nor pretend to be happy. What she wanted, what she was in desperate need of, was a good, long cry.
Having reached the balustrade at far end of the terrace, Gwen peeled her pristine gloves from her fingers then grasped the cool stone with her bare hands, allowing the chill to permeate her fingers in the hopes it would ward off the red hot sting of the tears that threatened to fall.
Papa is dying
.
She was in a state of disbelief, having never detected any signs of his ailing health. How could he be so ill? And how could he insist she marry someone that she neither knew nor loved?
Of course Gwen had voiced her immediate opposition and her father had cut her down. His reaction was too harsh, planting those unspoken seeds of suspicion within her that she couldn’t uproot, no matter how hard she tried. Gwen wanted to believe that her father had her best intentions at
heart but she couldn’t. Shame flooded her already heavy soul at the realization.
Gwen squeezed the balustrade tighter, looking upwards, seeking comfort from the twinkling constellations spanning the vast veil of sky stretching above her. Never had she felt this confused or guilty. Why did she doubt her father, her dying father at that? Dear God, what was wrong with her?
“Enough of this self-pity,” she muttered, her words floating through the cool breeze as she tore her gaze from the clear night sky. “For goodness sake, the least you can do is fulfill his dying wish.”
But her inner voice wouldn’t allow it, screaming
I want more
. In truth, she had always wanted more.
Oh, to be young again, to have Mama alive and well, and to spend her days free to frolic with her brothers and their friends.
The memory of her brothers’ friends snapped Gwen’s thoughts back to the ballroom tonight and a pair of piercing indigo eyes belonging to the Duke of Davenport.
Sebastian was stunning. Gwen had been too young during their previous acquaintance to notice just how handsome he was, with his thick onyxcolored mane and azure eyes the color of a stormy sea. Nor had she ever before realized how his rugged features and his chiseled jaw made him appear wild and untamed against the rest of the refined gentlemen in attendance.
In that ballroom on this very evening, it became clear to her that the Duke’s tall frame, muscular build and powerful presence made all other men
appear puny in comparison. Add to those features a title, large fortune, and bachelor status and the Duke of Davenport became the perfect catch for every unattached female. Or so she had assessed from the throngs of female admirers who had been parading around him in hope of catching his notice.