BLURB:
Set in Gilded Age America, a young woman must
choose between circumstance and destiny. When orphaned as small children,
Sterling Redmond and her older sister Charlotte are raised by their grandfather
at the family’s Maryland country estate of Northampton. Charlotte blossoms into
a famed Baltimore beauty, but Sterling is more interested in books and
horseback riding than feminine pursuits. Concerned that her niece will never
find a suitable husband among the local Baltimore gentry, Madame De Chant
whisks Sterling away to Belle Époque Paris in search of a gentleman who can
understand her. In their absence, Nicholas Pembroke, the son of an English
earl, takes up residence in the manor bordering Northampton. When Sterling and
her aunt return to America for Charlotte’s wedding, Sterling finds that her
perfect husband is living right next door. But there is a problem: he is
already engaged to marry Charlotte.
Prologue and First Chapter Excerpt - Sterling Redmond by Kim Nathan
PROLOGUE
Here I am. I stand before a house from my past on the edge
of a small Parisian park. Across the lane and up a few stairs, the front door
stares back and gives me nothing. I know this place. Shivering in the cold
violet light of dusk that surrounds me, here I am, at the end of my journey to
find him. I am stunned it did not occur to me sooner, the idea that he might
come here, this place from our past. It
occurs to me now that while I thought he was running away from me in the
present; he was actually running back towards me in the past. And yet I am
frozen on this boulevard, unable to move.
There is the flicker of firelight above stairs. Reassured my
travel has not been for naught, I wait for a carriage to pass by over the
cobble stones, and then I cross the lane. My body compels me up the steps and
rings the bell. Twice. Beyond the glass windows I see lamps being lit. A noisy
lock turns and the door opens. I expect a hall-porter, but I get the valet.
Wolffe stares back at me with his stoic face, but I see the flash of shocked
recognition cross his angular features before he regains complete control. His
presence confirms my hope that Nicholas is here.
“Madame,” he says, blinking at me.
“Wolffe,” I reply, pushing my way past him and into the
hall.
We stare at each other for a moment, saying nothing. The
foyer where we stand has clearly not seen callers for some time. No fire warms
the chill damp and stale air. I glance furtively at the bare fireplace. Wolffe,
having now regained his composure, breaks our silence. “We were not expecting
any callers this evening, ma’am.”
“He is here?” I ask, gazing up the stairs.
“He is,” Wolffe replies.
“I will see him.”
Wolffe nods his head and leads me up the steps. I feel every
intake of breath as I climb. Memories from years before crowd all around me,
but this place feels lifeless now. When we reach the top of the stairs, Wolffe
pauses and says, in a voice barely above a whisper, “May I say…ma’am…what a
comfort it is to see you here.”
The light from the drawing room is brighter now. It is good
that I am here. Wolffe has told me so, and Wolffe knows everything there is to
know about this house, about me, about Nicholas. Wolffe holds his hand up to
stop me and then he walks into the bright flickering drawing room. He waits a
moment to be acknowledged.
Finally, I hear him say, “Sir.”
“What is it, Wolffe? You know I don’t see callers,” an
impatient voice says. Nicholas’ voice.
I hear Wolffe announce “Sterling Redmond, sir.” And I step into the light.
Three Years Earlier
Maryland, August 1889
Sterling Redmond walked into the room, and Nicholas saw her
for the first time. Actually, it was not the first time. He had seen her
earlier that day, from a distance, rolling along in an open carriage with her
great-aunt, arriving back at Northampton after two years abroad, but she was
only a blur of auburn hair in the distance. He had not yet met her, but
Charlotte had told him this about her: she was dull. She lacked the
vivaciousness of other young women. Her disposition was too serious. Some
called her a bluestocking. In short, she was a problem. A young woman of such a
prominent and influential Baltimore family was expected to secure a marriage worthy
of her social status. After two seasons
in Paris, where her great-aunt Madame De Chant maintained a household, she had
yet to win a firm offer of marriage. There was a growing impatience among her
closest family members, who wondered if her education and forthright manner
prevented any positive momentum in this direction, and to make matters worse,
Charlotte complained, the young woman seemed not the slightest bit interested
in abandoning her independence.
Sterling was home now at the request of her grandfather and
guardian, Andrew Redmond, who was busy arranging Charlotte’s own wedding,
scheduled to occur in just a month’s
time. These upcoming nuptials only
served to accent the problem with her younger sister. Charlotte thought her
sister’s willful manner and plain looks were to blame for her unclaimed state.
It certainly wasn’t due to her lack of a dowry. Charlotte, on the other hand,
was a famed Baltimore beauty, whose looks and accomplishments were universally
admired. She was immensely popular in society, and it was no surprise to anyone
that she had secured the engagement of the season to the son of an English
earl. Her exquisite beauty, her delicate
manners and gentle ways, her sensitive disposition, all were upheld as an ideal
role model among the young ladies in the county. Other young women fashioned
themselves after Charlotte in their manner of dress, in the way they wore their
hair. Charlotte painted her own sister’s prospects in such a dim light that
Nicholas was astonished when the supposedly awkward and plain sister walked
into the drawing room, and he saw a creature quite unlike the one described to
him.
Sterling was late, so she appeared slightly flustered.
Madame De Chant was already established on the settee, holding court with her
family around her. Sterling paused in
the doorway, and Nicholas watched her eyes quickly scan the room. Her gaze
finally reached him, the only person in the room with whom she wasn’t
acquainted, and this prompted her to smile. She swept into the drawing room,
her shoulders squared and her back perfectly straight. She was a simple beauty, not beautiful the
way her sister was, but with a quiet, thoughtful face of porcelain skin and
intelligent dark eyes full of natural curiosity and easy humor. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back in
a soft chignon, held in place with a tortoise-shell comb. She wore a gown of
cream faille with purple satin stripes that was impeccably tailored to her
figure, and the lack of frills, bows and flounces only served to enhance the
luminous effect the fashion had upon her.
In her right hand, she held an embroidered black silk fan which she
opened mischievously as she approached her grandfather, beaming a smile at him.
Two years spent in Europe had clearly transformed the younger Miss Redmond into
something unrecognizable to her sister Charlotte.
Nicholas glanced over at Charlotte now. She had told him the
reunion of her family was a joyous occasion, but it was clear from her
expression that it was not. In all her resplendent beauty, she sat beside her
aunt, her hand tightly gripping the carved swan-necked armrest of the red
Finley sofa, her lips pinched primly together as her eyes followed her sister
across the room.
Sterling went first to her grandfather, who gave her a warm
kiss on the cheek. He was visibly delighted to see her and there was easy
affection between them. Next she turned to acknowledge her great-aunt, who was
like a mother to her, and then to her sister Charlotte, to whom she expressed
sincere happiness in seeing again after such a long absence. Then she looked
back to her grandfather, and turned her body slightly towards her sister’s
fiancé, signaling that Andrew Redmond should introduce them. Nicholas watched her command the room with a
sophistication of etiquette and manners that he had not seen since taking up
residence in Baltimore. Her eyes smiled enthusiastically at him as Redmond
introduced them.
“Sterling, this is Mr. Nicholas Pembroke. Pembroke, may I
present my granddaughter, Miss Sterling Redmond?” The smile now touched her lips and she gave
him a slight bow. Her eyes stared back
at him steadily, and in them, he saw the eyes of Europe, the place he had come
here to escape.
BIO:
Kim Nathan is an American author of romance fiction, including Sterling
Redmond, a historical romance,
and Dreaming
Montana, a paranormal romance. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland,
she relocated to Seattle, Washington in 1994, where she lives with her husband
and cats.
ONLINE LINKS:
· Website
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Twitter @KimNathanAuthor
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