Here is the first chapter of the sequel to Love & Murder (which is also now on Amazon as a paperback or ebook!)

Chapter One:

Somewhere near Nottinghamshire, 1905

The long train ride to Elsick house was Eliza's first real opportunity to digest all of the new information she had learned about her new fiancè, Lord Colin Bradshaw, Marquess of MacDuff and the son of the Duke of Fife. The other titles that followed Colin's name made Eliza's head spin as she had no idea how many names were attached to a man who simply likes to be called, Colin.

The idea of becoming a marchioness appealed to every lady in England, and it did to Eliza for a short while, but when Colin suggested spending their engagement in one of his family's homes, reality set in, and her mother, Lady Winter, was acting as if Eliza was going to be spending a month at Buckingham.

Eliza always thought she'd leave London and head straight back to the Winter estate in Scarborough, after failing to secure a proposal. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would be whisked away to the countryside to plan a lavish wedding to a distant cousin of Queen Victoria. In a week's time, the duke and duchess would be traveling down from Kinnaird Castle to meet their son's blushing bride and approving his match by throwing a ball in Eliza and Colin's honor.

Even in the luxurious first-class cabin, surrounded by rich red and gold wallpaper and green velvet seating, Eliza felt like an imposter again. She didn't feel like this was her normal life yet. She was not used to having a man sitting beside her, doting on her every need. Colin reaches out and grabs her hand, "Why the pinched face my darling?"

Eliza moves her stare from the patches of wildflowers zipping past her window to Colin.

"Nerves. My stomach is twisted into knots. It's all settling in now."

"Nerves? I'd have thought you were going to say butterflies," he says with a warm grin. "Aren't you excited to start your new life? Away from London, away from your parents, away from silly rumors?"

The train car sways as they make it closer to Nottinghamshire and Eliza can't wait to change out of her stiff traveling frock and slip into something that breathes. Lady Winter had Eliza's trousseau coming in from Paris and she had hoped for simplicity in designs. She was worried every gown was going to be silk and lace and required a shape-creating corset. She told Colin she had no intentions of dressing like royalty in their day to day life and he made it seem like she was in charge of her attire. She looks to him in his dark navy, wool suit and her stomach warms when she scans his freshly shaven face. His dark, nearly black hair is brushed off his face and the navy in his suit flatters his dark blue eyes. She knows Elsick house will have a full staff, along with Lucy, Eliza's lady's maid and Brandon, Colin's Valet, but her nerves are also attributed to the fact that they'll finally be alone together. More alone than they were when Colin was sneaking inside Eliza's room last month.

"I am excited," Eliza clarifies to Colin, while squeezing his hand with her gloved one, "But I am also a bundle of nerves because I haven't a clue what I am in for. I know you are taking time away from your work in Sussex to plan our wedding, but I don't want you to get bored with me in the country."

"Don't be silly. There will be plenty to keep us busy." A devilish grin takes over his handsome face as he flirts and heat floods Eliza's. He catches it and lets out a loud laugh.

"Don't be ludicrous," Eliza says in a low voice with an eye roll. "We are still a month away from our wedding. I expect you to follow the rules of social decorum."

"Decorum? Nay my darling. When we have followed societal expectations? I remember you kissing me on the pavement outside the Ritz only weeks ago. Not an ounce of decorum in sight," he says with another grin, which causes Eliza's jaw to drop slightly.

"If your plan is to fill me with wine or Pimms to shun my wits away, I assure you, that plan will fail," Eliza lightly swats at her feisty fiancè and adds, "I just walked away from rumors of my sanity. I do not need to encourage new ones about my virtue."

"Well, we're going to have to think of something to pass the time. Once my father arrives, all joy and sunshine will fade away and we'll be left with a gray cloud the size of London looming over us." The passing tea cart snaps their attention over to their sliding door and if they are concluding service, that means they are almost at their destination. Eliza looks back to Colin after the noise of the cart fades away and asks, "I thought you said your mother was a pistol. Vivacious and a contributor to the suffragettes. I cannot imagine gray when I think of the duke and duchess, I imagine pizzaz! All of the colors of the rainbow." Eliza watches Colin frown and apparently, her statement couldn't be further from the truth by the way his shoulders slump.

"My mother is a handful, that is the truth. My father though..." Colin sighs, "Since my brother's death two years ago, his temper has gotten fowler and his fuse shorter. Like you, I am the spare. My brother was groomed since birth to inherit the dukedom. I was allowed to do as I pleased. Which is why, after I left the army, I spent my time in Sussex. I wasn't needed at Kinnaird, so I was able to continue what I did in the army, reconnaissance."

"Will you be able to continue in Sussex after we are married? Is that where you wish to be?"

Colin nods, "There will come a time when family obligation takes me away from my real passion, but until it does, I would like to start our marriage off back in Sussex. Unless you take to Nottinghamshire and want to stay in the country."

Eliza shakes her head, "I will go where you go. I am not going to be a wife who lives away from her husband because the country house is grander." Colin smiles at Eliza and kisses the top of her head.

"You say that now, but you might change your mind when you see the library my mother created here," Colin tells her with a bright twinkle in his eye. He knows Eliza's fondness for leather-bound books and her heart swells when she realizes she first met Colin in a library.

"True. I can survive without you. I cannot survive without Jane Austen."

Colin shakes his head, "I don't remember it being Miss Austen that came to your aid when my cousin nabbed you in Kent."

"Oh, I very much imagine Elizabeth Bennet could have stuck an arrow into Andrew's backside without a second thought."

Colin's brow furrows together, "I do not know who that is, but I shall trust your judgment there."

"We might need to remedy that my love. Please tell me you read something other than the London Times?" Eliza asks and Colin nods, "I've been known to skim journals and essays. Case files that cross my desk." Eliza lets out a breath of a laugh and Colin adds, "My brother and I loved Sherlock Holmes. Tristan used to call me Sherlock when I became a detective."

Chief Inspector Greensbury's jokes flies into Eliza's mind and she flits her green eyes to Colin's, "Ironically, that is who Greensbury told me to seek out when I came to him with Penelope's disappearance. I found you instead."

"What a disappointment," Colin jokes, but Eliza just shakes her head while biting her bottom lip to suppress a smile wanting to take over her face. Colin reaches out and pulls her chin toward him with his fingers, "You are still my favorite mystery Lady Eliza. I fear there are many pieces to your puzzle I have yet to find."

"Fear not my love. I am an open book. And with you, I am unable to keep anything close to my chest. You have a way of weaseling emotions out of me." Eliza confesses, still surprised that this man wants to be legally bound to her.

"Ah yes, I remember your emotionally charged outburst at the Erikson's fondly. I worried that I was physically scarred by the scorn you doused me with that night," Colin says.

Eliza flushes from embarrassment as she raises her chin in the air, "I am now well aware that you are to refrain from shouting at handsome men. According to my aunt, they do not find it an amusing quality in a lady."

"Tell your aunt she is mistaken," Colin replies with a smirk. "You had bewitched me after that encounter."

Eliza pulls her chin out of Colin's fingers as she asks, "Are you sure you have not read Austen? That's almost a line ripped straight from Darcy's mouth." Colin shakes his head and finds Eliza's chin again, "I don't know who that is either, but once again I believe you."

"I will not be upset if you are my Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth ends up with more than she could have ever hoped for," Eliza tells Colin as he pulls her chin closer to his.

"A happily ever after?" He whispers to Eliza and all she can do is nod before his lips are on hers. His hand travels up her cheek so his fingers find her Strawberry curls. The bumps of the train tracks don't separate the lip-locked couple and Eliza realizes abstinence is going to be a lot harder than she thought.

BOOK TWO IS ADDED TO MY LIBRARY- VOTE ON THE FIRST CHAPTER OR ADD IT TO YOUR LIBRARY FOR UPDATES! :)