The Muse
by Charlotte E Hart & Rachel De Lune
#BroderickSeries #TheMuse #NewSeries #HartDeLune
Meet the Broderick siblings in this brand new, thrilling Romantic Suspense series. Four books – four drama laden love stories. Families are complicated, especially when they’re built on scandals, secrets and lies.
The Muse, book 1 in a new romantic suspense series, The Broderick Saga!
And where better to kick off the series, with the baby of the Broderick family, Persephone.
**LIVE**
Book One in The Broderick Saga
The Muse – https://mybook.to/TheMuse
The Lawyer, Book 2 – https://mybook.to/TheLawyer
The Writer, Book 3 – https://mybook.to/TheWriter
Pre-Order
The Fallen, Book 4 – https://mybook.to/TheFallenHDL
Cold, egotistical and a Foxton.
He tore my final performance to shreds with his pen, and embarrassed me for all the world to see.
But hate wasn’t what I felt for Scott Foxton when he touched me. Enemy wasn’t what I thought when he rescued me either.
I got lost in dreams and hope, and ignored the threats that would follow my own deceit.
For once in my life, family loyalty could be damned.
But then I saw the painting.
And now I can’t lie anymore.
The man I shouldn’t want is the one that holds my heart.
I just have to trust that he’ll still believe me when he knows the truth about Persephone Broderick.
Excerpt 2 – Persephone Broderick
“What else did you want to show me?” I can’t help but feel like this isn’t something that Scott does often, and I want to take my time and savour the experience.
“Well, there’s an exhibition downstairs. Quite the highlight, so I’ve been told,” he muses, leading me from the room.
“Great. What’s it called?” I take a mouthful of my tea as we head for the stairs.
“Sin,” he deadpans.
I choke on the tea and begin coughing hoarsely as I struggle to draw breath. “Easy there. Something I said?” He takes my arm to steady me as I continue to sound like I’m coughing up my lung. “No,” I croak. “Nothing.” “Come on. After what I did to you the other night, it’s me that’s committed all the sin. You’re the angel in the relationship.”
I’m still spluttering and trying to regain a shred of dignity, but I heard the word relationship. It could be a simple matter of semantics. Of course, it could. Obviously. Still, the smile that spreads on my face because of it is not something I can hide. And considering he’s about to take me to something called Sin, it must mean something more than nothing, surely?
I follow as he leads me back down the stairs to the exhibition located at the front of the building, wondering if hand-holding will happen again at any point. He’s a little distant compared to the park. Or maybe he isn’t and I’m just making up problems that aren’t there. He remains quiet as well, just perusing the room confidently.
Reading that there’s a quiet appreciation for what we’re looking at on his face, I linger back and let him have his space. Although, I’m surprised he hasn’t talked me through it yet. He doesn’t seem to be someone to hold his opinion in. Especially after what he said when we were at his friend’s show.
“So, what does your expert eye tell you?”
“Well, there’s clearly the general theme to the pieces about sin in everyday behaviour.” He puts his arm around me and pulls me in closer to him as he elaborates, and my heart leaps. That’s much better than hand-holding. “I know my definition of sin will be wildly different to yours, for example.” The words feel erotic—personal—as we continue to wander through the darkened exhibit, and it makes my heart pulse with anticipation. “Maybe it’s something we should discuss in greater depth—at mine. Immediately.”
“But we just got here,” I nearly pant.
My senses are now being bombarded by him. And his low, seductive voice, his possessive touch, and the surrounding pieces on the wall aren’t helping calm me either. It’s like he flicked a switch as we entered this room, and all the paintings of flesh and cherubs are firing me up tenfold.
“Lust is a deadly sin, Ms Castlewood. As are you.” His hand moves lower to graze my thigh, one finger labouring the light material of my dress. “And I’ve got things to show you about that. Things you haven’t even dreamed about yet.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
He pulls me in closer to him, and I realise that the cantankerous and grumpy act is part of him, but that’s just the armour—his defence setting. Beneath that, he’s much more.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in his flirtatious behaviour, almost enough to make me forget what I’m doing and just be, but the bigger sin here is my own betrayal. First to my family, and then to Scott because, as we continue to look around the room, it’s becoming glaringly obvious that I really like this guy. It’s more than just sleeping with him, more than being whimsical or wanting to break the rules, too, and I’m finding it a slow kind of torture to keep all my secrets from him.
I wanted to see more of Scott’s world by coming here, but it’s just backfired on me and reminded me of what I’m doing—the dangerous game I’m playing. It’s a game where it will be more than just my heart that could get hurt.
Add to Your TBR Links
The Muse, Book 1 – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57503833-the-muse
The Lawyer, Book 2 – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57503852-the-lawyer
The Writer, Book 3 – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57503866-the-writer
The Fallen, Book 4 – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57503878-the-fallen
Review by Tara