Baring It All

By Megan Frampton

Megan Frampton turns up the heat on one bride-to-be and her oblivious bridegroom in this steamy and scandalous Regency romance.

It is with great discretion that this columnist discusses the sensitive topic of undergarments. Some ladies, it seems, do not pay strict attention to what they wear under their gowns. A crucial error, my ladies.

Lady Violet knows Lord Christian Jepstow is interested in women. The problem is, he hasn't seemed to realize that Violet is a living, breathing woman—a woman with needs. Which is a huge problem, considering the fact that Violet and Christian are betrothed. Violet has no intention of saying her vows without knowing if her husband has the capacity to love her properly, so she does what anyone would do in her situation—she steps into his study and offers to take off her clothes. What happens next could be an utter disaster . . . or it could be surprising, seductive, and sizzlingly sexy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Publishing
• Release date: May 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781094408842

Megan Frampton

Megan Frampton writes historical romance under her own name and romantic women’s fiction as Megan Caldwell. She likes the color black, gin, dark-haired British men, and huge earrings, not in that order. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and daughter.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Would you like some lemonade?

No, I’d rather that you kissed me. Lemonade would be lovely, thank you.

Violet watched him stride off in pursuit of her beverage, and she heaved a sigh she hoped wouldn’t shake the chandeliers hanging overhead. She and Christian had been betrothed for a month now, and besides ensuring he danced with her at least twice when they were at the same social events, nothing was different than before he’d proposed.

Even at the moment he’d proposed, he’d had a distant look in his eye. A distant look that in any other man would have meant he was thinking about someone else, but Violet knew he wasn’t. Unless the someone else was some dead philosopher, and she hardly thought Christian would rather marry, much less kiss, one of them.

She’d have thought they would at least have kissed on the occasion of their betrothal. But despite standing at what she presumed was in the correct attitude, all he’d done was mutter, Well, that’s settled, then, and strode off to somewhere. Somewhere she—not to mention her lips—was not.

Did he just not want to kiss anyone? No, since his sister—her best friend—had shared some of Christian’s exploits with the female gender over the years, she knew he had an interest in women. He just seemed not to have realized yet that she was a woman.

Despite having proposed.

Why did she have to fall in love with someone so clueless? Someone who didn’t realize that when one asked a female to marry him, that implied some sort of . . . activity on one’s part?

Clueless Christian.

That had to be it. Their families had known each other for so long, and Christian wasn’t used to seeing Violet as anything more than the girl who was always with his sister. Whom he took for granted as much as he did his sister. That Violet had developed an abiding passion for Christian at the age of ten was something she had been determined just to live with. Until he asked her to marry him.

And all of her hopes had been realized. All of her hopes, that is, except that he would kiss her. Which was when she figured out almost nothing had changed between them after all, despite his having asked her to spend the rest of her life with him. Other than that, nothing.

His family had prodded him into it. Probably by promising they would leave him alone once his marital future was settled.

She could almost hear the conversation: his father pronouncing at the breakfast table, Son, you have to be married sometime, and it might as well be someone you know. Lady Violet is an excellent choice.

To which Christian probably mumbled through his toast, "Fine, excellent. Can you pass me that notebook? I think I’ve discovered a shortcut for Pythagoras’s tetractys. Oh, and I’ll take care of that other thing next week. That other thing" being asking Violet to marry him.

She was going to have to do something about the situation. She just had no clue what that something was; she did know, however, that she would not marry Christian, no matter how much she loved him, if she hadn’t at least been assured

Reviews for Baring It All

[gregoryaarnold · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Fine details,fine details deep character expansion that I thoroughly enjoyed

[Biva Siddiki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nice and short. Passionate scenes written in delicious details. A

[benn9314 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A good story but not long enough to really enjoy

[olongbourn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Yummy!

Short, sweet and straight to the point! This Regency romance is a one-scene interplay between a boy -girl couple who have grown up living next door to one another and are now betrothed. She's a bit cheeky and daring and in love with him, while he is all good-looking, well-muscled man, somewhat ambivalent to her and far too bookish to be betrothed. She opens his eyes, thank goodness!

Short and sweet and to the point! More like a short story than novella. Sweet characters and cute premise of filling in to write an article and needing to do "research".

This is my first Megan Frampton and I certainly will reach for her again. Previous to Ms. Frampton, my go-to gals for Regency romance are Mary Balogh, Lisa Kleypas ad Julia Quinn

I received a digital copy of this novella through NetGalley in with the expectation that I publish an honest review of this book.