Today we are pleased to sit down with John and Mary Bexley,
the protagonists from Jane Ashford’s Married to a Perfect Stranger (March
2015). From February 23rd through March 20th the Bexleys will be answering
questions about their relationship at each stop in their tour!
What is one funny or embarrassing thing about your spouse that everyone knows that your spouse thinks no one knows?
John: There’s nothing like that about me.
Mary: He talks to his horse.
John: (turns to frown at her) I do n…
Mary: We’ve all heard you. Mrs. Tanner. Arthur. When you’re riding along.
John: (mutters) Speaking aloud helps me work out ideas.
Mary: I’m sure Whitefoot appreciates it.
John: You can tell when Mary has been around flowers, because she gets pollen on her nose. From burrowing right in to sniff.
Mary: (opens her mouth, closes it) Does everybody really know that?
John: (nods)
Title: Married to a Perfect Stranger
Author: Jane Ashford
Publication Date: March 3rd, 2015
ISBN: 9781492601906
Time and distance have changed them both…
Quiet and obliging, Mary Fleming and John Bexley marry to
please their families and John immediately leaves on a two-year diplomatic
mission. Now John is back, and everything they thought they knew about each
other was wrong…
It’s disconcerting, irritating—and somehow all very
exciting…
Jane Ashford discovered Georgette Heyer in junior high
school and was captivated by the glittering world and witty language of Regency
England. Her romances have been published all over the world. Jane has been
nominated for a Career Achievement Award by RT Book Reviews. She lives in Los
Angeles, California.
Excerpt from Married to a Perfect Stranger:
John Bexley reined in his hired horse on a slight rise and
gazed down at the red brick manor, somnolent under the August sun. Eager as he
was to get to London, he’d felt he must detour west into Somerset to fetch
Mary. Her family’s decision to put her under the care of a great-aunt while he
was away just showed he was right to fear that such a shy, quiet girl couldn’t
arrange a journey on her own. And now that he was here, the sight of this place
soothed him; it looked the very essence of English country comfort and peace.
John’s knock was answered by an aged butler. He gave his
name, stepped in, and inhaled the familiar scents of beeswax polish and
potpourri. The place reminded him of his own home farther north. Golden light
pooled on the wooden floor and gleamed on the stair rail. In the rooms on
either side of the entry, the furnishings were classic and inviting. Mary had
certainly had a beautiful and serene spot in which to wait for him. “Mary’s
husband,” he added when it seemed as if the old man didn’t know what to do with
him. “I believe I am expected.”
“Yes, si…”
A filthy, hysterical chicken shot through the rear door of
the dining parlor on his left, skidded in a turn around the table, and raced
past him, neck extended, screeching, flapping its mottled wings. A little boy
slathered with mud came racing after it, careened off the doorjamb, and staggered
across the entryway, leaving streaks and globs of dirt in his wake. The old
butler stiffened in horror.
The bird hopped across a flowered sofa in the front parlor,
stitching it with muddy tracks, circled the delicate carpet, and looped back
toward John. The boy in pursuit slipped, fell, jumped up, and turned to follow.
He flapped muddy hands at the fowl in an inept attempt to trap it.
What seemed like a herd of adults jostled into the dining
parlor, then surged forward. “Arthur!” snapped a young woman, her voice
crackling with authority.
As the crazed chicken surged past him, John bent, reached,
and snatched hold of its legs. When he straightened, he held the muddy bird
upside down, at arm’s length, well away from his clothing. It flapped and
protested; flakes of dirt dropped to the floor.
“Good!” said the managing female, striding from the dining
room into the hall. “Take it from him, Alice, and put it outside at once.”
The middle-aged maid jumped to obey like a subaltern
responding to a commanding general. The butler relaxed. The boy stood to
attention. “It wasn’t me, I swear,” he repeated. “I rescued ’er. I killed three
rats as well. Would have been four, but I…”
“Very well, Arthur,” the woman replied. “Go now and get
cleaned up.”
The
boy finally noticed the mud sliding from his clothes to the polished floor. His
face shifted from defensive to horrified, and he slunk out. In the same moment,
John realized that the woman with a voice like a sergeant major was his meek
little sparrow of a wife.
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