A SCANDALOUS MATTER
MAGIC of LOVE Book 3
Revel in the magic again in A Scandalous Matter, Amara and Matthew’s story.
The Past Is Always Present
What if your soul mate doesn’t want happily ever after?
Independent, spirited Amara Mattersley may live under scandal's shadow, but at least the nineteenth-century Regency society judging her is familiar. That’s all about to change when she finds herself in twenty-first-century Charlottesville, Virginia—and locking horns with one very befuddling, very male, UVA professor.
Computer science professor Matthew Goodson has no time for love—no time for anything, actually, but his quest for tenure and his obsession with the screen. The last thing he expects is to get side-swiped by this adorably odd British miss. Yet something in her calls to him, pulls at him, in a way unknown—and uncomfortable.
Can the past and the present blend together into a mutual future? Or will old wounds and new complications sabotage any chance at a twenty-first century happily ever after?
An excerpt from A Scandalous Matter:
He held up a hand to quiet her as he strode toward the left side of the room, the side from which the noise had come. As he neared the Romance section, he could swear he heard scuffling, then a low moan. A low, female-sounding moan.
Rounding the corner, he stopped short at the sight of a young woman sitting on the floor, cradling her head. She wore a long white dress, a maxi dress, his sister Taylor would call it, with some sort of short red jacket over it, and she had a bonnet— a bonnet, of all things— on her head.
He frowned. What was going on? Some sort of cosplay gone bad? His brow furrowed as he studied the woman. A second moan knocked him out of his reverie, and he rushed to her side.
“Are you okay?” He’d figure out why and how she’d gotten here later; for now, he needed to ensure she was all right. His EMT training never fully left him, though he hadn’t gone on runs in years. He crouched down next to her and reached for her hand to pull it away from her head. At his touch, the woman yelped and yanked her hand back. She looked up, affording him his first full view of her face.
My God, she’s stunning. A pair of hazel-green eyes peered out of a face that was both delicate and strong at the same time. Her curvaceous lips flattened into a line as her eyes widened. But there was no doubt about it, this was one gorgeous woman.
She shook her head, then glanced wildly about the room, her eyes darting to and fro before settling on him again. The panic in them made him want to reach for her, but at that moment, Cat approached from behind him.
“What’s going—” She broke off as Matt stood and moved to the side so she could see the newcomer. Cat’s hand flew to her mouth before she dropped it and pasted an unnatural- looking smile on her face. “Amara?” she said, taking a step closer to the woman.
The bonnet wielder’s eyes flew open even wider, a feat he wouldn’t have thought possible. She gave a nod. “Miss Schreiber?”
Huh. A British accent. He hadn’t expected that. Maybe it was part of the role.
Cat nodded enthusiastically, crouching down by the woman. “Yes! It’s Mrs. Cooper now, but please call me Cat. I’m so glad you’re here. I know you must be—” She broke off and glanced up at Matt. “I know you must be overwhelmed, Cousin Amara. We have much to talk about. But first,” she gestured toward him, “you must meet Matthew Goodson. This is he.”
Something in the way Cat spoke caught Matt’s attention. Why had she emphasized his name in such a weird way? Why wasn’t she wigging out that this woman, whom Matt would swear was not here before, was sitting on the floor in the middle of the bookstore? The store had been closed for more than an hour. Had this Amara person been in the room the whole time, and he hadn’t noticed?
It wasn’t entirely implausible. His family teased him that when his face was in a screen, the rest of the world didn’t exist. “And your face is always in a screen,” Taylor claimed. “You’re such a geek, Matty. An adorable geek, but a geek nonetheless. Come up for air sometime!”
“Well—” he started to say, wanting to return to Ben and his food. He wasn’t needed here; the two women knew each other. Though at least one of them wasn’t acting like it. In spite of them being related?
Something was off.