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Going Rogue
Ribbons and Rogues # 1
Ribbons and Rogues # 1
By: Jessica Jefferson
Releasing May 6, 2015
Soul Mate Publishing
The ribbon means you have it all – beauty, wealth,
power ... everything but love.
Miss Meredith Castle leaves behind everything she
knows to join her great aunt in London and become leader of the infamous girls’
club, The Ribbons. She’s willing to make whatever sacrifices necessary to
redeem her ailing mother, even if that means leaving her childhood love behind
to scale London’s social ladder.
When Derek
Weston’s best friend receives the offer of a lifetime, he encourages her to
take it. Unwilling to let her go completely, he chases after her, only to find
the sweet girl he loved replaced by a spoiled debutante. A broken man, he
leaves London to start a new life at sea.
Five years
later, Meredith realizes her reign as Queen of the Ball is about to come to an
end, if she doesn’t do something to fix her tarnished reputation. Pairing up
with the Season’s newest wallflower seems like the perfect plan, until she
finds out her demure friend is being pursued by the very man she thought she’d
never see again. Only, Derek Weston isn’t who he used to be. He’s inherited a
Scottish title and grown into an arrogant man she barely recognizes; yet in her
heart, she knows she still loves him. Torn between her past and an uncertain
future, can she find a way back to the life she used to have and the boy who
once adored her?
“You couldn’t love
me.” Meredith’s shoulders fell. “You haven’t seen me for over a year—too much
has changed. It’s too late.”
“A year means nothing
when I’ve known you for a lifetime,” he argued.
“A year is a lifetime.” She shook her head. “I’m
not the person I used to be.”
“Of course you are.
After you come home—”
“Middlebury is no
longer my home and I can’t go back. There’s nothing
for me there.”
“Except me?” He’d
meant it as a bold declaration of his intentions. But his confidence was
wavering and he knew the words were as much a question as they were anything
else.
“Don’t you see—I can’t
marry you.” Her words cut like a knife. “I’ve a real chance here. Aunt Cynthia
thinks I can be a duchess. An actual duchess! Can you imagine? Think of all I
can do for my mother.”
“I had no idea you
held such lofty aspirations,” he said quietly, the ring tucked tightly within
his fist.
She looked down. “You
said it yourself once—I deserve more than what life in the village has to offer
me. How can I settle for being the wife of an officer when I have a real chance
at a title?”
He dropped the ring on
the floor, the weight of it finally too much to bear. “Somewhere along the way
you seem to have forgotten what’s truly important, Mere.”
“And what’s that?”
“Love, friendship,
loyalty…”
She shook her head.
“My mother followed love and look where that got her. She has nothing now but a
crumbling house and stacks of bills. It takes far more than love to make a
life—it takes a fortune.”
And then he knew. This
shell of a woman was certainly not his
Meredith. His Meredith would never be
so callous—so ruthless. It was her eyes, hair, and smile—but not her spirit.
The girl he loved was
nowhere to be found in the woman in front of him.
Derek cleared his
throat. “You’ve changed.”
She looked at him.
“We’re just too different now. I had hoped that it would be easy, that you’d
just forget about me over time. Why do you think I stopped writing all those
months ago?”
It was the final blow
to their friendship. Meredith hadn’t been as busy with her lessons as he’d
thought. He knew the truth now—perhaps he’d known it all along. She hadn’t been
too busy to write, she’d been too busy for him.
She’d been trying to end their friendship amicably by simply ignoring the fact
it had ever existed.
“I shouldn’t have come
here,” he said quietly.
“Probably not.” She
wrapped her arms around her middle, just as she had when she was younger. His
heart ached for the memory.
He needed to leave, to
be as far from this place as he could get. But there was one thing he couldn’t
leave without.
Taking her by the
arms, he pulled her close, and kissed her fiercely.
She didn’t resist.
She returned his kiss
with just as much emotion, her arms snaking their way up his chest. Before
she’d left, he’d stolen a brief kiss. The chaste exchange hadn’t lasted but a
second, both of them so inexperienced. But he’d spent nights dreaming about it,
imagining all he’d do differently given the opportunity again.
Now, she kissed him
with a skill that he didn’t bother to question. He knew someone else had taught
her, but he didn’t care. He wanted her to remember him, remember this moment.
He kissed her with every intention of scarring a memory into her consciousness
so that after this, every kiss she’d ever receive would pale in comparison to
his. He poured every ounce of himself into it—every feeling he’d ever hidden,
all the love he’d ever felt for her. His tongue plunged deeper, exploring the
secret places inside her mouth.
This kiss was the
requiem for what was to become his past.
When he felt her knees
start to buckle, he knew it was time. Derek pulled away. His gaze locked
briefly with hers. Her eyes were heavy with desire and her lips were red and
swollen from the pleasurable assault.
He said nothing.
Instead, he walked straight for the door— ready to leave the place where his
vision for the future had been shattered into thousands of irreparable shards.
And he’d be damned before he tried to
pick them up.
A promising start to a new series! There are so many emotions, secrets and lies that you will not be able to put the book down once you start. Both Meredith and Derek have changed from since their last encounter, but their feelings for each other never really changed. It was great to see their true selves emerge as they fight their way to their HEA. Can't wait to see what her fellow Ribbon club members, Olivia and especially Alex, have in store for us.
ARC received in exchange for an honest review.
Jessica Jefferson makes her home in Almost-Chicago with her husband, nine and three year old girls, guinea pigs, and English bulldog Pete. When she's not busy trying to find middle-ground between being a modern career woman and Suzy-Homemaker, she loves to watch "Real Housewives of [insert city here]" and performing unnecessary improvements to her home and property.
Jessica writes Regency-era historical romance with a modern twist, infused with humor. She always tries to create endearingly flawed heroes and one of a kind heroines that you'll want to continue knowing long after you read the last page.
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