My Lady's Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel(24)

“To Drury Lane, of course,” you reply crisply. Lady Evangeline’s eyes widen. You continue: “Mrs. Caddington was an actress, correct?” Lady Evangeline nods. “Who worked often at Drury Lane. In my experience, theaters are full of those who enjoy hearing themselves speak. What time will we reach London?”

“Very late, I’m afraid.”

“Good. Mrs. Caddington’s old place of employ will be quiet by the time we arrive, and we can hunt down someone and get them to talk while they are taking a break from treading the boards.”

“You truly believe we will find answers to the question of Benedict and Cad’s legitimacy at the theater?”

“I think we will find answers at the theater where Mrs. Caddington was once a star, yes.” You readjust yourself on the carriage seat. “Theaters are always full of foolish lovers and jealous friends. I propose we head straight to the theater in which Mrs. Caddington used to perform and find the right person who would speak to us about her.”

“And how on earth do you suppose we find the ‘right’ person?”

“Easily,” you say. “We find who disliked her most and go from there.”





You have a plan, and a good one at that! Go to this page.





After some stalking about the house with a tightly furrowed brow, you come upon a terrified Alexander, crumpled in a heap beneath a portrait of his dead mother.

“Mama has come to hurt me again,” he says. He is weeping, his eyes red with tears and horror.

“Mama is gone, Master Alexander,” you say, unsure if your words are true. Unsure, to be honest, of anything anymore. “She can’t hurt you.”

“But I’ve seen her!” Alexander wails.

“What you’ve seen is the portrait,” you say.

“No!” he cries. “Mama! She’s here!”

The frightened child lifts a trembling finger, pointing toward a woman’s skirts disappearing around the corner and into the next room.

Your heart leaps to your throat. Though you did not see the strange figure’s face, you did see the locks of raven hair trailing behind her.





This is impossible. Do you…

Find Lord Craven and demand answers? Turn to this page.

Flee to Mrs. Butts for comfort? Turn to this page.

Or force an admission from the apparition? You are most certainly not afraid of no ghosts! Turn to this page.





Clad in only your still-wet dress, you flee the room and the castle. You trusted this man, and perhaps were even falling in love with him. How could it be that a man so good, so kind, and so gentle could also be a murderer?

You race to the stables. You know not where you will go, but you know that you must leave this place…if only for a while.

Flinging open the stable door (and almost sending it off its rusty hinges), you decide to take the sturdy bay nag. As you look for a saddle, however, a strong arm wraps around you and a calloused hand clamps over your mouth.

“Be quiet. You are in more danger than you realize.”

The arm releases you. You turn in a daze to see the face of your long-lost love, Ollie Ruston—whole, handsome, and very much alive!

“Ollie! But how? I thought that you were lost at sea!” you say, gaping in disbelief. You stare at his face and try to find the sweet boy you knew in the man who stands before you. He stares back, his once-innocent brown eyes now darkened with anger.

“I allowed everyone to believe that. I would have done anything to stop England from being conquered by Napoleon.”

“Oh, Ollie…” You sigh, at a loss for words. He cups your face gently with one rough hand, but his expression is etched deep with long-held fury.

“You see, I had no choice. Not if I wanted to do right by my country…and those who I loved,” he says, stroking your cheek with a hardened thumb. “I had to fake my own death so they wouldn’t look for me when I embarked on my new life as a spy.”





If this is one of the most aggressively attractive things you have ever heard and you want to provide him with some secret services of your own (if you catch our drift), then turn to this page.

But if you are seriously enraged—the bastard let you think he was dead for more than a decade and you want some bloody answers right now—then turn to this page.





“Oh, Kamal!” You cling to his shirt ever tighter.

“Miss?” he squeaks.

You stare into each other’s eyes for a few deliciously loaded moments. Nothing more needs to be said, for you both know you have found your other half in this life. Kamal pulls you into his arms and kisses you with a passion you didn’t know he had.

The next thing you know, you are tearing at each other’s clothes, making feverish love among the mummies. It doesn’t matter. They are dead, but your loins are alive.

You marry, of course, and are blissfully happy. You also feature as ongoing comedic side characters for the continued series of Lady Evangeline’s adventures, always providing a safe space and sympathetic ear when called upon. She drops in from time to time between quests to tell stories to your enthralled offspring. Little Evangeline, your eldest (and sole nonbookish) child, particularly loves these visits from her rambunctious godmother and namesake and grows up to be quite the adventurer herself.