Arcane Society Series: Books 1-2: Second Sight / White Lies

SECOND SIGHTIn financial straits and on a sure path to spinsterhood, Venetia Milton thought her stay at the remote, ramshackle Arcane House, far from society’s prying eyes, would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to engineer her own ravishment. She was there to photograph the relics and artifacts collected by a highly secretive organization, founded two centuries earlier by an eccentric alchemist. And the alchemist’s descendant—her employer, Mr. Gabriel Jones - had the eyes of a sorcerer….After a night to remember, Venetia is prepared to cherish the memories of her romantic encounter and move on, but she is shattered when, shortly after their night together, she reads of Jones’s death in the papers. As a private tribute to her one-time lover, she adopts the name “Mrs. Jones” and the guise of a respectable widow, and embarks on a new career as a fashionable photographer in London, where her unique ability to “see” beyond her subjects and capture that quality in her photography makes her photographs highly prized.But her romantic whim causes unexpected trouble. For one thing, Mr. Jones is about to stride, living and breathing, back into her life. And the bonds that tie them together include more than just the memory of passion; Venetia’s special “double vision” has caught the attention of someone Mr. Jones is tracking—someone who will go to any lengths, even murder, to possess an ancient, extraordinary secret that has been lost for centuries. Someone who believes that as the “wife” of Mr. Jones, Venetia is the key.Now, as she introduces Gabriel about town as her miraculously back-from-the-dead “husband,” Venetia must join him in a perilous quest to track down a dangerous opponent who manages to stay one step ahead. As they explore the darker, wilder underbelly of the modern, scientific Victorian world, they must see through society’s illusions—or this time, Gabriel Jones may not be coming from the dead, and neither may Mrs. Jones.WHITE LIESRelationships are challenging enough for most single over-thirty women. For level ten parasensitive Clare Lancaster, they’re a minefield. The elite few who know her secret call her a human lie detector, and any falsehood, no matter how subtle or well hidden, sets her blood racing. Over the years, Clare has come to accept that someone with her extraordinary talents is unlikely to find a suitable mate. And she’s even resigned herself to the fact that everyone, to one degree or another, hides behind a façade.Including her recently deceased brother-in-law. When Clare finds the body of Brad McAllister, the golden child of Stone Canyon, Arizona, the posh residents turn a suspicious eye in her direction. As Archer Glazebrook’s daughter, Clare is shielded from the law, but not the gossip. It seems that meeting the half sister and family whom she did not know until seven months ago was a mistake. Now her father summons her from California to play a role in his business empire, and Clare doesn’t intend on making the same mistake twice. But after meeting Jake Salter, Archer’s “business consultant,” she is convinced that things aren’t what they seem. Salter’s careful conversation walks a delicate line between truth and deception, revealing and resisting. Something sparks and sizzles between them - something more than the usual electricity between a man and a woman.Caught in a dizzying storm of secrets, lies, and half-truths, Jake and Clare will plunge into an investigation that demands every bit of their special gifts. Together, they must overcome their mutual distrust in order to unravel a web of conspiracy and murder.