#BlogTour #Extract: A Dangerous Act Of Kindness by L. P Fergusson @LPFergusson @canelo_co @ElliePilcher95 #ADangerousActOfKindness #WW2Fiction

Good morning everyone I’m on the blog tour for A Dangerous Act Of Kindness by L. P Fergusson today and I have a great extract to share with you all.

A Dangerous Act Of Kindness is available in ebook now for the fantastic price of £1.99. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

Before I share my extract with you here is a little bit about the book.

Book Synopsis:

What would you risk for a complete stranger?

When widow Millie Sanger finds injured enemy pilot Lukas Schiller on her farm, the distant war is suddenly at her doorstep. Compassionate Millie knows he’ll be killed if discovered, and makes the dangerous decision to offer him shelter from the storm.

On opposite sides of the inescapable conflict, the two strangers forge an unexpected and passionate bond. But as the snow thaws, the relentless fury of World War Two forces them apart, leaving only the haunting memories of what they shared, and an understanding that their secret must never see light.

As Millie’s dangerous act of kindness sets them on paths they never could have expected, those closest to them become their greatest threats, and the consequences of compassion prove deadly…

A Dangerous Act of Kindness is a beautiful, harrowing love story, perfect for fans of Rachel Hore and Santa Montefiore.

Extract:

‘She’s a hard worker,’ Hugh said when they got inside, ‘We’re lucky to have her.’ He stripped off his coat and threw it over the back of a kitchen chair. ‘So, how are you getting on? Were you all right last night? A plane came down over Norrington.’
‘I heard.’
‘I thought about you.’
‘I was fine.’
The kettle began to crack and pop as the water heated.
‘I think about you a lot,’ he said.
Millie, who was watching the kettle with her back to him, rolled her eyes. She wished he wouldn’t do that. She was always pleased to see him, genuinely liked having him around but ever since Jack died, he was like a dog starved of affection. She knew if she patted him, he’d be all over her.
She turned and leaned against the towel bar along the edge of the chipped range. He was sitting forward, his elbows resting on his knees, his hands linked beneath his chin, looking up at her. Compared to the service men, his hair was long, dark as a gypsy’s, messed up from where he’d pulled off his hat.
‘You mustn’t worry about me,’ she said.
He laughed lightly and sat back in his chair.
‘Did you hear? Bristol got it again last night,’ he said.
‘I thought I heard the bombers coming over.’
‘Coventry, Southampton, Bristol – when will it ever stop?’
‘When Britain surrenders?’
‘Then it’ll never stop,’ Hugh looked up at her. His eyes were so deep-set, the pupils so dark, they seemed all of a piece with his eyebrows when he frowned hard.
‘Do you think we’re in danger here?’ she said.
‘Coltenham maybe. They might target the munitions factory but we’re pretty safe up here.’
‘What about the plane that came down?’
‘It wasn’t a bomber; it was a fighter. I suppose it went off course. It was flying low and the gunners at Shawstoke hit it.’
‘Take me over to Norrington today. I’d like to see the wreckage.’
Hugh looked at her and his expression changed.
‘I most certainly will not. Women shouldn’t see things like that.’
‘Really, Hugh?’
‘It’s not just a plane, Millie. It’s a man.’
‘Brigsie said there wasn’t a body.’
‘Not as such.’
‘Meaning?’
Hugh got to his feet, his movement sudden and impatient.
‘For goodness sake, Millie. What’s got into you?’ She stared at him, knew he would blunder on. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘The front half of the plane was blown to smithereens and that wretched pilot would have gone the same way. What are you hoping to see? A hand hanging in a tree? A foot under a hedge.’
‘I suppose,’ she said, ‘I’d quite like to see the body of a man who’d been killed in action.’
‘Why?’
Millie gave a laugh.
‘It would make a change.’
‘Oh, stop it, Millie,’ and Hugh paced away from her, picked up his coat, paused and flung it back down. He swung round and said, ‘You need to put it behind you, move on.’
How many times had she heard that bloody mantra during the past six months? She wanted to mock him for his lack of imagination but she felt an infuriating stinging behind her eyes, saw the room distort as tears oozed into her eyes.
‘Oh no – come on, don’t cry,’ he said, irritated or maybe embarrassed. He stepped towards her, jerking her against his chest, the wool of his jumper prickling her cheek.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, her voice muffled against his jumper, ‘I didn’t mean to bait you.’
She pushed away from him.
He reached behind her and snatched a dishcloth off the rail, offering it to her as a handkerchief.
‘Don’t blow your nose on it,’ he said; his little joke, but Millie wasn’t ready for that yet.
‘I’m too angry to move on, Hugh. I can’t forgive him. I can’t forgive myself.’
She’d suffered grief before, losing a mother and a father within a year of each other. The sorrow she felt then was pure, like a sharp knife cutting deep and clean. Jack’s death had left a different wound, torn and muddied by guilt. She wondered if it could ever heal.
‘Yes, yes,’ Hugh said. ‘That’s enough of all that.’ He moved a strand of hair from across her forehead and tried to poke it back underneath her headscarf, his fingertip rough, then he glanced towards the window. Looking for escape, she thought.
‘You’ve had a stinking run of bad luck,’ he said. ‘It’s enough to knock the stuffing out of anyone but it’s best not to dwell.’

About The Author:

LP Fergusson was awarded an MA in Creative Writing with Distinction from Oxford Brookes University and won the Blackwell’s Prize for MA Creative Writing. Her stories have made a number of shortlists for competitions run by the Orwell Society, Oxfordshire Libraries, Flash500 and NYC Midnight. Her psychological thriller reached the final three of a Quercus/Psychologies Thriller competition and her wartime novel A Dangerous Act of Kindness was Highly Commended in the Caledonia Novel Award 2018. 

She spent a number of years working at Blenheim Palace, which inspired the Duntisbourne Hall series of cosy mystery novels. She is in the process of completed the third book in that series. 

She also edits the historical blog With Love from Graz which was featured on BBC Radio Wales, Radio 2 and BBC4’s A Very British Romance with Lucy Worsley. She now lives in an Oxfordshire village beneath the chalk downs where her Second World War novel A Dangerous Act of Kindness is set.

She is represented by Giles Milburn at Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency.