Sunday News

Let’s start with the winners of The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh!!

Congratulations to:

Adventures in Authorland ~ Juanita Decuir

Jenna Jaxon’s Blog ~ bn100

The big news this week is that I got my cover for The Temptation of Lady Serena Book #3 of The Marriage Game which will release on January 14, 2014.

I have to tell you I love this cover. Let me know what you think.

Oh! You want to know more? Here is the back cover copy and an excerpt.

Ella Quinn’s bachelors in The Marriage Game series are charming and cunning when it comes to the ways of love—until the right woman captures their unsuspecting hearts… 

Custom-made gowns…nights at the theater…and a host of eligible bachelors. Accustomed to living a quiet life in the Scottish Borderlands, Lady Serena Weir has never had any of these luxuries. But when Serena’s brother demands she finally have a Season in London, she’s thrust into a glamorous world she’s only dreamed of…

Robert, Viscount Beaumont remembers all too well what it feels like to be in love. That is why he must keep his distance from Serena. He’s only felt his pulse stir the way it does now when he made the mistake of loving the wrong woman once before. Yet the more he strives to resist his feelings, the nearer he is to falling under Serena’s seductive spell…

Early the next morning, Serena ordered a stable-boy to saddle Shamir.

After he’d done as she bid, he glanced toward the stable. “I’ll just get your groom, Will, to go with ye, my lady.”

Serena’s nerves were strung too tightly for company. She needed a good gallop this morning, and Will would slow her down. “No, I’ll be fine without him.”

The boy helped her mount without arguing. After she’d cleared the stable yard, Serena cantered south up a rise and gazed out over the still barren fields. The frost was not as heavy this morning, nor the air quite as cold. It was late, but spring was coming. The land tugged at her. She’d rather be planting than dancing.

A man on a large black horse appeared in the valley and stared up at her. He looked tall, but it was hard to tell at this distance. A breeze ruffled his fair hair as he rode toward her. After a few moments, Serena realized he was riding not simply in her direction, but to her. Her aunt had warned her not to ride alone. Was this man the reason for the warning? Whirling Shamir around, she gave the horse his head and rode back to her to aunt’s house as if someone was chasing her.

Robert Beaumont rode toward the woman on the crest of the hill. She sat atop a raking roan, much too large for a lady. Her riding habit, a dull rust color, reminded him of autumn leaves. Her long auburn hair curled down her back, and she wore a small hat with some sort of feather—pheasant, by the way it stuck out. He wondered how the devil she kept the hat on her head with her hair down. His interest piqued, he urged his horse to a trot. As he neared, she took off at a fast gallop.

She was gone when he reached the top of the hill. Beaumont looked out over the valley. A horse and rider were in the north. How had she got that far so quickly? Disgruntled, he turned and rode home. After throwing his reins to a groom, he strode through the doors into the main hall and called to his housekeeper, “Norry!”

She came out from a parlor. “I’m here, my lord. There’s no reason to shout.”

“Who lives to the north?”

“Well, my lord,” she muttered, “if you were here more often, you’d know. It’s a widow lady. I can’t remember her name right off my head. Why?”

Ignoring Norry’s all too familiar complaint, he pressed for more information. “Does she have any children?”

The housekeeper narrowed her eyes. “I heard all her children are grown. She moved here after her son married. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my lord, I have work to do.”

“Norry, let me know if you remember. Especially if it concerns an auburn-haired female.”

“Master Robert,” she began in a censorious tone, “we’ll have none of your carrying on up here. You leave it in London.” She nodded her head curtly and left.

Beaumont clenched his jaw and stormed off to his study, cursing the fact that so many of his servants had been with him since childhood, and never let him forget it.

And finally, in case you didn’t notice, I changed the blog banner. How do you like it?

Check out my website for the latest blog tour dates. Have a great Sunday and rest of the week.

Ella