Welcome back to Sweet Saturday Sample.  My great thanks to all who’ve been coming by each week.  I appreciate your comments very much.  And thank you also to the first-time visitors.  I appreciate everyone’s feedback.

This week I’m finishing up posting from my Georgian historical novel Only Scandal Will Do.  Finishing up, you say?  Yes, because Sweet Saturday sample has done it again.  Last week I received the fantastic news that Only Scandal Will Do had been accepted for publication with Lyrical Press!  The two works I’ve put up on this blog tour have both been accepted for publication in less than a month.  So I’ve been happy dancing all this week.

Today I’m posting the end of the scene–and the end of chapter one–from last week, where our heroine Katarina’s situation continues to worsen.  Please enjoy the sample!

The door burst open and the woman in charge reappeared, handing Nigel a smooth, white full-face plaster mask.  “Put that on her, Nigel.  No one will see the gag under it.  And for God’s sake hurry. The first auction is already underway.” 

Before Kat could protest, the woman’s eyes flashed and she raised a warning finger. “Use your head, girl. That mask protects your identity though it may gall you to wear it. Unless, of course, you wish to become tomorrow’s scandal.”  She sped off without a backward glance.

Nigel shoved the mask onto Katarina’s face, almost suffocating her.  Flailing, she pushed against the man, tried to pry the mask from her face, and was rewarded with a cuff to her head that sent her reeling.  By the time the world stopped spinning, she was being borne down the corridor in Nigel’s arms.  The rank smell of his sweaty, unwashed body permeated the mask and Kat fought back a wave of nausea.  A thunderous roar of voices emanated from behind a dull red curtain, as though an entire army was carousing there.  Katarina’s stomach cramped with fear. 

They stopped before the doorway, and Nigel bent his head to whisper, “If you try to run, try to take the mask off, try anything, my sword will find its mark before the night is over.” Then he heaved her over the shoulder of a blond giant, dressed in the purple and white robes of a Roman senator.  She landed on his collarbone with so much force that her breath made a soft “ugh” as it left her lungs. Katarina hung there, struggling to breathe, but still less afraid of suffocating than of what lay beyond the red curtain.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire for Kat this week.  And just what lies beyond the red curtain?  I promise to let you know…when Only Scandal Will Do is released for publication.  Hoping that won’t be too far in the future.

Thanks again for sampling my favorite sweets.  Come back next week for a new “Sweet Sample.” Or even better,  join in the fun with your own.  Follow this link to Sweet Saturday Sample to find more “sweet” offerings.

If you liked the above sample, you might also like some of my published work.  Heart of Deception, set in Victorian England, is available at Books to Go Now.  Hog Wild, an erotic contemporary retelling of The Three Little Pigs, is available at New Dawning Bookfair.  And both are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and All Romance Ebooks.  Blurbs for both books can be found on my Published Works page.