I’m moving on this week sharing snippets from the second book of the House of Pleasure series, Only Marriage Will Do. It’s got one of my favorite heroes, Amiable Dawson, a man with secrets who becomes attracted to a woman with secrets of her own.
I’m beginning at the very beginning again, as Amiable, irritated because he’s been standing out in the hot sun, knocking on the Marquess of Dalbury’s door, stumbles upon quite a scene. (Very creatively punctuated to conform to WWW rules.)
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
At last a short, dark-haired maid opened the door, took one look at him, gasped, and stepped back into the house. Her eyes widened and she glanced to her right, wringing her hands, and said, “Who may I say—”
A man shouted from within, “No, I do not believe you.”
“It is true, I tell you!” A woman’s voice, raised and sharp with terror, sent a chill through Amiable.
He barged past the stunned girl and strode down the hall toward the commotion. He burst through the doorway, expecting to defend the woman he loved, only to stop dead at the sight of a man lunging across a sofa and grasping a woman by the wrist. Amiable had half drawn his sword before he realized the woman was not Katarina, but a complete stranger. He dropped it back into its scabbard. This was none of his affair.
BLURB:
Not every happy-ever-after begins at “I do.”
When the hero of her dreams rescues Lady Juliet Ferrers from the man claiming to be her husband, she is sure she has found her one true love. But is she free to marry him? Not to be deterred, Juliet arranges for her hero, Captain Amiable Dawson, to escort her to her family estate, hoping that along the way she can win his love.
Amiable is charmed by the sweet, beautiful woman he rescued, and although he has grave reservations about her marital status, he allows himself to be swept up into Juliet’s romantic spell and the promise of a happy-ever-after.
The spell breaks when legal questions arise and Juliet faces the horror of not knowing if she is married to her knight in shining armor or the cruel viscount who is determined to have her at any price.
Books in the House of Pleasure series:
And don’t forget to check out the rest of the Warriors here. There’s some fantastic snippets to be read.
Jenna Jaxon Romance--because passion is timeless. 
Cue the awkward cough. Still, gotta love his sense of honour! 😀
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Exactly! Wait for next week’s snippet to see the response!
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Amiable is a great name for a hero! I hope there’s a dichotomy of his name to his nature. 😀
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I love this name for this hero. There’s a great story about how it came about, although it happened while I was writing the first book in the series, not this one.
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Delightful scene. If he’s the tale’s hero, as I suspect he is, his unexpected reaction says a lot about the code a gentleman in his day lives by.
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As you’ll see in the coming weeks, he needs more information. What if he’s inruding on a domestic scene? The law was completely on the side of the husband in all but the most severe abuse. So Amiable could get into a peck of trouble for sticking his nose in. Whether that matters to him or not remains to be seen. 🙂
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So not quite the good Samaritan, eh?I have a feeling he won’t leave a lady in danger, though.
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Well, yeah. He’s got an agenda that sort of gets siderailed. LOL Come back next week and you’ll see.
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He should consider it his affair, even if he doesn’t know the woman!
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Check back next week, Carrie-Anne to see if he reconsiders. 🙂
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It is now! I hope he speaks up for her, even if he doesn’t use the sword.
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Oh, just wait and see if he does–to both!
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Well of course it’ his affair! lol He must rescue the lady. Excellent start, Jenna~
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Well, you’ll see next week–he’s not quite going to wash his hands of the affair. Yet.
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Great snippet! I can visualize him barging in there, but I’m also interested in the maid’s reaction to him.
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Yes, well, he was a totally unexpected guest, from several standpoints. 🙂
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Good snippet. He sounds like he’s ready to defend a woman’s honor. Great guy!
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He is a great guy. Just wait and see!
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Lots of hidden humor in this snippet, like a comedy of errors. He will jump into the fray to save the young woman. Yum!
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Yes, Charmaine, he is ready to be a hero! But maybe not yet!
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Oops. Well his intentions were good! And an excellent beginning to the tale, great snippet, easy to visualize the action going on.
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Thank you, Veronica. Yes, he’s quite the hero, but a bit cautious. One doesn’t want to interfere in a marital spat, you know.
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Can he really turn away from that? An intriguing start! 🙂
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Oh, I don’t think so. LOL
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Talk about riding to the wrong rescue! Great scene, Jenna. And I LOVE the name Amiable. Not exactly how the scene describes him.
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Never fear. His name is quite his nature. He won’t hesitate for long. 🙂
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Aw….he’s not going to save her???? I have a feeling he will.
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Chivalry is not quite dead yet. Especially when a beautiful lady is concerned. Amiable is a sucker for a damsel in distress. 🙂
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If there’s violence involved, I hope he still decides to get involved. Good snippet!
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Well, he really is a hero, so yeah, it’s knight in shining armor time. 🙂
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