Happy Father’s Day
to all those Dad’s out there. We’re having two celebrations at my house this year–one yesterday because one daughter is working today, and one next week because the other daughter won’t get home until next week. So lots of good wishes and food for Dad this week and next.
I tried to find a snippet in which there’s a positive portrayal of a father, but sadly most of my fathers are real SOBs. So I’ve compromised with a snippet showing a father who is trying to do the right thing for his family, even if it isn’t what his son wants. This excerpt is from the newly renamed Hearts beneath the Mistletoe, part of my soon to be released Volume 1 of Handful of Hearts, an anthology of the first three books of the Handful of Hearts series, now available in one place. here is a sneak peek of the brand new cover (the proper reveal is set for Tuesday on my blog.
Now, from Hearts Beneath the Mistletoe: Alec is furious with his parents for suddenly announcing that he and Jenny Crowley have been betrothed from birth. Neither he nor Jenny wants this marriage and after the explosive announcement, Alec wants some answers of his own. his father informs him of a certain wager that was made, and that the results of it was the expectation of Alec and Jenny’s marriage. Alec’s father is the first one to speak.
(Creative punctuation utilized to conform to WWW rules.)
“And over the years, I’ve borrowed against the expectation of the marriage.”
Alec sprang upright in his seat, stunned into silence before asking, “Why would you do that, Father? Why would you need to? The estate brings in more than a sufficient income.”
“And how would you know that?” his father snapped, crossing his arms, his frown deepening. “You’ve never even looked at the ledgers; you have no idea of the problems that have plagued us for the last ten years.”
“You never wanted to share the financial side of running the estate,” Alec shot back. “God knows I’ve asked often enough for you to teach me for I will have the running of the manor one day,” he said, rubbing his temple, sensing a headache on its way. “How much did you borrow?”
“Twenty thousand pounds.”
BLURB for Hearts beneath the Mistletoe:
Jenny Crowley has been duped! At her eighteenth birthday celebration her parents announce that instead of having the London Season she’s dreamed of for years, Jenny has been betrothed from birth to Alexander Isley, son of family friends and heir to a title. A distraught Jenny refuses point-blank to marry Alec, and when her aunt offers to whisk her away to a Christmas house party, complete with many eligible young bachelors, Jenny jumps at the chance to enjoy a variety of entertainments, be courted, and perhaps fall in love.
Alec Isley is between a rock and a hard place. He desires a marriage with Jenny no more than she does, but when his family’s dire financial status is revealed, he follows Jenny to the house party in hopes of convincing her to marry him after all. When he discovers who else is courting her there, Alec is frantic to keep her from making a dreadful mistake. Struggling with new-found feelings for his childhood friend, can Alec convince her of his love in time to save her from being ruined under the mistletoe?
Handful of Hearts, Volume 1 is available for pre-order at Amazon for .99 for a limited time only!
Books in the Handful of Hearts 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. 
Wow! That is a whole heap of money to owe! Especially in that time. Ouch!
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Twenty thousand pounds in those days is equivalent of approx 750,000 today. That’s a HUGE debt!
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That’s a lot of pounds! Great snippet!
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Why is it the son gets saddled with the sins (debts) of the father? Poor Alec. Trouble’s a’coming.
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That’s just the way of the Regency world. Fathers were often not good managers, or had no sense of what was good behavior regarding finances. At least, that is, in romance novels, although I daresay this happened frequently in real life as well.
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Lol, Ed. I knew you were ribbing me, but I’d actually been thinking that I needed to go easy on the fathers in my books. I need to find other villains and have some good dads for a change. 🙂 I do have a good dad coming in the 2nd The Widow’s Club book that comes out next year.
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Wow, what a tough situation for everyone! Hard to see how Alec can get out of that kind of obligation.
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Well, he can refuse to marry Jenny, but then his family will likely go bankrupt. So now his dilemma is how to make Jenny fall in love with him and marry him, when that’s the last thing she wants to do. Quite the conflict.
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Oh, crap! Dad, how could you? What a predicament! Nice twisted, Jenna.
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That was actually a very common occurrence during the Regency. But it became a big problem if the couple didn’t marry or one of them died.
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It’s never a good idea to leave your heir unprepared for taking over from you! There can only be more problems ahead from there.
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Yes, his father has been rather remiss, and will pay for it shortly if he can’t get Alec’s cooperation. 🙂
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Money makes the world go around. . .Fine snippet with more trouble ahead.
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It does indeed, Charmaine! As Alec is finding out to his dismay. 🙂
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Quite the situation all the way around. Probably more unpleasant surprises to come as well. I feel you spinning the web (inagoodway of course – kudos!). Excellent excerpt.
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Thank you, Veronica. Yes, everyone has something to lose in this one. High stakes on both sides. 🙂
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Yikes. Definitely time for a discussion/lesson.
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Yes, but who should be learning the lesson–Dad or son? LOL Thanks, Kimberly!
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His dad doesn’t sound too great either.
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I know. I’m not really very sympathetic towards dads in my writing. Which seems odd, now I think of it. I worshiped my dad when he was alive. He always had my back. I guess I’ll have to come up with a father figure modeled on him for one of my Regencies. 🙂
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Yikes! That’s quite the situation to be presented with. And it doesn’t sound like there’s any way out for Alec. An intriguing snippet! 🙂
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Oh, there’s a way out, just one he doesn’t really want to take–marry Jenny. But he is between a rock and a hard place right now.
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Twenty five thousand!! That’s going to cause some issues.
Tweeted.
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Oh, yes. And that really was a possibility during the time, to borrow that much just on the expectation of the marriage. Thanks for the tweet, Daryl!
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If you hadn’t told me this dad was trying to do the right thing, it’d be hard to know! What’ve you got against us dads, anyway?
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Not a thing, Ed. 🙂 But they’re such handy villains in the Regency. I’ve got one book where the dad seems like the villain, but isn’t, but that’s not published yet. I guess I’ll have to figure out one where the dad comes to the rescue. 🙂
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Don’t do it for my sake. I just ribbing you, Jenna.
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