Happy New Year’s Eve!
This week I’m sharing my final snippet from my Regency Christmas romance, Hearts Beneath the Mistletoe. After this week I’ll switch to another Regency romance, To Woo A Wicked Widow, to bring in the New Year!
I’m continuing the scene from last wtime where Alec has taken Jenny aside after he witnessed her and Somersby under the mistletoe out in the woods. She tells him her feelings for Lord Somersby are none of his business. But Alec is worried about her and informs her, “If I need to marry you to keep you from making a wretched mistake, I’ll do it.”
(Very creative punctuation utilized to conform to WWW rules.)
He still strained toward her, his eyes fixed on her mouth.
She shoved harder against him and demanded, “Who is a ‘wretched mistake,’ Lord Somersby?”
“Yes,” he breathed a sigh and stepped back, regret in every line of his body. “The man’s a cur, Jenny, and no fit husband for you; he’s not at all what he seems.”
“And how do you know that?” she asked, her breath coming in great, painful gulps. How dare he slight Lord Somersby? Alec must be jealous of her regard for him.
“I knew him at Oxford. He was a year ahead of me, but I knew of him”—Alec’s frown darkened his whole face—“and I know that he ruined a man’s life on a damned wager.”
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?
Hearts Beneath the Mistletoe is available exclusively at Amazon for .99!
Once more, Happy New Year! See you next year!
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. 
I doubt she’ll listen to him. The new and unknown is always enticing. Happy New Year.
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Jenny does have a mind of her own, however, his story about Somersby is very compelling. She might be shocked enough to listen. 🙂 Happy new Year!
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Great snippet. if she listened to Alec’s advice you wouldn’t have a story. Well done! Happy New year!
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True, although this advice comes a bit later in the story. Thank you, Chris! Happy New Year!
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I really don’t think she’s going to listen, he’s going about it all wrong. But she’s going to regret not listening, I bet!
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Well, his story about Somersby is very compelling, but girls can be stubborn sometimes. 🙂
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Great snippet, I’m curious to know more about Somersby’s wager. Great book cover.
Happy New Year!
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Thank you, Karen! Happy New Year to you as well!
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I’ve never read a regency romance and last week I almost clicked buy at Amazon. This week I did! 😉 Looking forward to reading the whole story.
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Wonderful, Lynn! Thank you! I hope you enjoy it! And Happy New Year!
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Excellent excerpt! Raises so many questions, which is great writing 🙂 Happy New year!
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Thank you so much, Veronica! 🙂 And Happy New Year to you too!
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My book, a while back I won a book from you. How to woo a widow, but I never received it. Have you sent them out?
Patricia Perez
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Hi, Patricia. Yes, I have been MIA a lot this Christmas season doing family events, but the books from that giveaway are now ready to mail as soon as the post office opens on Jan. 2. So sorry for the delay!
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Cool. With that last sentence, his concern went from mere jealousy to a serious plot point.
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Indeed it did, Ed. Alec is right to worry about Jenny getting mixed up with Somersby, and not just from a personal standpoint.
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I’m quite curious to hear how Somersby ruined someone’s life by a wager! It sounds like it could be more than someone losing all his money to a wager.
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It is, Carrie-Anne. Somersby is bad news, as Jenny is about to find out.
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