Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors !

As promised, this week I’m moving on to snippets from my upcoming release, Until I’m Safe in Your Arms, from Dragonblade Publishing. I’m just getting the edits, so this is unedited, but I hope you’ll enjoy it and forgive any flubs.

It’s the first book in the Welwyn Marriage Wager series, in which the Duke of Welwyn wagers with his six grandsons that they can all marry within a year. The family is known for its propensity to wager on just about anything, so they are all in (some more enthusiastically than others). The eldest cousin, Captain Alexander Bancroft, makes a further wager: he’ll meet and marry a young lady by the end of the month–a mere ten days away.  To that end, he attends a weekend house party given by his uncle and aunt.

BLURB:

All’s fair in love and wagers…

Entered into a wager that he can wed within a week, Captain Alex Bancroft pursues the first pretty woman he meets: Miss Emma Washer. Their courtship proceeds at a furious pace, including a dalliance that might ruin them both. Before it can, Alex proposes and is stunned when Emma agrees to marry him. Alex desperately tries to keep word of the wager from his new wife, not knowing Emma has secrets of her own to keep.

As passion erupts between the newly wed pair, the circumstances of Emma’s past threaten to tear them asunder. Alex’s regiment is directed to sail to a place Emma dares not go. She refuses to accompany him, leaving Alex with a devastating choice: leave England to fulfil duty to Queen and country or stay and revel in his newfound love for his wife?

In this snippet, Alex has just arrived at his uncle’s house party and is scoping out the prospective brides–and the competition.

EXCERPT:

Turning toward the library, Alex was about to leave the entry hall when his eye caught movement above him on the main staircase that wound gracefully up to the first floor of the manor. His gaze was drawn upward until it fell on a hooped skirt covered in white gauzy material with little pink flowers scattered capriciously all over it. The bell-like garment swayed charmingly as its wearer stopped, waiting her turn to descend the stairs. Alex’s gaze rose further to the face of the young lady as she looked over the railing to admire a family portrait on the opposite wall.

She had an arresting face, oval and fashionably pale, framed by rich chestnut hair styled in long ringlets that bounced when she shook her head. This charming action took place often as she talked to her companion. Her full pink lips drew a sigh from Alex, who wondered what it might be like to kiss that perfect bow of a mouth. Past caring about the conventions, he frankly stared at her, entranced. She spoke and laughed with a smaller brunette lady, who was quite well and good, but who couldn’t hold a candle to her enchanting companion, who seemed to have stepped out of a fashion plate.

“You’d best close your mouth before you start catching flies, Alex,” his cousin Yule’s voice brought him out of his musings about the mysterious young lady.

And a little more for good measure. . . 

About to retort in the negative, Alex stopped when he had to close his open mouth to form the words. Had he been gawking that badly? Turning quickly toward Yule, he smiled broadly. “That’s not all I wager I’ll catch this weekend, cousin. What brings you to Hampshire?”

“The same as you, I’d say.” Yule scanned the crowds of guests standing about chatting. “To catch the eye of some delectable young lady.” Taller than Alex by an inch, Yule craned his neck back as he perused the ladies standing on the stairs, waiting to follow the throng descending to the ground floor.  “Although I daresay you have a bit of an advantage over me by wearing your Regimentals. Ladies do love a man in uniform.”

“You are not wrong in that, cousin.” Alex chuckled, his gaze still resting on the young lady in pink. There was something about her, perhaps her perfect English maiden look, but perhaps something more than that compelled his continued gaze. “At least I hope you aren’t.”

Until I’m Safe in Your Arms isn’t up for pre-order yet, but it’s supposed to release in May, so stay tuned and I’ll let you know when it’s available!

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the Warriors here. There are some fantastic snippets to be read.