Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors !

This week I’m continuing with 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. He sees a young lady on the stairs who catches his attention. Now he has to learn her name! Enjoy!

EXCERPT:

At that moment, the lady in pink glanced over the balustrade down at the milling throng in the foyer as if searching for something or someone. Just as quickly, she looked away, but her head snapped back toward the lower hall, her gaze riveted on Alex. Her eyes widened—with recognition? It couldn’t be–he’d certainly remember this lady had they been introduced. Had she mistaken him for someone else?

“Yule…Yule.” His cousin had begun a conversation with another acquaintance, but Alex had to discover this lady’s name. “Yule!”

“What is it, Alexander, that makes you so vilely rude?” The annoyance in his cousin’s voice was almost palpable.

And a little more for good measure. . . 

“That lady on the landing there.” Alex couldn’t point—even his excitement wouldn’t allow him to be that impolite—but he nodded in the general direction.

“There are at least six young ladies on the landing.” Yule’s stiffened stance and thinned lips showed his displeasure with Alex.

“The one in the pink-flowered dress. Do you know who she is?”

Yule glanced upward, then shook his head. “Never seen her before.” He took a second look and a smile spread over his face. “Although I can see why you’d be interested in an introduction. Quite fetching, isn’t she?”

“Indeed.” Alex continued to stare, almost afraid to take his eyes off her. The young lady in question had turned back to her companion, but every so often shot a look at him, as if to assure herself he was still there. “But how am I to meet her?”

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.