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?

So sorry I wasn’t able to visit everyone last week. I was traveling and got behind because of the very bad weather. I’ll see you all today, thought!

Today I’m continuing on from where we left off last week. It is after dinner that night. Alex and Emma have just gone out onto the verandah alone. Enjoy!

EXCERPT:

Emma’s heart beat so hard against her breast she feared he could hear it. But she couldn’t dwell on that. This was the chance she’d hoped for. She swayed toward him, tilting her head back so she looked directly into his eyes. “Shall we make it even better, Captain?”

Seeming much darker than their normal blue, his eyes widened, then his head lowered until his lips rested against her ear. “Are you merely flirting with me, Miss Washer, or was that an honest invitation to a kiss?”

“Oh, I am an honest woman, Captain Bancroft.” She licked her lips then pursed them. “Do you doubt it?”

And a little more for good measure. . . 

“Not at all.” He brushed a stray lock of her hair back off her forehead, winding it slowly around the shell of her ear, sending chills down her whole body. “However, I wouldn’t wish to persuade myself that my own desires were the same as yours if they were not.”

Trembling with anticipation, Emma swayed closer to him. “And what are your desires, Captain?” Her words, throaty and breathless, came out a bare whisper.

His lips now hovered scarcely above hers. “To kiss you, of course.”

“Then our desires are indeed in accord.” Her words, throaty and breathless, came out a bare whisper. She held her breath as he plunged his lips onto hers.

Until I’m Safe in Your Arms is now up for pre-order, set to release on May 30! Here’s the link if you want to pre-order it for .99!

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