HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

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. The book releases on May 30!!!

It’s the first book in the Welwyn Marriage Wager series, in which the Duke of Welwyn wagers with six of his 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?

This past week I spent at a writers’ retreat down in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, culminating in a book signing at the Island Bookstore in Duck. Not a huge amount of foot traffic, but it is before the real season starts. I’ll be going back in July when I’m on vacation there.

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 and he kisses her. Enjoy!

EXCERPT:

Emma had never kissed a man before, hadn’t been completely certain she’d be able to entice the captain to do it. Her only experience with the intimate act had been secondhand, surreptitiously watching a couple kissing onboard the Scotia on her return trip to England. Miss Mills and Mr. Huckabee had been extremely enthusiastic and had seemed to enjoy their encounter so much Emma had secretly longed to have that experience as well.

The fervor of his kiss caught her by surprise, however. Never had she imagined it would feel like this. The pressure of his mouth against hers—lips both soft and firm at the same time—sent a fiery jolt throughout her body. Her cheeks heated until her head felt as though an inferno raged there. Suddenly, her knees seemed weak as water, threatening to collapse her to the ground. She put a hand on his chest to steady herself, eager to continue even though her head began to spin. He must have thought she meant to push him away, for he leaned backward, trying to break the kiss.

And a little more for good measure. . . 

Emma would have none of that. This sensation of warmth, of comfort, of safety was too good to lose. She grasped his jacket and pulled him back to her. That action must have convinced him, for he cradled her head in his hands, turning her face until their lips fit together perfectly. She relaxed in his arms, determined to enjoy every second of the kiss: their incredible closeness, the scent of citrus he wore, the flutter of butterflies all through her stomach that made her wish to never stop.

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!

And just this week, at the retreat, I put A Countess Never Tells up on pre-0rder on Amazon for just .99! It releases on August 29, 2023. So go grab this “bad boy” today! 

I’m also part of an anthology for Dragonblade that’s part of their Lyons Den shared world called Night of Lyons. My novella is called The Lyons’ Wager and is the pre-quel to the Welwyn Marriage Wager series. Night of Lyons is available on pre-order on Amazon for .99! 

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