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?

I’ve spent the past week coming back to the real world after the wonderful focus of the writing retreat. As a result, I’ve written not a lot, but I’ve begun the second draft of A Countess Never Tells, typing my hand-written draft into the computer. Deciphering some of these words, written in the heat of creation, has been a challenge!

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:

Aroused by these heady sensations, Emma could have stood there kissing Captain Bancroft forever, except now there seemed to be a new sort of pressure on her mouth. The captain was pressing something against the seam of her closed lips. Glorying in the moment, Emma couldn’t think what he was trying to do. She felt so incredibly safe and warm and happy she could only press back against his lips, wishing to convey her joy in their closeness. She’d been attracted to the captain from the first, but she’d never imagined she’d feel this rush of happiness, especially toward a man who was almost a stranger. If only it would never end.

He pushed a little harder at her lips and she started to open her mouth, wondering if that was what he wanted her to do. But when she gave in that tiny bit, with an audible groan, he thrust his tongue into her mouth.

And a little more for good measure. . . 

Shocked to her core, Emma emitted a shriek and jerked backward, pulling her body and mouth away from him. She clamped her hand over her lips, not at all certain what had just happened. When she could think again, she glared up at Captain Bancroft, who stood trying not to smile at her. “What did you think you were doing, sir?”

“I thought I was kissing a very willing young lady, Miss Washer. You assured me you were before we began.” The wretch didn’t even try to sound repentant.

“That was not kissing…not that last part at the end.” Miss Mills and Mr. Huckabee had not looked as though they were doing anything at all like that.

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!

A Countess Never Tells is now up on pre-0rder as well on Amazon, also 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.

JENNA JAXON BOOKS CURRENTLY ON PRE-ORDER