Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors !

This is the last snippet from my upcoming release, Until I’m Safe in Your Arms, from Dragonblade Publishing. The book releases on Tuesday, May 30!!! So I’ll switch to another WIP that’s up for pre-order: A C0untess Never Tells.

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 typing my longhand first draft into the computer and getting ready for my trek to BookLover’s Con in Houston. I leave on Wednesday morning (waaaay early) and return on Sunday. It was a real blast last year, so I hope this year will be even better.

(I’ll be on the road all day Sunday, driving down to South Carolina to pick up my Regency dresses for the conference, so I won’t be visiting you all until Monday. But have a good Memorial Day weekend, and stay safe!)

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. But when he tries to deepen the kiss…well, Emma has a problem. Enjoy!

EXCERPT:

“Oh, I assure you, it was.” He cocked his head, looking curious. “No gentleman has ever deepened a kiss with you before?”

Emma gave thanks for the thick shadows on the veranda as her cheeks must be absolutely scarlet at the moment. “No, they haven’t, Captain Bancroft.” She hesitated, then plunged on. “That was the first time a gentleman has kissed me.”

His brows shot up and his eyes first widened then narrowed. “You’ve never been kissed? In truth?”

And a little more for good measure. . . 

Hanging her head, Emma nodded. “I told you, I’ve not been out in Society but a little while. I don’t know many gentlemen. And…I wouldn’t have wanted to kiss them if I had known them.”

“But you wanted to kiss me.” His voice sounded so stern.

“Yes,” she whispered, wondering how the evening had taken such a horrible turn. Oh, she’d known proper young ladies didn’t go about kissing every man they met. She wouldn’t do that either. But she’d wanted to kiss Captain Bancroft, whose very presence made her feel safe and secure. She’d no idea it would make him angry. She started for the door. “Perhaps we should go back in the house.”

“In a moment.” Gently, he lifted her chin until their gazes met. “Why did you want to kiss me?”

His question made her want to squirm like a worm on a hook. She couldn’t tell him the truth, that she wanted to kiss him so he’d want to marry her. From what she’d heard, gentlemen didn’t like to think themselves trapped into marriage. Not that she wanted to trap Captain Bancroft. But she did want to marry him, now more than ever. “Because I like you.”

If that wasn’t the whole truth, it was at least partly true.

“I am flattered, Miss Washer.” His words were kind but sounded cool. “I like you as well. I simply find it difficult to believe, having kissed you, that I am the first man to do so.”

So Alex has doubts as to Emma’s actual innocence. Will that deter him from marrying her, even with more than one wager in the balance? And does Emma know more than she’s letting on? Grab your copy of Until I’m Safe in Your Arms to find out!

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