Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors !

This week I’m continuing to post snippets from my upcoming Georgian novel, A Countess Never Tells, Book 3 of my Captivating Countesses series. The book releases on Tuesday, August 29, 2023 and is currently up on pre-order for .99. 

This book brings back the characters from A Countess of Convenience, particularly Judith and John (Lord and Lady Haxby), as Kitty Tate, the heroine is John’s younger sister and Judith’s childhood friend and now sister-in-law. 

BLURB:

They say rakes make the best husbands…but do they?

At the age of twenty-four, vivacious Kitty Tate is having the time of her life in her first London season—such a good time in fact, she’s caught the eye of Lord Ashwood, the ton’s most notorious rake. And he’s caught hers.

She’s instantly taken with the handsome lord and finding out he’s a scoundrel doesn’t deter her one bit. Which is why her brother has forbidden her to see him. Unfortunately for him, Kitty has a mind of her own and the willpower to fight for what she wants.

Ash plans to be a dedicated rake until he’s old and gray, but at the moment he’s determined to seduce the delicious Miss Tate despite her brother’s objections. She’s such a blend of innocence and siren he cannot wait to welcome her into his bed. When he finds Kitty eager to be seduced, Ash’s desire burns brighter still.

But a dastardly wager surfaces, and Ash discovers a truly despicable man is determined to beat him to Kitty’s bed. Forbidden to marry her, Ash must now find another way to protect the woman he’s come to love before she’s ruined by another man.

Today I’m continuing on with chapter one of the novel. Miss Kitty Tate is at a ball and after dancing with a very handsome gentleman she’s just met, he goes off to his next partner. This week I’m skipping ahead towards the end of the chapter. Kitty is talking to a friend of hers, Lady Phoebe, about the gentleman with whom she just danced and discovers that the gentleman is not who he pretends to be. Enjoy!

EXCERPT:

“Oh, my dear,” Phoebe’s eyes widened as she grasped Kitty’s arm and pulled her further away from her mother and Judith, now eagerly discussing remedies for croup, “Ashwood has the most awful reputation. He’s ruined at least three young women of good family.”

Kitty’s stomach dropped. What might have happened had she gone out onto the verandah with Lord Ashwood? She shivered. So Aldbury had been in on it. She suspected now their wager had most likely involved Ashwood persuading her to go outside alone with him in the darkness, to do God knew what. Thank goodness her intuition had saved her from the fate of those other young ladies. “Why was he not made to marry one of those ladies, Phoebe?”

And a little more for good measure. . . 

“From what I understand from Mama, the families attempted to get Lord Ashwood to come up to scratch, but he laughed and said he wouldn’t tie himself to a ninny who was no better than she should be. When he flatly refused to marry the first one, her family tried to keep it hushed up and married her off quietly to some local farmer or someone.”

“And no one called him out?” Kitty was more amazed at that than at Lord Ashwood’s bold refusal to wed.

Phoebe shrugged. “Apparently not. Perhaps he has a reputation with a sword or dueling pistol. I don’t know.”

“How does your mother know so much about the particulars of this young lady?”

“Her mother was a friend of a cousin of Mama’s. That is why Mama has forbidden me from even dancing with Lord Ashwood.” Phoebe gazed at the wicked lord, laughing with Maria Fitzhugh. “A pity, that. I mean, what could he actually do to a young lady in the middle of a ballroom? He’s not so depraved he’d try to ravish one in the midst of a dance, do you think?”

A Countess Never Tells is now up for pre-order, set to release on August 29th! Here’s the link if you want to grab this “bad boy” for .99!

And the first book of the Captivating Countess series,  A Countess of Convenience, is available on Amazon in e-book for .99, and in print and is on KU. Here’s the link for those options.

I’m now also part of two anthologies for Dragonblade–one 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! 

The other one is an historical cookbook of recipies dating back over the centuries complied from the kitchens of Dragonblade authors and their ancestors. It’s called  Dragonblade’s Historical Cookbook, currently on pre-order for .99. It releases October 23, 2023 (just in time for Thanksgiving cookery!). My grandmother’s cornbread dressing I make every Thanksgiving is in there.

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

Captivating Countesses series