At last the waiting is over!
The Widow Wore Plaid releases today!
I’m celebrating here, on my blog, with some giveaways this morning, then a bit later I’ll be visiting the Barnes & Noble in Williamsburg, VA and signing the very first book. Even more exciting, my daughter will video the signing and I’ll post it as my first ever TicTok video! Then later today I’ll announce the winners of my Rafflecopter giveaway and also video it and put it on TicTok. So it’s going to be quite a celebratory day!
The first Release Day giveaway will be a signed print copy of the winner’s choice of any of the first five books of the Widows’ Club series. To enter this giveaway, simply post a comment below telling me if you prefer historical romances set in England or Scotland and why. I’ll draw the winners of all my Release Day giveaways tomorrow morning by 10:00 am and post them here on my blog.
BLURB:
The Battle of Waterloo made them widows, but each has found new happiness. And Jane, Lady John Tarkington, intends to keep her freedom, even if love—and one particular gentleman—are determined to claim her heart . . .
It is a truth rarely acknowledged—at least in public—that a wealthy widow is free to pursue a great many adventures. For two years, Jane has privately enjoyed her independence. Why should she remarry, even when the gentleman proposing is as wonderful as Gareth, Lord Kinellan? She entreats him never to ask her again. But as her Widows’ Club friends—now all joyfully remarried—gather at Castle Kinellan, Jane begins to wonder if stubbornness has led her to make a terrible mistake . . .
Kinellan needs a wife to give him an heir, and he wants that wife to be Jane. They are perfect together in every way, yet she continually refuses him. Just as he is on the point of convincing her, a series of accidents befall Gareth and point to an enemy in their midst. He has promised Jane a passionate future filled with devotion, but can he keep them both alive long enough to secure it?
EXCERPT:
“Jane will come around. You must give her time.”
“Time may not do the trick in this case.” They continued around the property, along the crushed stone pathway that led toward the formal garden on the extreme north side of the castle.
“Why do you say that? What reason has she given you for her refusals?”
“The same as Fanny originally gave you: independence.” Gareth almost spit out the word. “Her late husband had arranged his affairs so that she would be extremely well set-up upon his demise.” He hated to think ill of the dead, but the man had made it too easy for Jane to eschew another marriage. Perhaps jealousy had been a factor and he hadn’t wanted Jane to take another husband. “Tarkington invested his money well, in both property and a shipping venture that has brought in astonishing returns on several voyages. Jane and their children will want for nothing as long as they live. So my offer won’t appeal to her for reasons of finances or security, as yours did with Fanny. It seems I myself must be the major attraction to induce Jane to give that all up.”
“You do get along well, though.” Lathbury’s tone was hopelessly optimistic.
“We have until recently.” Clenching his jaw until it ached, Gareth forced himself to relax it. He had to remind himself he had no control over what Jane did. “Do you know she moved her children to a property in Lincolnshire?”
Lathbury frowned. “No, I hadn’t heard. Why?”
“Well, she wanted to remove them from Theale House in London and the influence of her brother-in-law. I can’t say I blame her for that, especially after Fanny’s horrible experience with that madman. Her two oldest boys are away at school, but the younger boy and the girl have been in London. In March she sent for them and settled them at Cranwell Park, a property her late husband had purchased. The tenants’ lease had just ended.”
“Why didn’t she bring them here?” A judiciously raised eyebrow spoke Lathbury’s censure toward him.
“Oh, I assure you, that was not my fault. I encouraged her to do just that.” Gareth all but growled. It had been the first indication that all was not well between him and Jane. “She declined, stating she’d never had her children underfoot and didn’t wish to start now. The mothering instinct is not strong in her, she claims.”
“That is perplexing.” His friend sent him a sympathetic look. “Do you think, perhaps, that might change if she were to have your child?”
“I can only hope she’d take more of an interest in our child. If there is to be a child. We have to get married first and she’s adamantly refused me multiple times. The last time I asked . . .” Gareth halted at the gate to the formal garden, the image of Jane’s face as she spoke as fresh as if it were yesterday. An image he wished he could forget. “In June I deemed the time right to try again and got down on my knee here, in the garden, and begged her to become my wife.”
“And she said no.” The look of pity on Lathbury’s face cut him to the quick.
“Not only did she say no, but she implored me never to ask her again. She said if I did she would leave and never return.” The sunny future he’d envisioned for him and Jane had died that day. “I swear to you, Lathbury, I won’t ask her to marry me again. Although if I’m to have any hope of a future or an heir, I may need to ask her to leave.”
The Widow Wore Plaid is available in E-book format at Amazon, B & N, Apple, Kobo, and Google Play. It is available in print at B & N, Books-a-Million, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Hudson Booksellers, Indiebound, Target, & Walmart.
Books in The Widows’ Club Series
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