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Chaos When the Moon is Full

Dear Mr. Clemens,

It would serve you well to send one of them writers of yours to Reabridge here in Cheshire. Since Waterloo we have odd folks of all sorts traveling through and also those soldiers that the Crown cut loose. Our own boys are straggling back home too.

One couple wandered by and left a baby at the vicarage. A baby! They claim it has a connection to Reabridge and now we have two families feuding over it. Of course, the Buckleys and the Pownalls have been feuding for decades so that is nothing new. Now we have others sticking their spoon in to see if they have a claim.

There would be plenty to keep that reporter busy this fall. Even the Vicar has some women staying at the vicarage and even he seems to be up to some sort of shenanigans.

Gwen Hughes has taken up the blacksmithing now her brother is gone. We think she’s hiding something too, and now some stranger—one of those footloose soldiers—has taken up residence.

We have a drunken doctor, a marriage minded Scotswoman, and two hoity toity French women—if rumors are to be believed, another one has been invited up to Barlow Hall.  The vicar’s son doesn’t know what to do with himself, and even Martin Bromelton, who has always been a steady sort of fellow, is acting jumpy. He and his sister took in some woman wandering the roads up at the farm.

You can see, Mr. Clemens, there is plenty to dig up here in Reabridge. Send someone soon, before the Harvest Festival. This will get even more loony then.

Yours Sincerely,

Eunice Fillmore, spinster.

About the Book: Under the Harvest Moon

As the village of Reabridge in Cheshire prepares for the first Harvest Festival following Waterloo, families are overjoyed to welcome back their loved ones from the war.

But excitement quickly turns to mystery when mere weeks before the festival, an orphaned child turns up in the town—a toddler born near Toulouse to an English mother who left clues that tie her to Reabridge.

With two prominent families feuding for generations and the central event of the Harvest Moon festival looming, tensions rise, and secrets begin to surface.

Nine award winning and bestselling authors have combined their talents to create this engaging and enchanting collection of interrelated tales. Under the Harvest Moon promises an unforgettable read for fans of Regency romance.

Story blurbs here: https://bluestockingbelles.net/belles-joint-projects/under-the-harvest-moon/

Preorder now: https://books2read.com/UnderHarvestMoon

A Mysterious Disappearance

May 10th, 1818

My Dearest Emily,

I cannot begin to tell you of the accusations and ferment roiling among the district families.  I’m at my wit’s end, I truly am.  My truest friend in the world, Victoria Covington, has gone missing.  No warning nor suspicions were raised beforehand.  I visited her on the morning of May 4th, though her uncle’s many house guests were everywhere.  As mistress of Belton Park, she felt the demands keenly.  Then, shortly after I bid her goodbye, she simply vanished.  Disappeared.  Gone.

No one saw her leave or spoke to her after I left.  I cannot understand it.  If she had a beau or planned to elope, she would have told me.  Regardless, that is not possible as all her clothes were undisturbed.

Tory would never have left her beloved Park willingly, she loved it so.  She must have been abducted, but who would do such a thing?  All the guests were accounted for and because of the large number of guests out enjoying the spring weather, no one could have entered the house and left with her without being seen.  And stranger still are the items which went missing with her.

I ask you to write to me of any strange doings you might hear of in Petworth and around the district.  Any information may be of help.  I have enclosed the newspaper notice with the details.  I must go.  I hear a search party returning to Belton Park, where I am at the moment attempting to help.

Your loving cousin,

Kitty.

                                        MISSING

Lord Reginald Covington has reported his niece missing to the District Magistrate at Horsham, Sussex.  Miss Victoria Covington has not been seen since Monday last.  Baron Covington and she were hosting a large house party at his estate, Belton Park, Sussex, near Petworth, with many notables attending.  Miss Covington had been well received in London during her first Season last spring. Lord Covington is said to be distraught over her disappearance.

The unusual circumstances surrounding the disappearance are numerous. Miss Covington went missing among a house full of guests, many enjoying the surrounding grounds at the time, but no one witnessed her departure.  Guests reported seeing her enter the family music room with a new volume of poetry, which cannot be located. A family friend places her there before noon time.  Also missing was a family heirloom, a Queen Anne love seat.  However, her personal effects were not disturbed.  She is 5 feet, 3 inches tall, with blonde hair.  When last seen she was wearing a blue morning dress. The Baron is offering a reward of £200 for any information concerning her whereabouts.  Contact Sir Terrance Aperton, District Magistrate, Coarse Lane, Horsham with the particulars.

Except from Touching Time:

Her smile turned to a frown. She used to enjoy the company of men, not avoid it, but since her coming out, the only interest they displayed was for her sizable dowry. Apparently, her oft-heralded beauty only made her more bankable.

“Oh, Kitty, my uncle, as kind as he is, also views me as income. The interest from my dowry is what keeps the Covington finances from a reckoning with the wolves. As he can’t touch my dowry or live without the interest, I have to receive a marriage offer from someone wealthy—very wealthy—if I am to obtain his blessing.” She gave a shrug at Kitty’s shocked expression. “Of course, he will negotiate the marriage settlement to make himself the trustee of any jointure I obtained.”

“I had no idea. It is beyond awful! What can you do?”

“I don’t know.” Neither her uncle nor her many admirers were interested in her, Miss Victoria Ann Covington. “Do you think there exists a man who could appreciate me for myself?”

Kitty sagely nodded at the question, but after a moment’s reflection said, “It is a shame, but I am quite certain men are hardly ever interested in women that way.”

Love exploring history, writing and Romance?

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Victoria Covington is mysteriously propelled two hundred years into the future. She must not only learn to live in the 21st century, but also keep her beloved Belton Park from being sold to a handsome, but ungentlemanly American, who simply wants the estate to further his own business plans.

Start reading Touching Time!

https://www.amazon.com/Touching-Time-Romancing-Book-ebook/dp/B09HVF2C1B/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YYNQODABGSTT  

Shackled and dressed in a neon orange jumpsuit, art thief Cassie Sinatore awaits extradition at Heathrow Airport.  An accident with a nearby experimental radar plane throws Cassie back in time, dumping her in a wooded countryside.  The rider who discovers her is charismatic, more compelling than any man she has ever met.  She chalks up the man’s Regency outfit and odd behavior to the eccentricity of the rich. Or maybe he is just a nutbar, but the man is offering a ride.

Start reading Stealing Time

https://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Time-B-W-Haggart-ebook/dp/B08BWZCL2H/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=stealing+time&qid=1632502969&s=books&sr=1-3

Both are available in kindleunlimited!

A Lady Deserts her Books…to seek a Scoundrel?

My very good Lady P!  I feel I must write and utterly and completely refute a nefarious rumor that has come to my hearing about my dear sister Lady Caroline Blacknall.  It has been said she left her home, her friends, and her studies to seek out the reclusive, formerly villainous Sir Grant Dunmore on his distant Irish island.  This could not possibly be true!  Lady C would never leave her books for such a length of time, and she grows seasick on boats.  She is a respectable widow!

It could be true that Sir G is in possession of a medieval manuscript that might be of use to her.  But surely after the Great Scandal where Sir G treated Lady C abominably, and was injured and scarred rescuing her, she would never wish to see him again.  And as for tales that the island is haunted—I could not possibly say…

I hope, my dears, this clears up any scurrilous rumors about my sister’s whereabouts

Yours, Anna, Duchess of Adair

Lady of Seduction Book 3 of The Daughters of Erin

It’s a mad, ill-advised journey that leads the usually sensible Lady Caroline Blacknall to the legendary isle of Muirin Inish, off the windswept coast of Ireland. Even so, she doesn’t expect to find herself shipwrecked and then rescued by a man she believed she would never see again. A man who, long ago, held her life in his hands . . . and with it, her heart.

Reformed rake Sir Grant Dunmore knew he could never forget the beautiful woman he once endangered nor will he ever forgive himself. But history seems doomed to repeat itself, for as long as Caroline stays on the island, she is trapped in a secret plot that could forever free Ireland-or turn deadly for all. And yet, now that she is in his arms again, how can he dream of ever letting her go? 

https://www.amazon.com/Lady-Seduction-Daughters-Erin-Book-ebook/dp/B0B5YPY64X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1TSJAKSXMQACN&keywords=mccabe+lady+of+seduction&qid=1675718713&sprefix=mccabe+lady+of+seduction%2Caps%2C165&sr=8-1

The author: Amanda McCabe wrote her first romance at the age of sixteen—a vast historical epic starring all her friends as the characters, written secretly during algebra class (and her parents wondered why math was not her strongest subject…).

She’s never since used algebra, but her books have been nominated for many awards, including the RITA Award, the Romantic Times BOOKReviews Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Booksellers Best, the National Readers Choice Award, and the Holt Medallion.  She lives in Santa Fe with two rescue dogs, a wonderful husband, and a very and far too many books and royal memorabilia collections.

When not writing or reading, she loves taking dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Network–even though she doesn’t cook.

Visit her at ammandamccabe.com

4 Years Ago, A most unusual Marriage took place!

London, 1816

Four years ago, Victor Hawthorn, son of Viscount Blackmar, traveled to the country estate of wealthy merchant, Mr. Thompson. What Hawthorn thought to be a quiet holiday in the country with his parents turned into a betrothal and quick marriage by Special License to a Miss Charlotte Thompson, who was soon to be sixteen.

I can assure you that Hawthorn did nothing untoward, nor was Miss Thompson ruined. Hawthorn married Charlotte to save his family.

You see, Viscount Blackmar managed to get himself so deeply in debt that the family was on the verge of complete ruin. Mr. Thompson had taken advantage of the situation and had purchased every note of indebtedness, which he promised to forgive and provide a substantial settlement if Hawthorn married the man’s daughter. This sacrifice of the young couple meant that Hawthorn’s younger siblings would not suffer because of their father, and Thompson would finally gain a title for his family once his daughter produced a son and that son inherited.

The betrothal lasted all of twelve hours and the couple married the following day. Hawthorn promptly took his young bride north where he deposited her on an estate he had inherited and then returned to London.

For the past four years the ton has anxiously awaited the appearance of Mrs. Hawthorn, but her husband never saw the need to bring her to Town, which resulted in much speculation, especially since it was common knowledge that he had never once visited after he left her all alone in Willanton.

We thought for certain that when the father died and he became Viscount Blackmar that he’d retrieve his wife and do his duty, yet he did not, and one had to wonder if he ever would. 

That all changed one evening at Whites when Baron Percival Jordan was heard telling Blackmar, “I did not know your wife four years ago, but I do know her now. If she were mine, I would not be here.”

I am to understand that Viscount Blackmar hightailed it out of London the following day to retrieve the wife that he had absented himself from these last four years.

One does wonder what he may find once he arrives.

LINKS FOR ENTICED BY A GOVERNESS:  

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Enticed-Governess-Love-4-ebook/dp/B0BNYBL4QC 

Apple: https://apple.co/3WXsHyM 

Nook/BN: http://bit.ly/3WWGKou 

Kobo: http://bit.ly/3GOIuu8 

Smashwords: https://bit.ly/3GOp2xz 

Books2Read:  https://books2read.com/u/b6zdBE 

RELEASE DATE OF ENTICED BY A GOVERNESS: January 31, 2023

EXCERPT from ENTICED BY A GOVERNESS:

     “So, we finally meet.” As a smile graced his lips, a small dimple appeared on the left side.

“It appears so.” Charlotte turned away from him. He was so much more handsome when he smiled. A girl couldn’t think straight looking at him. “You were not supposed to meet me until tomorrow.”

     “Yes, I know,” he said coming to stand beside her. “But my curiosity got the better of me.”

     “They say curiosity killed the cat,” Charlotte mumbled. 

     Victor chuckled. “In this case curiosity only brought relief.”

     Charlotte tipped her head so that she could study him from the corner of her eye, skeptical of his words. 

“Your appearance has been much of a mystery, and after overhearing my parents, as you did, I feared my imagination had me marrying a witch with a huge wart on the end of her nose.”

     Charlotte laughed lightly. At least she wasn’t that ugly, she hoped.

“I do apologize for their words. I can only offer that they are rude and smug for no reason other than they feel entitled to belittle others because they are in possession of a title.”

     “It is not necessary to apologize for what many believe is the truth,” she explained.

Mr. Hawthorn pulled back and opened his mouth to speak but said nothing. He likely wished to insist that they were wrong but could not bring himself to lie to her. 

     “How old are you?” There was hesitation in his voice.  

She looked young, that she knew, but had her father failed to mention her age in all of this? “Fifteen, soon to turn sixteen.” 

He stilled and she could almost feel the tension radiate from him. Was it too much to hope that he would stomp off and refuse the marriage, or insist that it take place when she was older? 

After a moment he heaved a sigh and settled on the hillside and invited her to sit. “As we have been given this opportunity, we might as well become acquainted.” 

“We should not be out here together.” She had never been alone with a man before, let alone anyone who looked like him.

Mr. Hawthorn smiled up at her. “As we are marrying tomorrow, I see no harm.”

Charlotte sank to her knees beside him. “You are still going to marry me?” She couldn’t believe he wasn’t trying to find a way to back out of the agreement. His family must really be in a most dire financial state.

BLURB

Charlotte Hawthorn had everything she could ever want. She lived alone, enjoyed freedoms that few women ever experience, was a governess and an artist, and she had not seen her husband in four years. Theirs was a marriage in name only, a convenience.

Victor Hawthorn, Viscount Blackmar, had not wanted to marry a stranger at the age of one and twenty. However, when a wealthy merchant purchased all his father’s debts, Victor was given the choice to either marry the man’s soon-to-be sixteen-year-old daughter or his family would face complete ruination. Victor had chosen marriage then left his young bride on a small estate and returned to his life.

When he reluctantly returns four years later, Victor doesn’t find the girl he left behind, but an enticing, independent woman who not only creates beautiful art but would rather be a governess than married to him. Will they find their way to love and happiness or will all be ruined by an enemy who sets out to destroy their future?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

USA Today bestselling author Jane Charles is a prolific writer of over fifty historical and contemporary romance novels. Her love of research lends authenticity to her Regency romances, and her experience directing theatre productions helps her craft beautiful, touching stories that tug at the heartstrings. Jane is an upbeat and positive author dedicated to giving her characters happy-ever-afters and leaving the readers satisfied at the end of an emotional journey. Lifelong Cubs fan, world traveler and mother of three amazing children, Jane lives in Central Illinois with her husband, two dogs and a cat. She is currently writing her next book and planning her dream trip to England. Be sure to join Jane on Facebook @JaneCharlesAuthor for Wine Pairings Wednesdays.

FOLLOW JANE:

Website:  https://www.janecharlesauthor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaneCharlesAuthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4879172.Jane_Charles

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jane-charles

Jane’s Reader Group – Romance & Rosé: https://www.facebook.com/groups/romanceandrose 

An older society Dragon does not need a younger lover! Said…no one!

T’is said that a certain older lady who runs the ton is now enamored of a certain young military hero. That cannot be, can it?

I say, I wave my fan at the very idea. How can a lady purport to be one if she encourages a younger man to call upon her in the middle of the night and give her outrageous gifts?

Really! Shameful.

Although I too would really like a fine new pair of horses and a newer phaeton. I say! Wouldn’t you?

LADY, YOU’RE MINE

She’d spent so many years acting like a proper lady, she’d forgotten how to be a woman.

He’s determined to help her remember.

*******

EXCERPT: COPYRIGHT 2022 CERISE DELAND. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

“You avoid me,” he told her with a small smile easing his handsome lips. He brought her a glass of cool white wine and settled beside her in a double chair far aft.

They’d been out to sea an hour or more. The day was pleasant, the sea calm, the air balmy.

Not so her heart to have him grace her with his presence.

 Only two others sat near them. Most were fore listening to the Rensfords discuss the construction of the yacht.

“You rattled me the other night,” she admitted freely. “We knew each other too young to be obtuse in our older age.”

He grinned.

“Don’t look so satisfied.” She cast him quelling glance, yet couldn’t help but laugh at his insouciance. 

He took a drink of his wine. “I’m not only pleased you confess I ruffled your fine feathers, but you are still miffed with me.”

“Angry is the word, Magnus.”

He mashed those fabulous lips of his together. “If you say so.”

“I do.” She took a hearty drink of the wine he’d had the good sense to bring her for this conversation.

“I would think my intentions would be a great compliment.” He lifted his glass in the direction of the Countess of Huntington and her friend. “Some would definitely welcome similar statements.”

She snorted. “What they’d welcome would be a proposal to be indiscreet.”

“I could give you that too if it would bring you closer to the prospect of accepting my desire to make an honest woman of you.”

“I am already an honest woman.”

He looked her over with the careful compassionate eyes of a lover. “I know you are, darling.”

She thrilled to his ardent words and fumed at his audacity. “What I mean is—“

“I know what you mean, Cass. You are a widow. Of independent means. With a sterling reputation. Wealth. All the freedom and power of a dragon of the ton. And you have no need of me. Not my title. My money. My name. Or my hand in marriage.”

“Exactly.”

“What you do need is the man I am.”

She opened her mouth to continue to argue…but halted, stumped over that last.

He stared straight into her eyes. “I know about William.”

That took her aback. “He was a good husband.”

He looked off to the horizon, licked his lips then took a sip of his wine. Finally, he faced her. “How good?”

“He was kind.”

“Left you to your own devices.”

“He was considerate.”

“And gave you all the money you needed to furnish the house, throw tea parties, visit your modiste and go south to the sea.”

She emptied her glass. He was right. How he had learned this was beyond her. Gossip, she supposed. Heaven knew, no one was free from it. But when what the ton knew was true, it could wound and make one bleed and want and cry.

She got to her feet. The pitch of the boat did not help and she thrust out a hand to catch hold of her chair. “I must go.”

She managed to get across the deck to head down on the steps to go below. She’d found the ladies’ retiring room there minutes ago, but the first door was that to the map room. There she hoped for privacy. It contained one small desk, two chairs and a round flat table. Small enough to compose herself and wipe her tears.

Except right behind her came Magnus.

“No, no.” She put up her hands to ward him off as he closed the door behind him. “Go back up. Leave me.”

“I did not mean to make you cry.” He shook out a large white handkerchief that he’d extracted from inside his coat.

She grabbed it and dabbed at her cheeks. “Well, you did.”

“I want you to allow me to court you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

He shot backward. “I am many things. Proud, determined. Never that.”

“I apologize. I mean…” She waved the handkerchief. “I am beyond the age of courting. I will look ridiculous.”

“I don’t care. I want you to have it.”

She glared at him as if he had two heads. “Now you are, pardon me, delusional.”

“Never. I want you to have the joy of it. Dancing and flirting. Being treasured and chased.” He took a step toward her and in that tiny room, they stood together, flesh to solid flesh. He put his hands on her shoulders and smiled down at her. “William never gave you any of that. You should have had it, Cass. Young and beautiful as you were, you would have had a host of young men drooling to dance attendance on you. Be your beau, your beloved. But you never had the pleasure.”

“Oh, you can sweet talk among the best of men.”

“Not so sweet was what you did have.”

The truth bit deep. “Papa had no money for his youngest daughter to debut. William knew it, learned it somehow. He saw me. William saw me. At church one Sunday when we were in town and he offered to Papa for me.” 

She remembered the lazy Sunday afternoon her father had called her into his study and he’d told her of her future. A day so much like today, bright and tranquil. “I was sixteen when William decided I was to be his wife. He’d told my father then, but they both waited two years to inform me. Imagine.”

Magnus put his arms around her and drew her against him. His hands stroking her spine, she rested her head on his shoulder as if it were the most natural pose in the world. She felt the rough wool of his uniform and the point of a medal on her cheek, but she welcomed the succor as she had never embraced any before.

“He paid my father to marry me.”

Magnus grunted. “Cass,” he murmured and held her more dearly to him.

“It sounds hideous, primitive. I was bought. Paid for. Papa took the money to pay his debts. I never knew until William told me years later just before he died. He sought redemption, I suppose, or wished to clear his conscience before he drew his last breath. By then, I had cut myself off from my family and I had no one to scream out my misery or my insult. I vowed then no one would ever disparage me so, not ever again. And they haven’t.”

“They respect you,” he said, drawing back to regard her with sympathy.

She huffed. “My due for being a dutiful wife. Yet William was good to me.” She looked up into this man’s starkly handsome face. “He never asked more than that I be a good hostess.”

Magnus caressed her cheek. “For his political ambitions.”

She dropped her gaze to the red of his uniform. “I did it. That was easy. To check menus and make seating charts. To ensure there was always brandy in the crystal and port on the sideboard.”

“And for you, there were all the comforts.”

“Oh yes, every one.”

“But he was not a friend.”

She bit her lower lip.

“Or a companion.”

She shook her head.

He raised her chin and delved into her eyes. “Or a lover.”

She considered the fact that with this man she could be totally honest as she had never been with any other person in her adult life. “I am not a virgin, Magnus.”

“He had you.”

Those were definitely the right words. Simple possession without any emotion. “He did.”

He lowered his face to hers, his lips a breath away. “Did he kiss you?”

“Sometimes.”

Those enchanting blue eyes of his narrowed on her. His lips brushed across hers. “Did he make you want?”

Him? “No.”

“Can I?”

At his words, the world spun and she was giddy with a need she’d known only once before. Forbidden then. But now hunger fueled curiosity and carelessness. She put her mouth near his and whispered, “Let me see.”

The grin he gave her was in his gaze and the rapture erupted in his fierce embrace. His arms around her bending her over the table, he took her down and spread her upon the cool wood. His hands holding hers, he put his lips to hers in the gentlest of claims. A butterfly’s kiss made her sigh. A marauder’s kiss had her gasping.

His kisses became long luxurious explorations, his tongue insistent, probing and thorough. Her hat fell off, the pins pulling her coif with it. But he was ardent, reverent and she cared for nothing but his tender lips and ravenous fingers. 

He bit her earlobe and laughed at her shiver. He licked his way down the column of her throat to her cleavage. She arched in abandon, her desire for more, a compulsion she could not sate. He swept two fingers inside her bodice and pulled at the fabric. She wiggled beneath his heavy weight and rejoiced at the urge to find fulfillment.

But he was no novice at seduction or ladies’ gowns. He had the silk down, his hot mouth upon the hard begging point of her breast. She moved and he gave her what she wanted and shoved the fabric beneath her other heaving breast. With both his hands on her naked flesh, he spread wet lavish kisses from one to the other. 

A knock came at the door.

Fright blasted her bliss.

He grumbled about intrusions as he pulled her upright. “We will have more of this. Soon.”

She and he tugged her gown back to its original position. Her heart hammering, she told herself to be grateful to whomever was on the other side of that portal. Yet the adventurous girl in her—shocking as it was—did not wish to be saved. 

She stared at him as he ran his fingers through her disheveled hair and pulled at her little curls over her ears. 

Then he bent and dusted off her broad-brimmed chip hat, quite crushed. His smile was totally evil as he pushed the thing into her hands. “Here, before you go, don this.”

In the hallway, people conversed. 

“Good god, how many are out there?” she said as she fought with her hair and her hat.

“Whoever it is, we will stare them down and dare them to babble about this.”

Should she laugh or cry? “You have not been in society very long.”

“You have not seen how frightening I can be.” He chucked her under her chin. “Ready now?”

“No! Button your coat.” She righted him as best she could, then tried to get nearer the door so that she did not appear to hide behind it. Even that was silly. She would either look like a young girl compromised alone with a man—or a complete coward. “Now. Do it.”

He nodded and yanked open the door.

“Ladies,” he greeted whomever stood there while Cass figured her future in London now would be selling fish on the docks. 

As if he were in this room merely consulting on navigation of the seas, he gave their intruders a most courtly bow, then ran two meaty hands through his long tousled golden locks. “The cousins, I see. Good of you to find us.” 

Cass nearly fainted with delight that those outside were Adelaide and Laurel.

He paused, threw them a half smile and turned toward Cass. “Breathe, my darling. You’re saved.”

He swung wide the door and the two young ladies to whom she had appeared only as a regimented fire-breathing dragon gaped at her. She could picture the image they saw. Her eyes dreamy. Her cheeks aflame. Her lips swollen from kisses. Her bodice awry and skirts rumpled.

Welles pulled his coat to, then threw her a wink.

Addy and Laurel rushed inside and shut the door. They did not ask her anything nor did they comment on her disarray. They went to work to straighten her gown and pin her hair so that minutes later, the three emerged and rejoined the party on deck.

The Countess of Huntington, that bird of rumor, was—blessedly—nowhere in sight. 

******

LADY, YOU’RE MINE, BOOK 4 in NAUGHTY LADIES

Lady William Downs revels in her reputation as a Society dragon, a Diamond (still!) at her age, too—and a widow of independent means.

Colonel Lord Magnus Augustus Welles is home from the savagery of the wars. Heir to his ailing father the Duke of Ruscombe, Magnus wants a wife. He knows just who that will be. But the lady doth protest far too much.

To woo her is easy.

To win her he’ll persuade her with the best gifts of all—a new phaeton, horses—and, yes, himself. In all the racy ways she’s never enjoyed!

THE AUTHOR, CERISE DELAND

Cerise DeLand is the USA TODAY Bestselling author who has written more than 70 novels in her nearly 4 decade career. Find her on Amazon, Bookbub and her new YOUTUBE CHANNEL, Travels with Cerise!

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