New Release! Scots, Spies & Salacious Lies

Scots, Spies and Salacious Lies are three Regency set Novellas. The first, Compromised at Christmas is the beginning of the Tenacious Trents Series

Compromised at Christmas…

Miss Elizabeth Whitton craved excitement and adventure. Unwilling to endure one boring Season after another, she convinces her uncle in the Home Office to let her work for him. * John Phillip Trent has been spying for the Home Office in the stables of Tuileries as Jean Pierre Bouvier for more than two years, his only English contact – Lisette Renard a servant girl inside the palace. * When a summons from the Duke of Danby slips through the proper channels, both Elizabeth and John’s covers are compromised. To escape the palace and France with their lives, they’ll have to depend on each other and the miracle of Christmas. (Compromised at Christmas was original published in A Summons from His Grace) 

~ * ~

Landing a Laird…
Heiress Lady Moira Kirkwood will do anything it takes to marry a laird to take her north - far, far away from London and her domineering mother. Unfortunately, a pair of gentlemen overhear her jest about Scotland and compromising a fellow if she has to. Before the sun has risen the next day, Moira’s name and a scandalous wager have found themselves inside the infamous betting book at White’s.

One penniless gentleman after another begs Gideon Baxter, Viscount Ainsely, for his assistance in wooing Lady Moira. Unfortunately, Gideon would like to woo the charming lady himself. If only she cared more for him than for the location of his estate, he’d could be assured of where her true feelings lie.

(Landing a Laird was originally published in The Betting Season)

~ * ~

Devil in My Dreams...
Devlin Bartlett was never meant to be Viscount Marston, yet he has inherited not only the title but three younger sisters, all of marriageable ages. He soon learns that thwarting the French was much easier than playing guardian to three young ladies, and decides the simplest solution is to marry them off. * Louisa Whitton needs to find a husband of her own choosing before Christmas. At her sister’s house party, she meets the perfect gentleman—thus foiling her grandfather’s plans. However, Marston refuses to even think about courting her until his sisters are wed, and he has the audacity to ask her to wait. Louisa’s grandfather will never agree, so she sets out to find the perfect substitute for Marston, forcing him to choose between his sisters’ future and his own.

(Devil in My Dreams was originally published in A Season to Remember)

A Perfect Gentleman (Tenacious Trents - Book 2)

Announcing the release of the second  Tenacious Trents novel

Matthew Trent always knew what was expected of him and that was to become the Perfect Vicar and a Perfect Gentlemen. When Grace Cooper enters his life he is forced to face what he really wishes to become.

Grace Cooper has three options for marriage available to her in the small village where she resides. However, Grace would rather be placed on the shelf than enter into a miserable union.

When someone threatens her father and then makes an attempt on her life, it is Vicar Trent who vows to protect her and brings scandal to her doorstep, upsetting the delicate balance of both of their worlds.

Excerpt:

“I think you are a lovely and desirable woman.” Matthew wasn’t certain what he should say. Was she embarrassed or hurt or angry? He was never very good at understanding the feminine gender and it wasn’t like he was given many opportunities, especially in situations such as this. Perhaps if it hadn’t been ten years since he had been intimate with a woman he would have a better understanding.

“I behaved like a wanton.”

Matthew chuckled. “I wouldn’t call you wanton.”

“What would you call a woman who throws herself at her vicar, while in her bed?”

Matthew chuckled. Though the description did sound a bit promiscuous, he wouldn’t describe her as such. “Vulnerable, scared, lonely?”

“That is worse.”Tears welled in her eyes.

What had he said wrong?

“You only kissed me because you felt sorry for me after I threw myself at you.”

“On that point you are wrong.”

She blew out a breath and crossed her arms over her chest. “You are just being kind because you are a vicar.”

Matthew wanted to laugh. “There is nothing kind in my motivation in kissing you back.”

Confusion marred her brow and Matthew cradled her chin in his hand. “Do you have any idea how long I have wanted to kiss you? There are all manner of things I wish to do, but won’t because you are an innocent young woman.”

She bit her bottom lip and it took everything in his being not to kiss her again.

“And if I don’t leave right now, you are in danger of far more than kisses and caresses from me.”

“But you are a vicar. A perfect gentleman.”

Matthew gripped her chin tighter, but not enough to cause a mark or hurt her, and looked deep into her eyes. “Know this, Miss Cooper, I am a man and at this moment I am not feeling the least bit gentlemanly nor much of a vicar.”

A Season to Remember

Announcing the release of A Season to Remember.  Another anthology by Ava Stone, Jerrica Knight-Catania, Catherine Gayle and myself.  Each story is linked to our earlier anthology, The Betting Season, as well as the Summons Anthologies.  I cannot express how fun it has been to work with these awesome ladies on these anthologies. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

In Jane Charles’s Devil in My Dreams...
Devlin Bartlett was never meant to be Viscount Marston, yet he has inherited not only the title but three younger sisters, all of marriageable ages. He soon learns that thwarting the French was much easier than playing guardian to three young ladies, and decides the simplest solution is to marry them off. * Louisa Whitton needs to find a husband of her own choosing before Christmas. At her sister’s house party, she meets the perfect gentleman—thus foiling her grandfather’s plans. However, Marston refuses to even think about courting her until his sisters are wed, and he has the audacity to ask her to wait. Louisa’s grandfather will never agree, so she sets out to find the perfect substitute for Marston, forcing him to choose between his sisters’ future and his own.

~ * ~

In Catherine Gayle’s To Enchant an Icy Earl...
As the Earl of Fordingham, Tristan Cavendish has lived by the code his father beat into him for so long he’s driven everyone in his life away, including his brother. Now he is alone. Loneliness dictates he must change, so he sets out to make amends with his only sibling. Alas, his brother seems none too inclined to hear him out, and a woman who must be a vision from Fordingham’s dreams walks into his path. Now, more than ever before, he knows he must change his ways or risk driving her away as well…but how? * Calista Bartlett is on the hunt for a husband—but one who is nothing at all like the betrayer who was her former beau. When she sees the Earl of Fordingham across the room at a soiree, she knows she’s found the very man who is everything her one-time beau was not. Fordingham presents an icy façade to the world, but Calista discovers a passionate man who kisses her feverishly and warms her through to the bones. Can she ever convince him to let down his guard permanently?

~ * ~

In Ava Stone’s My Lord Hercules...
Miss Miranda Bartlett is on a mission to locate her missing friend. Determined hoyden that she is, she’ll do whatever it takes to get the answers she seeks too, even if that means dressing like a dandy, sneaking into a gaming hell, and surrounding herself with London’s worst reprobates. However, she didn’t plan on bumping into a Herculean gentleman along the way. The handsome and honorable Lord Harrison Casemore immediately thwarts her plans and seems determined to save her at every turn, making it more than difficult to accomplish her task. * Ever since Harry Casemore spotted the exotic temptress trying to pass herself off as a fop, he’s been drawn to her. He hasn’t figured out what she’s after, but he’s fairly certain he’d sell his soul if she’d just let him help her with whatever it is.

~*~

In Jerrica Knight-Catania’s A Penny For Your Thoughts... Penelope Bartlett has had a rough year, to say the least. She lost her eldest brother and her father in one fell swoop, and to make matters worse she had to miss out on her very first London Season. Now she's in the thick of the Little Season and all she wants to do is run away. It's torture to watch her siblings fall in love and she's simply not in the mood to make merry with all of them. Especially when they treat her as if she's still a little girl in leading strings. 
* Enter Drake Lockwell, Viscount Flitwick. He, too, is typically eager to escape crowded ballrooms and matchmaking mamas in favor of his own company in a deserted garden or library. But a chance meeting in his brother’s garden one night changes everything. Miss Bartlett is young and impetuous, yet he can't help but fall prey to her charms. Perhaps she will be the one to finally mend the hole in his heart...

Or will his secrets be more than Penelope is able to handle?

The Trouble with Muses

Today I am talking about the problems I have had with my muse, and one I borrowed, at LadyScribes.  Stop by and let me know if your muse has ever given you trouble.

http://ladyscribes.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-trouble-with-muses.html

A Misguided Lord

Now Available . . . A Misguided Lord

It is time for Clayton Trent, Earl of Bentley, to take a bride.  He knows exactly what he needs and the type of lady who should become his Countess.  His life is orderly, scandal free and exactly the way it should be until Miss Eleanor Westin careens into him, upsetting the perfect balance of his world.  She is everything his father said he should not marry.  Yet, he cannot put her from his mind, not even when a decade old scandal threatens the very foundation of his family.

Miss Eleanor Westin has spent her life in the country on the brink of poverty and raising her siblings after the death of her parents until her grandfather finally decides to do his duty and brings her to London.  Eleanor simply wants to find a gentleman who is willing to take on her family in the bargain.  Love is not even a consideration if she can land security.  Unfortunately, the only gentleman who has made any offer is Lord Bentley, and he will never do.  If only he would stay out of her dreams so she could forget him and his intoxicating kisses.


Available at:Amazon and Barnes & Noble 

The Betting Season

In AVA STONE's By Any Other Name...

Lady Philippa Casemore caused quite a scene at her very first ball of her very first season. She even landed herself, somehow, on the pages of the infamous betting book at White's gentleman's club. Unfortunately, she doesn't remember one moment of the night in question. Not the music. Not the notorious rake she'd dragged into the middle of the dance floor. Not the flask of opium-laced brandy she'd downed without realizing it's contents...

Jason York, the wicked Earl of St. Austell, can't quite forget the lady who stole his breath away the previous night. Of course, his broken nose, courtesy of the girl's brother, did have a way of making an impression. When he stumbles into Lady Philippa the next day, his ego is more than bruised when she doesn't seem to recall him at all and a scheme to make certain she never forgets him again quickly forms in Jason's mind.

~ * ~

In CATHERINE GAYLE's Flight of Fancy...

Cedric Loring, the Earl of Montague, has been an honorary member of the Bexley-Smythe family for years. He’s always had a special, if sometimes strained, bond with Georgie. But when her name ends up in the betting book at White’s before she’s even made her debut, he knows no one can protect her quite like he can. If only she’d stop chasing after the very gentleman who could single-handedly see to her ruin.

Lady Georgianna Bexley-Smythe has the uncanny ability to remember nearly everything she’s ever read, and thus knows everything about almost everything. But as knowledge and experience are not interchangeable, she intends to make her first Season one of adventure. What could be more adventurous than seeing London from Lord Haworth’s gas balloon? Now she must avoid Monty long enough to make Haworth’s acquaintance and beg an airborne adventure.

~ * ~

In JANE CHARLES's Landing A Laird...

Heiress Lady Moira Kirkwood will do anything it takes to marry a laird to take her north - far, far away from London and her domineering mother. Unfortunately, a pair of gentlemen overhear her jest about Scotland and compromising a fellow if she has to. Before the sun has risen the next day, Moira’s name and a scandalous wager have found themselves inside the infamous betting book at White’s.

One penniless gentleman after another begs Gideon Baxter, Viscount Ainsely, for his assistance in wooing Lady Moira. Unfortunately, Gideon would like to woo the charming lady himself. If only she cared more for him than for the location of his estate, he’d could be assured of where her true feelings lie.

~ * ~

In JERRICA KNIGHT-CATANIA's The Marriage Trap...

When Miss Patience Findley discovers, at her first ball of her first Season, just how much her father's scandal has affected her chances of marriage, she resigns herself to being alone and dying a spinster. That is, until she hears that her friends' names have landed in the Betting Book at White's. In a moment of desperation, she asks her reprobate cousin to place a bet on her behalf, in hopes of trapping an unsuspecting gentleman into marriage.

Tristan Wallford, Lord Swaffham, loves a good challenge. So when his friend, Rowan Findley, claims that his cousin Patience cannot be cured of her melancholy state, Tristan lays a bet that he will be the one to cure her. He could certainly use the money, after all. But as the game begins, Tristan begins to realize that not only does Miss Findley not need curing, but she might be worth trapping for himself.

Seeing Where the Road Leads

Today I have a guest.  Welcome, Catherine Gayle!


They say there are two types of writers out there: plotters and pantsers. If you’re new to these terms, a panters is one who writes “by the seat of their pants.”

I started out my writing life as a pantser. That didn’t last long. I finished two manuscripts that way, but spent two to three times as long revising and rewriting and revising again as I did writing in the first place. Doing it for two 100,000 word manuscripts was enough to convince me to try another path.

After that, I decided there had to be a better way. I researched plotting methods, tried several, and found what worked for me. At that point, I knew I’d never go back. After all, I could finish a manuscript without needing to spend months on end reworking it into something that made sense.

Yet a few months ago, I found myself picking up a new project and writing without a clue where it would take me. I tried to plot it, but it didn’t work. No matter what I did, nothing would come together until I started writing a scene and the characters dictated where it would go.

It worked. But that was just a novella. I’m not sure I’m ready to give up the reins like that again on something full length. But yesterday, I started writing something new again, and yet again, I have no clue where I’m headed. I guess I’ll have to wait and see where this road leads me.

The novella I did successfully write as a pantser recently is called An Unintended Journey. It’s part of the Regency Christmas Summons anthology, found in A Summons From the Castle.

Blurb:

What once was lost…

Abby Goddard’s life is going along just swimmingly, apart from the disappearance of her life’s love—Wesley Cavendish, a man well above her station. Just before Christmas, Grandmama dies after revealing the identity of Abby’s grandfather. The Duke of Danby, no less. Now the entire family will travel to Yorkshire to confront Danby, hoping to gain a dowry for Abby. But then Wesley reemerges, sparking a hope Abby thought long destroyed.

Now is found…

Shall the prodigal son’s sole inheritance be an unsightly gash? Wesley Cavendish aspires to the political realm, despite his father’s near-murderous opposition…not to mention his opposition to Abby Goddard. But since Father died, will the new Earl of Fordingham rescind Father’s disgraceful allegations? Fordingham thwarts Wesley at every turn, threatening marriage to a prominent Tory family—which precludes Abby—to put an end to Wesley’s Whig involvement…unless Wesley can find a loophole.

Excerpt:

The thwarting of her exodus left Abby trembling again. She took two full breaths and briefly pressed her eyes closed to fight down her sorrow before turning again. This time, her eyes passed over the baron, then traveled to Lady Pritchard, and finally settled on their guests.

Her breath caught.

Mr. Daniel Pritchard, the baron’s eldest son and heir, had come home from his recent travels—but he wasn’t the man who left Abby with a tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach, and a knot the size of Mount Olympus in her throat, and her toes curling within her half-boots from the desperate need to run as fast as she could and not look back.

No, such a reaction could only be due to one man’s presence.

Mr. Wesley Cavendish, the Earl of Fordingham’s wayward brother, stood before the hearth, looking like an ancient Roman warrior ready to race his chariot through the Coliseum—only a warrior oddly stuffed into modern fashions, with his dark, slightly curling hair falling down over his cravat. His straight nose and black-as-midnight eyes were just as she’d always remembered them. He regarded her so intensely she felt as though she’d sprouted six scaly heads and started singing opera from each of them whilst in the nude.

Have you ever taken off on a path you swore you’d never again travel, and had it turn out okay? Every commenter who leaves an email address will be entered in the prize extravaganza outlined at www.catherinegayle.com/news.html, where you could win a Kindle or one of many other prizes.


Catherine Gayle