Am I Crazy?
Romance readers! Three new romance novels coming in the next few months! My latest finished novel, An Honorable Man is still with the editor. It is taking longer than anticipated because she had a family tragedy. It is terrible for her, and sadly, I think this will push back the release of An Honorable Man until March.
But I can’t just wait around. Always, always on the the next book. So mid-January, I started reworking my Nanowrimo novella, working title Honeyed Moon. Or perhaps, Under a Honeyed Moon. I love this story of Lady Evelyn, who is ill-treated by her aunt, uncle, and two cousins. (We’ve got a little bit of Cinderella trope here). She spends most of her time hidden away in the gardens and greenhouse, until the night that the Marquess, Lord Camden stops over on his way to London.
Often as I have written, I have laughed out loud. I love these characters.
Would you like a little sneak peak of a scene? This is an excerpt from Chapter Two:
Cam took a deep breath of blessedly fresh air. He didn’t want to be seen from the windows by any wakeful resident, so he stepped away from the house and moved into the deeper shadows of the trees. Then from habit, he began a silent patrol around the perimeter of the house. The only disturbances were the sound of night animals rustling in the bush
Tap, tap. Cam crouched behind a linden bush and listened.
The tapping was replaced by a rattle. He parted a branch and looked back toward the house. In the moonlight he saw a man lean down to pick up a few pebbles before pulling back his arm to throw them at a second-floor window.
“Evie,” he whispered called. “Wake up.”
Cam shook his head in disbelief. He had just wanted a few minutes of peace, but here he was stuck in the bushes, watching a ridiculous young man seek a furtive tryst. Was he going to be treated to a small town’s enactment of Romeo and Juliet?
The supplicant muttered and bent to pick up another handful of pebbles but stopped when there was a click and the slide of a window sash.
Cam rolled his eyes. Was he ever this young? He looked up, and his jaw dropped.
A woman in a worn night rail leaned out the window. Her long, flaxen hair flowed around her fascinating, moonlit face. She held a brush she had obviously just been using and shook it at the unfortunate boy below.
Cam blinked and looked again. Where had this beauty been during the party? Mrs. Bellerton didn’t seem the type to employ attractive housemaids.
“Allen, what are you thinking? You’ll wake the whole house,” she whispered.
“You have to help me.” Cam shook his head as the callow youth begged.
“Go home and come to the greenhouse tomorrow,” she hissed. “You know I’ll help you however I can.”
Cam fought a smile. She didn’t sound as desperately infatuated as the boy. Then he frowned. But apparently, they had a set meeting place.
“Tomorrow will be too late. I need you now.”
“Shh.” She disappeared for a few seconds. When she came back, she leaned further out the window, distracting Cam with the breathtaking view. She spoke so softly, he had to force himself to concentrate on what she was saying. “If you wake my aunt, we’ll both be in the devil’s own scrape. She’ll make you marry me. You know she’d wash her hands of me and rejoice. Do you want that?”
Allen took three steps backwards. “That would be a disaster.”
Cam shook his head and downgraded his estimate of poor Allen’s intelligence. Was he a fool? He looked up at the girl again. Yes, this Allen was obviously not right in the head. Then the girl’s words came together in Cam’s mind.
She said her aunt would force them to marry. This was the niece? He looked again. How could this be the same pale and drab girl he’d been introduced to briefly earlier? Then he remembered her exceptional eyes. Her aunt was probably smarter than he had thought to hide this light under a bushel so that she could put forward her little sharp-nosed daughter.
What was this girl’s name? Evie, the boy had called her. Oh yes, Lady Evelyn Slade.
“You don’t have to look so horrified,” she complained. “As it happens, I don’t particularly want to marry you either.”
Allen looked around as if waiting to be frog-marched to the altar. Then he bravely stepped forward again. “Evie, please.”
With a sigh of exasperation, the lady asked, “What is so important that it can’t wait until tomorrow?”
“Dinah’s parents are going to force her to marry Lord Camden.”
Lady Evelyn blinked those incredible eyes and shook her head.
But the boy continued, “He’s been taken in by her beauty, and they think they can catch him in a compromising—”
Cam swallowed his protest. This was outside of enough. It was past time that he left these children to their folly or stepped forward to disabuse them of–
A burst of musical laughter stopped him, and he found himself smiling as he watched her mirth.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Allen. Did you watch Lord Camden at all tonight? He’s not the kind of man that’s going to be taken in by a pair of marplots from Bexhill.”
Cam settled again to listen. He was relieved that one of these children had some intelligence.
She continued, “He’s too shrewd to fall for any woman looking for a fortune and title, let alone a silly seventeen-year-old who hasn’t even been presented yet, no matter how beautiful she is. He’d be much more likely to throttle her than marry her.”
Cam didn’t know whether to feel insulted or complimented, but young Allen fired up in umbrage. “Dinah is not silly. She is the most beautiful woman in the world. Any man would want to marry her.”
Lady Slade folded her arms and rested them on the window ledge. Once again Cam was distracted for a few moments by the view of the creamy skin and rich curves and missed some of what she said. “. . . for a full ten minutes after supper, and all she talked about was the color and pattern of her dresses, her slippers, and her hats.”
Allen huffed. “Just because you don’t care a fig what you wear doesn’t mean other women don’t. I daresay most women think of such things. Why shouldn’t Dinah have the best of everything?”
Lady Evelyn looked grim, and Cam had a sudden urge to plant a facer on the boy.
Her expression wasn’t lost on Allen. “Oh, don’t get into a pet. It’s natural that you wouldn’t understand since you’re not beautiful like Dinah is.”
The Lady tightened her lips even more and shook her head.
Cam shook his head at the same time. Chaucer had written about familiarity breeding contempt, but this was taking it too far. He couldn’t remember a time when he had been so affected by a woman’s appearance, especially after only a brief meeting, as he was by this unconventional, quick witted, undeniably beautiful girl. What kind of fool couldn’t see the possibilities of her full lips and those fascinating, oddly colored, tilted eyes or the intelligence shining out of them? As a gentleman, he was trying not to refine too much on her surprisingly sumptuous form, but a man would have to be blind not to notice and appreciate.
While he contemplated her attractions, the conversation between the two youths deteriorated into an argument that was growing in volume.
Allen said, “If you’d bother to take a little more care in what you wore, I’m sure you’d be more the thing.”
Lady Evelyn narrowed her eyes. “You think I like wearing mushroom, or puce, or olive, or any of the other awful-colored gowns my aunt forces upon me?”
Allen had the grace to look remorseful. “I’m sorry, Evie. You’re not so bad. When you’re working in your greenhouse, you sometimes look quite pretty.”
She sighed, and one side of her lips lifted in a wry smile. “How did you distract me? Let’s return to your problem. I can assure you that Lord Camden would never allow himself to be caught in a Parson’s trap. He would see through any snare they thought to set.” She smiled. “Your latest infatuation is safe. She won’t be marrying Lord Camden.”
Allen nodded. “You’re right. He won’t get her because we have a plan. We’re going to run away and—”
She gasped. “Allen, you can’t! I know you’re enamored now but wait six months. It will probably pass.”
“I can’t believe you would tell me that. You think I’m so inconstant that I would—”
She lowered her brow and murmured, “Martina Johnson. Joane Darnell.”
He glared. “Those were just passing fancies. What I feel for Dinah is real and lasting. We love each other.”
The Lady Evelyn closed her eyes for a moment before she said, “Wait over there behind those bushes. I’ll get dressed and come down.”
If you liked this little teaser, I’ll tell you that this novel should be ready for beta readers in March. I’ll send out an invitation.
But I just realized I haven’t told you about the second novel I am working on concurrently. I don’t have time and space here to do it justice, so watch for the next post.
You can never have too much romance!