It’s always a pleasure to welcome Caroline Warfield to my First Kiss Friday blog. If you haven’t had a chance to pick up one of her books, you are certainly missing out. I’ve enjoyed each of her novels that  are rich in historical detail and all ending with a happily ever after for her characters. Please help me welcome Caroline and her first kiss scene!

Thanks for having me Sherry. Today I have the first kiss in the first book of my series, Children of Empire, The Renegade Wife.  Meggy is a woman on the run who has come to rely on the kindness and protection of Rand Wheatly, a solitary business man who has taken her and her children in. When attraction blossoms between them, so does temptation.

I’ll give a electronic gift copy of this book to one randomly selected person who comments on this posting. (Kindle format is available to US residents only. All others would receive a PDF copy)

Excerpt:

We. The word hung between them. She couldn’t look away. They stood for a long time in the narrow hallway before he closed the space between them. He moved so gradually that she didn’t realize it until his mouth was inches from hers, his warmth surrounded her, and his eyes searched hers. She couldn’t say if his eyes searched for permission; she couldn’t think at all. There was only awareness of the man, his warmth, and his bedroom door feet away.

The kiss came gently, a touch, a caress. She let herself feel it, starved for tenderness, and she breathed in his scent—pine and wood smoke. Her hands slid up his rough shirt, around his neck, and into the hair that hung to his collar.

Long fingers cupped her head, and he deepened the kiss softly, gently, without force. She opened gladly.

When he began to unbutton her dress, she stiffened and put her hands on his chest to push him away. Perhaps it was the sensation of cold. Perhaps it was the intrusion. Perhaps reason simply asserted itself. Meggy didn’t know what brought her to her senses. She had forgotten much for a few moments, but one fact came to her clearly.

“I’m married, Rand! Fergus may be a poor excuse for a human being, but he’s still my husband. Nothing changes that.”

She almost wept when he responded immediately, with respect and concern. He stood back, but he reached out a hand to caress her cheek.

“I’m sorry, Meggy. You deserve better.”

About the The Renegade Wife

Betrayed by his cousin and the woman he loved, Rand Wheatly fled England, his dreams of a loving family shattered. He clings to his solitude in an isolated cabin in Upper Canada. Returning from a business trip to find a widow and two children squatting in his house, he flies into a rage. He wants her gone, but her children are sick and injured, and his heart is not as hard as he likes to pretend.

Meggy Blair harbors a secret, and she’ll do whatever it takes to keep her children safe. She’d hopes to hide with her Ojibwa grandmother, if she can find the woman and her people. She doesn’t expect to find shelter with a quiet, solitary man, a man who lowers his defensive walls enough to let Meggy and her children in.

Their idyllic interlude is shattered when Meggy’s brutal husband appears to claim his children. She isn’t a widow, but a wife, a woman who betrayed the man she was supposed to love, just as Rand’s sweetheart betrayed him. He soon discovers why Meggy is on the run, but time is running out. To save them all, Rand must return to England and face his family demons.

The book has numerous five star/top pick book from reviewing services. The Romance Reviews said, “This respectful, female-focused story provides an engaging departure from stories of female submission and will likely resonate with diverse women seeking a beautiful and sincere narrative that respects the importance of family and a woman’s right to take her time falling in love.”

InD’Tale Magazine said, “…the characters leap off the page and into the reader’s heart…Warfield weaves a delightful tale that leaves one sitting on the edge of their seat during most of the novel.”

Read the ebook for FREE with Amazon Unlimited or purchase a copy at

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About Caroline Warfield

Traveler, poet, librarian, technology manager—award winning author Caroline Warfield has been many things (even a nun), but above all she is a romantic. Having retired to the urban wilds of eastern Pennsylvania, she reckons she is on at least her third act, happily working in an office surrounded by windows while she lets her characters lead her to adventures in England and the far-flung corners of the British Empire. She nudges them to explore the riskiest territory of all, the human heart.

Caroline has an active blog and her newsletter list recently zoomed past 3000.  She is a RONE award winner and has five star reviews from Readers’ Favorite, Night Owl Reviews, and InD’Tale. She is also a member of the writers’ co-operative, the Bluestocking Belles. With partners she manages and regularly writes for both The Teatime Tattler and History Imagined.

Website http://www.carolinewarfield.com/
Amazon Author http://www.amazon.com/Caroline-Warfield/e/B00N9PZZZS/ 
Good Reads http://bit.ly/1C5blTm 
Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/carolinewarfield7 
Twitter @CaroWarfield
Email warfieldcaro@gmail.com

Thank you for being my guest today, Caroline. Don’t forget to leave Caroline a comment to be in the running for her giveaway and thank you for dropping by!