Category Archives: First Kiss Friday

First Kiss Friday with Sherry Ewing

18 Friday May 2018

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Hello, my lovelies. Today on First Kiss Friday I’m hosting myself and Nothing But Time: A Family of Worth, Book One. In case you haven’t seen this recently on Facebook or Twitter, I currently have Gwendolyn and Neville’s story as a #FREE eBook. I’m celebrating being at my first RT Booklovers convention this week and getting reading to release One Moment In Time: A Family of Worth, Book Two, this summer. So sit back and happy reading. Enjoy!

 Excerpt: “Tell me of yourself,” Neville asked, before taking a sip of his wine.

“What is there to tell? I had a normal upbringing, most likely similar to your own. Being the daughter of a duke does have certain responsibilities or opens many doors if you have need of something.”

“And what do you stand in need of now?”

Gwendolyn sighed. “That is a difficult question to answer, for there are many things I wish were different in my life. I know I should not speak of it, but my marriage is a shambles and hardly one you read about in a romance novel.”

“I would not have our conversation upset you, Gwendolyn. You need not speak of your marriage,” Neville replied, reaching across the table for her hand.

“How can I not? I do not mean to be a bore, but you must understand that for me to be here with you, alone, is completely out of character. I do not make a habit of late night trysts with men I barely know. Betraying my husband will surely land me in hell.”

“Then we will go there together. Let me also confess I do not make a habit of stealing another man’s wife. Yet, you must admit there is something between us that cannot be explained. I know you feel it, too.” Neville pushed back his chair, took her hand and led her to a settee. She began to move to one side but he would have none of it. “Do not go so far away. I would have you close to me. You are mine… at least for as long as this night will allow us.”

His hand continued to hold onto hers and she gave up any further protests that may have spilled from her lips. They would have been falsehoods and there was no sense lying to the man who was tearing down the last defenses to her heart.

She raised her eyes to meet his. There was so much promise hidden within the depths of those piercing hazel orbs. “I can never truly be yours, Neville, just as surely as you can never be mine.”

“We have nothing but time this night, Gwendolyn,” he murmured, leaning forward he pressed a kiss upon her temple.

“Time… this evening will pass too swiftly, and then I will once more be returned to the nightmare of my life.”

“Then do not think of what the morrow will bring. Tonight, I will keep you safe at my side.”

Gwendolyn leaned her head upon his shoulder and he put his arm around her. Safe. He was like a boat anchor keeping her grounded whilst the waves crashed against the shore, attempting to pull loose the ropes that would keep her moored to a dock. Yet, the reality of her life remained with her and her conscience would not let go of the values she had adhered to all her life.

She leaned back to look up at the most handsomest man she had ever beheld. “I cannot become your mistress, Neville,” she confessed. He stroked his hand through her hair so gently she almost burst out into tears at the injustice of it all.

“I know,” he whispered, before leaning down to give her their first kiss.

How could she have known just one taste would make a simple kiss so meaningful? How could she have known a kiss could be so pleasurable? How could she have known her life would change forever in the instant their breath mingled as one? She had changed, and she now knew what everyone spoke of when they said they were in love. Love… she had fallen in love with Neville the moment she had first seen him. However in the world would she live without him? More importantly, how was she supposed to return home to a husband she could not help but hate?

***

Neville held Gwendolyn in his arms and swore he wished never to let her go. He deepened their kiss and a fire erupted in his loins he would be hard pressed to put out. If she only knew what she did to him with the simple gesture of cupping his face, she would have run from her brother’s house and never looked back. What had they gotten themselves into?

He broke off their kiss and disappointment flashed in her eyes. “Do not stop, Drayton,” she murmured seductively.

Neville smiled knowing from the use of his title she was miffed at him. “I cannot take much more, my sweet Gwendolyn.” He pressed forward to nibble on her pouting lower lip. “I am only a man after all, and your sweet charms will be my undoing if we continue.”

She put her arms around his neck and pulled. “Just one more. Make me forget everything else but you.”

Neville groaned and gave in to her demand. How could he not, when she begged him for another kiss? He pressed her down so she was lying on the settee, but when their bodies molded together as one, her eyes flew open wide. There was no way to hide his arousal pressed intimately against her.

The grin he gave her must surely appear wicked. If he did not know better, he would have said her reaction was virginal, but surely that could not be the case? She was a married woman and must know what she was doing.

Unless… he had never heard of Sandhurst keeping a mistress, and thought the first Lady Sandhurst had died in childbirth, there were rumors that she had a lover.

Yet the tiny whimpers he heard deep in Gwendolyn’s throat suggested she was familiar with passion. Or was that merely her reaction to being with him?

Neville pressed himself against Gwendolyn once more to test his theory. A gasp escaped her and she pushed against him until he sat up.

Nothing But Time: A Family of Worth, Book One
On sale for #FREE for a limited time!

 They will risk everything for their forbidden love…

When Lady Gwendolyn Marie Worthington is forced to marry a man old enough to be her father, she concludes love will never enter her life. Her husband is a cruel man who blames her for his own failings. Then she meets her brother’s attractive business associate and all those longings she had thought gone forever suddenly reappear.

A long-term romance holds no appeal for Neville Quinn, Earl of Drayton until an unexpected encounter with the sister of the Duke of Hartford. Still, he resists giving his heart to another woman, especially one who belongs to another man.

Chance encounters lead to intimate dinners, until Neville and Gwendolyn flee to Berwyck Castle at Scotland’s border hoping beyond reason their fragile love will survive the vindictive reach of Gwendolyn’s possessive husband. Before their journey is over, Gwendolyn will risk losing the only love she has ever known.

Buy Links:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2ouE2qO 
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Kobo: http://bit.ly/2pBtfu8 
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First Kiss Friday with Jude Knight

11 Friday May 2018

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Welcome to another First Kiss Friday. I’m always excited when my guest Jude Knight has a new book out (currently up for pre-order) and we get a look into the incredible world she creates. This excerpt is from The Realm of Silence. Gil and Susan are pursuing Susan’s missing daughter up the Great North Road. This morning, they are having breakfast in the garden of the inn before resuming the chase. They are discussing where to stay when they reach Edinburgh. Happy reading and enjoy!

Excerpt:

“Best we take rooms at the coaching inn our runaways are headed to,” Gil agreed. “If Mademoiselle Cornillac follows her usual practice, she’ll talk about the next day’s destination to the ostlers, and we’ll know where to head.”

“Unless Edinburgh is her destination.”

“Even so. Someone at the inn may have overheard something, or your clever daughter may have found a way to leave a message. We start at the inn.” The pie Gil had chosen was filled with eggs and cubes of ham, potato, and carrot. He savoured the flavours then took another bite, relishing the crispness of the pastry.

Susan was washing her turnover down with a swallow of ale, shifting impatiently as her hands inched towards the knife and fork she had placed on her plate between mouthfuls, as proper table etiquette required. Her inclination to rush the meal and be on her way was clearly at war with her training in manners.

“Relax, Susan. A few minutes will make the world of difference to your digestion, and very little to our arrival time.”

What a valiant creature his Goddess was. She managed a smile, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I know you are right, you annoying man. I will try not to worry and to be patient.

“You are thinking I have no notion what you are suffering, and you are right. I have never been a father and have never had to wait and worry about a child of my flesh.” Gil almost left it at that, but then he took a deep breath and spoke the rest of his thought. “But I have been an officer with men I loved and who loved and trusted me, and I have had to send them into danger knowing that some of them will be killed and others wounded. That perhaps gives me a small inkling of your feelings, Goddess.” He winced as the last word slipped out. She hated when people called her that, but it was how he felt. He had worshipped her from the moment he met her as a boy; carried a candle before her image in his heart since that day; held her as a beacon of the best of English womanhood through a thousand engagements on four continents and any number of islands.

She was oblivious to his preoccupation, considering what he had said. “I had not thought about it like that. Yes. I imagine you were a father, or at least an elder brother, to your men. My brothers are the same. It is similar, Gil. So, you know how hard it is.”

Susan called him Gil, he noticed, when she was moved, just as he slipped into calling her Goddess. He did not call her attention to the slip, but when he moved her chair back to help her rise, and she stepped to one side almost into his arms, he could not resist wrapping them around her.

He had intended a brief peck on her hair. She lifted her mouth as if she had been waiting for just such a move, and he was lost. She was all that existed. The elusive scent of her saturated his nostrils, her yielding curves filled his arms, and her lips and mouth consumed all of his thoughts as he tenderly explored them.

How long the kiss lasted he had no idea, but when she stiffened and pulled away, he let her go immediately, sense rushing back into his brain and berating it for the most arrant stupidity. She didn’t comment—wouldn’t even meet his eyes—but led the way out of the garden, almost running in her hurry.

The Realm of Silence

(Book 3 in the Golden Redepennings series)

Rescue her daughter, destroy her dragons, defeat his demons, go back to his lonely life. How hard can it be?

“I like not only to be loved, but also to be told I am loved…  the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave.” George Eliot

When Susan Cunningham’s daughter disappears from school, her pleasant life as a fashionable, dashing, and respectable widow is shattered. Amy is reported to be chasing a French spy up the Great North Road, and when Susan sets out in pursuit she is forced to accept help from the last person she wants: her childhood friend and adult nemesis, Gil Rutledge.

Gil Rutledge has loved Susan since she was ten and he a boy of twelve. He is determined to oblige her by rescuing her daughter. And if close proximity allows them to rekindle their old friendship, even better. He has no right to ask for more.

Gil and Susan must overcome danger, mystery, ghosts from the past, and their own pride before their journey is complete.

Preorder links and more information: http://judeknightauthor.com/books/the-realm-of-silence/

About Jude Knight

Jude Knight’s writing goal is to transport readers to another time, another place, where they can enjoy adventure and romance, thrill to trials and challenges, uncover secrets and solve mysteries, delight in a happy ending, and return from their virtual holiday refreshed and ready for anything.

She writes historical novels, novellas, and short stories, mostly set in the early 19th Century. She writes strong determined heroines, heroes who can appreciate a clever capable woman, villains you’ll love to loathe, and all with a leavening of humour.

Website and blog: http://judeknightauthor.com/

Subscribe to newsletter: http://judeknightauthor.com/newsletter/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudeKnightBooks

Pinterest: https://nz.pinterest.com/jknight1033/

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Jude-Knight/e/B00RG3SG7I

First Kiss Friday with guest Christine Harvey & a Giveaway!

04 Friday May 2018

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It’s First Kiss Friday and today I’d like to introduce you to a fellow San Francisco Area of Romance Writers of America author, Christine Harvey. Today Christine will be sharing an excerpt from her novel In Concert. Be sure to leave her a comment to be in the running for an eBook copy of her book. Happy reading, my lovelies!

Excerpt:

(After a day with cameras following him everywhere, all Luke wants to do
is escape with the date he set up earlier, and forget about the reality TV producer who’s constantly on his mind. But he has just found out Victoria and her crew are setting up to film that date.)

Luke stared at Victoria. He couldn’t believe she’d heard him dirty-talking Isabelle and planned to film their hookup like it was no never mind. “Call them off,” he said.

She looked up from her notebook. “I beg your pardon?”

“Call them off. There’s no date.”

“It sounded pretty definite to me.”

“And it felt pretty private to me.”

Victoria closed the notebook with a thump and tossed it on the table next to her. “You have no privacy, Mr. Tyler. It’s in your contract. I realize you’ve been reluctant to do this from the start, and I’ve tried to be patient, but it’s wearing thin.” She put her hands on her hips. “You’re on a reality show about your life, and the lives of your band mates. The audience won’t just want to see you practicing and playing at Tony’s Tavern. They’ll want to know what you eat for breakfast, what you wear, who you date, and everything in between. You’ve agreed to be filmed during all of these occasions, and you’re just going to have to suck it up and let it happen.”

Luke pointed in the direction of the door and the van outside. “You ever have those things turned on you? You know what it’s like?”

“I would imagine it’s intrusive at first, and fine eventually.” She reached for her bag and added, “Now, can we continue to the next segment?”

“That segment’s been canceled,” he said and turned for the stairs.

“Where are you going?” she called after him.

“To cancel my date.”

“You can’t do that.” She sounded irritated, and a touch anxious.

He turned at the base of the stairs. “You need to film it before you’ll believe it’s true?”

Her lips compressed and she dropped her bag on the table next to the notebook. She hobbled closer in her cast with a pained expression on her face; it took some of the fire out of him. He’d rather she could charge right over and at least keep the disagreement equal; he could tell she liked to pace, to move when she was thinking. Or angry. He liked that about her. He liked too much about her. Except for her damn cameras.

Before she could say anything, he said, “Would those cameras follow you if you were my date?”

She stopped in front of him, her head jerking back. “What? Why?”

“Because whenever I’m around you, all I can think of doing is throwing you over my shoulder, carrying you upstairs, pushing you against a wall, and screwing you senseless,” he said.

Her big eyes got bigger and he could see she’d lost her composure, but his speech had just made its way to his body, and his body took over. He stepped forward, took her face in his hands, tilted it up, and kissed her.

She held herself rigid at first, her mouth hard, but he ran his tongue along the seam and she gasped, her lips opening and softening under his. He pushed his hands into her hair, dislodging the clip and feeling the thick strands surrounding him, brushing against his skin, and he slipped his arms around her and pulled her up tight. Grabbing his belt loops, she moaned, and he darted his tongue in, brushing it against hers, tasting her, wanting more.

She pressed closer, her breasts crushed against his chest and he slid down, imagining her naked body sliding across his, kissing a path down his chest, her hair caressing his hips, her hands touching, grabbing, stroking. He groaned, kissing her harder, and wrapped his arms tighter to lift her up, get her as close as possible, bring her upstairs and—

“Victoria, we’re ready to—whoopsy,” said the sister from the doorway.

Victoria pulled away from him with a sharp inhalation, pushing her hands against his chest until he lowered her to the floor.

“What are you doing?”

“I reckon I’m kissing you.”

“Well, that’s obvious.” She brushed her hair back from her face and wouldn’t meet his gaze. “What I’d like to know is what you’re about. I mean…you…you’re…”

“I’m about frustrated to high heaven being attracted to you and not touching you, so I thought I’d see what that might be like.”

“Oh.” She stared at him, face flushed a pretty pink.

“And on my side, it was pretty damn nice. For both of us.” He leaned close. “Would you disagree?”

Blurb

What happens when you mix a reality TV producer who won’t take “no” for
an answer with a country western singer with a different goal in mind?

Hot shot reality TV producer Victoria Clausen loves only one thing:
creating hit shows. Luke Tyler’s two main goals in life are getting out
of the shadow of his famous father and being a successful country music
star in his own right. When Victoria convinces him that his band would
make a great subject for a reality series, Luke reluctantly agrees. The
cameras are everywhere as filming begins, and both of their lives change
in unexpected ways when Luke explores a new goal, and Victoria learns
real life is more desirable.

Buy Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZTJONDW

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1122163212

iBooks:
https://itunes.apple.com/ie/book/in-concert-thats-entertainment/id1008546285?mt=11

Kobo:
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/in-concert-that-s-entertainment-book-two

Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/551302?ref=MeadowViewPress

Bio:

Christine Harvey has been a writer all her life: from a children’s book
at the age of eleven to novels in many genres. Both she and her
characters know that a pair of colorful cowboy boots can change your
life. Christine lives in California with her husband and far too many books.

Sign up for her newsletter at www.christineharvey.net and get updates on
new releases, giveaways, and special content, including an exclusive
deleted scene from /Take Two/, the first book in the That’s
Entertainment series. (The books can be read in any order)

Website: www.christineharvey.net

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Christine-Harvey-Author-240904929405251/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CHarveyAuthor

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/charveyauthor/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14029852.Christine_Harvey

First Kiss Friday with guest Jude Knight

27 Friday Apr 2018

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Welcome, my lovelies, to another First Kiss Friday. It’s my pleasure to bring back fellow Bluestocking Bell, Jude Knight and an excerpt from A Raging Madness. In this excerpt, Ella has just shown Alex, who has been invalided out of the army, a path to a possible future. What starts as a spontaneous thank-you develops into more. Happy reading and enjoy!

Excerpt:

Alex said nothing for a moment, and in the silence, she remembered he was an earl’s grandson. “I suppose you cannot, can you? Gentlemen do not go into trade.”

But his voice in the darkness was rich with warmth and excitement. “This gentleman can and will. That’s a marvellous idea, Ella. And I would not need to beg from Rede and Anne. I have money of my own. They paid me for being a human pincushion in the stead of my Distinguished Personage. They would have preferred me to die, I think, since a posthumous medal would have been cheaper, but I pleased myself instead of them, and so they gave me a reward. I have a good sum invested, and it is growing larger thanks to my cousin’s gift for making money.”

The sound was Alex shifting and dropping to the floor. Before she was aware of his intent, he was bending over her. Perhaps he meant to kiss her cheek, but she had turned her face towards the sound of his movement, and his lips dropped on her mouth, paused, and then moulded themselves to hers.

She had been right to be afraid. One touch of his lips and she burned for more, shifting to allow him better access, opening her mouth to welcome his invading tongue. No. Not invading; no conquering assault to batter down her defences, but a long-awaited and cherished caress that set her aflame, so she moaned and locked her hands behind his head to prevent his escape, and he stretched above her on the narrow bed and placed his own hands gently either side of her face.

“Ella,” he said, into her open mouth, and crushed his lips to her again before she could speak, though what would she say? Alex? Yes? Stop?

He was aroused. Though he took most of his weight on his elbows and his knees, still the length of him poked into her belly. If she shifted, even a little, it would rub the place that burned. Only the cotton of her shift and his shirt kept them apart, and all the good reasons for not lifting both garments out of the way had melted in the heat of his kiss.

Thoughts scattered. She pushed herself up against him, her nipples so hard the cotton hurt, and it was a good hurt, like the burning he both relieved and heightened as he rubbed his male organ against her, setting her squirming and moaning.

Suddenly he moved, sliding down the bed to nudge her shift sideways down one arm, freeing one breast, and seizing on the nipple with his mouth, his teeth, his tongue.

She moaned again, helpless to keep the sound from escaping, as he used one hand to tease the other nipple, and the other to gather the hem of her shift until her woman’s place was uncovered, and his hand was doing delicious things that narrowed her world to him. To Alex, and his hands and mouth and body, and what was happening to hers.

Alex tensed suddenly and raised his head, his hands stilling. Ella suppressed a whimper, caught and subdued the involuntary movement to draw him back, surfaced from the sea of sensation, and finally heard what he had heard. Voices, speaking low. Footsteps. The soft clap of a hand on the roof of the cabin—Jonno’s nightly salute, too soft to wake them but a signal they heard more evenings than not.

Jonno and the O’Haras were back from the tavern, and the spell was broken.

She dropped her hands from his shoulders, tried to cover her breast and pull down her hem, and blushed furiously in the dark. “I am so sorry, Alex,” she said. Though whether she was sorry to stop or sorry they had ever started, she had no idea.

After a moment, he pulled away, swinging his legs around so that he sat beside her on the bed.

“I am not that kind of woman,” she said, trying to sound convincing to herself when her whole body was screaming to complete what they had begun.

“Right.” He sounded strained. He sucked a breath in, then let it slowly out through his teeth.

“I cannot apologise enough…” Ella began, but Alex interrupted, his voice as courteous as ever, though strained.

“The fault is mine, Ella. I meant only to salute you for the gift of my future, and I forgot myself. I…” He stopped and took another deep breath. “I cannot bring myself to apologise. For any impression of disrespect, yes, indeed. I beg your pardon with all my heart if I have offended. But for offending you, not for kissing you.” He stood, and moved away from the bed. She could not make out what he was doing, but he had not returned to his own bed.

“It was everything I have dreamed this age,” he said, almost under his breath. This age? He had been dreaming of kissing her this age?

But she had to correct his misapprehension. “Each other,” she said.

Whatever he was doing—it sounded as if he was putting on his boots—he stopped. “Each other?”

“We kissed each other,” she explained.

The amusement was back when he replied. “We did, and very nicely, too.”

“And we cannot do it again,” Ella warned, hoping her regret was not obvious.

“No, I suppose not. I am going to take a short walk, Ella. I won’t go far, but the cold will be… beneficial.”

He had opened the hatch and was leaving before she spoke again, giving him a gift of words in return for those he had given her.

“It was better than I dreamed.”

His only response was a catch in his step before he continued, but a few minutes later, he began to whistle as he walked the canal path. It took her only a few bars to recognise the tune, and she smiled in the dark, mouthing the lyrics in time to his whistling.

Their marriage is a fiction. Their enemies are all too real.

“Envy is a raging madness that cannot bear the wealth or fortune of others.”
François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld

Ella survived an abusive and philandering husband, in-laws who hate her, and public scorn. But she’s not sure she will survive love. It is too late to guard her heart from the man forced to pretend he has married such a disreputable widow, but at least she will not burden him with feelings he can never return.

Alex understands his supposed wife never wishes to remarry. And if she had chosen to wed, it would not have been to him. He should have wooed her when he was whole, when he could have had her love, not her pity. But it is too late now. She looks at him and sees a broken man. Perhaps she will learn to bear him.

In their masquerade of a marriage, Ella and Alex soon discover they are more well-matched than they expected. But then the couple’s blossoming trust is ripped apart by a malicious enemy. Two lost souls must together face the demons of their past to save their lives and give their love a future.

Buy links

Jude Knight’s book page: http://judeknightauthor.com/books/a-raging-madness/

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/717569

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/book/a-raging-madness/

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-raging-madness-jude-knight/1126227273

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07111TCLR

About Jude Knight

Jude Knight’s writing goal is to transport readers to another time, another place, where they can enjoy adventure and romance, thrill to trials and challenges, uncover secrets and solve mysteries, delight in a happy ending, and return from their virtual holiday refreshed and ready for anything.

Website and blog: http://judeknightauthor.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudeKnightBooks

Pinterest: https://nz.pinterest.com/jknight1033/

Email: jude@judeknightauthor.com

First Kiss Friday with Caroline Warfield

20 Friday Apr 2018

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Welcome to another First Kiss Friday! It’s always a pleasure when I have author Caroline Warfield on my blog. Today, Caroline is sharing the first kiss scene from The Reluctant Wife. Happy reading and enjoy!

In The Reluctant Wife, Clare and Fred come together slowly, but with an inevitability that pulls readers along with them. This is their first gentle kiss. It occurs while they are searching for his runaway children and he is truant from a disciplinary hearing. As Clare would later note, she would endure the remembrance of his tender embrace, his thumb rubbing the back of her neck, and the kiss to the side of her head for many months.

Excerpt:

They searched down the middle of the park as one, but they had as little luck as before, and the first signs of night crept up with the sunset. Fred’s steps slowed until he could go no farther, and he leaned back against a date palm and closed his eyes in exhaustion.

I should get this woman home. The Davis dragon will be having six kinds of fits. He couldn’t make himself move. He needed her calm, her strength.

The feel of Clare’s hand on his arm, a gesture of comfort, proved too much for Fred’s self-control. He pulled her into his arms, a slow gentle embrace she didn’t resist, and lay his head against hers where it tucked perfectly against his shoulder, breathing deeply of her lavender scent and the sweet smell of a woman who had labored on his behalf in the heat of the day.

“We’ll find them, Captain. You mustn’t despair,” she murmured. She sagged against him in exhaustion.

He kissed a spot above her ear. “Fred. We’ve been partners all day. Could you dispense with rank? We’re comrades in this pursuit.”

“Fred then.” He thought he felt her smile against his shirt.

Comrades. Except she has a ship waiting in the morning, and I’ll— I’ll be under guard by noon tomorrow. There had been a hearing set for two o’clock that afternoon; he hadn’t even sent word about why he was detained. They wouldn’t have cared.

The two of them stood, he leaning against the tree, she leaning against his chest, for long moments while the sky around them changed from pale orange to a deeper shade and then to purple. He knew he would face failure and regret, though he hoped he could quickly resume his desperate search—or send Singh if he had to. For now, he just wanted to hold the woman who came when he needed her.

I shared a far steamier kiss from later in their journey on First Kiss Friday once before.  You can find that excerpt here.

The Reluctant Wife is Book 2 in Caroline Warfield’s Children of Empire Series.

Three cousins, who grew up together in the English countryside, have been driven apart by deceit and lies. (You may guess a woman was involved!) Though they all escape to the outposts of The British Empire, they all make their way home to England, facing their demons and finding love and the support of women of character and backbone. They are:

  • Randolph Baldwin Wheatly who has become a recluse, and lives in isolation in frontier Canada intent on becoming a timber baron, until a desperate woman invades his peace. (The Renegade Wife)
  • Captain Frederick Arthur Wheatly, an officer in the Bengal army, who enjoys his comfortable life on the fringes until his mistress dies, and he’s forced to choose between honor and the army. (The Reluctant Wife)
  • Charles, Duke of Murnane, tied to a miserable marriage, throws himself into government work to escape bad memories. He accepts a commission from the Queen that takes him to Canton and Macau, only to face his past there. (The Unexpected Wife)

Who are their ladies?

  • Meggy Campeau, the daughter of a French trapper and Ojibwe mother who has made mistakes, but is fierce in protecting her children. (The Renegade Wife)
  • Clare Armbruster, fiercely independent woman of means, who is determined to make her own way in life, but can’t resist helping a foolish captain sort out his responsibilities. (The Reluctant Wife)
  • Zambak Hayden, eldest child of the Duke of Sudbury, who knows she’d make a better heir than her feckless younger brother, but can’t help protecting the boy to the point of following him to China. She may just try to sort out the Empire’s entangled tea trade–and its ugly underpinning, opium, while she’s there. (The Unexpected Wife)

Book 3, The Unexpected Wife, will be released on July 25.

Here’s a short video about it:

https://www.facebook.com/carolinewarfield7/videos/924791187669849/

For more about the series and all of Caroline’s books, look here:https://www.carolinewarfield.com/bookshelf/

Buy Link: Amazon

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

First Kiss Friday with Lizzi Tremayne & a Giveaway!

13 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in 2018, First Kiss Friday

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It’s First Kiss Friday and today’s guest is fellow Bluestocking Belle, Lizzie Tremayne. Lizzi is sharing the first kiss scene from her Contemporary novel, Once Upon a Vet School. Be sure to leave her a comment to be in the running for her giveaway. Happy reading, my lovelies, and take it away Lizzi!

Hello! Thanks for coming by today, and thank you, Sherry, for having me here!

Once Upon a Vet School #7: Lena Takes a Foal.

Did you ever want to become a veterinarian? Didn’t quite get there?

Now you can live it with Once Upon a Vet School—tales of a girl who dreamed of becoming a vet… her life on the way and beyond.

Once Upon a Vet School is a new series of contemporary veterinary fiction. Share Lena’s escapades, and that of some of her classmates, from the time they decide to become veterinarians, through their education and practice time in the USA, to their careers, Lena’s as a rural equine and sometimes zoo-dentistry veterinarian in New Zealand.

In my excerpt, life had been going from bad to worse for my heroine, Lena, and she’d finally spilled the beans to Kit, her veterinary school resident… who was also something more.

He was about to become something more, anyway!

I’m giving away a digital copy of Once Upon a Vet School #7: Lena Takes a Foal, Book Seven of The Once Upon a Vet School series.

We pick up our story as Kit is holding Lena close, her tears flowing…

Excerpt:

I stared at him, then slapped my jaw shut.

“I can’t believe you’d do that. Not you,” I argued.

“I may not have abandoned her for another woman, but I abandoned her nonetheless… for my practice, my clients, my patients. I was there for them… always… but never for her.” He swallowed hard, his jaw locked tight. I took a deep breath and held it, then let it out slowly. “So, with nothing left, I came back… back to the place I loved the most, where horses were king and caring for them could be my life… without hurting anyone else… or letting anyone in that could hurt me. It was easier just not to feel…” He stopped and looked down at me. “And then you come along.”

“Me?”

“You. You with those sea green eyes…”

“Same as yours,” I whispered.

“Same as mine,” he agreed. “I tried to leave you alone, stay away… but…” He closed his eyes for a moment.

“Me too.”

“And so, you see, I find I want someone to care again… and I want to care about someone… you, specifically. I fought it, damned if I didn’t try to keep you away, keep you at arm’s length, but you kept coming back for more… your desire to help horses… it was like a drug to me.”

I swallowed hard. I wanted it so much, but…

But what?

My memory of why I shouldn’t get involved with anyone was fading fast.

“I’d always wanted to do a surgery residency here…” Kit hesitated, “and now I’m here and almost done, it’s not nearly enough. I want to stay, permanently, to teach… get on a tenure track, become a professor.”

“You’ll be the best they’ve ever had.” He let out his breath in a snort.

“Hardly,” he gave me a soft smile, “but I’d like to think I could at least make a difference to a lot of horses and students.”

“You already do that,” I said, and leaned harder against his solid chest. “And you’re easy to talk to.”

“And you understand how I feel about horses.”

I tried to look away, but his eyes drew me back.

“But we can’t…” It came out on a sob, wrenched from me, unwillingly. “I’m a student, you’re faculty.”

“There are no written rules on that, by the way,” he said, with a twist of his lips. “I checked.”

“But it couldn’t help your chances with the faculty — it would be ‘frowned upon’…and the way I see it, you’ll need every point in your favor — plenty of people want tenure here.”

“And, as others would say, and maybe they’re right, I’m too old and you’re too young,” he said, with a wistful smile.

“That’s not true, actually,” I said. “You’re over ten years younger than my last fiancé.”

He blinked.

“Seriously?”

I nodded.

“And…” I whispered, “the third argument, I don’t want to get hurt anymore.”

“That makes two of us.”

“You’ll never get that professorship, though, if you hang around with students, much less sleep with them,” I said flatly, and turned my head away. “I don’t want to wreck your chances.”

“I’m beginning to think it doesn’t matter… as much as this…” Kit turned my chin toward him with the side of his finger, then lowered his lips to mine.

I could have fallen into his warm lips, his touch… and I let it happen. I returned his kiss with all the feeling I’d kept hidden for so long.

“So…” I said, panting a bit, when he finally let me breathe again.

“What are we going to do about it, you mean?”

“Yes,” I said. My firm tone came out as more of a breathy whisper.

“Well, first, we’re going to get you over this fear of foaling.”

I gulped and the chill started up in my guts again.

“Hold on, there. It’ll be okay. Just hold on. Again, you were how old? And had how much veterinary training?”

“Fifteen, no training.”

“Think about this, with your head and not your emotions. Is that reasonable?”

“Y — no,” I said, and the tears began to fall again. “But my heart, it just…locks up and I can’t breathe, or think.”

“We’ll fix all that. Deal? I help you do that and you help me fix my heart and learn to trust again?” He was silent for a moment. “Maybe you can start learning to trust again too, eh?”

“That’s a big ask, with my history, but — ”

“— deal?” he cut in.

“Deal.”

I turned my face up to his and we kissed again. He leaned back against the wall, holding me tightly in his arms.

The warmth, the closeness, the safety.

I wanted it to go on forever.

But nothing lasts — I stopped myself.

Why not? Why not you?

That blasted little voice again.

I focused on Kit’s eyes. For the first time ever, no vagueness — or had it been avoidance? — showed in their depths. His green eyes were nearly black, intense, close before me.

I froze as a flash of green — a figure in surgical scrubs — showed, silhouetted, in the doorway behind Kit’s head.

About the story:

 She needs help… he needs to stay away…

Lena’s got a problem–one that might prevent her from graduating. When her horse flips over and lands on her, it has to be the dashing resident, Kit, who finds her. Luckily, she’s sworn off relationships after her last debacle and sea-green eyes and rugged good looks are the last things on her mind. Besides, to a veterinary school faculty, relationships between residents and students are like oil and water; they just don’t mix.

Buy Links:

Digital: Free on Kindle Unlimited or buy from Amazon here: https://lizzitremayne.com/OnceUponVet7  

Paperback: from Amazon here: https://lizzitremayne.com/OnceUponVet7

Paperback: for New Zealanders, buy direct from the author: https://www.fishpond.co.nz/q/Lizzi+Tremayne

Be the first to know about new releases, special offers, and news by signing up for Lizzi Tremayne’s Newsletter and get a copy of her Lizzi Tremayne Sampler for free! It’s here: https://lizzitremayne.com/signupsampler/

Author Bio:

Lizzi writes about the Old West, Russia, and Colonial New Zealand, as well as veterinary fiction and non-fiction—all with a horsey flair. She’s also one of the newest members of the Bluestocking Belles!

She grew up riding wild in the Santa Cruz Mountain redwoods, became an equine veterinarian at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and practiced in the California Pony Express and Gold Country before emigrating to New Zealand.

Lizzi has two wonderful, grown-up boys, a new grandbaby, and an awesome partner in this sea of green. When she’s not writing, she’s swinging a rapier or shooting a bow in medieval garb, riding, driving a carriage or playing on her hobby farm, singing, or working as an equine veterinarian or science teacher. She’s multiply published and awarded in fiction, special interest magazines and veterinary periodicals.

Sign up for Lizzi Tremayne’s Newsletter and get a copy of her Lizzi Tremayne Sampler for free. Be the first to know about new releases, special offers, and news here:  https://lizzitremayne.com/signupsampler/

Connect with Lizzi:

Lizzi’s Website :   http://www.lizzitremayne.com
Facebook:   www.facebook.com/lizzitremayneauthor

 

First Kiss Friday with For All of Ever

06 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in 2018, First Kiss Friday

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On today’s First Kiss Friday, I’d like to give you an excerpt from my medieval time travel, For All of Ever (which is also in the box set Hearts Across Time). In this scene, Riorden has just “rescued” Katherine after she was skinny dipping with her friends in a pond. Happy reading and enjoy their first kiss.

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Excerpt:

The smile she gave him disarmed him to his very core. Afore common sense could prevail, he grabbed her about her waist and brought them chest to chest. She gasped as they made contact, skin to skin. She lovingly wound her arms around his neck. He swore she gave him the most seductive purr he had ever heard in his entire life. ’Twas most pleasing to his ears.

“Do you feel it, Riorden?” she asked huskily.

He gave a brief laugh, since he certainly felt all kinds of sensations, especially a part of him rising to the occasion. “What?” he asked. He easily held her with one arm whilst his free hand moved a stray lock of wet hair from her face.

“Your heartbeat next to mine,” Katherine whispered, ever so softly.

He was momentarily startled at her words until the reality of them hit him full force. They were actually his own words spoken from his heart when they were both nothing more than shadows of what might have been. It humbled him whilst he did indeed feel her steady heartbeat next to his own. They were no longer ghosts, but flesh and blood. She had crossed time for him, and he vowed he would keep her forever by his side.

“Aye, my dearest Katherine, I feel it, too,” he replied profoundly, and watched in fascination whilst the pulse at her throat ticked rapidly. He was pleased to know he had such an effect on her, since the same held true of him. He felt her clasp her arms around his neck more fully as she molded her body to his own. It was almost his undoing.

“Isn’t it wonderful when dreams come true,” she added whilst she began to trace the planes of his face.

Riorden trembled beneath her gentle touch. “Aye, my lady, ’tis indeed most wondrous.”

“Will you do me a favor?” Katherine asked timidly.

“Aye, my lady, anything you wish. I am yours to command.”

“Anything?”

“Aye.” He did not trust himself with an attempt at a longer response whilst she looked at him with those scorching aquamarine eyes.

“Then kiss me,” she begged. Her words lingered in the air between them. “Please…”

His resolve to remain a gentleman vanished abruptly with her plea. His head swooped down and his mouth took possession of hers in a ravenous kiss. ’Twas as if he was starving, and only she could satisfy his hunger. His tongue plunged into her mouth and danced in tune with hers. He moaned at the contact. She moaned in response. His hands roamed down her backside and brought her closer, if that was at all humanly possible. He felt every glorious inch of her and knew in his heart he had found his soul mate. She was the other half of him, making him complete. She was what he had always been missing in his life. She was perfect for him, and she was his.

He deepened their kiss and felt as if time no longer had meaning to them. Time. He vowed Time would not steal her back and take her from his life. He broke their kiss. She took his lower lip and gave it a small nibble. Merde! Where did she learn to be such a seductress?

He reluctantly began to lower her back down the length of him, never taking his eyes from hers. He could tell by the look she gave him, she was disappointed. Wondering what she would do next, he had to remember to inhale when she surprised him by reaching out her hands to place them on his chest. He gave a sharp intake of breath as air rushed into his lungs whilst her fingers began to slowly explore his muscles, moving ever downward on his stomach.

“My God. You must be the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen,” she murmured in awe, biting her lower lip.

’Twas taking everything within him not to smother that delicious mouth of hers in another searing kiss. “A man cannot be called beautiful, my lady,” Riorden managed to choke out.

Katherine stopped her fingertips and laid her palms fully upon him. He sucked in his breath yet again, when she leveled her exquisite bluish-green eyes on him. “Oh, but you are…” Her words trailed off and hovered between them. She gave a tiny smile that could only be termed intimate before she continued touching him.

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For All of Ever: The Knights of Berwyck, A Quest Through Time series Book One

Sometimes to find your future, you must look to the past…

Katherine Wakefield has dreamed and written of her knight in shining armor all her life. Never finding a man to measure up to the one of her imagination, she and her three closest friends take a dream vacation to England. Yet, strange things begin happening while visiting Bamburgh Castle, but how could they have known they’d find themselves thrown back more than eight hundred years into the past?

Riorden de Deveraux travels to Bamburgh answering the summons of King Henry II knowing his past life is about to catch up with him. But nothing prepares him for the beautiful vision of a strangely clad ghost who first appears in his chamber, let alone the fact he begins having a conversation with her.

Centuries are keeping them apart until Time gives them a chance at finding love. But there are obstacles threatening the fragile bit of hope that Riorden and Katherine can remain together. Will the past of one consume what their future may hold, or will Time take the decision from them and hurtle Katherine forward to where she truly belongs?

Read it for FREE in Kindle Unlimited!

Buy Links:

Amazon US | Amazon AU | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

For All of Ever is also a part of a special box set entitled Hearts Across Time. It has Katherine and Riorden’s complete journey that includes Only For You. For links, see my book tab above.

First Kiss Friday with guest Jasmine Haynes

30 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by in 2018, First Kiss Friday

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It’s another First Kiss Friday and not only do I have the pleasure to welcome back my friend Jasmine Haynes but we also get to help celebrate her newest book baby. Today’s excerpt from Any Way She Wants It is the latest book in Jasmine’s West Coast Series. I’ve already grabbed my copy and we hope you’ll do the same. Get out your fan… lets turn up the heat and give a warm welcome to Jasmine!

Thank you, Sherry, you know how much I love your First Kiss Friday blog! And it’s a pleasure to be here with you again!

So Tricia and David in Any Way She Wants It have a history from way back when she was sixteen. And now they’re working at the same company over twenty years later. Tricia is divorced and David is a widower, and sparks about to fly! And the title comes from that fabulous old Journey song, Any Way You Want It, which happens to still be one of my favorites!

Excerpt:

“Just let it go, Tricia.” He wanted to beg, but he was afraid he’d start begging for something else entirely.

Why had she come back into his life to torment him? Wasn’t his wife’s death enough? There was only so much guilt a man could take before it crushed him.

Her eyes went soft, and she shook her head at him gently as if he were a poor misguided fool. “I haven’t let it go for over twenty years, David. I don’t know why you think I’m going to now. Unless you give me a really good reason.” She rose, picked up her papers, stuffed them in a folder, and headed for the door.

He felt sliced right down the middle, ecstatic that she intended to let it alone for now, and aching that she was leaving him. He pushed back from the table, that hair-brained part of him wanting to rush after her. But he didn’t stand. His fears and his guilt kept him bolted to the chair.

But she turned, setting her file on the bookcase by the side of the door, her hand on the door knob as she stood outlined in the frame. “Do you remember what you told me that night?”

He swallowed, barely restraining himself from running his finger around his collar as if his tie were too tight. “Uh…not really.” Most of what he remembered was physical, sensory, tactile, her mouth, her scent, her skin, her tears.

“You told me to demand what I wanted. Never to let a man get away with pleasing himself and not me.”

Yes, that he remembered. He’d wanted her to demand her pleasure. Because men could be selfish or clueless or just plain stupid. But he didn’t answer her aloud.

She closed the door. The lock clicked, the sound like a shout in the quiet office.

“I’ve decided to demand what I want. From you. Right now.” She advanced on him.

He couldn’t have moved if the fire alarm started screeching or an earthquake shook down the office walls. There was her black skirt, her slightly sheer blouse, and those mind-blowing red shoes. He could barely breathe. She leaned down, hands on the armrests of his chair, her scent spellbinding him.

“I want that night all over again,” she whispered. “Maybe I’ll be satisfied if I can have it just once more. Maybe I can get you out of my system.

If he gave in, he would never get her out of his system. He’d be lost. He’d be—

She hiked her skirt and climbed on top of him, fitting her slim legs down the sides of the armrests, along his thighs. Her heat surrounded him. He should have pushed her off, forced himself to surface above the beguiling aroma of woman and sex, above his needs and desires. But he couldn’t move.

Then she cupped his face in her palms. “Kiss me. Like you did back then. Tell me what you told me then.”

He couldn’t resist her, succumbing to what he’d dreamed about for so long. He didn’t even put up a token battle, dropping his voice to match her whisper, replaying the night. “You’re so damn beautiful. Don’t let anyone ever tell you you’re not good enough.” He wiped the tears from beneath her eyes as if she were crying. She’d always compared herself to his sister Judy, and always failed to measure up. In her mind, Judy was the pretty one, the popular one. The two of them had gone to some neighborhood party, and Tricia had overheard a boy say he could only kiss her if she put a bag over her head. Her self-confidence had been decimated.

She was nothing like that fragile girl now.

But that night, after the party, afraid she’d wake Judy—Tricia was always at their house—she’d come to the living room to hide her tears.

She’d found him sitting in the dark, watching TV with the sound off.

“Kiss me, David,” she begged him now, just as she had then. “Show me I’m pretty enough to be kissed.”

He gave in completely. To her and to his own dreams.

Jesus, she tasted better than memory, like hot, sexy, sensuous, experienced woman, so different and yet so much the same. Hands on her hips, he pulled her tight, her hot center riding him.

He was gone in two seconds flat. Lost. And he devoured her, taking her tongue, diving deep, fulfilling twenty-two years of fantasy. He kissed her until he was lightheaded with need, his hands all over her, thighs, breasts, tangling in her hair.

“You didn’t kiss me like that, David.”

He wasn’t sure how he’d let go long enough for her to pull back and whisper those beguiling words to him.

“It was different,” was his only excuse. And she was different, not the young girl who’d never had her first real kiss. Back then, he’d wanted only to show her that there would be so many more kisses for her in the future.

“Do you want me?” And she completely seduced him with the question.

Any Way She Wants It Blurb

He was engaged to be married.
She was his sister’s best friend and his dirty little secret.
Twenty years later, it’s all about to explode.

David Farris has been a widower for almost a year. He should have been able to handle Tricia Connelly walking back into his life. After all, it’s been over twenty years. But now that she’s here, she’s the embodiment of his greatest desire…and his worst guilt. Keeping everything between them strictly business is the only way to preserve his sanity.

Tricia wants nothing more than to make David totally crazy with need for her. When she realizes they’ll be working side-by-side, day in and day out, her heart clamors for this second chance to make the one man she’s always wanted fall for her. But David can’t let go of the past.

Her only choice is to seduce him with steamy kisses and delicious caresses to show him how perfect they could be for each other.

Can David forgive his past sins? Or will he sacrifice their future?

Learn all about the West Coast Series on my website! And read more excerpts!

Revenge, Book 1, Jessica and Clay
Submitting to the Boss, Book 2, Holt and Ruby
The Boss’s Daughter, Book 3, Ward and Cassandra
The Other Man, Book 4, Spence and Zoe
Pleasing Mr. Sutton, Book 5, Rance and Monica
Any Way She Wants It, Book 6, David and Tricia

Bio

NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author Jasmine Haynes loves giving readers sexy, classy stories about real issues like growing older, facing divorce, starting over. Her books have passion, heart, humor, and happy endings, even if they aren’t always traditional. She also writes gritty, paranormal mysteries in the Max Starr series. As Jennifer Skully, she writes laugh-out-loud romantic comedies laced with a heavy dose of mystery. Look for Jennifer’s new series written with Bella Andre, starting with Breathless in Love, The Maverick Billionaires Book 1. Having penned stories since the moment she learned to write, Jasmine now lives in the Redwoods of Northern California with her husband and their adorable nuisance of a cat who totally runs the household. Join her newsletter for updates on contests, new releases, and freebies by going to www/jasminehaynes.com.

Contact

Newsletter signup: http://bit.ly/SkullyNews

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon | Goodreads | Bookbub

First Kiss Friday with guest Caroline Warfield & a Giveaway!

23 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by in 2018, First Kiss Friday

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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

Barnes&Noble   Kobo   Amazon  Smashwords

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!

First Kiss Friday with Lizzie Tremayne & a Giveaway!

16 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by in 2018, First Kiss Friday

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Welcome to another First Kiss Friday! Today, I am happy to have one of our newest authors to join the Bluestocking Belles, LIzzi Tremayne.  If you leave a comment for Lizzie, she’s offering an eBook to one lucky winner. We hope you enjoy this first kiss scene from A Long Trail Rolling. Take it away, Lizzi!

Hello! Thanks for coming by today, and thank you, Sherry, for having me here!

My heroine, Aleksandra, had already met the hero of the story, but… they weren’t exactly friends yet. SO this is actually Aleksandra’s first kiss, though it’s not with the hero! If you want to read about Aleksandra and Xavier’s first kiss, you’ll have to read A Long Trail Rolling, Book One of The Long Trails series.

Today I’m giving away an ebook copy of A Long Trail Rolling to one lucky commenter. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

In our excerpt, life had turned upside down for Aleksandra. She’d just found her pa dead of a sword wound, she was alone, and the tribe of Shoshone she’d grown up alongside wouldn’t take her in—for her own safety.

We pick up our story as Aleksandra is riding toward her lonely cabin from the Indian village…

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Hope was far from Aleksandra’s reach, her heart in tatters somewhere lining the bottom of her empty chest, as she and Dzień wandered down the mountain toward their cabin.

How could I have missed it?

She understood how the deepening rift between the settlers and the indigenous people wouldn’t let her safely live in their midst, but what of Dancing Wolf? How did she miss his deepening feelings for her, when they were close as brother and sister? Aleksandra was attracted to him, but accustomed only to the overt displays of affection in her family, his increasing reservation toward her as they matured had blinded her to what might have been. She shook her head to clear it and smiled as she thought of their leave-taking.

Dancing Wolf had accompanied her from the village and stopped at their old halfway meeting point. The tall young man dismounted from his pinto Mustang and for only the second time since they were children, wrapped his arms around her and held her close as she sat her pony, silent, for long minutes.

‘Kwahaten, you have been the most special part of my life and a large piece of my heart leaves with you. For your safety, I cannot have what my heart desires most, you by my fireside, beneath my furs,’ he stopped, flushed, and then cleared his throat, ‘riding by my side, forever. You need to go to your own people,’ he finally managed. ‘I will be watching for you. If you are ever in need, you know how to find me.’

Aleksandra nodded. ‘I understand, though I feel the rest of my family has truly died now. With you, I also leave much of my heart. May we meet again soon, my special one.’ She kissed the top of his head, bowed against her breast. He lifted his face to hers, his eyes deep pools of darkness, searching into her soul. Their lips met in their first kiss, the intensity of his touch shocking Aleksandra, and she drew back for a moment. His lips continued warm and insistent against hers as he wrapped his arms around her. She sighed and melted into him, her arms moving about his neck of their own volition as she breathed in his musky scent. She felt a gripping tension deep in her belly as he deepened the kiss, and inhaled sharply. He pulled back slowly, his eyes darkened to black, then smiled at her, while he shook his head slowly and let his breath out. Brushing the stray strands of hair from her face and taking her hands, he kissed her softly on the lips once again.

He looked down at her hands between his.

‘What we might have had—’ he started, then paused.

‘—cannot be, my special one,’ she said into the silence, ‘but I will always remember.’ She tried for a smile, looking at him through bleary eyes. Her hands still shook, but at least her heart felt like someone had kindled a small fire inside, and it was warm.

‘Go now, dear one of my heart, my Kwahaten. You cannot be mine, but I will always be here for you.’ Smiling at her, he swung onto his pony as Aleksandra turned her own Mustang and rode back down the mountain.

So, not the first kiss with the hero, but Aleksandra’s first kiss… 🙂 I’m giving away a digital copy of A Long Trail Rolling, Book One of The Long Trails series to a random commenter. Just leave your comments below and good luck!

 Buy Link:

https://lizzitremayne.com/LongTrailRoll

About the story:

 She didn’t expect to become a target…but she is one now.

Aleksandra is alone and running to prevent her father’s killer from discovering their family secret. Disguised as a Pony Express rider in 1860’s Utah, Aleksandra winds up in even deeper trouble when she rides full speed into the Paiute Indian War. With Xavier, her compelling Californio boss, can she escape the Indians on the warpath and evade the man who’s already killed her father—and set his sights on her?

Author Bio:

Lizzi writes about the Old West, Russia, and Colonial New Zealand, as well as veterinary fiction and non-fiction—all with a horsey flair. She’s also one of the newest members of the Bluestocking Belles!

She grew up riding wild in the Santa Cruz Mountain redwoods, became an equine veterinarian at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and practiced in the California Pony Express and Gold Country before emigrating to New Zealand.

Lizzi has two wonderful, grown-up boys and an awesome partner in this sea of green. When she’s not writing, she’s swinging a rapier or shooting a bow in medieval garb, riding, driving a carriage or playing on her hobby farm, singing, or working as an equine veterinarian or science teacher. She’s multiply published and awarded in fiction, special interest magazines and veterinary periodicals.

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Thanks for coming by!

Lizzi