I love time travel. It’s one of my favorite story concepts. The idea of going back in time and seeing some part of history is fascinating to me.  Imagine hearing Lincoln give the Gettysburg address or watching the Wright Brothers fly the first airplane.  There are so many events in the past that changed the course of history and so many interesting people.  But the past is also filled with a lot of horrors and difficulties. Popping in for a short visit would be one thing, but having to survive in the past while trying to get home is quite another.

This is the concept I explored in my first book in the Love through Time series, A Second Chance.  Journalist Jessica Winters finds herself in a small mining town in 1876 and has to survive while trying to find a way home.  She meets Captain Harlan Jefferson Baylor, a Civil War confederate cavalry officer and they fall in love, but she’s forced to return to her own time to save their unborn child.  In the second book of the series, A New Beginning, I explored the opposite concept, going forward in time.

When someone from the future ends up in the past, they at least have some knowledge or point of reference to work with.  Even if you slept through most of you history classes in school, you’d still have some sort of an idea what ancient Rome was like, or the Middle Ages, or the American wild west.  But if you traveled over 150 years into the future, especially if you were born at the time of the Civil War, you’d have no point of reference point at all.  How would you react to seeing your first car, or a helicopter, or an airplane?  How would you survive in the world of modern technology with no concept of a cell phone, television, a computer, or a radio? All the things we use every day and take for granted would appear as terrifying magic to someone from the distant past.  The other part of the problem is all the social changes.  Our language has evolved over the last 150 years, what is acceptable behavior and what is not has changed, not to mention the difference in clothing and hairstyles.

The future is a scary place, and personally I’d rather take the slow road to get there.

If you could time travel, where would you want to go?

A New Beginning

How do you pack for a trip through time?

Mai Ling’s legs tremble as she steps out into the unknown. But step she must. One group of miners in a rough nineteenth century town is out for blood, including hers. Carrying her few possessions and her family’s precious secret, Mai Ling leaves her mother and the world she knows to venture into a new century. Her escort is Captain Harlan Jefferson Baylor, who is joining his wife and his unborn child in the 21st century. They step through a crack in time, not knowing what they will find. Will Harley be able to reunite with Jessica, even though he has no idea of how to drive a car or use a telephone? Will Mai Ling survive in this strange time and find the love that has eluded her so far?

The answers are in A NEW BEGINNING, book two in the Love through Time series.  Coming June 28^th.

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Augustina Van Hoven’s Social Media Links

Website: https://augustinavanhoven.com
Twitter: @augustinavhoven
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Thank you, Delilah for having me! I brought along a special Scottish prize, too!

So what do you get when you combine a secret agency dedicated to changing history back to the way it was, and an agent who has the ability to calm people along with the power to travel through time, and a medieval Highland laird?

On Highland Time, of course!

Authors get their inspiration from many places and for me it has always started with classic literature. In this case, it was Sir Walter Scott’s narrative poem, The Lady of the Lake. Though the poem takes place later than my story, it gave me the idea to have someone infiltrate a clan in disguise, since the King in Scott’s poem does just that only to fall for the lady.

After that a number of “what ifs” occurred such as what if the person disguised was a lady who falls for the laird, and what if she was a time traveler, and what if she was there to change history back to the way it was when the laird had died, and…you get the picture. It’s just the way my mind works.

Of course, since I write romance, there had to be a relationship and a happily ever after, but it wasn’t easy with this story. There were a lot of forces at play against that happening. I do enjoy time travel stories, but I like my heroines to have control. Diana Montgomery can control her time travel, but she still has to make a brutal decision — save mankind’s future or save the man she loves. Not quite the decision the Lady of the Lake had to make, but close.

On Highland Time

For fans of sexy Scottish Highlanders who know how to treat a woman like a lady.

When someone changes history, affecting the future, Diana Montgomery, the most experienced agent of Time Weavers, Inc., travels back to 1306 Scotland to change it back. Her mission, to find the culprit and ensure a minor clan chief dies in battle as he originally had.

Diana is well-prepared to infiltrate the small MacPherson clan. What she’s not prepared for is Torr MacPherson, the ruggedly handsome warrior with a kind heart and a steadfast loyalty—the Laird she’s supposed to ensure dies.

On Highland Time Buy Links:
Amazon|Barnes & Noble| iBooks| Kobo

Excerpt:

Torr appeared to grow larger before her eyes. He straightened to his full height and looked down at her, his eyes hard. “I was protecting my king and what is mine.”

She swallowed, his stare clearly indicating he considered her his. She broke eye contact and looked past him to find the two men, Beth, Braigh, and Mairi watching them. Once again, she was the center of attention. Not the right place for a TWI agent.

Medieval. She needed to think like a medieval woman. What would Mairi do in this case? Actually, the poor woman might very well faint.

Though it rubbed her all ways but the right way, she kept her gaze lowered. “I’m sorry that helping Ian angered you. I will refrain from doing so again.”

She heard Torr sigh. “That is not what upset me.”

Daring to look at him, she hoped her gaze wasn’t too direct. “Then why were you angry?”

He folded his arms across his chest, usually a common defensive gesture, but one she had begun to believe was his thinking stance. “I did not like seeing ye in the arms of another.”

That was blunt and to the point. “But aren’t you in the arms of another woman every few nights?”

He looked away and dropped his arms before quickly changing the subject. “I believe food awaits us.”

“So it does.” She let her irritation spill into her tone of voice. His double standard grated on her nerves, but that was according to her own time. She had to stop letting him get to her. Crouching down, she picked up her shoes and walked barefoot to the blanket, completely ignoring the hulk strolling beside her.

When she sat on the blanket, Douglas caught her eye and shook his head.

Oh, go have dinner with Medusa! She took a deep breath to regain some balance.

Torr lowered his large body next to her. Holding out his hand, he offered her a chunk of bread and a square of cheese. Reluctantly, she accepted it. Crossing her legs beneath her, she took a bite. The sharp cheese woke her taste buds and refocused her thoughts.

He didn’t say a word as he ate his mutton and bread.

She appreciated the silence and the food, casting furtive glances at him. The man would definitely be considered “eye candy” in her age. Broad shoulders with large muscles in his arms, developed pectorals, and abs women sighed over. While she had only seen a glimpse of his thighs, she could tell by the bulge of his calves that they, too, would be solid strength. He was no cover model with his crooked nose, red-tinged hair, and pure maleness, but he was striking in his own way. Even more than his giant build, there was a purpose to him that forewarned he was a force to be reckoned with. She just couldn’t see him dying in battle.

“Here.” Torr held out a wooden cup.

She tentatively took a sip to find it was water. It enhanced the aftertaste of the cheese, one of the few food items she found palatable. She handed the cup back. “Thank you.”

His large hand covered hers but didn’t let go. She looked up at him. His deep blue eyes crinkled at the corners. “Ye have no need to fear me, lass.”

Maybe not physically, but definitely emotionally. She liked this big, kind-hearted man, far too much. His feelings for her, though only interest and lust, were not good. Better to keep him at arm’s length. She grinned. “I know.”

His brow rose and arrogance revealed itself once again. “Ye do? Well then, ye also know my bed is waiting for you.”

She swallowed the thrill of excitement that ran through her chest and instead focused on her modern irritation over his lifestyle. Though she tempered it, she wasn’t above a little sarcasm. “Which night?”

He scowled, his face taking on harsh lines.

Holy Hamlet, he looked mean when he did that.

“Lass, you test my patience.”

“Laird, you test mine.” She raised her chin just a fraction.

He scowled harder. Then his face relaxed, and he chuckled. “I think ye will fit into this clan very well.”

The idea of being a welcome part of the clan scared the hell out of her. Since her parents’ death, she’d created her own clan, so to speak. She couldn’t become attached to another, especially not in 1306. She needed to put distance between herself and this laird.

About the Author

Lexi Post is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of romance inspired by the classics. She spent years in higher education taking and teaching courses about the classical literature she loved. From Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death” to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, she’s read, studied, and taught wonderful classics.

But Lexi’s first love is romance novels so she married her two first loves, romance and the classics. From hot paranormals to sizzling cowboys to hunks from out of this world, Lexi provides a sensuous experience with a “whole lotta story.”

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her cat in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend, loves bright colors, and you will never see her without a hat.

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In a recent issue of Romance Writers Report, there appeared an article about authors with attention deficit disorder. A primary requirement for many of these unfortunate souls is absolute silence before they can jot down a word. This revelation has led me to believe I’ve got a burning case of ADD.

When I’m not being distracted from writing by pine cones falling, trucks passing, or the thump of my cat as she dismounts from her favorite chair, I tutor. One student meets me at a small library in New York State, which is run by the world’s loudest librarians. These ladies treat the place like it’s their private social club; they talk at full volume, shout across the room, and chatter like parakeets behind the checkout desk. The ringleader is a tall, thin thing with half orange, half white hair, which she parts so not a single orange strand mingles with a single white strand. Plus, she wears horn-rimmed glasses and is nasty.

One time, my student and I arrived to find her and another librarian gossiping in the study room we’d grown accustomed to using. Very politely, I asked if they’d be in there much longer. “What are you, a tutor?” she asked, emphasizing “tutor” as if it were slang for poop. “Tutors aren’t allowed in here. You can use one of those tables.” She waved at a few knee-high structures in the Children’s Section.

We slunk into the tiny chairs and tried to get through the lesson. As she and her compatriots bellowed above our heads, I thanked fate for not making me a citizen of this besieged township. Libraries, after all, are typically a refuge for those of us with an anchovy’s attention span.

A Rogue in Sheep’s Clothing

In Lord Hugh Davenport’s opinion, women of the tonperpetually hide behind a mask of deception. That’s hard for Ellie Albright, the daughter of an earl, to swallow—especially since she’s disguised herself as a stable hand to get back the prized stallion her father sold to Hugh to pay a debt. If Hugh learns her true identity she’ll lose the horse and her family will go bankrupt. Somehow, though, losing Hugh’s affection is beginning to seem even worse…

Already only a step away from being snagged in her own web of lies, Ellie’s deceit threatens to spin out of control when Hugh’s mother invites Ellie and her sisters to a house party. Now Ellie has to scramble to keep Hugh from knowing she’s the stable girl he wants to marry, while simultaneously trying to win his trust as herself. Can she keep her costumes straight long enough to save her family? And even if she does, will it be worth losing his love?

Get your copy here!

EXCERPT from A Rogue in Sheep’s Clothing

Ellie took a few limping steps after him. “I’ll need your assistance.” He came back and eyed her suspiciously. “Your arm, in fact,” she told him.

His lips hardened, but he looped her arm through his. As they passed a row of seated grande dams, every eye watched with envy.

At an alcove, Hugh stopped to let her pass. “In here,” he said.

“I can’t go in there alone with you.”

“Did you see a free chair on the floor?” he said. “Because what I saw was a row of plump sugar plums, and none of them likely to abandon her seat.”

“People will say I’ve been compromised.”

“Nonsense. I couldn’t possibly compromise anyone in an alcove shielded by a simple palm tree. A young lady compromised in such a manner either wants to be or wants to pretend she was. Which one are you?”

“Neither,” snapped Ellie.

“Then sit.” He whacked back the palm revealing a gilded bench by the wall. “Besides,” he continued, following her into the alcove, “your reputation will swell in direct correlation to the amount of time spent in my company.”

As she sat, she rolled her eyes. “La, what an extraordinary view of oneself.”

BUY LINKS for A Rogue in Sheep’s Clothing and The Secret Life of Lords

Amazon.com A Rogue in Sheep’s Clothing: Book 1 in the Albright Sisters series

Amazon.com The Secret Life of Lords: Book 2 in the Albright Sisters series

Elf Ahearn
“Regency romance with a Gothic twist.”
The Albright Sisters Series: A Rogue in Sheep’s Clothing, The Secret Life of Lords
www.Elfahearn.com
https://www.facebook.com/elf.ahearn

Diana Cosby ©2018

When I began writing, I remember sending out my first partial, smiling, telling everyone the manuscript’s title, and that my book was going to sell. Then how, months later, I received a rejection letter. I was devastated. How could a publisher not want the book of my heart? And the rejection letter, Dear Author . . ., it could have been written to anyone!

Over the years I discovered that I had a deft skill for acquiring rejections. I remember one day my oldest son, who has now served a tour in the Marine Corps, carrying in a manila envelope saying, “Hey, Mom, you received another rejection.” 😊 Gotta love kids. After 100 rejections, I quit counting. I decided I knew how to acquire a rejection.

Throughout the years, regardless of the frustrations and doubt, I never gave up. Not only is it important to never give up, but I believe it’s essential for you to RECOGNIZE that with each passing year, you’re growing more knowledgeable in the craft, plus, you’re connecting with fellow authors and industry professionals, which is networking. Once you sell, your experience and contacts will prove invaluable. I never realized until looking back, the benefits of selling later in my writing career.

I feel passionate about this topic, because I wish someone would have sat me down and said, “That you write is well and good, but let’s say you sold, what’s your plan?” Plan? Why to write of course. It’s critical that after we sell that we keep on writing, but it’s also important to build a readership along with a list of reviewers. The hard reality is that unless you sell a book through a high visibility venue, few people will know who you are, much less buy your book. So, if you’re a new writer, don’t worry over about rejections, they’re a part of writer’s life, but plan for the day when you sell. Use your time accrued to your benefit, your success is no accident.

What is your exact goal? Define it. Plan not only make it, but make it a success. So, what can you do? My thoughts:

-If you have a website, great. If not, place it on top of your priority list. Let it reflect the target market you are writing for and will eventually sell to. If you’re going to blog, great, but stagnant blogs turn away readers.

-A Brand. What tag to do you feel is the essence of what you write, regardless of the line, era? My tag is, “Romance Edged With Danger.”

-Business Cards. Keep them professional. I have two different business cards, those I hand out to readers that have my website and e-mail, but not my home address and contact information. The other business card has all of my contact information, which I give to industry professionals.

-Bookmarks. I think bookmarks are one of the single best marketing tools a writer can have. I always say that if someone takes one and really doesn’t want it, odds are they’ll leave my bookmark somewhere – to be found by a reader who’ll scoop it up. Also, I send bookmarks to conferences, booksellers, venues that feature the type of book I write such as medieval gatherings, and anywhere I feel it’s beneficial.

-On-line social media pages.

-Conferences: Keep networking!

-Marketing. I’ll give you two bits of advice, choose what you LOVE DOING, and what’s within your budget.

After 9 1/2 years of writing, I sold. I found that in addition to writing an intense, multi-layer story, came the challenge of fitting in time for promotion. It’s easy to become overwhelmed. This is where preparing early in your career for success comes into play. Your well-planned foundation won’t add time onto your day, but it will give you a significant edge as you work hard to help your career take off.

As I look back, I’m thankful I didn’t sell early on in my career. After 9 1/2 years of writing I thought I was ready for the challenges after I sold; in essence, I was clueless. The years accrued before I sold gave me time to strengthen my writing, meet industry professionals, and to make friends who were a not only a bedrock in the enormous transition of becoming published, but who are truly a blessing in my life. So, next time you receive a rejection letter, set it aside, and focus on building your career. Last, always believe in yourself! I wish each and every one of you every success!

Diana Cosby, International Best-Selling Author
www.dianacosby.com

Author of:
The Oath Trilogy
MacGruder Brother Series
Forbidden Series: Forbidden Legacy/Forbidden Knight/Forbidden Vow–May 15th, 2018/Forbidden Alliance TBA/Forbidden Realm TBA

Contest

Comment for a chance to win this tote and cup!

Growing up I was a sucker for history. How people lived in ages past always intrigued me. Born in 1956, I grew up a child of the 60’s Black is Beautiful movement. Nacent pride in being Black — as we were calling ourselves then — intensified my curiosity. I hungered for anything and everything that could teach me African American history. That’s why TV shows touching on the hidden stories of African Americans stick with me to this day.

I remember Ossie Davis guest starring as an ex-slave caring for his son on Bonanza. Watching Yaphet Kotto on High Chaparral where I first learned about Buffalo Soldiers. I can still see the boxed paragraph with illustration in the pages of the old TV Guide highlighting the episode. Little did I know as I watched those shows and others like them I too would be using historical fact to create historical fiction.

My most recent novella, Better To Marry Than To Burn, was inspired by a true story.  African-American married women in Arizona mining towns advertised back East to bring marriageable women West. They convinced the unmarried miners to settle down instead of fighting over prostitutes all the time. What a great set up for an opposites-attract second-chance romance.

This wasn’t my first encounter with the concept of mail-order brides. I used to watch a show called Here Come The Brides about three brothers who owned a logging company in Seattle. Bobby Sherman, a teen idol back then played Jeremy the youngest Bolt brother who stuttered and David Soul, later of Starsky and Hutch fame, played Joshua the middle brother. Its premise was the Bolt brothers had loggers who were tired of having no women in their lives and were ready to quit. The solution was to send oldest brother Jason, played by Robert Brown, back East to Massachusetts and return with single women looking for husbands. Many would be available and willing thanks to the lack of men created by the Civil War. I remembered the show had done excellent episodes on finding mates for Jewish and Chinese characters. Somewhere in the dusty recesses of my memory I knew they had done an episode trying to match African Americans, too. Was the memory real or had I made it up? Lo and behold, Google showed my memory was still good.

“A Bride for Obie Brown” had aired in 1970. I was pleasantly surprised to rediscover who had played the roles of Obie and his intended bride Lucenda. They’re now household names although I wonder if some of you may not be old enough to know who they are. Here’s a hint: their equally famous partners were actress Tyne Daly and jazz musician Miles Davis. Can you name them?

Better To Marry Than To Burn

Erotic African-American historical romance
Release date: April 25, 2018

Learn more here: https://amzn.to/2JyLKu1, here: https://bit.ly/2DHdb0x and here: www.michalscott.webs.com.

Freed Man seeking woman to partner in marriage for at least two years in the black township of Douglass, Texas. Must be willing and able to help establish a legacy. Marital relations as necessary. Love neither required nor sought.

Caesar King’s ad for a mail-order bride is an answer to Queen Esther Payne’s prayer. Her family expects her to adhere to society’s traditional conventions of submissive wife and mother, but Queen refuses. She is not the weaker sex and will not allow herself to be used, abused or turned into a baby-making machine under the sanctity of matrimony. Grateful that love is neither required nor sought, she accepts the ex-slave’s offer and heads West for marriage on her terms. Her education and breeding will see to that. However, once she meets Caesar, his unexpected allure and intriguing wit makes it hard to keep love at bay. How can she hope to remain her own woman when victory may be synonymous with surrender?

Excerpt:

With thanks to God, he pushed past her flimsy drawers to the moist welcome of her center. Her 
vaginal walls gripped his fingers with surprising 
force. No amount of twisting or turning wrenched 
them free. God, to have that grip surrounding his 
shaft.

He pulled back and studied her face. Eyes still 
closed, a sly smile bowed her perfect lips. She 
enjoyed this battling as much as he.

“Was I too brutal for your enjoyment, Mrs. 
King?”

Her eyelids rose with the slow grace of sunrise. A gleam as sly as her smile shone in her gaze. “You call that brutal, Mr. King?”

She unclenched her lower muscles, allowing his fingers momentary retreat. With great care, she grasped his hand then slid his fingers between her folds once more.

“Holy Christ, woman. What—?”

The gentle rubbing robbed him of his ability to think.

“Jesus, have mercy,” he wheezed.

She slid his fingers from her wet sex into his mouth. He moaned, lost in her delectable taste.

Without taking her gaze from his face, she raked her gloved hand down his chest, across his belly, to his groin. Anticipation tensed his muscles in the wake of her touch. He watched mesmerized as, with a practiced ease, she unbuttoned his fly, pushed past the fabric, sought, found and stroked his cock. Her woolen gloves imparted a delicious friction he couldn’t oppose, even if he’d wanted. Delight enlivened every muscle in his body, including his jaded heart.

Jesus. This couldn’t be more than arousal. Could it?

Her fingers squeezed and his body arched upward on the yes swelling his spirit with joy. He threw back his head, mouth open, ready to shout as he neared the point of release.

Then she let him go.

He doubled over, slain by the abandonment. His lungs constricted, bereft of air. Reason deserted him too.

She stood and smoothed down her skirts with the hand that had massaged his shaft more deftly than he ever had. Reseated, she grabbed the reins and snapped the leather against his horse’s rump.

“Get up there.”

The wagon jostled Caesar from side to side. Still unable to straighten up, he looked into eyes gleaming with triumph. Her lips curved in a regal smirk.

“Was I too brutal for your enjoyment, Mr. King?”

Hi Delilah Fans!

Great news today—lots of free reads, yours for the taking. These freebies are at Smashwords, Amazon, and Instafreebie. Download any format anytime but for today, the link takes you to Instafreebie. And there’s more free reads than those listed below, so check out Liz’s Author Page for more. Looking forward to your review!

Here’s the rundown (Click on the title at the top!):

Hers to Choose
Cannon Cousins Book I in this newly revised and expanded series

Bryn McClure is running out of time. With foreclosure in the last stages, she’s about to lose the beloved twelve-hundred acre Ozark farm she inherited from her grandparents. Her desperate last hope is to sell hunting rights for deer season.

Alex Cannon is running out of options. His cousin and property development business partner Dan has spiraled into a life-threatening depression. Alex hatches a brilliant idea of what might help Dan, and on advice from an old friend, contacts Bryn. A hunting trip might be the perfect route to a new outlook for Dan, especially with the extra touch Alex wants from Bryn.

When Bryn agrees to Alex’s special request, she’s thrilled not only with the promise of badly needed income, but also with the prospect of sexy kink. Her social life has languished during her lonely year of rural living. It seemed like such a good idea when she agreed to it.

But standing on her porch watching these two gorgeous men climb out of their truck and walk toward her, she thinks maybe she hadn’t fully appreciated how complicated things could become. Alex stuns her with his warmth and charm, but the cold and angry Dan is the one who expects her submission. By the second day, when the first spanking sparks her passions, she realizes she may be in for a lot more than she expected.

Dare to Ask

In this sexy novella, a spur of the moment dare forces a woman to blurt out an invitation to a younger man. Instantly regretful, she wants to drive away and never come back. Worse, he accepts. Now what?

Tess and the New Year
Short story spinoff from the House of Rae series.

When Tess answers her door, the last person she expects to find is Josh Carter. He comes on a mysterious mission. What a way to start the year!

This short story forms a new chapter for Josh and the House of Rae series, a continuing collection of stories that plunge deep into a near-future world of devastated landscapes, religious terrorism, legalized prostitution, and a spreading plague of brown death. Backed by desperate governments, a network of psions organize energy grids to distribute the healing effects of pleasure energy harvested from dance centers and sex houses. But that’s not all that comes to be expected of these native-born Indigos. Slowly the curtain pulls back to reveal dark energy rising from the ground and the dimensional shift that empowers them. Still learning the skills of his mysterious talent, Josh and his brothers in light gain strength from sex. Now it’s Tess’s turn to enjoy what Josh has to offer.

A Gift for Jarrod
Erotic Novella, the opening to the Jarrod Bancroft story

It started innocently enough. A rich young man in search of adventure in sadistic humiliation. An older woman intent on her profession as dominatrix. Their crossed paths should have been six weeks of a purely business relationship.
But things never go as planned.

His Only Love
An Erotic Gay Romance Novella. A spinoff to the Caerwin of Britannia series

As Saturnalia dawns and Rome’s Legio XIV Gemina prepares for the midwinter celebration despite their station on the far western border of Britannia, Greek slave Antius faces the disaster he set in motion involving his beloved master and legion commander, Marcellus. He takes refuge with his young lover even as an intimate betrayal unfolds between trusted friends.

Enjoy!

Character Interview – Lady Elizabeth Blayneton

1. If you had a free day with no responsibilities and your only mission was to enjoy yourself, what would you do?

I’d visit all the sights in London that I’ve heard about but never seen. I’m not allowed out the house, you see. My Uncle August keeps me isolated in the hope that I’ll marry his son Frederick. The man stinks of hounds and gapes like a fish. I’d rather die a spinster than marry him.

2. What impression do you make on people when they first meet you? How about after they’ve known you for a while?

I don’t make an impression. I’m invisible, little more than a servant in a household that exists because of my fortune. I only have threadbare gray gowns. When visitors call on my cousins I’m banished to either my room or my stillroom. What with my silver blonde hair and my hideous gowns, I sometimes think my whole life is gray

3. What’s your idea of a good marriage? Do you think that’ll happen in your life?

I can’t marry without my uncle’s permission or until I turn thirty. Since I won’t marry Cousin Frederick, I’ll be an old maid before I can wed. If I ever find the opportunity, I’ll gladly give up virginity while I’m young enough to enjoy it.

4. What are you most proud of about your life?

My herbal skills. Before my parents were killed in a carriage accident, mama and I studied plants and their uses. Even my cousins want my potions. The good thing about that is I’m allowed out at dawn to collect herbs.

5. What about on a personal level?
Some people think my stubborn streak’s a bad thing – Uncle Augustus and my cousins among them. I don’t. I keep refusing to wed Frederick. Nothing could make me take him into my bed.

6. Do you think you’ve turned out the way your parents expected?

No. Papa made his will when my aunt was alive. She’d never have let Uncle Augustus treat me the way he does. Mamma and I were planning my come out when their carriage overturned and killed them. They wanted me to enjoy a couple of London Seasons, but obviously that never happened.

7. What would you like it to say on your tombstone?

She lived well, had fun, and helped those in need. It hurts that I can’t do any of that until I turn thirty and inherit my fortune. The only men who will want me then are fortune hunters. I want to live now, not in seven years’ time.

8. Describe your ideal mate.

I’d like a husband who sees me as I am and loves me for it. I don’t want my fortune to matter. I’d like him to be tall and dark-haired. Someone unafraid to stand up to Uncle Augustus. A dashing soldier maybe.

9. What are you most afraid of?

Dying a virgin – unloved and unwanted by anyone.

10. Are you lying to yourself about something? What is it?

I keep telling myself everything will work out find. Only deep down, I know it won’t. My solace is my herbs. If I concentrate on them and ways to heal people, then I can get through each day as it comes.

Wickedly Used

While he is no stranger to pleasurable company from ladies of the night, Major Richard Rothbury of the royal dragoons is not the kind of man who will stand idly by as a woman is taken against her will, and when he witnesses a disreputable cad attempting to force himself on a girl in a back alley, he does not hesitate to intervene.

But after the grateful young woman offers herself to Rothbury, he is shocked to discover that not only was she no harlot, she was a maiden and he has deflowered her. Furious at the girl’s scandalous behavior and her carelessness with her own safety, Rothbury chastises her soundly.

Though she is due to inherit one of the largest fortunes in England, the fact that she cannot touch the money until she marries or turns thirty has kept Elizabeth completely at the mercy of her cruel uncle, and for years she has been treated as if she were a servant. Her encounter with Lord Rothbury is by far the most exciting thing that has ever happened to her, but while he shows great concern for her safety, he refuses to believe that she is anything more than a serving girl.

Despite having made it clear that he doesn’t consider a match between them to be possible, when Elizabeth disobeys him Rothbury proves more than ready to strip her bare, punish her harshly, and then enjoy her beautiful body in the most shameful of ways. But can she dare to hope that he will one day make her his wife, or is she destined to spend her life being wickedly used?

Get your copy here!