Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 82
August 5, 2013
Hero Swap: A Scene from Eye of the Beholder (Christopher Robinson takes Dave Larson’s Place)
Ever wonder, “What would that book be like if someone else was the hero?” Well, that’s what I’m doing in this post. :-)
I’m taking one scene from His Reluctant Lady, His Abducted Bride, and Eye of the Beholder and I’m going to swap heroes. I’ll be using their personalities to see how things would be different. I’ll be doing this for a couple weeks. During or after that time, I’ll give Dave Larson, Christopher Robinson, and Gavin Blackheart a chance to give their thoughts on this swap. While the men wanted to keep their heroines, I decided to make it much more interesting. The men will have to interact with the other guy’s heroine.
This week, we’re going to look at a scene from Eye of the Beholder. I’ll use Christopher Robinson in today’s post. The scene I’m doing today is based off this one I posted on Sunday.
You can’t be serious. You’re placing me in a barn?
Three days later after supper, Susannah was ready to foal, and Christopher had to be dragged into the barn.
“No! I won’t do it,” he insisted. ”I’m the cousin of an earl. I’m not meant for this kind of work.”
But forces beyond his control (aka Ruth Ann Nordin) threw him into the barn and wouldn’t let him leave, so he was forced to continue.
With a shudder he gingerly walked over to the stall and gagged when he saw the mare lying in the straw. He took out his bandana and pressed it to his nose.
The irritated mare grunted and snorted while she struggled to push her foal from her belly.
“You have got to be kidding me,” he mumbled and tried to run out of the barn but the force field prevented him from leaving.
Mary ran into the barn, her expression controlled in the midst of the stressful situation. “I brought the clean towels for you.”
“Great.” He gestured to the stall. ”The horse is in there.”
She studied him for a moment then asked, “Aren’t you going to help Susannah?”
He nearly choked. ”No. I’m going to help you.” He grabbed the towels from her and motioned to the stall. ”Go ahead.”
“But…but you’re supposed to do this.”
“I’m a liberated gentleman. I think it’s all right for a lady to do this kind of thing.”
She frowned. ”You mean you’re too afraid to do it.”
He snorted. ”Nice try, Mary, but I’m not going to be lured into doing this disgusting thing by being called a chicken. You wanted to move out west and marry a farmer. You deal with it.”
“But you said you could handle a day in Dave’s shoes, and he does this kind of work. How are you going to experience his life if you don’t go and deliver the foal?”
“When I made the agreement, I wasn’t told I’d be stuck in this disgusting scene. I assumed it would be a scene where I could slap Neil across the face with my glove and challenge him to a duel.”
The horse let out an impatient neigh and she sighed. ”Very well. I’ll deliver the foal, but you have to stay here and help.”
He nodded, relieved when she went over to the bucket and washed her arms with soap and water. Then she went to the mare and knelt by her. Though he tried to watch her as she put her hand up in the mare’s birth canal, he felt dizzy and had to avert his gaze. The whole thing was downright disgusting. Disgusting! There was no other word for it. No one should be subjected to this horror.
“It’ll be over soon,” Mary murmured in a soothing tone.
At first, he thought she was talking to him so he looked over at her. But she’d been talking to the horse, and he saw the head of the foal appear as she continued to soothe the mare. He clutched his stomach and groaned. He was either going to pass out or lose his lunch.
Sitting on a stool, he reminded himself, “I am the cousin of an earl. This isn’t my life. Everything will be all right.”
“It’s a good thing you don’t live in the old west.”
He glanced up and saw Mary, her arms and the front of her dress drenched in birthing fluid. ”Is it over?”
“Yes, the mother and baby have it from here.” Though she didn’t look pleased, she went over to the bucket full of clean water and washed her arms. ”I can’t imagine what you’re going to be like when your wife has children.”
“I’m going to be where God intended gentlemen to be while their wives give birth: in another room.”
She went over to him and held her hand out so he gingerly held a towel out to her, not wanting to get too close. God forbid that icky substance should get on himself!
“I think it’s safe to say you’re better suited in the Regency novels.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” He rose to his feet. ”Can I leave now?”
“Yes, you may,” Ruth said and removed the force field she had placed around the barn. As he left, she added, “Wimp.”
August 4, 2013
Sunday Story Sample: Eye of the Beholder
In the third (and final week) of the hero swap, Gavin and Christopher will get a chance to live a scene in Dave’s shoes.
Today, I’m posting the scene as it appears in Eye of the Beholder. During this week, we will get to see how Gavin and Christopher respond in this scene…
Three days later after supper, Susannah was ready to foal. Dave had set the other animals in the pasture so he could concentrate on the mare. He inspected her in the stall with a strange feeling of apprehension. Her water broke as she laid down on the clean straw, but the birth slowed once a hoof poked through. Twenty agonizing minutes passed without further progress. He shook his head and examined the irritated mare that grunted and snorted while she struggled to push her foal from her belly. He took off his shirt so he could wash his arms up to his elbows with the soap and clean water in a bucket waiting for him by the stall.
Mary ran into the barn, her expression controlled in the midst of the stressful situation. “I brought the clean towels for you.”
“Hold onto them until I ask for them.”
She nodded and stayed back while he rushed to the mare and knelt before her. His attempt to walk Susannah around so the foal would slide back into the womb and reposition itself failed, so he needed to intervene. Thankfully, he went through this with his father’s mares, so he knew what to do.
“Easy, Susannah,” he softly said as he stroked her belly. “I’m going to help you.”
The horse snorted her reply.
His hand followed the foal’s hoof up into the birth canal, making his arm slippery as he kept his other hand on the mare’s belly and braced his knees on the ground so he stayed in place. At least the hoof out of the womb was a front hoof. He sought out the other front hoof which was bent to its chest. He grabbed it, the muscles in his arm and back straining as he pulled the hoof towards the mare’s hind hooves so he could rotate the foal’s head to the birth canal.
Susannah neighed and jerked her head to look at him.
“Your babe will be out soon,” he assured her.
Turning to Mary, who silently watched them, he asked for one of the towels which she handed to him. The two slippery hooves were safely out of the birth canal, so he took the towel and grabbed them. He pulled them towards Susannah’s hind hooves, straining against the weight of the animal that struggled to get out of the womb. When the shoulders and head appeared, he decided to see if the foal would progress without further help. He backed up and stood next to Mary so he could give the two animals space.
To his relief, the foal’s upper body emerged on its own. It stopped when its hips were at the threshold of entering the world.
“Do you need to pull it out again?” Mary whispered.
He glanced at her. “I don’t know yet. The foal could be resting for a moment. Birthing can be a lengthy process.”
She nodded and waited expectantly beside him, her hands clenching the second clean towel as she stared at the mare and foal.
Before long, the foal’s hind hooves left the womb and the animal rested against its mother’s belly. Satisfied, he returned to the bucket of water and dipped the soap into it.
“They’ll lay like that for about fifteen minutes,” he said as he rubbed the soap in his hands.
“I must admit that it was thrilling to watch the birth.” She smiled at the two horses.
“Would you like to name the foal?”
“Really?” Her eyes turned in his direction.
He nodded.
“I’d have to think of a good name. How did you decide on Susannah?”
“Jenny named her. I’m no good with picking out names.” After working up a good lather, he spread it on his arms and chest.
“I’ll have to think of one.” Shooting another look at the stall, she smiled. “It’s not all that different from a human giving birth. Every birth I’ve been to has been like this.”
“You have to stick your arm up the woman’s birth canal?”
She shook her head, seeming amused at his joke. “You know, I have seen the midwife stick her hand up there to help rotate the baby so it comes out easier.”
He cringed, not wishing to imagine an entire hand in that area of a woman’s body. He quickly rinsed his upper body. “I’m sorry I jested.”
She laughed and rubbed a towel over his arms and chest to dry him off. “What I meant was that Susannah is already bonding with her foal. It’s the same way with human mothers. Despite all the pain and length of the labor, they can’t wait to hold their babies.”
Smiling, he enjoyed the way she fussed over him, making sure she wiped all of the water off of him before she put his shirt on. “You’ll have your turn,” he promised.
She paused, her fingers on his buttons.
By the pretty shade of pink that rose in her cheeks, he realized he caught her off guard. His hand cupped the side of her face, his thumb caressing her cheek. “You’ll make a wonderful mother, Mary.”
Her eyes met his and he detected the unshed tears there.
“Did I say something wrong?”
She blinked and shook her head. “It’s just that I never thought I’d be a mother. I mean, I hoped but…” She shrugged. “It’s hard to explain.” When she looked at him, the tears were gone. “I’m happy here, Dave.”
Glad to hear that, he wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips firmly against hers. He could feel her heart beating with his. He now fully understood the meaning of two lives becoming one when a couple married.
The mare neighed, and they turned their attention back to the animals. Susannah stood up. The foal stumbled but followed suit. The umbilical cord broke easily under the mare’s hoof.
“They got it from here,” he announced, touched that Mary buttoned his shirt for him.
“I’m glad I was here to watch it.”
His arms felt empty when she went to pick up the bucket and dumped the dirty water in the grass outside the barn.
He retrieved the used towels from the ground and gave them to her. She plopped both into the bucket and picked up the bar of soap
“I would like to wash these in the river.”
“Alright,” he said. “I’ll finish cleaning up in here.”
She paused in the entryway of the barn. “I left you a cup of fresh water and some cut up apples and oranges on the kitchen table. I thought you might want a snack after all the work you did.”
An unexpected emotion that he didn’t understand tugged at his heart. “Thank you, Mary.”
She nodded before turning back to the river.
July 31, 2013
His Abducted Bride is Now Available on Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, and Apple iBookstore
For those of you on my new release list:
Yesterday, I sent out the information with links to those of you on my email list. About five of the emails on my list didn’t go through for some reason. If you signed up to be on my new release list and did not get an email yesterday about His Abducted Bride, please fill out your name and email address below and I’ll put it into my list. I want to make sure no one feels that I have forgotten them. :)
[contact-form]
For those of you who won the giveaway:
The ebook I am gifting to the winners from the Regency giveaway is His Reluctant Lady, not His Abducted Bride. Someone thought His Abducted Bride was the book they won, but I never put this book in the giveaway. So I wanted to avoid any confusion and mention it here. 
Now for the links:
His Abducted Bride should be up soon on Kobo, Sony and other sites that Smashwords distributes to.
July 29, 2013
Hero Swap: A Scene from His Abducted Bride (Christopher Robinson takes King Gavin Blackheart’s Place)
Ever wonder, “What would that book be like if someone else was the hero?” Well, that’s what I’m doing in this post. :-)
I’m taking one scene from His Reluctant Lady, His Abducted Bride, and Eye of the Beholder and I’m going to swap heroes. I’ll be using their personalities to see how things would be different. I’ll be doing this for a couple weeks. During or after that time, I’ll give Dave Larson, Christopher Robinson, and Gavin Blackheart a chance to give their thoughts on this swap. While the men wanted to keep their heroines, I decided to make it much more interesting. The men will have to interact with the other guy’s heroine.
This week, we’re going to look at a scene from His Abducted Bride. I’ll use Christopher Robinson in today’s post. The scene I’m doing today is based off this one I posted on Sunday.
This will be a piece of cake.
His Abducted Bride: Starring Christopher Robinson and Sandy Davis
Christopher strode into the castle, giving a smile as the servants bowed as he passed by. What a cool gig Gavin had. Sure, he had servants bow to him since he was the cousin of an earl, but in this scene, he was the king–the head man. It was pretty awesome. As much as he wanted go to the throne room and wear the crown, he needed to go to the planning room so he could wait for Sandy since that was the scene Ruth had selected for this week’s hero swap. He went straight to the planning room and bolted the door shut. He stopped by the round table in the middle of the room and peeled the seal off and rolled the parchment open.
King Blackheart,
I couldn’t help but notice everything I’ve worked hard to build over the past year has been wiped away in a single instant. I don’t know why or how you changed the course of the author’s story, but I demand you put things back to the way they were at once. Send the author back to where she belongs. If you don’t, I will. And you won’t like what I’ll do to you if I have to take matters into my own hands.
King Petros of Reinhold
Christopher laughed. What an ego Petros had! Everything he’d worked for? From what he saw, this story had no real relevance to Petros. Just like Lord Roderick, Petros thought better of himself than he had a right to.
A sudden banging on the door grabbed his attention. Before he could ask who it was, Sandy yelled, “Open this door!”
“All right.” He opened the door and smiled. “You wish to speak with me?”
Clearing her throat, she made eye contact with him. “You know very well why I’m here.”
“You wanted to see if I’m as good looking as Agatha claims?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. I saw the messenger come here. Who sent you word and where is the missive?”
Raising his eyebrow, he turned to her and leaned against the table. “You mean to tell me you’re upset about this little piece of paper?” He waved it in the air.
“Don’t be cute. I’m not in the mood to play games. What did the message say and who sent it?”
“Someone named Petros thinks he can come in and defeat Gavin. If you ask me, I think Petros is just upset that he didn’t bring you into this story first.”
“He can’t be upset because of that. He had no role in the book. Let me see the missive.”
“All right.” He held it out to her. When she refused to take it, he asked, “Do you want to read it or not?”
“Well, that’s not how the scene is supposed to go. You’re supposed to say no and find a way to distract me so I never read it.”
He shrugged. ”Those rules might work for Gavin and Dave, but I don’t care about them. So what if you read the missive? It won’t change the course of your book because I’m only here for this scene. After this, we’ll all go back to the original version and you won’t know what’s in it.”
“Hmm…” She crossed her arms and sighed. ”Then I guess it’s pointless to read it.”
“You can satisfy your curiosity for the next few paragraphs before you forget in time for your story to be published.”
“If I’m going to forget, what’s the point?”
“I guess there is none.” He set it on the table. ”You know, if you’re really that unhappy being stuck in this awesome castle with servants at your beck and call, why don’t you do something about it?”
“I’ve tried, but Blackheart has someone following me at all times.”
He glanced over his shoulder. ”It doesn’t look like anyone’s following you now.”
“Well, no. But that’s because I’m with him in this scene.”
“But you didn’t come to this room with him. You came alone.”
“Yes,” she slowly admitted. ”But no one else is supposed to know that.”
“It sounds like Ruth Ann Nordin is getting sloppy if she’s not being consistent. Either you’re followed all the time or you’re not.”
“You have to pretend a guard is further down the hall waiting for me.”
He chuckled. ”All right. We’ll pretend that’s what happened. So anyway, why don’t you just walk on out of here if you don’t like it in this place?”
“You see the guards lining the walls surrounding this castle?”
To humor her, he went to the window and glanced around where he saw guards at various posts along the wall. ”Yes.”
“That’s why I can’t just walk out of here.”
“Dress up as a man. Better yet, dress up as a stable boy or some other servant. No one ever pays attention to those men.”
“If I choose a disguise, I’ll do better than that. I hear that ploy didn’t work in The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife when you got Lady Roderick to dress up like a stable boy.”
“You make one mistake and everyone hears about it,” he muttered. Turning to her, he asked, “Why don’t you just admit the real reason why you aren’t trying to escape? You secretly love the king and want to be with him.”
“For your information, I will try to escape. I won’t say how because that will ruin the story for anyone who’ll read it.”
“If you say so…” He straightened up and pulled the sword from his sheath. ”I need to swing this thing in the courtyard.”
“You mean you’re going to polish your fighting skills with the sword.”
“Not really. I just have to say something to get out of this scene. As soon as I’m out of here, Gavin will take my place and be the one in the courtyard. I know you can’t wait to watch him showing off his muscles as he wields this sword.” He winked at her. ”Go give that king of yours a long, passionate kiss. There’s no sense in making him suffer longer than he has to.” With a grin, he headed out of the room.
Hero Swap: A Scene from His Abducted Bride (with Dave Larson taking King Gavin Blackheart’s Place)
I’m taking one scene from His Reluctant Lady, His Abducted Bride, and Eye of the Beholder and I’m going to swap heroes. I’ll be using their personalities to see how things would be different. I’ll be doing this for a couple weeks. During or after that time, I’ll give Dave Larson, Christopher Robinson, and Gavin Blackheart a chance to give their thoughts on this swap. While the men wanted to keep their heroines, I decided to make it much more interesting. The men will have to interact with the other guy’s heroine.
This week, we’re going to look at a scene from His Abducted Bride. I’ll use Dave Larson in today’s post. The scene I’m doing today is based off this one I posted on Sunday.
Dave, confident that this will be easy.
His Abducted Bride: Starring Dave Larson and Sandy Davis
Dave strode into the castle, a little uncomfortable as servants bowed as he passed by. He guessed Gavin was used to this and didn’t think anything of it, but he didn’t care for it. But he held a missive in his hand that needed to be opened so he went to the planning room where he read through the message.
King Blackheart,
I couldn’t help but notice everything I’ve worked hard to build over the past year has been wiped away in a single instant. I don’t know why or how you changed the course of the author’s story, but I demand you put things back to the way they were at once. Send the author back to where she belongs. If you don’t, I will. And you won’t like what I’ll do to you if I have to take matters into my own hands.
King Petros of Reinhold
Dave shook his head. How many time had he wished he could have trapped Ruth Ann Nordin into Isaac’s Decision so she wouldn’t marry Isaac to Emily? (Check here for a post on how upset he was at the time if you didn’t read it while I wrote Isaac’s Decision.) If he only knew Gavin’s secret at the time.
A sudden banging on the door grabbed his attention. Before he could ask who it was, Sandy yelled, “Open this door!”
“I didn’t lock it,” he called out.
“Oh.” She opened the door and peered into the room. ”Aren’t you going to follow the script? Gavin locked it.”
He shrugged. ”You want to go back out there so I can lock it?”
“No, not really.”
“So why are you complaining?”
“I’m not complaining,” she insisted as she smoothed her dress. ”I’m surprised, that’s all. I mean, Gavin never made anything easy for me.” Clearing her throat, she made eye contact with him. “I saw the messenger come here. Who sent you word and where is the missive?”
“I’ll tell you if you tell me how Gavin trapped you in this book.”
“I don’t know how he trapped me here. That’s part of my problem. If I knew, I could escape.”
“Why do you authors have to be so difficult? Can’t you just do what we want?”
She groaned and crossed her arms. ”We’re supposed to be doing this scene as if you just received a threat. The conversation you want to have is irrelevant.”
“Ruth put a lot of herself into your character. You sound a lot like her.”
“No, she didn’t. I mean, there might be some similarities because we’re authors who have to tolerate difficult characters. That reminds me, I owe her a sympathy card, especially since you tried to frame her for kidnapping you.”
“And it didn’t work.”
“And you tried to get people to boycott her books.”
“Good grief. His Abducted Bride wasn’t even around back then which means you weren’t around for all of this. So how can you know this stuff?”
“I went through the archives in this blog to see who I was going to be up against in this immature hero swap idea because three egotistical male characters are having a ridiculous contest to find out who’s the best one.”
He hated the Internet. All the documentation was still on this blog for people to sort through at their leisure. With a sigh, he said, “Let’s move on. You want to know what this letter says, right?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m here.”
He nodded and made a move toward her but pretended to slip and threw it out the window.
She ran over to it in time to see a dog eating it.
“Oops,” he said.
She narrowed her eyes at him. ”You did this because I wouldn’t let Gavin get his way, didn’t you?”
“I’d be justified in doing it for that reason, but the truth is, Gavin gave me specific instructions to make sure you don’t read that letter.” As he left the room, he added, “And I believe in doing what the character wants.”
July 28, 2013
Sunday Story Sample: His Abducted Bride
This upcoming week, I’ll take this scene from His Abducted Bride and swap heroes to see how they would react in Gavin’s shoes. :D
Here is the original scene from His Abducted Bride (It takes place before Gavin forces Sandy to marry him):
Gavin strode into the castle, giving a curt nod to the servants who bowed as he passed by. As much as he wanted to tear the seal off the missive and read it right away, he needed to wait until he was alone. He went straight to his planning room and bolted the door shut. Finally! He stopped by the round table in the middle of the room and peeled the seal off and rolled the parchment open.
King Blackheart,
I couldn’t help but notice everything I’ve worked hard to build over the past year has been wiped away in a single instant. I don’t know why or how you changed the course of the author’s story, but I demand you put things back to the way they were at once. Send the author back to where she belongs. If you don’t, I will. And you won’t like what I’ll do to you if I have to take matters into my own hands.
King Petros of Reinhold
Undaunted by the man’s threat, Gavin snorted. Did King Petros really believe a threat would work? Gavin was a dead man if he returned Sandy to her world and King Petros knew it. Even if he wasn’t a main character in the story, Petros knew enough about the plot to figure out Gavin’s end.
A sudden banging on the door grabbed his attention. Before he could ask who it was, Sandy yelled, “Open this door!”
He rolled his eyes. Leave it to the author to want to know what was going on right under her nose. It was good that she wasn’t privy to everything that happened in this world anymore. It gave him an advantage. He shoved the parchment into his pocket and strode to the door. He removed the bolt and opened the door, slightly amused when she almost fell into the room.
“You wish to speak with me?” he asked, making sure to keep his tone light in case she sensed his unease about King Petros.
She straightened up and smoothed her dress. Clearing her throat, she made eye contact with him. “You know very well why I’m here.”
He crossed his arms and walked back to the table. “Maybe I want to hear you say it.”
She grunted and headed over to him. “I saw the messenger come here. Who sent you word and where is the missive?”
Raising his eyebrow, he turned to her and leaned against the table. “You mean to tell me you didn’t recognize the messenger?” Interesting. He thought she would know who the messenger was since she created him.
“Don’t be cute. I’m not in the mood to play games. What did the message say and who sent it?”
“It was a message to congratulate us on our upcoming marriage.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t believe you.”
“It doesn’t matter what you believe or don’t believe. I’m telling you that’s what it said.”
“Must you continue to be difficult?”
“Do you still want to kill me off?”
“Do you mean, do I want to go back to my world and write this story the way it’s supposed to be? The answer is yes.”
“Fine. Then yes, I must be difficult.”
She stared at him for a moment then gritted her teeth. “I hate you.”
“Your feelings for me are of little concern to me,” he replied, refusing to let her know she could upset him. With a smirk, he added, “All I want is results. If you can’t give me what I want, you’ll be chained to me for life, figuratively speaking of course. Though I think it might be fun to try it for real, especially if we don’t wear anything.”
She frowned and turned to the window which overlooked the land. “You are aptly named Blackheart. You will do whatever you want to get your way, no matter who you hurt.”
“That’s not fair,” he argued. “I haven’t hurt you in the time you’ve been here. In fact, I’ve seen to your every need. You have everything befitting a queen.”
“Everything but my freedom.” She turned around and glared at him. “I’m nothing but a glorified slave.”
“A slave? I assure you that if you were a slave, you wouldn’t be wearing the finest dresses in all the land or eating in my banquet hall. I have given you the best position a woman can have in this kingdom. And what’s more, I fully intend to keep you alive, which is much better than you would do for me.”
“How many times do I have to remind you that you’re a character in a story? You aren’t real.”
“I guess you’ll have to remind me every day since I’m too stupid to realize it.”
She stared at him, her mouth forming a thin line and hands clenched at her sides.
He honestly didn’t know how to get through to her. There had to be a way to get through her wall, but she had no intention of listening—really listen—to him. She was bound and determined to kill him off. He questioned the sanity of marrying a woman who could very easily slip a knife under her pillow and kill him while he slept, but he assured himself that he wouldn’t dare get that close to her. The least of his concerns was getting an heir. What he most needed was to secure his standing in the novel.
Releasing his breath, he pulled out his sword, satisfied when he noted the flicker of apprehension cross her face. He didn’t think he could kill her since she didn’t originate in this world, but maybe if she questioned her mortality here, she’d get a better appreciation for his predicament. “I need to practice in the courtyard,” he finally told her and lifted the sword. “It wouldn’t do well to go lax on my skills in case you decide to try to come after me.”
“You know very well that I couldn’t find any weapons.”
His eyebrows rose. “I didn’t realize you tried to find them.” He couldn’t read her expression, and that both intrigued and alarmed him. As much as he wanted to know what she was plotting, he knew he’d have to wait and see what stunts she’d pull to get back to her world. Forcing a smile, he added, “You’re welcome to watch me practice.”
“Can I have a sword?”
He chuckled. “Do you really think I’m so foolish? I wouldn’t dare give you the skills you need in order to get rid of me.”
“And what if you had to go into battle? Wouldn’t you want someone who is qualified to fight with you?”
“A queen’s job is to have children, not engage in battle. Besides the fact that you intend to kill me, my biggest criticism of your story is that you would go into battle without an heir to take your place. What if you died? Who would rule your kingdom?”
She crossed her arms and turned back to the window. “I’m the author. I control each and every battle, and,” she glanced over her shoulder and made eye contact with him, “I never die. There’s no danger that my kingdom would be without a ruler.”
“There wasn’t that danger when you were in your world. You’re here now. And that means you’re just as vulnerable as the rest of us.” At least that was a possibility. There was the other possibility that she was invincible, but he’d never give her that idea. It was better to let her think she could die here. “Since I have no heir yet, you will do what good queens do and stay out of battle.”
“I’ll never give you an heir,” she snapped.
He thought he detected a hint of regret underlying the anger in her tone but quickly dismissed it. She was being difficult, as usual. “Not today of course.” He walked over to the door. “I have more pressing things to tend to than getting under your dress.”
She gasped. “You needn’t be so crude.”
“I’m merely stating a fact. I have a possible issue to deal with, and I’ve wasted enough time talking to you. We have a library here. Why don’t you read a book so you can learn how to be submissive to your king like a good queen is supposed to do?”
She gasped again, but this time she didn’t remain still. She ran to the wall and picked up a sword. He hurried out of the room before she could pursue him.
July 25, 2013
Updates on What I’m Doing
His Abducted Bride will be due out next week.
I sent this book in for pre-order at the Apple iBookstore and Smashwords so I can’t publish it to Amazon or Barnes and Noble until July 30, but it usually takes a day or two for the book to go up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. So expect this to be up on August 1 or 2 on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, providing I don’t run into any glitches. *fingers crossed*
For those of you who have signed up for my email list to be notified when new releases are out….
I will wait until the book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble before sending the email out. I will include the links to the US Apple iBookstore and Smashwords. Usually, I don’t include Apple iBookstore in with the email list because I use Smashwords to go up to iBookstore and it can take a couple weeks or so before it’s on the iBookstore. This time is the exception (same for His Reluctant Lady when it’s out August 6) because of the pre-order process.
I hope that makes sense. If not, feel free to comment and I’ll try to explain it better.
And of course, I’ll post the links on this blog and announce them on the newsletter blog (so I will delay posting the newsletter until this book is available).
I finished the first draft to Kent Ashton’s Backstory!
But since I’m in the pre-order phase of His Abducted Bride and His Reluctant Lady, I haven’t been posting any scenes for this story. After His Reluctant Lady is released, I expect to pick up on posting the scenes again.
Here are the links to all the Kent posts. I have done some light revision already in the book but it’s pretty much the same in the plot to what I have below. This way you can catch up on the old posts. I expect to start posting more about Kent in about 2-3 weeks.
Like I said, I’ll resume posting his backstory in 2-3 weeks. :-)
The Stagecoach Bride estimated for later this year/early next.
Book Stephannie Beman and I are working on.
Stephannie and I have talked about publishing this around December or January. I didn’t want anyone to think I’d forgotten about this book. :-)
Bride by Arrangement has a tentative release month of December.
The Anthology Janet Syas Nitsick and I Are Working On
Jan and I have worked out the kinks with this anthology and are proceeding forward. Hopefully, we can get it out in December. *fingers crossed* The word count bar on the right side lets you know how far I am in my novella. It doesn’t include Jan’s novella, but I will be posting a sample from her novella in a month or two.
And I did change the title of my novella. It’s no longer “Pete’s Wife”. Now it’s “The Purchased Bride”.
**********
Other Works In Progress
I’m happy to say I’m over the halfway point in this one. I plan to publish this at the same time I publish Kent Ashton’s Backstory because the two go together.
At this time, I am estimating the end of September for the publishing month for both Kent Ashton’s Backstory and Catching Kent.
This is still in the beginning stages. I am only in chapter three, but at the moment, Christopher has succeeded in helping Paula (the heroine) corner Perry into a scandal that forces him to marry her.
This is also in the beginning stages (chapter two), but I can already tell that Eva Connealy (the heroine) is no coward. She’s not one to take stupid risks, but she’s got a surprising amount of underlying courage. I’m not sure how Boaz will respond to her, but it’ll be interesting to find out.
Possible Books in the Near Future
When I publish Kent Ashton’s Backstory and Catching Kent, I plan to be done with the first draft of The Purchased Bride (the novella I’m doing for Bride by Arrangement). This will free me up for two books to begin writing.
The novels I am thinking of writing are Wagon Trail Bride (Richard Larson and Amanda’s romance) and Patty’s Gamble. I’m finally getting a firm grasp of why Richard took Amanda out of New York. That’s been the hold up on that book. I had to know what made him marry her when he was in love with someone else at the time. But in a couple months, I might be in the mood to write something else instead. We’ll see what happens when I get to October.
I do want to do a romance based on the children in the South Dakota books (Loving Eliza, Bid for a Bride, and Bride of Second Chances), but I haven’t come up with a plot I can get excited about yet. I need to be super excited about a plot in order to write it. :-) But I just wanted to let everyone know I am planning on it. I probably won’t be writing any of them though for a while.
July 24, 2013
Hero Swap: A Scene from His Reluctant Lady (with King Gavin Blackheart taking Christopher Robinson’s Place)
Ever wonder, “What would that book be like if someone else was the hero?” Well, that’s what I’m doing in this post. :-)
I’m taking one scene from His Reluctant Lady, His Abducted Bride, and Eye of the Beholder and I’m going to swap heroes. I’ll be using their personalities to see how things would be different. I’ll be doing this for a couple weeks. During or after that time, I’ll give Dave Larson, Christopher Robinson, and Gavin Blackheart a chance to give their thoughts on this swap. While the men wanted to keep their heroines, I decided to make it much more interesting. The men will have to interact with the other guy’s heroine.
This week, we’re going to look at a scene from His Reluctant Lady. I’ll use Gavin (King Blackheart) in today’s post. The scene I’m doing today is based off this one I posted on Sunday. Ready to have some fun and see how Gavin handles the Regency time period?
King Gavin Blackheart tackles the Regency time period….
Without further ado, I give you…
His Reluctant Lady: Starring King Gavin Blackheart and Agatha Lyons
Seeing that Lady Richfield hadn’t moved from her spot, Gavin made his way over to her and cleared his throat. She inclined her head in his direction but maintained eye contact with the gentleman talking to her and her sister.
“Oh yes,” Lord Thomas said, “I’ve been on an elephant and a camel.”
“But isn’t that dangerous?” her sister asked, her eyes wide and excitement in her voice.
“Of course it is, but I don’t see the point in playing it safe all the time. A person has to enjoy life to truly live it,” he replied.
“I suspect you’re not the only person who shares that philosophy,” Lady Richfield said, glancing at Gavin.
Gavin nodded. “Exactly. Being safe all the time can be boring. I can’t say I’ve ridden an elephant or a camel, but I did ride a dragon once and that was an experience I’ll never forget.”
“A dragon?” her sister asked in excitement. “That’s the most impressive thing I’ve ever heard.”
“And dangerous,” Lady Richfield muttered under her breath.
“And absurd,” Lord Thomas replied with a chuckle. ”Dragons don’t even exist.” He turned to her sister. ”Care to dance?”
Despite the slight shake of Agatha’s head, her sister accepted and hurried off to dance with him.
Before Lady Richfield could step away from him, Gavin extended his arm and said in a tone loud enough for those around them to overhear, “I am here to answer all your prayers, my lady. Light on my feet and graceful, I promise to be. Stepping on your feet is something you’ll never have to fear from me.”
She stared at him for a moment as if she couldn’t believe he’d offer such a ridiculous rhyme but sighed and placed her hand on his arm and let him escort her to the dancing area. “The sooner we do this, the sooner it’ll be over.”
“You haven’t danced until you’ve been with a king or a warrior, and I happen to be both.”
She pretended to yawn.
“The lady is not easily impressed. Interesting.”
She released a loud sigh. “Is there something you want from me?”
“Yes. I want you to tell Mister Robinson and Mister Larson that I am the most desirable hero you’ve ever been with.”
She laughed and shook her head. “I don’t enjoy the company of any gentleman, and that includes a king and warrior. You gentlemen are all the same. You think you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to the heroine when the truth is, you’d be nowhere if it weren’t for her.”
“That’s not true. We wouldn’t be anywhere if it hadn’t been for our mothers. They’re the ones who gave birth to us.”
“Not in your case. You were created by the heroine in your story.”
“I stand corrected. I am the exception.” He turned with her and grinned. ”I hear Mister Robinson is relentless in his pursuit of you.”
“Yes. He wants to marry me so he can be miserable.”
“No. He wants to marry you so he can have you in his bed.”
“You are much too bold.”
“Not as bold as some of the stuff you all do in the Regency era. Gentlemen taking mistresses, ladies taking lovers after the heir is born, and other things that I’d rather not say in this scene. Think what you will of my boldness, but at least I will take one queen and be faithful to her.”
“Not all of us do those things. Besides, isn’t it customary for a king to have a mistress or two on the side when the mood suits.”
“Good point.” He laughed and turned with her. ”Now I see why Mister Robinson is so enchanted with you. You won’t let him get away with anything. As soon as he steps out of line, you’ll let him know it.”
“Mister Robinson knows exactly when he steps out of line. In fact, the further he steps out of it, the more he delights in it.”
“Sounds like something a child would do. A mature adult, on the other hand, strategizes and wins the heart of his lady.”
“And you think a strategy works for all ladies?”
“Yes, it does as long as the gentleman picks the right one.” The music came to an end and he bowed. “Good luck on staying single.”
July 22, 2013
Hero Swap: A Scene from His Reluctant Lady (with Dave Larson taking Christopher Robinson’s Place)
Ever wonder, “What would that book be like if someone else was the hero?” Well, that’s what I’m doing in this post. :-)
I’m taking one scene from His Reluctant Lady, His Abducted Bride, and Eye of the Beholder and I’m going to swap heroes. I’ll be using their personalities to see how things would be different. I’ll be doing this for a couple weeks. During or after that time, I’ll give Dave Larson, Christopher Robinson, and Gavin Blackheart a chance to give their thoughts on this swap. While the men wanted to keep their heroines, I decided to make it much more interesting. The men will have to interact with the other guy’s heroine.
This week, we’re going to look at a scene from His Reluctant Lady. I’ll use Dave in today’s post. In the next post, I’ll let Gavin take Christopher’s place. The scene I’m doing today is based off this one I posted on Sunday. Ready to have some fun and see how Dave handles the Regency time period?
Let’s see how easy it is for him to be in Christopher’s shoes…
Without further ado, I give you…
His Reluctant Lady: Starring Dave Larson and Agatha Lyons
Seeing that Lady Richfield hadn’t moved from her spot, Dave Larson made his way over to her and was very disappointed that Ruth Ann Nordin hadn’t listened to him–once again. Instead of allowing Mary, his perfect wife, to be the heroine in this scene, Ruth had fixed him up with a woman who should have had the decency to cover more of herself up in a public setting. Looking around the ballroom, he decided that all the women should have used higher necklines with their dresses, especially since the only woman he wanted to see any cleavage on was Mary.
But he had to go through this dreadful scene, so he reluctantly poked Agatha in the arm. She inclined her head in his direction but maintained eye contact with the gentleman talking to her and her sister.
Well, that’s rude. Dave crossed his arms and wondered if Agatha was as shallow as Cassie who married Neil Craftsman.
“Oh yes,” Lord Thomas said, “I’ve been on an elephant and a camel.”
“But isn’t that dangerous?” Agatha’s sister asked, her eyes wide and excitement in her voice.
“Of course it is, but I don’t see the point in playing it safe all the time. A person has to enjoy life to truly live it,” he replied.
“I suspect you’re not the only person who shares that philosophy,” Agatha said, glancing at Dave.
Dave shrugged. “I have no use for a camel or elephant. Horses are much more practical for the work I do. As for enjoying life, it helps if you can surround yourself with people you care about.”
“Hear, hear!” Lord Thomas nodded in approval. “Good company is ideal. However, you ought to try riding an elephant or camel sometime. They’re magnificent creatures.”
“That’s alright. I’m quite happy on my farm.”
Agatha shot him a pointed look. ”You’re not a farmer in this story.”
“What am I?” Dave asked.
“The ward of an earl.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Don’t I have a job?”
“No, you don’t,” Lord Thomas said. ”In fact, none of us do.”
“You don’t?” Dave tried not to show his horror at the thought but without a job, what purpose did he have?
“We are wealthy,” Agatha told him. ”We don’t need to work in the sense you’re thinking of work.”
“Then what do you do?” Dave asked.
“Go to balls, museums, dinner parties,” Agatha began.
“Circuses!” her sister added. ”I do so love a circus. They have elephants there!”
Agatha shook her head at her sister then turned her attention back to Dave. ”You might think of it as one party after another. We have servants to do everything for us.”
“Even your cooking?” Dave wondered, thinking that no one could fix meals as good as Mary did. Even if he had to work from sunup to sundown, it was worth it to have her meals waiting for him when he came into the house.
“Of course,” Agatha replied. ”I don’t see why that’s so upsetting. It’s the way things are.”
He grimaced. All Christopher did was prance around from one ball to another? No wonder he whined about actual labor.
“Care to dance?” Lord Thomas asked Agatha’s sister, successfully bringing the scene back to where it should be.
Despite the slight shake of Agatha’s head, her sister accepted and hurried off to dance with him.
Before Agatha could step away from him, Dave said, “I’m supposed to dance with you.”
She opened her mouth to speak but glanced at those who looked in their direction. With a sigh, she placed her hand on his arm and let him escort her to the dancing area. “The other day, it was Mister Robinson. Today it’s you. Then it’ll be King Blackheart,” she said, frowning at him. ”This whole contest of wills between you and them is hindering my time to write.”
“It would help if Christopher wasn’t such a blowhard.”
“You can’t refer to him as Christopher in a public setting. We’re in the Regency time period. You should address him as Mister Robinson.”
“Well, back where I come from, it’s Christopher, and that’s only because I’m being nice. I could call him other things.”
“While I might agree with you on other names to call him, it’s still proper to refer to him as Mister Robinson. We are very strict about such things.”
“And yet so many of you go around showing off parts of you that ought to stay covered,” he pointed out, struggling to keep up with her as they continued to dance. It was ridiculous, but he couldn’t understand why no one could enjoy a simple waltz or square dance. Those were much easier to do.
She released a loud sigh. “This is proper attire for this time period. You can’t restrict your thinking to the historical old west in America. You need to be flexible and adapt.”
“I’m only here for one scene then I can move on to King Blackheart’s world and do one of his scenes. I don’t know when I’m supposed to do that, but I suspect it won’t be as good as the historical old west. You haven’t experienced real contentment until you’ve been out in the country and seen land as far as the eye can see.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I can go anywhere I want to by lifting my quill and writing a story down. I don’t want to simply be content. I want to live and enjoy the most life has to offer. I want to embrace it and venture out there, taking risks that would make my loved ones faint.”
“I have no complaints about my life,” he replied.l
“And I don’t either. In fact, I like my life exactly as it is, and the last thing I need is for a gentleman to come into my life to change it.”
“That’s fine with me because I’m not the kind who chases after a woman who doesn’t want to be caught.”
She seemed disappointed. ”Oh.”
“Oh what?”
With a shrug, she said, “I don’t know. I suppose it’s nice to be pursued, especially if the gentleman in question possesses some charm and wit.”
“I don’t have the time or desire to play games. I state it like it is and she can take it or leave it.”
“Then it seems Ruth was wise to pair you up with someone else.”
Dave nodded. ”I won’t argue that. There’ll never be anyone for me but Mary.”
The music came to an end and she curtsied. “At least you can return to her soon.” Then she headed off.
***
Dave picture credit: © Yuri Arcurs | Dreamstime.com
July 21, 2013
Sunday Story Sample: His Reluctant Lady
Tomorrow, I’m going to do a fun swap. :-) Today we have this scene from Christopher’s point of view. Tomorrow, I’m going to put Dave Larson in Christopher’s place. But, I am not going to let him have Mary take Agatha’s place as he wishes. He’s going to have to deal with Agatha. hehe In a couple more days, I’ll have Dave do a scene from His Abducted Bride, too.
Then I’ll let Gavin and Christopher take a scene from Eye of the Beholder. This way all three men will get a chance to live in the others’ shoes and I’ll bring them on for an interview to see what they’ll have to say about their “other life”. I expect this to be a lot of fun.
Seeing that Lady Richfield hadn’t moved from her spot, Christopher made his way over to her and lightly touched her arm, ensuring that no one else noticed. She inclined her head in his direction but maintained eye contact with the gentleman talking to her and her sister.
“Oh yes,” Lord Thomas said, “I’ve been on an elephant and a camel.”
“But isn’t that dangerous?” her sister asked, her eyes wide and excitement in her voice.
“Of course it is, but I don’t see the point in playing it safe all the time. A person has to enjoy life to truly live it,” he replied.
“I suspect you’re not the only person who shares that philosophy,” Lady Richfield said, glancing at Christopher.
Christopher’s eyebrows rose. “I can’t say I’ve ridden an elephant or a camel, but I don’t mind a challenge when it presents itself.”
“Hear, hear!” Lord Thomas nodded in approval. “Though you ought to try riding them sometime. They’re magnificent creatures.”
“It sounds like it,” her sister said. “And impressive.”
“And dangerous,” Lady Richfield muttered under her breath.
“Care to dance?” Lord Thomas asked her sister.
Despite the slight shake of Agatha’s head, her sister accepted and hurried off to dance with him.
Before Lady Richfield could step away from him, Christopher extended his arm and said in a tone loud enough for those around them to overhear, “Thank you for accepting my invitation to dance, my lady.”
She opened her mouth to speak but glanced at those who looked in their direction. With a sigh, she placed her hand on his arm and let him escort her to the dancing area. “You have a way of working things to your advantage,” she said, frowning at him.
“You wouldn’t have danced with me otherwise.”
“There are many things I’d say about you, Mister Robinson, but being dull isn’t one of them.”
“I appreciate the compliment.”
She released a loud sigh. “Is there something you want from me?”
“Yes. I want you to marry me.”
“I fail to understand you. I insulted you in front of your friends at Lord Edon’s dinner party. Do you really enjoy such treatment?”
“It’s no secret that your first marriage left a lot to be desired.”
“Lord Richfield died within twenty-four hours of marrying me. He did me a favor.”
“Some ladies don’t want their husbands dead,” he teased.
“So you want to marry me so you can be miserable? Is that the point to all of this?”
“No. I want to marry you because you’re the most exciting lady I’ve ever met. You have great passion. Imagine if you were to turn that passion in my favor? I sense the heat of your kisses would set the room on fire.”
“You are much too bold.”
“I’m not bold enough.”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “If you wish to be a rake, you’re free to do so, but you’ll be a gentleman when you’re with me.”
Lowering his voice, he said, “But you don’t need a gentleman. You don’t even want a gentleman. You want to be pursued. You need to be won.”
“Are you comparing me to some animal you need to hunt?”
He laughed and turned with her. “Hardly. I don’t desire to make love to an animal.”
“I’m surprised, considering the fact that you’re acting like one.”
“And which one would that be?”
“A wolf.”
“A wolf? Not a bad choice. Quick, smart, territorial. They mate for life, you know?” When she groaned, he grinned. “I love your quick wit. I also love your beauty. You’ll make a marvelous wife once you decide to love your husband.”
She shook her head. “I will never remarry.”
“Why don’t we go outside?” he said in a soft voice. “Take a nice stroll, maybe even share a kiss?”
“You may add ‘intelligent’ to the list of things you claim to admire about me, Mister Robinson. You think I don’t know what a scandal that would be?”
“You can’t blame a gentleman for trying. We’ll be married either way, but if you insist on prolonging my torture, then so be it.”
“I know I’m going to be sorry I asked, but ‘torture’?”
“My heart won’t be complete until I make you my bride.”
She rolled her eyes. “I was right. I’m sorry I asked.” The music came to an end and she curtsied. “It’s a pleasure to end this dance.”
“Maybe next time we dance, it’ll be between the sheets,” he whispered, knowing it would bother her to no end that he said it.
And he was right. Her jaw dropped then she narrowed her eyes at him. What a lady of passion! He had a feeling that once she fell in love with him, she’d make his life very much worth living.
