Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 82

Update On Husband

I see quite a few comments and emails came in, so I thought I’d make another post to save time on commenting to each person.  I appreciate all the kind words and prayers.  You’re all awesome.  :D

My husband has a ruptured appendix.  We originally thought it was a stomach bug then thought it was food poisoning when he didn’t get better.  Today he got to the doctor who took him in for a CT Scan and found the real cause.  So he’s waiting for surgery and is expected to stay for about a week post-operation.

I expect it will be about a week to a week and a half before I’m able to get to emails, Facebook, Goodreads, and these blog comments.

Thanks again, everyone.  :D

Taking Some Time Off Due to a Family Situation

Last Friday, my husband came down with something (not sure what yet) and he’s not doing any better.  I know I haven’t answered some blog comments, emails, Goodreads and FB messages yet.  I’m not ignoring anyone.  :)  I will get to those when I’m able to, but that probably won’t be for a while.  I don’t want to say when because I don’t know when things will calm down.

Dave Larson, Christopher Robinson, and Gavin Blackheart Share Their “Feelings” On the Hero Swap (and a Poll on Who the Best Hero Is)

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Christopher thinking, “What a stupid hero swap.”

Christopher: That’s not funny, Ruth.  We are not here to discuss our “feelings” like a bunch of women.  We’re here to say what a ridiculous idea you had with a hero swap.

Dave Larson: *snickers* You’re just upset because you couldn’t handle delivering a foal.

Christopher: I should have put you in The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife where you would be cleaning chamber pots.

Dave: We don’t have flushing toilets where I come from, and we don’t always go to the outhouse, especially when it’s cold out or when it’s night.  Chamber pots go under our beds for easy use so emptying those isn’t something that scares me.

Christopher: All I can say is that the American old west was a disgusting and dirty place.

Gavin sporting a new look.

Gavin Blackheart: Oh come on, Christopher.  It wasn’t that bad.

Christopher: Who are you and what did you do with King “I’m a Warrior Haha” Blackheart?

Gavin: I’m in contemporary clothes.

Christopher: So am I, but I don’t look like a dork.

Gavin: I’m not a dork.

Christopher: As long as you think it, that’s all that matters.  By the way,  I can’t believe you showed up to the barn wearing a knight’s outfit.

Gavin: I wasn’t sure what the scene would be before I got there.  I hoped I’d be confronting Neil Craftsman, but as it turns out, it was a boring mare giving birth scene.

Christopher: Yeah, like reading a letter was so much more interesting.  *rolls eyes* That was lame.

Gavin: And you were ready to let Sandy read it.  That was rather thoughtless of you.

Christopher: She didn’t really want to know what was in the letter.  She just wanted to see you.

Dave: You can’t prove that.

Christopher: When I gave her the chance to read it, she decided not to.  If that doesn’t prove why she was really there–without any guards following her–then I don’t know what it proves.

Gavin: Granted, I’m an extremely attractive guy–

Dave: Oh brother. *sighs*

Gavin: You can’t deny it, Larson.  Your wife was all on my case for me to take off my shirt.  She hears about my rippling muscles and wanted to see if the rumors were true.

Christopher: It’s so sad when the hero loves himself more than the heroine.

Dave: Mary had no interest in you or your body.  Neither did Sandy.  Sandy’s main goal was to make you miserable.  I’d say “your welcome” for following your instructions and not giving her the letter when I had the chance, but given the fact that you think so highly of yourself, I should have shoved you out the window instead of that letter.

Christopher: Way to go, Dave.  Who thought you had that vindictive streak in you?

Gavin: Yeah, you keep talking like that and you’ll lose your “good boy” status pretty quick.

Christopher: You know, Dave, it really is a shame, you didn’t pursue some kind of revenge on Neil in Eye of the Beholder.  I went ahead and read To Have and To Hold and Isaac’s Decision–

Gavin: You did?

Christopher: I had to see if Neil ever got what was coming to him.

Gavin: And?

Christopher: Neil never got what was coming to him.

Dave: That’s because I don’t believe in solving problems with violence.

Gavin: You didn’t even punch him.

Christopher: Yeah, I was pretty disappointed.  No wonder some people want to throw their ereaders against the wall when they finish Eye of the Beholder.

Dave: You’re on to talk, Christopher.  You had Lord Pennella threaten you and your wife had to step in and save your hide before you got yourself killed in a duel.  As for you, Gavin…  Well, I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to have made sexually suggestive comments to another man’s wife.

Gavin: The hero swap was all in good fun.  None of it was to be taken seriously.  The women knew that.

Dave: Even so, some decency wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Christopher: *laughs* Oh Dave, you guys in the historical US west are so funny with what you consider proper and improper.

Dave: You guys in the Regency time period have the stupidest rules set in place so you won’t offend “The Ton”.  I mean, you have to refer to people by their titles and you have to say “lady” instead of “woman”.  God forbid someone should dance more than twice with the same partner at a ball.

Gavin: I have to admit, some of the Regency things that can create a scandal are ridiculous.  I couldn’t handle those kinds of limitations.

Christopher: Well, it beats having to get up at the break of dawn in order to start in on that farm work and having to practice every day for a battle that may or may not come.

Dave, thinking of Mary like he usually does.

Dave: Farming is hard work, but it’s good work.  It’s because of farmers that people eat, you know.

Gavin: Let’s just admit that we’re all better off in the stories we were put in.  Had Ruth put us in any other book–

Christopher: or with any other lady–

Gavin: we’d be miserable.

Dave: I could probably be happy anywhere as long as I had Mary with me, but I’ll admit I’m happiest where I’m at in Nebraska.

Christopher: No one offers better comebacks than Agatha.  I like guessing what clever retort she’ll come up with to what I say.

Gavin: And at least Sandy has a sense of humor when I do make my sexual suggestions.

Ruth Ann Nordin: I’m so proud of you guys.  You all agree on something.

Christopher: It has nothing to do with sentimental feelings, but yes, we decided the cousin of an earl deserves better in life than to deliver foals or practice with a sword in a courtyard all day.

Gavin: I didn’t practice all day.

Christopher: Just about every scene had you in the courtyard.  It was boring after a while.

Gavin: You read my book too?

Christopher: Yes, I did.  And thank God there won’t be a sequel.  Your ego is even bigger than Dave’s.

Dave: I don’t have a big ego.

Christopher: Not in the books but when you’re on this blog…

Gavin: He has a point, Dave.  No one gives Ruth more grief than you.

Dave: All done in fun.

Ruth: Yes, I just love it when my characters stage a boycott and try to rewrite my books.

Dave: If you didn’t, you wouldn’t allow the posts to go up.  Now, are we going to have this vote or what?

Gavin: Demanding and a big ego.

Christopher: Quite a combination.

Ruth: Alright.  Let’s break it up.  You two were having a good moment up there when you were all in agreement.  Let’s not get into another argument.  I’ll post the poll now.

Okay everyone, this is your chance to tell the guys who you love best!  :)  

Take Our Poll

*****

picture of Christopher credit goes to: © Vanessa Van Rensburg | Dreamstime.com

picture of Gavin credit goes to: © Alexei Tacu | Dreamstime.com

picture of Dave credit goes to: © Yuri Arcurs | Dreamstime.com

If You’d Like to Stop Getting New Release Emails, Fill Out this Form

I was reading a forum and someone said they wish they had a way of opting out of an author’s email list.  Since I have my list in yahoo, I don’t have a neat little tool at the bottom of the email that will let people click “unsubscribe” to the list.  I also know it’s not easy to email someone directly and say, “I would like off the list.”

So I thought I’d make it easy to unsubscribe from my new release email list. If you are already on the list and don’t want to receive emails when I have a new release, please check the box on the form below and put the email address you gave me so I know which email address to remove.

I will delete your email from my address book as soon as I get this in my inbox.

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Hero Swap: A Scene from Eye of the Beholder (Gavin Blackheart 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 Gavin Blackheart in today’s post.  The scene I’m doing today is based off this one I posted in Sunday’s post.

I’m ready for battle.

Three days later after supper, Susannah was ready to foal.  Gavin road his horse into the barn, ready to help her.

Mary ran into the barn after him, almost dropping the clean towels she was holding.  ”What are you doing?”

He glanced at her and gave her one of his confident smiles.  ”I’m going to help you deliver the foal.”

“But you can’t have your horse in here, and you can’t wear those clothes.”

He glanced at his battle attire.  ”I wear this when I’m ready for action.”

She sighed.  ”You’ve never delivered a foal before, have you?”

“Nope.  Can’t say I have.” He slid off his horse.  ”But I figure it can’t be too hard.  Dave Larson does it.”

“Unless you’ve been taught how to do it properly, it’s harder than it looks.  The mare is struggling because the foal is stuck, and you can’t just drag it out of her.”

“So, you’ll give me instructions and I’ll follow them.”

She hesitated but finally nodded.  ”Alright.  I’ll do that.  But first, you have to get rid of your horse and take off all that battle gear.  Dave does this without his shirt on.”

Winking at her, he said, “If you want to see me without my shirt, just say so, sweetie.”

She groaned.  ”The reason I told you to take your shirt off was because if you don’t, you’ll get the birthing fluid all over your chest.”

“Sure,” he replied with a slight chuckle.

With a shake of her head, she grabbed the horse’s bridle.  ”I’ll tell you what.  I’ll take your horse to the pasture while you get ready.” Before he could respond, she left with the horse.

Once he removed everything but his pants and boots, he went over to the stall where the horse was laying on clean straw.  He went over to the mare and patted her belly.  ”Don’t worry.  We’ll get that foal out safe and sound in no time.”

The horse snorted her reply.

“Everyone’s a critic,” he replied in amusement.  Noting Mary had returned, he asked, “What do I do first?”

“Wash your arms with soap and water.”

He grinned at her.  ”You like your men with that ‘just came out of the water’ look?”

She gasped.  ”I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m married to Dave, not you.  You’re only here because of the hero swap.  The reason you’re supposed to wash up is for the health of the mare and foal.”

“This would be more fun is Sandy was here,” he commented as he washed up.

“This isn’t supposed to be fun.  This is a serious scene.  We want the mare and foal to be alive and healthy at the end of it.”

“You stress out too much.  Ruth won’t let the horses die.” He returned to the stall and looked over at her.  ”Now what do I do?”

Mary led him through the process and he followed her instructions, careful to do everything exactly as she told him to.  When the head and shoulders appeared, she told him to back up so he did.

“They have it from here,” Mary told him.

As he expected, the foal’s upper body emerged on its own.  It stopped when its hips were at the threshold of entering the world.  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.

“What did you think?” she asked as he washed up.

“It wasn’t too bad.   This wasn’t the most exciting scene in your book, but it was good enough for what Dave wanted, I guess.”

“Oh?  And what scene would you have picked?”

“I would have picked the scene where Neil abducted you because then I’d take my horse, hopped on the train, and gotten you back myself.  You don’t know hot and sexy until you’ve been rescued by a knight in shining armor.  And I’ll tell you another thing,” he added as he dried himself off.  ”I wouldn’t have let Neil get away with it either.  He would have been put in jail where he belonged.”

“But if we had done that, then Neil never would have gotten his second chance in His Redeeming Bride.”

He shrugged.  ”I guess you and I will have to differ on that plot point.”

“You, of all characters, should understand how important it is to get a second chance.”

“Yeah, but in my case, I was the good guy.  It was the author who misunderstood me.” He grabbed his battle gear.  ”It was an honor to deliver the foal with your help, my lady.” He bowed and left the barn.

His Reluctant Lady is Now Available!

All I can say is that Amazon and B&N have really quickened the time they get books up on their sites.  It used to take about a day to two days.  This time, it was a matter of hours.  

Amazon

B&N

Apple iBookstore

Smashwords

***

After doing the pre-order experiment for two books, I have decided that the pre-order thing is not for me.  It was so amazingly HARD to wait to publish this book and His Abducted Bride.  LOL  I just don’t have the patience required for this type of waiting.  When I finish a book, I want to get it out so I can focus on writing the next one.

So in the future, I’ll be getting my books out a lot sooner once I finish them.  :)

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.”

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.

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.  :)

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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:

Amazon

B&N

Smashwords

Apple iBookstore

His Abducted Bride should be up soon on Kobo, Sony and other sites that Smashwords distributes to.

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.