RELEASE DAY! – Howard Haskell Takes A Bride
Whew! Do you ever go away on vacation, then come back and find that your work has not just doubled, it’s ten-pled? That’s what happened to me in the last three weeks. So I’m two days behind in announcing the release of the Love’s Prelude box set. 14 first-in-a-series stories that are sure to make you fall in love! And all for just 99 cents! My contribution is one of my favorite things I’ve written all year, the story of how Haskell, Wyoming founding father, Howard Haskell, met and married his lovely wife, Elizabeth. Here’s a snipped of Howard Haskell Takes A Bride…
Elizabeth’s heart thundered against her ribs—partially because of her outlandish daring in standing up with a man she didn’t know, and partially because every fiber of her being wanted to know him. Howard Haskell was brave, that much was certain. In spite of what Madeline had implied about his origins, the suit he wore was of the finest cut and quality. But when it came down to it, it was the way he grinned at her and swept her into his arms—closer than was strictly proper but with a wink in his intelligent eyes—that won her over.
He moved the two of them easily into the steps of the waltz. “Madame, I have waited my entire life for you.”
Elizabeth did her level best not to swoon at his heated words. “How long can that be? You don’t look a day over twenty-five.”
“I am twenty-seven, my dear heart,” he replied, eyes flashing. “But you are clearly ageless, timeless, immortal, a creation of the heavens, sent to tempt poor mortals such as myself with your boundless charms.”
She laughed, feigning impatience with his flowery words. All the while, her heart drummed, like the natives inhabiting the frontier were beating it.
“Are you certain you are not Irish, sir? For certainly, with conversation like this, you have kissed the Blarney Stone.”
She kept her expression cool as he whirled her around the floor, made certain she hit every step in the dance precisely. All around, guests were watching them. Worse than guests. She spotted her mother gaping from the group that she and Elizabeth’s father had joined. And Jonas was with them.
Elizabeth kept her smile banal and her eyelids half lowered, as if she was bored.
Howard wasn’t fooled. “Come now, my darling. I can see as plain as day that you like my flowery words. And if I could turn them to roses and adorn you from head to toe with them, I would in a heartbeat.”
Heat flooded Elizabeth’s face. She glanced down. “Sir, how can you be so ardent? You do not know me.”
Howard answered with a scolding grunt. “I know all that I need to know through holding you in my arms like this.”
She laughed.
“I’m serious.” He used the excuse of a turn in the dance to draw her closer—so close Elizabeth could almost feel the heat of his chest against hers.
“You are elegant and sophisticated,” he went on. “I perceive that in the way you carry yourself, the quality of your ball gown, and the caliber of the company you keep.”
Elizabeth raised her brow.
“You are intelligent, which is obvious from your witty repartee and the spark in your eyes.”
“No one has ever called me intelligent.” Elizabeth let her thoughts seep out before she could hold them in. She lowered her eyes, embarrassed by her slip.
“Ah, but they should, because it’s true,” Howard told her. He lowered his voice to say, “You are underappreciated. I can see it in the way you blush at compliments. And you are dissatisfied with your life.”
She snapped her eyes up to meet his. “How can you tell that?”
The instant the question was out, she glanced away. She’d betrayed her most private thoughts to this man, a complete stranger.
And yet, not a complete stranger.
“When I first clapped eyes on you, you were gazing out that window, looking for something, longing for something,” Howard went on, his voice a lion’s purr now. “I know that look—that look of being trapped in a world full of rules and restrictions that don’t suit you. I know it, my love, because I feel it too.”
She dragged her eyes back to his. “How do you know? How can you possibly know?” He was not a woman. He didn’t know what it was like to be treated as property, to be bartered and traded as part of a business deal, as though she were no more valuable than cattle.
Howard’s only answer was a smile so gentle and genuine that it sent ripples of longing through her. Those ripples rested in an ache that filled her core, making every step of the dance an exercise in sensuality. The fabric of her bodice suddenly chaffed against breasts that had grown sensitive under the heat of almost touching Howard. His hand on her waist was as intimate as a lover’s touch.
Breath didn’t seem to want to flow through Elizabeth’s lungs, but she still managed to ask, “Who are you, Mr. Howard Haskell? Where have you come from?”
“From your dreams, my dear,” he whispered.
The Love’s Prelude Box Set is available now on these major retailers….
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1T7VETj
Apple iBook: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1083109807
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/love-s-prelude
