Sunday Snippet Once Tempted

Welcome back for Sunday Snippet and a new book to share, Once Tempted! Once Tempted is a standalone Christmas Regency Romance novella, published last year in the Snowflakes and Scandals anthology. It’s coming back now as its own book and I’m so pleased with how the cover turned out. Perfect for this couple.

���I wager I will have Mrs. Franks warming my bed before the house party is through,��� Mr. Humphrey Chase proclaimed loudly to a circle of their closest friends. ���Who will challenge me?���

Frederick glanced across the room at the chattering women and considered the challenge Chase had set himself.

Widows, freshly out of mourning, were always highly sought after as bed partners, and Chase was notoriously boastful about his prowess with such women.

Boastful���but not always successful.

They were all standing about in Humphrey Chase���s drawing room at his Shropshire estate after dinner, and the object of his speculation was hard to miss in a gown of crimson silk. Mrs. Franks was clearly aware that she had stirred every man���s interest, too, judging by the way she kept sneaking glances at them all and fiddling with the neckline of her gown.

Frederick considered the widow Franks for a long moment, and then felt the stares of a dozen men turn on him.

He fought to control his smirk. When it came to a choice between Humphrey Chase and himself, Frederick usually ended up on top, so to speak.

Frederick���s reputation with the ladies was based on fact, not wishful thinking. Yet the others were waiting to see if Frederick would rise to the challenge thrown out by their host or not.

He buried his nose in his whiskey glass for a moment. Mrs. Julia Franks was lovely, with her pale hair intricately curled around her face, a slender figure under a rather daring gown, and she had already cast a lascivious glance in his direction earlier that night. The vicar���s widow had only recently rejoined society after mourning her husband for two long years. She would not be a difficult conquest.

Humphrey Chase���s winter house party was only two weeks��� duration but was sure to be memorable, for it was his first. Their host had vowed he was committed to living a scandalous life, starting now.

It would not take long to earn an invitation to the widow Franks��� bed for either of them. She was a sure thing, but he was loath to rush any seduction just because of a wager.

Mrs. Franks was standing beside his host���s rather simply dressed sister, Miss Minerva Chase, and the contrast between the widow���s and spinster���s attire was striking. There was nothing wrong with how Miss Chase was dressed, of course. But one gown screamed seduce me, while the other���while somewhat pretty���said look, but don���t you dare touch.

And of course, being the host���s sister, she was entirely off-limits for the sorts of games Frederick and friends liked to play with the women of their acquaintance.

Intrigued yet? I’ll continue posting from this book each week until you are. Cheers and thanks for reading!

Heather B

ONCE TEMPTED

A Standalone Christmas Romance

Of all of her brother���s rakish friends, Minerva Chase is most enamored of Fredrick. Tall, handsome, charming���and utterly blind when it comes to Minnie. Still, thanks to some spiked punch and a stolen moment, she harbors a bit of hope that she may gain his favor���until she learns of a wager between her brother and Fredrick that reveals the true measure of the man. He���s exactly the rogue he seems!

Fredrick Stonebeck is never one to eschew a challenge, and a bet is just the thing to enliven the winter house party he���s attending at the home of his friend, Humphrey Chase. Saving Chase���s spinster sister from the embarrassment of too much punch, however, turns out to be even more invigorating. Once tempted, Fredrick���s eyes are opened to what he���s been missing���both in Minnie, and in his life. But he may be too late. Both Minnie and her brother have plans for her future���and neither option includes Fredrick.

Once Tempted will release on December 16.

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