Addie Jo Ryleigh and a certain Temptation
ADDIE JO RYLEIGH Of course I do!! In fact, we have a little female who has become part of the family. My youngest son got her for Christmas last year. Hamsters are adorable *wink wink*
ADDIE JO RYLEIGH Hmmm…not sure I could figure out how to insert a hamster into a story but I’m always up to the challenge. After all, in THE DUKE’S TEMPTATION, Phoebe was a doll loving, pirate hunting, three year old.
ADDIE JO RYLEIGH There is just something about historical romances that I enjoy. I think it is the extra rules that stand in the way. And how breaking those rules add to the tension. Such as with the Regency period were the brush of a hand could mean just as much as a kiss. Or when the lack of an introduction can’t stand in the way of a determined female. Not to mention the beautiful settings. A glittering ballroom. A ducal estate. So many possibilities.
ADDIE JO RYLEIGH The path to publication for THE DUKE’S TEMPTATION was a long but educational one. Being my very first release, it traveled with endless baby steps. Not sure which direction I wanted to go, I first queried agents while submitting my story to various contests. 
Thanks to some contest wins, I had a few requests for my manuscript but it wasn’t until an editor at Soul Mate Publishing judged a contest when I found a home for Gabe and Elizabeth’s story. I continue to learn as I work on completing the Men of Circumstance series. As slow going as my path has been, I wouldn’t change a thing.
ADDIE JO RYLEIGH. As much as I love the cover for THE DUKE’S TEMPTATION, I’ve always had my own vision of Gabe. Part of my writing process is putting a face to my characters. If the good fairy was graciously granting my wish, I would hunt down Alex O’Loughlin to star as Gabe.
While it has always been easy for me to find an actor for my leading man, I have issues with their counterpart. In the end, I could see Candice Accola as a beautiful and determined Elizabeth.
ADDIE JO RYLEIGH. I don’t have a special Christmas recipe but I wish I had more time to bake all the yummy goodies that come with the holiday. I keep telling myself…someday.
ADDIE JO RYLEIGH. With three young boys, Christmas will once again be filled with watching them enjoy the season and building great memories and traditions. We don’t have any big travel plans. We still live close to our extended family so we will spend the weekends around Christmas going from here to there. It gets to be a busy time but in the end it is all worth it.
ADDIE JO RYLEIGH. I continue to work on The Men of Circumstance series. I’m deep in edits for The Runner’s Enticement (book two), Nate’s story. It is slotted for release early summer 2016. I’m also finishing book three. It will be sad to one day finish the series but having Gabe, Nate, and Marcus’s stories completed will be a huge achievement.
Chapter 1
LONDON, ENGLAND
JULY 1816
Gabriel St. James, the sixth Duke of Wesbrook, locked his gaze on the lady—if one could even call her that. Having never dealt with this particular kind of lady before, he was not acquainted with the proper protocol.
Truth be told, he shouldn’t be so taken aback by the situation. He was, after all, his father’s son, and therefore destined to live the same debauched life. It still burned that after years of struggling against it, in the end, he’d had no choice but to grudgingly accept his place within the family line of scoundrels. His father had made sure there was no alternative.
He narrowed his eyes on the vision before him. To have his debauchery presented in such a fashion was something else entirely. Something he wasn’t certain he could withstand. He couldn’t deny that he gambled more often than not, consumed his fair share of liquor, and was a rake of the first order, but there were some lines he refused to cross. He’d vowed to never fully become his father.
That obviously failed. Not even he could dispute the proof standing there. The very evidence that confirmed he was more like the previous duke than he thought.
As much as he desired it, he could no longer ignore her—all thirty-six inches of her. Despite his confusion, there was no doubt the pixie-faced, three-year-old standing before him was his daughter. His illegitimate daughter.
There, he’d done it. He finally found a word to describe her. Daughter.
Fury pumped through his veins and caused his hand to tighten on the all-too-brief letter that had arrived with her. How the hell could he not have known he’d fathered a child three years ago? Denial might have been his gut reaction but in actuality there wasn’t a need for him to validate the information. He knew it was true. Her features might be feminine, but almost every scrap of her proclaimed she was a Wesbrook. From her wavy ebony hair that gave a hint of unruliness, to the way she raised her tiny chin under his scrutiny.
If that wasn’t enough to give credence to the girl’s lineage, her eyes said the rest. Penetrating blue eyes—a blue so rich it reminded him of the field of cornflowers growing wild on his estate—surrounded by lashes as dark as the night. Only one person had eyes like that.
Cecilia Fairchild, the child’s mother . . . the woman he’d almost married.
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Filed under: Author Interviews, heroes, heroines, Romance, writing Tagged: Addie Jo Ryleigh, Historical romance, Soul Mate Publishing, The Duke's Temptation, writing
