THE VISCOUNT'S VOW-Excerpt 3 G-Rated

This is one of my favorite scenes in The Viscount's Vow. It takes place in Vangie's vardo (wagon).
 

Ian placed a hand on Vangie’s shoulder. “I’m so very sorry.”

Oh, how she needed a comforting touch. But not his. Never again his.

She wrenched away from him.

Her voice ringing with scathing condemnation, she said, “Tell me, Lord Warrick, are you terribly disappointed I’ll not have a distended belly proclaiming to the world I carry your seed before you discard me?”

Vangie heard him suck in a great gulp of air.

“She was lying, Vangie.”

She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sobs demanding release.

Was she? Or was Lucinda telling the truth, and Ian the liar?

When she didn’t respond he pressed, “Lucinda knew you were behind me. Her lies were contrived to cause you pain and grief.”

He laid a hand on her shoulder. “We’re legally married. By all that is holy, I swear it.”

What did he know of holiness?

Vangie struggled to turn over, the weight of the quilt covering her adding to the burden of her grief. She pinned him with a direct look.

“Tell me one thing,” she rasped. “Did you or did you not venture to London for the express purpose of causing my downfall?”

“Vangie. . .”

“Perhaps downfall isn’t accurate. Putting me in my place? Giving me my just due? Ruining me?”

He said nothing. Had guilt rendered him speechless? She searched his face. His handsome features were etched with sorrow, and his eyes . . . was that regret? Or . . . could it be? Were those tears awash in the silvery depths?

Her heart twisted painfully. Blast and damn. No. She’d not feel compassion for him. She was the victim. She would offer him no quarter, no mercy.

“Well, did you?”

“That was before I. . .”

Pain, razor-sharp pierced her heart and left it bleeding. “It’s a simple question, Ian. Yes or no?”           

“It’s not that simple—”

With a doggedness that surprised even her, Vangie persisted. “Yes or no?”

“Sweeting, I’d been told. . .”

Told? Fury whipped anew. She bit out, “Yes. Or. No?”

Absolute, resolute, demanding truth’s validation, either to mend her shattered heart or annihilate it completely, Vangie would have her answer. No more a corked-brained, beguiled miss, blinded by love. Looking through the twin lenses of betrayal and deceit, she could at last see Ian clearly.

His eyes pleaded with her to understand. His voice low and filled with self-condemnation, he uttered but one syllable.

“Yes.”

The Viscount's Vow is Available at Amazon.com

http://amzn.com/B00EZ8RBN2/

To celebrate The Viscount's Release, I'm having a giveaway on my blog. Items you can win include a Kindle, ebooks, bookmarks, and teacups. 

http://blueroseromance.com  

  

I'd love to hear from you.

http://collettecameron.com 

I'm on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Linedin, Google+, Tumblr, & Wordpress too.

 

 

 

Prequel to Sinners' Opera - Excerpt - Prizes!

Sinners’ Waltz

 

Prologue

 

If I sit quietly as I am doing now, allowing my mind to wander, the years brush past my eyes like snowflakes, each with its unique design and momentary brilliance.  I can time travel from the latter days of the reign of the hapless –and later headless—Charles I to this the twenty first century.  The early years are not as clear in memory as the centuries since my birth to the Vampyre.

I am Morgan Gabriel D’Arcy, the Earl of St. Averil and, in this lifetime, a concert pianist.

In 1659, Dominique du Montcleare gave me eternal life.

I’m quite certain that, even before her transformation, Dominique was as strong and aggressive as a man.  She demanded passion hot and sport dangerous.  She mastered her stallion on the spur and wielded her ivory-handled pistol with a marksman's skill.  In a peach-and-silver tissue gown, she appeared at the theatre and stopped hearts.  In peach-and-silver brocade doublet and hose, she could stop a man in his tracks with her fist.  There wasn't a meek bone in Dominique's curvaceous body or, I'm convinced, a heart beneath her luscious left breast.  But we were kindred spirits she and I.  Dominique was the mirror in which I first recognized my own reflection.  Hunters both.

When Oliver Cromwell seized the English Parliament and disposed of his rival, King Charles I, most of the displaced nobility fled with the Royal Family.  For two decades, Charles II and his Cavaliers were to wander Europe.

In 1658, Charles II sent me back to France and sealed my fate.

Destiny wore a woman's face.

 

Morgan is the hero in Sinners' Opera, my paranormal romance, from Double Dragon Publishing, available in print or ebook format.  http://www.amazon.com/Sinners-Opera-ebook/dp/B00DIKLEH2/ref=sr_1_1/192-6242563-2157269?ie=UTF8&qid=1372504733&sr=8-1&keywords=sinners+opera

My prizes are a download of Sinners' Opera or Gemini Rising (a dark fantasy), swag (autographed cover flats, pen, magnet)  and a Black Swan coffee mug.  Later today, I'll post an excerpt of the first chapter of Sinners' Waltz, my WIP.

 

Lady Sarah's Redemption

By Beverley Eikli

 

The Regency Period has been an obsession with me for as long as I can remember, so it was a sad day when I realised I’d finished every Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer Regency Romance published.

By that stage I knew my obsession would only be sated if I wrote my own, so, at 17, I began a rambling attempt which culminated with the drowning, on page 550, of my heroine.

 I’ve learned a lot since then. My heroine, in my first Regency Romance Lady Sarah’s Redemption nearly drowned, but I knew by now that in order for it to be called a romance it had to have a happy ending.

My first three Regencies written under my Beverley Eikli name were passionate stories of angst-filled romance peppered with intrigue, mystery and suspense.

And they all had happy endings.

These romances were originally published by Robert Hale (UK) in hardcover so I am delighted the first two – Lady Sarah’s Redemption and Lady Farquhar’s Butterfly - are now available on kindle.

Below is the premise for Lady Sarah’s Redemption.

When spoiled heiress Lady Sarah Miles assumes the identity of a drowned governess to escape marriage to her best friend, James, she thinks her troubles will be over within the fortnight.

Arriving at the grand estate of reformist MP Roland Hawthorne to take charge of the tortured widower's rebellious sixteen-year-old daughter, Caro, Sarah unexpectedly forms a strong attachment to the occupants of her new household.

But when Sarah’s deceit plays into the hands of an unexpected adversary who uses Caro as a pawn in a high stakes game of revenge, Sarah must risk everything she holds dear - including her love for Roland - to redeem herself.

And here is an excerpt:

Now why was he looking at her like that? Sarah wondered indignantly. Had she dropped sauce upon her dress?

Instantly she saw him colour and his eyes return to her face where they were now fixed, grimly. She stifled the impulse to smile. Oh ho, so the master did appreciate a pretty face and figure. Only right now he was doing his best to fight it.

The observation gave her confidence.

Yes, Sarah had learned a thing or two about men since storming her way out of the schoolroom as a precocious fifteen-year-old to play hostess at her father’s parliamentary dinners after her mother had died.

Mr Hawthorne, however, was unlike any of the men her father entertained. Dangerous radicals like Roland Hawthorne did not receive invitations from Lord Miles.

Yet he hardly looked the threat to law and order, as her father would have maintained. Larchfield, with its exquisite grounds and works or art was a testament to refinement.

Mr Hawthorne, himself, was a fine specimen of civilized manhood, far more to her taste than the pleasure-seeking rakes and popinjays her father entertained and who regularly made up to her. Well, as much as she would allow them. She quickly tired of their vanity and pomposity, although she’d pretended to encourage it. It was, after all, what was expected.

She flashed him another smile and was surprised and gratified by his brief awkwardness.

Clearly, there was more to her employer than met the eye. How intriguing. If this was a man who could smoulder with passion for a heartless beauty seven years ago, thought Sarah, she would be more than interested to find out what excited his passions now that he had apparently adopted a more sober outlook on life.

She bowed her head. “I accept your censure, sir. I will not turn Caro’s head with foolish nonsense. And I shall read the news sheets, for I must admit, I had in fact been reading some gossip column whose talk of the Carlton House Set I had thought might divert the girls—” she stopped, adding ingeniously as she interpreted his glowering look — “with examples of deplorable behaviour to be condemned.”

Mr Hawthorne seemed to struggle for words.

“Miss Morecroft,” he said finally, “you are here to instruct the girls in simple arithmetic, spelling, French and drawing. Not to provide moral guidance. That,” he added, crisply, “is something you can leave to me.”

He nodded in dismissal.

Sarah hesitated, about to cast one of those seductive lures which came naturally and which had successfully hooked many an admirer in the past.

No. Coquetry was not going to win over Mr. Hawthorne despite experience showing her men liked their women beautiful and vacuous. She paused, turning, her hand on the door knob. He nodded stiffly, his eyes nevertheless lingering upon her.

Her heart gave an unexpected little skip. She couldn’t remember when she had last felt such anticipation.  

For a short time Lady Sarah’s Redemption is available on kindle for just 0.99c.

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Beverley writes traditional Regency romances as Beverley Eikli and erotic or sensual historicals as Beverley Oakley.

Double Crossing -- Trains, no Planes or Automobiles

     Love True Grit? Double Crossing is a twist on that popular western movie, and available now at Astraea Press, Amazon and B&N.

     Instead of a 14-year-old girl like Mattie Ross, though, DC has Lily Granville - nearly 20, with a friend, Charles Mason, who expects her to marry him (but she's not so sure about teaching in China). After her father is murdered by the family lawyer, Lily talks Charles into escorting her west on the railroad to track the killer -- she believes the lawyer stole a valuable deed to a gold mine.

     I love trains, and chose the year 1869 as the setting. The Union Pacific and Central Pacific joined tracks in Utah in May of that year. For the first time, people could travel from New York City in the East to Sacramento, California. From several months to a 4-5 day journey? Incredible! The trip did have some dangers and inconvenience.

     So where does Rooster Cogburn come in? Despite Charles' presence, Lily soon realizes that she is no longer the hunter but the prey. With the killer following her, she needs someone used to violence, who's used his fists, who has a gun and knows how to use it. Enter "Ace" Diamond, ex-Confederate soldier, poker player and down-on-his-luck wanderer. Is he trustworthy? Will she be betrayed in the long run?

     Read my version of "True Grit" on a train -- and then rate it on Goodreads and Amazon! Let me know what you think via the comments here. Friend me on Facebook and Twitter! Thanks for reading.