Smitten by Books

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday! Its such a special time of year, and I always feel a little bit let down when it’s over. Don’t you?

What, it’s not over? Christmas is next weekend? Oh, silly kids, I’m not talking about Christmas! The holiday I just celebrated is the high point of the historical romance calendar – our Dear Miss Austen’s birthday. Yes, Friday, December 16 was the 236^th anniversary of Jane’s birth, and I hope you all celebrated accordingly.

After all, Dearest Jane started it all. Those of us who love the Regency era (and it’s close relative, the Georgian), owe an immeasurable debt to her. The spunky heroine with a mind of her own, the stiff and forbidden gentleman who will melt to butter when he receives the love of the right woman, even the cad who will break your heart without a second thought – Jane did them all first, and she did them best.

That doesn’t stop us from trying, though, does it? You’d think we would run out of stories, but we keep re-imagining our lords and ladies, gentlemen and rogues. And I hope it continues for many more years to come.

This year saw the publication of my first (and hopefully not last!) contribution to the genre, a Georgian romance titled PROOF OF LOVE. It all started when I read an article about an odd little man who had an incredible mind, one Henry Cavendish. Henry was one of those Cavendishes, a relative by marriage of the renowned Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Poor Henry was a strange case – he was painfully shy, refused to speak to women (even his female servants), and had absolutely no social skills whatsoever. Despite that, he was a brilliant scientist who discovered hydrogen, did some of the first research on electricity, and determined the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere. Unfortunately, Henry’s shyness kept him from publishing his achievements, and his work came very close to being claimed by others.

That article got me thinking – what about a scientist-nobleman for a hero? All of a sudden, he came alive for me, though luckily for my heroine, he was not nearly as shy and awkward as poor Henry. Once I got a good picture of the Duke of Danesleigh in my mind, the story just told itself.

Lady Susan Lanier has lost all faith in love, and of course a level-headed, rational scientist like Danesleigh never believed in it to begin with. But a Duke needs a wife, and Lady Susan has all the qualifications the Duke has determined to be scientifically correct for the role. Together, they find that love is the greatest experiment of all.

I’d like to share a bit from PROOF OF LOVE with you today. This scene is near the beginning of the novel, when the Duke’s intended, Lady Susan Lanier, decides to do a little experimenting of her own. Hope you enjoy it!

After the meal, he lay back and closed his eyes, using his folded arms as a pillow. The breeze was warm, his belly was full, the wine was buzzing delightfully through his veins and a pair of delicious lips was–he sat up, disturbing Susan in some very interesting explorations of his ear and the side of his neck. “What are you doing?” he asked in shock.

“I am conducting an experiment,” she answered, her big grey eyes solemnly gazing into his. “I believe you are familiar with the concept.”

“What blasted experiment do you think you are doing?”

“Well, yesterday, when you were, well, ‘experimenting,’ I realized that I have a sad lack of information on some very important questions. So I must gather empirical data, so to speak, to allow me to make better informed decisions.” As she spoke, she began to stroke his upper leg. Many hours in the saddle had given him long, strong thigh muscles, along which her hand skated in a most provocative manner.

He reached out to skim one finger along the swell of her bosom, just above the top of her bodice. Surely this was her surrender. She would be his. “And what questions do you need information on?”

“In the rose garden, you mentioned,” she murmured, “passion.”

He leaned in to nip at her earlobe, then whispered into her ear, “What would you like to know about passion?”

She cupped his jaw with one hand and kissed him deeply. “Whatever you have to teach me.”

 

PROOF OF LOVE is available from your favorite e-book store, including:

Amazon  ~   Champagne Books   ~   All Romance Ebooks

And, by the way, I am twitter-mad, so please follow me @romancemama!