Jan 27, 2011
I finished writing the first of the London List books yesterday, and plunged right into the second book today. I’m going to let Ben and Evie’s story rest and recuperate a little before I read/revise it and send it to my editor. I miss them already. 🙂 Fortunately I can make them turn up for a brief reunion the next book. Authorial magic!
I lived with them for over four months, and Evangeline Ramsey is probably my secret twin. Oops, not so secret. I’ve told you. But she’s sarcastic and stubborn and snotty and warm-hearted and wildly in love with a man who drives her crazy. She is, however, much braver than I am, breaking rules, hacking off her hair and posing as a man. She’s never at a loss for words–except when she’s in Ben’s arms. 😉
Jan 23, 2011
I expect to be on the quiet side for a while. I’m close, oh so close, to finishing my current project. As of today, I have a little over 84,000 words. I know exactly what needs to get written (not always the case, LOL). I’m excited, yet sad at the same time. I love this couple!
But I love Sebastian and Freddie too, who are about to make their debut in Margaret Rowe’s Any Wicked Thing from Berkley Heat on March 1. Look for excerpts on the blog in the coming weeks. Here’s a snippet:
Frederica removed her spectacles and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She didn’t want to see her embroidery anyway—she was making a dog’s dinner of the vines and flowers on the pointless pillow case. Why embellish something that was to be drooled on? It was not as though she’d ever have a man in her bed to impress with her neat French knots and chain stitches. And if that’s all he’d be looking at—
A perfectly wicked thought crossed her mind. True, she had pledged to herself to never marry. She planned on hiring a much nicer companion than Mrs. Carroll in two years when she came into her funds and live modestly on her inheritance, with perhaps a faithful dog or a cat. Perhaps both. Men were, on the whole, disappointing creatures who cared for nothing but their own comforts, and often had fleas besides. Sebastian was the very model of such a man—selfish, careless, reckless. But the play upon the family name—he was known as God of Sin by the chin-wags—was surely deserved.
Frederica’s paltry attempt at sexual experience a decade ago should probably not even be counted as such. While she had undoubtedly lost her virginity, she’d never been transported to heaven as was rumored possible. Over the years, she had achieved it for herself with considerable effort without going insane or blind, but how lovely it would be to be brought to abandon by a skillful lover.
A Sebastian who was not dead drunk or full of poppy smoke. A Sebastian who had ten years to hone his skills and earn his disreputable reputation. Of course, he might have picked up something far less desirable than knowledge—gentlemen were dying off left and right from debauchery. But if Sebastian didn’t have the pox or nasty little insects nesting in his nether hair, he just might do again.
How very shocking. She was considering making a second mistake with Sebastian. In a real bed this time, with embroidered pillowcases and clean linens and candles scattered about the room illuminating his masculine perfection.
Of course, there was a considerable impediment to her plan. Sebastian Goddard hated her.
But not for long. *g*
Jan 17, 2011
And I’m late even with that, unless January has 34 days. Things have been busy in Robinsonworld. My husband’s health continues to improve and I’m out and about promoting Mistress by Midnight. Tomorrow I’ll be at Treatment Center Maryland giving away a hardcover copy, just as I am on this site’s monthly contest. Selling rights to the book clubs means hardcover copies are printed, which was so exciting for me that I joined the Rhapsody Book Club and ordered my own books, LOL. You can see how they advertised MbM in their catalog…my family will probably put “The clock chimes for lust” on my gravestone.
In other news, I can almost see the light at the end of Ben & Evie’s tunnel, about 10,000 to go for their HEA. I haven’t shared much about my current WIP, and it’s time to change all that. Here, without further ado, is how Baron Benton Craig lays eyes on his old sweetheart and current nemesis, Evangeline Ramsey:
Ben left his mother to her gossip and speculation. Braving the best knife sharpener and Cook’s opprobrium, he snagged an extra scone and her copy of the newssheet. Over his crumbs he found the offices of the paper buried between advertisements for the improvement of manly vigor and custom reupholstery.
R. Ramsey, Publisher. An odd coincidence that the bane of his existence shared the surname of his lost and unlamented love.
He had nothing better to do today but defend his honor and demand satisfaction or retraction. He was not going to sit in his club and endure the jibes of his so-called friends as they reminded him that he was the number one topic of conversation in the ton. Bad enough Severson gave him a gimlet eye as he assisted Ben with his coat against the raw December wind.
It would do him good to walk the distance to the newspaper’s office. Work up his umbrage and indignation. His calves would get exercise too. Ben wouldn’t let a few nights of dissipation wreck his carefully-crafted body. It was damned hard to stay fit in Town, but Ben did by fencing regularly at a private salle d’armes. Using his fists was far too reminiscent of his father’s proclivities, so he left Gentleman Jackson’s to others.
In a matter of half an hour, he had traversed quite a bit of fashionable London and stood before the impeccably scrubbed front window of The London List. He could see clear to the back of the rear brick office wall and the hulking black printing press which would be idle for the rest of the week. A young gentleman, his black hair cropped brutally short, shirtsleeves rolled up and jacket discarded, appeared to be tinkering with the source of Ben’s choler. If the infernal machine was broken, that would save him the trouble of smashing it himself.
No. Ben had other methods of persuasion. He would make the fellow or his employer if he had one an offer no sensible person could refuse.
Ben startled at the tinkle of bells over the door as he entered. The printer turned abruptly to him, his welcoming smile quickly draining away, looking ready to faint onto the wide pine floorboards.
By God and the saints and all that was holy. The young gentleman was no gentleman. Ben felt light-headed himself as he stared into Evangeline Ramsey’s parchment-pale face.
Jan 9, 2011
Happy 2011! And it is. My husband is recovering slowly but surely from major surgery. I’ve spent the past five days at the hospital/in a nearby hotel and have missed Romancelandia, but I’m sure Romancelandia’s gotten along just fine without me. 😉 If all goes well, he’ll be released later this week. Please keep your fingers and toes crossed.
I’m still giving away books for the next THREE months–please see the News page for details. Tomorrow I’ll be at Romance Bandits, and Tuesday I’ll be at Seductive Musings. Thanks so much to SM’s Carrie Divine for designing this lovely Any Wicked Thing ad!
Earlier this month Mistress by Mistake was #1 on Amazon’s Free Kindle list for several days. Free or not, it was a delightful surprise to be #1 at anything. I’m still smarting from being second-runner-up for my college’s May Queen, LOL. Seriously, thanks to all of you who downloaded and hopefully enjoyed the book! And just for fun, me in my not-quite-May Queen days–a whole lot blonder and thinner!
I finished writing the first of the London List books yesterday, and plunged right into the second book today. I’m going to let Ben and Evie’s story rest and recuperate a little before I read/revise it and send it to my editor. I miss them already. 🙂 Fortunately I can make them turn up for a brief reunion the next book. Authorial magic! 
