Weekend Writing Warriors ~ 02/26/17 Only Marriage Will Do ~ The Heat of Battle

This is my final week for sharing snippets from the second book of the House of Pleasure series, Only Marriage Will Do. Next week I go on to my upcoming release, the third book in the series, Only A Mistress Will Do. But this week a little more intensity for Juliet and Amiable.

Captain Amiable Dawson, irritated because he’s been standing out in the hot sun, knocking on the Marquess of Dalbury’s door, has stumbled upon quite a scene of a man lunging across a sofa and grabbing a woman’s arm. The woman runs to Amiable and whispers for him to please help her as this man was trying to abduct her. Amiable comes to the rescue by pretending to be her husband. St. Cyr then makes a bawdy comment about Juliet and  shows Amiable papers purporting to claim Juliet is his wife. (Altered slightly from published text to conform to WWW guidelines.)

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

EXCERPT:

Blood roared in Amiable’s ears, as though he stood in the heat of battle. He drew his sword and lunged, aiming to skewer the Frenchman through the stomach crying, “The law will matter not at all if you are dead, St. Cyr.”

St. Cyr grasped the knob of his walking stick and pulled a thin blade free just in time to parry the thrust,

Wood sword cane/walking stick with ivory ball tip
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

then scampered for the door, calling out in English, “This is not the end of this, Juliet. I will return with the authorities and make you see reason.” As the viscount fled the room, Amiable scrambled after him.

“Let him go,” Juliet said, tugging at his arm.

Amiable stopped and the front door slammed shut. “I wish I’d run the blackguard through.”

Juliet burst into tears and crumpled on the rose and cream sofa, shaking hard enough to make the legs skitter against the wood floor.

BLURB:

Not every happy-ever-after begins at “I do.”

When the hero of her dreams rescues Lady Juliet Ferrers from the man claiming to be her husband, she is sure she has found her one true love.  But is she free to marry him?  Not to be deterred, Juliet arranges for her hero, Captain Amiable Dawson, to escort her to her family estate, hoping that along the way she can win his love.

Amiable is charmed by the sweet, beautiful woman he rescued, and although he has grave reservations about her marital status, he allows himself to be swept up into Juliet’s romantic spell and the promise of a happy-ever-after.

The spell breaks when legal questions arise and Juliet faces the horror of not knowing if she is married to her knight in shining armor or the cruel viscount who is determined to have her at any price.

 

Books in the House of Pleasure series:

(Click on image for link to Amazon)

And don’t forget to check out the rest of the Warriors here.  There’s some fantastic snippets to be read.