Weekend Writing Warriors ~ 09/22/19 Heart of Decadence ~ A Scandal in the Making

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors!

I have a new book (it was published in a set this past spring, but I’ve put it on pre-order  with the release to be September 30) called Heart of Decadence, the latest of the Handful of Hearts novella series. Here’s the cover–another stunning winner from Danielle Fine!

 

BLURB:  

Miss Amelia Burrowes was the scandal of the ton in her first Season, when her fiancée died and she was declared a ruined woman by Society. Ten years later, she’s back in London to make an arranged marriage that will hopefully allow her sisters to be received by the ton. But when Nathan, Lord Ainsley, the man she’d really had a tendre for all those years ago, renews their acquaintance, the flame between them rekindles and Amelia must convince him that a woman with a past deserves a future.

I started earlier this month with a scene at the end of the first chapter. Amelia has been discovered by Mr. Burke, her intended, although she’s not very keen on marrying him. He’s trying to become “better acquainted” with her, very much against her will, when a stranger interrupts their kiss. Mr. Burke then introduces Amelia and she and the stranger, Lord Ainsley, discover that they had met ten years before. He thought she had married, but she tells him no, she did not. Later, Ainsley asks his friend, Lord Haversham, what he knows about the lady. But when he gives him her name, he has an unexpected reaction and brings forth the story of the scandal.

The snippet follows on immediately from last week and has been slightly altered to accommodate the WWW format.

SNIPPET:

“But Carrington died before the nuptials could be arranged, and so she remained Miss Burrowes.”

Frowning, Nathan poured another tot of spirits into his glass as he said, “I do not see the point, Haversham—she was betrothed and the man died; if she was not suspected of poisoning him, I do not see how scandal came into it.”

Swirling his libation slowly, Haversham kept his gaze on his glass saying, “That came afterward, Ainsley; Miss Burrowes was prostrate with grief at Carrington’s death so she and her family retired to their estate in Dorset where she fell ill herself for a time.”

“I still see no hint of scandal here, Haversham; a woman’s grief is no reason for her to be disgraced.”

Casting a look of disbelief at Nathan, his friend sat forward in his chair and asked, “Are you not aware then that from almost the moment couples agree to marry, they feel it is permitted to anticipate the wedding night?”

“Well, yes, of course I know that,” he paused with dawning realization, “so the ton believed that Miss Burrowes and Lord Carrington…?”

“Exactly; it would explain her family’s frantic desire to have them marry before he died and her illness afterward.”

“Her illness?”

Haversham paused, then continued, “The on-dit at the time put it about that she had either birthed or lost a child.”

As though a rug had been pulled from beneath his feet, Nathan’s world shifted—the Miss Burrowes he had known would never have done such a thing; his traitorous memory, however, suggested otherwise.

 

Heart of Decadence is now available for pre-order here and will release on September 30, 2019–next Tuesday!

And this Tuesday, September 24, the audio version of To Woo A Wicked Widow releases to Audible and on Audiobook! Here’s the link to pre-order it on Amazon and here’s a link to listen to a snippet read by English Voice Actress Anne Flosnik. Sample:https://www.audible.com/…/To-Woo-a-Wicked-Widow…/1974966593…

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

 

Handful of Hearts series by Jenna Jaxon

All back listed books for this series on sale for just .99 each!

Check them out on my Amazon Author Page!