Weekend Writing Warriors ~ 10/31/21 ~ Heart of Hope ~ The Scandalous Waltz

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors !

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

 

Hope you have a happy, spooky, and safe Halloween!

RELEASE DAY!

I’m back this week with a final excerpt from my just released Heart of Hope, the sixth book in my Handful of Hearts novella series. It’s the story of Lady Letitia Stowe and Mr. Albert (Bertie) Symmons, who meet, although not for the first time, at Lady Hamilton’s ball (where all couples meet in this series).

Today is the last day for excerpts from Heart of Hope. Next week I’ll begin snippets from my upcoming release The Widow Wore Plaid!

BLURB: 

Wallflower Lady Letitia Stowe is determined to dance with no one at Lady Hamilton’s ball unless she knows the gentleman. When just such a man appears in the form of Albert Symmons, Letitia is suddenly eager to dance with him…until she discovers their set is the scandalous waltz. Letitia begs off and instead they talk together, each confessing a weakness. Inspired to help one another, they make a pact: she will instruct him in dancing, and he will do likewise for her in horseback riding. Their frequent meetings grow into true affection and respect; however, Letitia discovers her brother has another match in mind for her.

Can Letitia and Bertie come up with a way to change her brother’s mind or will they need to take more drastic measures to secure a “happily ever after”?

This excerpt takes up right where we left off: Letitia is trying to be a wallflower because she doesn’t want to dance with anyone she doesn’t know. But she spies Mr. Symmons, who she does know, and hopes he’s headed toward her. He is and the conversation this week is now leading toward an invitation to dance. However, at the penultimate moment, Lord Kettering intrudes and asks Letitia for a dance.

We have now switched to Bertie’s POV. Hope you enjoy. I’m starting right where I left off last week. Bertie’s has just admitted he’s “not much of a swimmer.”

Today I’m jumping ahead just a little. Bertie has just claimed Letitia for his dance. But naturally, the course of true love does not run smoothly. Enjoy!

EXCERPT:

“I believe we must go, my lady. They are making up the set.” Mr. Symmons glanced at the floor and cocked his head. “I beg your pardon, I was mistaken. They are not making up sets for this dance.”

The first strains of the music began, and a cold dread shot through Letitia. “Is it a quadrille, perhaps?”

“I don’t think so.” He peered first at the dance floor then at the orchestra leader. “I believe they are going to play another waltz.”

And a little more for good measure…

Letitia’s mouth dried. Much as she enjoyed Mr. Symmons’s company, she simply could not dance a waltz with him. “Are…are you certain?”

He looked out over the floor, where couples were standing together, not forming longways sets. “I believe so, my lady.”

“Oh, dear, this is terrible.” She had so looked forward to dancing with Mr. Symmons, something she’d never thought would happen. But she simply couldn’t do it. “I do apologize, Mr. Symmons, but I’m afraid my brother thinks the waltz too scandalous for a young woman to dance.”

His eyebrows shot up, quite comically. “I say, that’s deucedly odd. It is 1820, after all. Most people don’t deem it scandalous at all these days.”

“Yes, others have remarked on that little foible of his.” Letitia fingered the golden heart necklace at her throat. “But he is adamant. In fact, he’s forbidden me to dance it with anyone in public.” She didn’t like lying to anyone, especially to her current partner.

 

 Heart of Hope is now available to download on Amazon. Today is the last day to get it at the pre-order price of .99, so grab your copy now. After release it will revert to its regular price of $2.99.

If you’d like to find out more about Lord Seton’s courtship of Miss Powell, pick up Hearts at All Hallows’ Eve. It’s now FREE on Amazon and  Smashwords. But hurry up and download. It disappears at midnight tonight!

Additionally,  my upcoming contemporary Christmas novella, The Present, is on pre-order on Amazon, part of a Christmas series called Christmas on the Side. It will release on November 9th. You can go check it out here.

And the final Widows’ Club book, The Widow Wore Plaid, is available for pre-order on Amazon as well. It will release on December 28th.

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

Handful of Hearts series

(Today is the last day at .99! Grab your copies now!)