Weekend Writing Warriors ~ 10/30/22 ~ Hearts at All Hallows’ Eve ~ “Unmask! Unmask!”

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors !

Happy October!!!

It’s autumn and October, my favorite season and month. Counting down to Halloween all month! And in honor of everything spooky, I’m sharing snippets all month from my Halloween short story, Hearts at All Hallows’ Eve, part of my Handful of Hearts series.

One little news flash–this year I entered the Fall in Love New England Readers’ Choice Contest with an unpublished novel I was revising called As Long As You’re Mine. This past week I was informed that I won first place!

My agent is sending it out now (revision done) so I’ll let everyone know what happens!

BLURB:

When Miss Cecilia Powell attends her very first masquerade on All Hallows’ Eve, she’s thrilled when a mysterious reveler pays court to her. As their encounter continues, Cecilia is charmed, then smitten with this masked stranger, even though she senses something odd about him. Is he truly the man of her dreams, or will Cecilia find her dream a true nightmare?

I’ve skipped ahead to the end of their dance, so we can have the unmasking!  🙂 Enjoy!

EXCERPT:

“I believe I met and danced with your brother at Lady Hamilton’s ball in May–you whirl your partner in just the same breathtaking way he did,” some of the lightness left her, “I was very distressed when I heard he had—”

“Drowned?” The clock almost smothered his voice as it continued to chime the midnight hour.

“Yes, may I extend my belated condolences to you?” He must be grieving still, for his lips had tightened.

“I accept them with heartfelt gratitude, however, I fear you are mistaken.”

“Mistaken?” Was he not the new Lord Seaton after all?

“Yes, you see, I had no brothers.”

The clock chimed one final time and cries of “Unmask! Unmask!” rent the room.

And a little more for good measure…

Slowly, the stranger reached behind his head and untied his mask. It came away from his face, revealing the intelligent eyes, straight noble nose, high cheekbones, and sensual lips she had longed to feel on hers even on first acquaintance. Lord Seaton as she remembered him from their encounter in May.

“You are not Lord Seaton’s brother?” Cecilia stared at him, confusion muddling her thoughts. The man could be his twin.

“No, my dear,” he said gently, taking her hand. “I am Lord Seaton, although in actuality the title has passed to a cousin of mine.” He firmed his grip on her hand, as though he feared she would pull away.

“But you cannot be Lord Seaton.” Cecilia stared, breath quickening with fear. Her heart beat fiercely as a rush of cold air enveloped her. “Lord Seaton is…”

“Dead, yes.” The gentle voice soothed her even as she gawked at him, horrified.

“You are a ghost?” she whispered, scarce able to form the word in her suddenly dry mouth. Was he teasing her about this for some horrible reason or, God forbid, was he in earnest? What must she do? She could scream. That would bring all manner of people to her side. But he looked so forlorn. And his hand holding hers was firm and warm. Not at all ghost-like.

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

Hearts at All Hallows’ Eve is now available on Amazon and Smashwords for .99. But you’d better hurry to claim your copy. This Regency ghost story only appears during the month of October. Come the witching hour October 31 it will disappear for another year!

UPDATE on my House of Pleasure series! At long last, the series is now available on Amazon and on KU for free! This includes all five House of Pleasure novels plus the boxset! Grab your copy(s) today!

The Handful of Hearts series