I am so pleased to once again feature my friend and fellow blogger, Caroline Warfield. She has a new book coming out this month especially for all you Regency fans. Here's Caroline!
Becky Lower and I are partners at
History Imagined. When we realized we have new books coming out this month, we thought
it might be fun to compare notes by answering the same four questions. Becky’s
answers will appear on my blog tomorrow.
http://www.carolinewarfield.com/authors-blog/
My answers are here:
Tell me about your new
release:
Richard Hayden, the
Marquess of Glenaire, strides through life putting loyalty and duty ahead of
everything. He never creases his jacket or puts a foot out of place. He views
love as a maudlin sentimentality. When an uncharacteristic indiscretion with an
attractive woman occurs in Dangerous
Weakness,, he
knows his duty. He makes the world’s worst proposal since Darcy insulted
Elizabeth Bennett. Lily Thornton refuses
to be Richard’s problem to solve, and so she informs him. Her refusal to let
him take care of her baffles him. My goal with the book was to bring two
stubborn people to the point they could rely on each other, but these two were
more stubborn than usual. She runs pretty far. When he runs after her, he has
no idea what he’s about to get himself into: dishonest fishermen, friendly
stevedores, disbelieving ambassadors, and slave-trading pirates.
How does the release fit into
your series?
Richard appears in both of my previous books.
He usually casts himself in the role of rescuer even if his sister and his
friends would, like Lily, prefer to manage their own lives. Because he always
wants to be in charge, I decided he needed a few lessons. I wanted to bring him
to the point he was barefoot, in rags, and begging for help. If ever a hero
needed his suit shredded and his hair mussed, it’s this one. It turns out he’ll
do anything, even that, to protect the woman he loves.
What one thing do you hope
readers enjoy in the particular offering?
As much as it was fun bringing
him down a peg, I hope the readers see the heart underneath the façade of the
Marble Marquess. When Richard realizes he has a family, the concept stuns him.
I hope readers, like Lily, come to understand his fundamental need to care for
and protect those he loves.
What do you have planned
next?
A secondary character that appears in all three of my
Dangerous books, Will Landrum, the Earl of Chadbourn, will appear as the hero
of a holiday novella in Mistletoe, Marriage, and Mayhem, an
anthology published by the Bluestocking Belles. That story is called “A
Dangerous Nativity.”
All of the Dangerous books include children, and they are
all clamoring for their own stories to be told. I am in the process of
imagining those stories and matching them with worldwide events that took place
in the early years of Victoria’s reign.
Here's the blurb for A Dangerous Weakness:
If
women were as easily managed as the affairs of state—or the recalcitrant
Ottoman Empire—Richard Hayden, Marquess of Glenaire, would be a happier man. As
it was the creatures—one woman in particular—made hash of his well-laid plans
and bedeviled him on all sides.
Lily
Thornton came home from Saint Petersburg in pursuit of marriage. She wants a husband and a partner, not
an overbearing, managing man. She may be “the least likely candidate to be Marchioness of
Glenaire,” but her problems are her own to fix, even if those problems include
both a Russian villain and an interfering Ottoman official.
Given
enough facts, Richard can fix anything. But protecting that impossible woman is
proving to be almost as hard as protecting his heart, especially when Lily’s
problems bring her dangerously close to an Ottoman revolution. As Lily’s
personal problems entangle with Richard’s professional ones, and she pits her
will against his, he chases her across the pirate-infested Mediterranean. Will
she discover surrender isn’t defeat? It might even have its own sweet reward.
And a snippet:
“We will marry of course,” he
told her. “Quickly, but not so abruptly as to cause comments.” He walked toward
the door, expecting her to follow.
“I beg your
pardon,” she called out to him. “We will what?”
He turned on his
heel. “Miss Thornton, you will be the Marchioness of Glenaire. That is far from
ideal, and the difference in our state will no doubt cause talk. We will have
to endure it.”
“Why?” she
demanded. “Why this ‘far from ideal’ demand? Has Lady Sarah refused you?”
“Don’t be coy,
Miss Thornton. You have led me into folly at every step. After last night I
have no choice. I shall have to marry you. My family—”
“Your family
would have kittens if I married you, which I will not.”
“You have
respectable, if not the highest, breeding, you will show to advantage when
properly dressed, and you will do well as a diplomatic hostess. My family, I
was going to say, will have to deal with it.” He stalked away. “So will you.”
“I will not,”
Lily shouted after him.
Buy links (Kindle only)
Find out more about Caroline here:
She sits in
front of a keyboard at a desk surrounded by windows, looks out at the trees and
imagines. Her greatest joy is when one of those imaginings comes to life on the
page and in the imagination of her readers.
Caroline’s social media
She
can also be found on
Caroline’s Other Books
