Black Ties and Lullabyes (34 page)

that

friends’

sisters

are

forbidden.

Unbeknownst to Hawk, however, Julianne has been planning their nuptials for four long years. I wasn’t quite sure how Julianne would manage this feat, given Hawk’s fear of catching wife-itis. After a great deal of pacing about, the perfect solution popped into my head. I would use he time-honored trick known as The Cal to Adventure. When Tristan, who can not be in London for the season, proposes that Hawk act as Julianne’s unofficial guardian, Hawk’s bachelor days are numbered.

In addition to these plans, I wanted to add in a bit of fun with yet another Regency-era spoof of modern

dating practices. I recal ed an incident in which one of my younger male col eagues complained about that dratted advice book for single ladies, The Rules. I wasn’t very sympathetic to his woes about women ruling guys. After al , reluctant bachelors have held the upper hand for centuries. Thus, I concocted The Rules in Regency England.

Natural y, the road to true love is fraught with heartbreak, mayhem, and, wel , a decanter of wine.

Matters turn bleak for poor Julianne when Hawk makes his disinterest clear after a rather steamy waltz. I knew Julianne needed help, and so I sent in a wise woman, albeit a rather eccentric one. Hawk’s Aunt Hester, a plain-spoken woman, has some rather startling advice for Julianne. Left with only the shreds of her pride, Julianne decides to write a lady’s guide to seducing scoundrels into the proverbial parson’s mousetrap. My intrepid heroine finds herself in hot suds when al of London hunts for the anonymous author of that scandalous publication, The Secrets of Seduction. At al costs, Julianne must keep her identity a secret—especial y from Hawk, who is determined to guard her from his fel ow scoundrels.

But can he guard his own heart from the one woman forbidden to him?

My heartfelt thanks to al the readers who wrote to let me know they couldn’t wait to read HOW TO

SEDUCE A SCOUNDREL. I hope you wil enjoy the twists and turns that final y lead to happily ever after for Hawk and Julianne.

Cheers!

www.vickydreiling.com

From the desk of Jane Graves

Dear Reader,

Have you ever visited one website, seen an interesting link to another website, and clicked it?

Probably. But have you ever done that about fifty times and ended up in a place you never intended to?

As a writer, I’m already on a “what if” journey inside my own head, so web hopping is just one more flight of fancy that’s so easy to get caught up in.

For instance, while researching a scene for BLACK

TIES AND LULLABIES that takes place in a childbirth class, I saw a link for “hypnosis during birth.” Of course I had to click that, right? Then I ended up on a site where people post their birth stories. And then…

Don’t ask me how, but a dozen clicks later, my web-hopping adventure led me to a site about celebrities and baby names. And it immediately had me wondering: What were these people thinking?

Check out the names these famous people have given their children that virtual y guarantee they’l be tormented for the rest of their lives: Apple

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow

Diva Muffin

Musician Frank Zappa

Moxie Crimefighter

Entertainer Penn Jil ette

Petal Blossom Rainbow Chef Jamie Oliver Zowie

Singer David Bowie

Pilot Inspektor

Actor Jason Lee

Sage Moonblood

Actor Sylvester Stal one

Fifi Trixibel

Sir Bob Geldof*

Reignbeau

Actor Ving Rhames

Jermajesty

Singer Jermaine Jackson

No, a trip around the Internet does not get my books written, but sometimes it’s worth the laugh. Of course, the hero and heroine of BLACK TIES AND

LULLABIES would never give their child a name like one of these….

I hope you enjoy BLACK TIES AND LULLABIES.

And look for my next book, HEARTSTRINGS AND

DIAMOND RINGS, coming October 2011.

Happy Reading!

www.janegraves.com

From the desk of Paula Quinn

Dear Reader,

Having married my first love, I was excited to write the third instal ment in my Children of the Mist series, TAMED BY A HIGHLANDER. You see, Mairi MacGregor and Connor Grant were childhood sweethearts. How difficult could it be to relate to a woman who had surrendered her heart at around the same age I did? Of course, my real life hero didn’t pack up his Claymore and plaid and ride off to good old England to save the king. (Although my husband does own a few swords he keeps around in the event that one of our daughters brings home an unfavorable boyfriend.) My hero didn’t break my young heart, or the promises he made me beneath the shadow of a majestic Highland mountain. I don’t hide daggers under my skirts. Heck, I don’t even wear skirts.

But I am wil ing to fight for what I believe in. So is Mairi, and what she believes in is Scotland. A member of a secret Highland militia, Mairi has traded in her dreams of a husband and children for sweeping Scotland free of men who would seek to change her Highland customs and religion. She knows how to fight, but she isn’t prepared for the battle awaiting her when she sets her feet in England and comes face to face with the man she once loved.

Ah, Connor Grant, captain in the King’s Royal Army and son of the infamous rogue Graham Grant from A HIGHLANDER NEVER SURRENDERS. He’s nothing like his father. This guy has loved the same lass his whole life, but she’s grown into a woman without him and now, instead of casting him smiles, she’s throwing daggers at him!

Fun! I knew when these two were reunited sparks (and knives) would fly!

But Connor isn’t one to back down from a fight. In fact, he longs to tame his wild Highland mare. But does he need to protect the last Stuart king from her?

Journey back in time where plots and intrigue once ruled the courtly hal s of Whitehal Palace, and two souls who were born to love only each other find their way back into each other’s arms.

If Mairi doesn’t kil him first.

(Did I mention, I col ect medieval daggers? Just in case…)

Happy Reading!

www.paulaquinn.com

From the desk of Kendra Leigh

Castle

Dear Reader,

It al started with the History Channel.

No, real y. One evening last year, while I was watching TV in the basement and hiding from whatever flesh-eating-zombie-fil ed gore-fest my husband was happily watching upstairs, I ran across a fascinating documentary al about a woman I never knew existed: Arsinöe, Cleopatra’s youngest sister.

Being a sucker for a good story, I watched, fascinated, as the tale of Arsinöe’s brief and often unhappy life unfolded. And after it was al over, once her threat to Cleopatra’s power had been taken care of in a very final way by the famous queen herself, I asked myself what any good writer would: what if Arsinöe hadn’t real y died, and become a vampire instead?

Okay, so maybe most writers wouldn’t ask themselves that. I write paranormal romance for a reason, after al . But that simple, and rather odd, question was the seed that my book DARK

AWAKENING grew from. Now, Arsinöe isn’t the heroine. In fact, she’s more of a threat hanging over the head of my hero, Ty MacGil ivray, whose kind has served her dynasty of highblood vampires for centuries, bound in virtual slavery. But her arrival in my imagination sparked an entire world, in which socal ed “highblood” vampires, those bearing the tattoo-like mark of bloodlines descended directly from various darker gods and goddesses, form an immortal nobility that take great pleasure in lording it over the “lowbloods” of more muddied pedigree.

Lowbloods like Ty and his unusual bloodline of cat-shifting vampires, the Cait Sith.