Kate Rothwell ~ a guest post and the box set ~ Scandalousy Yours

I would like to welcome my guest Kate Rothwell.

 She is here to promote her part in the Scandalously Yours boxed set. 

Kate, tell us about Mademoiselle Makes a Match.

I'd love to. Mademoiselle Makes a Match happened because I was having trouble writing a longer story, The Earl, a Girl and a Promise. Sometimes, when I’m stuck, I mess around with exercises like composing backstories for the people in the manuscript. Usually these short pieces lack plots and are about main characters, but this exercise turned into a full short story based on a person who doesn’t even show up in The Earl, A Girl and a Promise.

The barely-mentioned character is the mentor for the hero. Dr. Lindsey provided Paul, the hero, with the model of a happy relationship because Paul’s own background had nothing remotely healthy in it. I’d added a few throw-away lines from the doctor. He intrigued me but his story wouldn’t fit Paul’s story, so I gave him his own.

There are echoes in both stories: a passionate one night stand in a time when such things are totally unacceptable. There’s also the familiar trope of a virginal woman who is mistaken for a prostitute. Hey, at least my females usually have a clue about their bodies and desires.

I began another longer story about Mademoiselle—who is one of my favorite characters--but that one is languishing, unfinished, now that the work by my alter ego, Summer Devon, is doing well enough to take up my time and attention. I’m going to go back and resurrect it someday. I do like strong women who face the fate worse than death with equanimity and make their own rules.

Excerpt:
She shook her head. “He said nothing of importance, I swear. He is all bark and no bite.”

That could be true, she supposed. She leaned forward. “I think I should stay. It could be fine…” She bit her lip.

He looked amused again. “Are you trying to be seductive? In truth you look like someone who’s eaten something disagreeable. Or perhaps preparing herself to be eaten by that disagreeable something. I’m not, I promise you. Disagreeable, I mean.”

She couldn’t help a nervous laugh. He hadn’t denied anything about the eating. Oh, my. “I’m getting used to the idea. Really, you’re a presentable sort of a gentleman. I wouldn’t mind. If you see what I mean. If it’s to be part of my duties.”

The teasing light died away from those heavy-lidded grey eyes. “It shouldn’t be, you know.”

An awkward silence. “It is, and that’s the simple matter of it. There are worse fates, no matter what they say.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. “Good heavens, I have let you in for the devil of a time. I apologize.”

“Naw, it started before you came here, sir. And the more I think about it, the more I should like you to be the one who, ah, first touches me. So please tell me what I should do.”

He blushed and picked up the pen again, flipped it back and forth in those dexterous fingers. “Well the truth is, I’m not exactly sure, myself.”

“What?” Her jaw dropped.

“I’m not experienced in the ways of the world. I understand the basic idea. God knows I’ve imagined it often enough. But I haven’t actually been with a woman. That was why that idiot Clarkson threatened to hire a female. He couldn’t stand the thought that I was two and twenty and—” he wrinkled his nose and reddened “—entirely inexperienced. He’s not a close friend, not a friend at all, really, but he does seem rather obsessed with others’ experiences. Or lack thereof.”

About the author:

Kate Rothwell is an award-winning author who also publishes under the name Summer Devon. She writes romances of all sorts, including some historical m/m books with Bonnie Dee. You can find her at http://katerothwell.com http://summerdevon.com and on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/S.DevonAuthor/?fref=ts

Buy links:

Amazon.com— http://amzn.to/1QG7y2d

Amazon UK-- http://amzn.to/1POPAdZ

All Romance Ebooks-- http://bit.ly/1Vk1rED

Kobo-- https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/scandalously-yours-2-166.html

Smashwords-- https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/612550?ref=cw1985

Books will also be available at barnesandnoble.com and iTunes (Apple), but buy links are not yet available for them.

Here is some more information about the stories included in the set. 

Scandalously yours…

Through the ages, where there has been society there have always been norms and, conversely, scandals when love gets in the way of propriety.

From the ancient Celts to medieval Cornwall, from Regency and Victorian England to the American west after the War Between the States, eight stories by multi-published, bestselling authors explore the triumphs of love between a man and a woman—even scandalous love—over what’s considered “proper” in their time.

Wilder’s Thief, by USA Today bestseller, Josie Jax
  Robbing a bank wasn’t what reformed pickpocket Rachel Conroy had in mind. Yet when the lyin’ banker entangles her in one helluva financial fix, she finds herself in the bank of Diamond Bluff, Missouri, disguised as a lad and holding a gun on an unfamiliar teller. But the handsome man is so distracting she can’t keep her sex-addled brain on the task at hand—until he threatens to turn her over to the authorities to be hanged if she doesn’t return the money.

When village newcomer and winery owner Dierck Wilder mans his uncle’s small-town bank for a few fateful moments, he’s suddenly staring down the barrel of a revolver. His life veers off on a tumultuous path after he pursues the robber and uncovers a sexy diamond in the rough. Now to unearth the truth and tame Wilder’s bandit…

Aphrodite’s Necklace, by Anh Leod
Exiled by her husband to staid, Victorian England, the goddess Aphrodite is determined to spice up life for a mortal couple by giving them a magic necklace that opens their minds and hearts to passion. Can she teach innocents to delight in sensual love?

Emily Rogers is in the marriage mart, but once the necklace is in her hands, she enlists William Coxe, her family butler, to help find its owner. As Aphrodite intended when she dropped the priceless piece at a ball held in Emily’s home, desire overwhelms Emily—and also William, whom Emily’s parents would never countenance her marrying.

Good sense prevails when the two return the necklace to the goddess, but by this time love has caught the lovers in what seems an impossible situation. Can improper love survive the loss of Aphrodite's necklace? Only with the goddess’s help can they find a way toward lasting happiness.

Madamoiselle Makes a Match, by Kate Rothwell
An original novella, never before published!

Victorian virgins meet at an inn.

In a village where work is hard to find, virtuous Sally must at last “entertain men” or lose her job at the local inn. The young man she agrees to entertain is Jasper, a visiting gentleman who’s appalled that he’d accidentally forced Sally into this predicament. Yet despite their peculiar meeting and the enormous differences in class and education, the maid and gentleman discover passion and something even more precious, intimacy. Their lovely interlude is interrupted, reality intrudes, and Sally faces another choice…

Seducing Laura, a Regency novel by bestselling British author, Lynne Connolly 
 When a fortune hunter attempts to steal her niece’s heart, Laura Wickenham makes every effort to prevent the ill-fated match. But the appearance of charismatic Ross Stansfield, the fortune hunter’s handsome uncle, throws her off balance. Instantaneous and combustible, their attraction makes her question her decision never to love again. When the young couple elopes, Laura sets out in pursuit, and fearing for her safety, Ross loses no time chasing her. Thrown closely together, their attraction becomes impossible to resist.

Ordered to find a master spy in the maelstrom of Regency London, Ross finds duty is a distraction any time he’s near Laura. He can’t make his need for her real until he discovers which of her suitors is a threat to Britain. As desire flares between the two, a world of spies and family scandal threatened to thwart a lifetime of happiness.

The Brass Octopus, by Maeve Alpin
Spinster Librarian Piety Plunkett is happy alone with her books, until her sister transforms her with a bras octopus beautifying machine. With her new look, the librarian catches the lusty attentions of a notorious rogue. Blake Blackmore enjoys the favors of beautiful women from the brothels of London to high society's most fashionable debutantes, but only the spinster librarian consumes his mind night and day. Piety insists she will not wed but devote her life to her position as head librarian.

Blake takes matters into his own hands. In three passion filled lessons, he tutors Piety in carnal pleasure. Now that she is sharing her body, instead of just her books, Piety is shocked yet pleased at how naughty she can be. But if anyone finds out about what goes on in the library after closing time her reputation would be ruined. Is that Blake' ultimate plan?

Beneath a Cornish Moon, by Ann Jacobs
A dying man's last wish: Protect Lea. Make her your bride.

Marrying the lovely, sensual Lea will be no hardship for Alain, Earl of St. Vincent. Keeping her safe may be another matter, for a curse lies upon the St. Vincent lands.

Unless Alain can convince Lea to join with him in the fertility rites of the Winter Solstice, her life and his lands may be forfeit.

Alain's dark passions seduce Lea's heart and body, but it will take more than passion to bring St. Vincent back from the dark side of the moon.

Timeless Voyage, by Cornelia Amiri
As the pirate Anwen, presses her dagger against the throat of, Kaeso, her Roman captive, he s captivated by dreams of a woman he loved in a previous life, the mirror image of Anwen. Can Anwen and Kaeso steer their timeless voyage to a happy destiny or will they be robbed of love again?

As the Celtic pirate, Anwen, presses her hard iron dagger against a Roman's throat, memories of fated lovers, druids and sacrifice, stay her hand.

Wooing the Librarian, by Jane Leopold Quinn
After a spectacularly failed romance left her devastated, all Isis Garrett wants is to start her library in this California town. The last thing she wants is another man, not even the handsome preacher who offers his church for her books.

Pres MacKay is starting a new life as a preacher. He can’t hide his attraction to the sweetly rounded new librarian even as she pushes him away. Can he discover the way into her closed heart and prove to her he’s one of the good guys?

Pres isn’t about to give up on Isis, though. The question is can she forget the pain of the past and see a future with him?

GIVEAWAY!

Make sure to follow the whole tour—the more posts you visit throughout, the more chances you’ll get to enter the giveaway. The tour dates are here: http://www.writermarketing.co.uk/prpromotion/blog-tours/currently-on-tour/scandalously-yours/

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A reminder to the reader ~ before you leave be sure to take a look at the 

Funny/Stupid and Interesting Tabs