Guest Post with Author Cheryl Holt and Giveaway

Today I am happy to welcome back to RFTC author, Cheryl Holt. Cheryl is celebrating the release of her newest book Love's Promise and has stopped by to share a special excerpt.

CHERYL HOLT is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty novels.

She’s also a lawyer and mom, and at age forty, with two babies at home, she started a new career as a commercial fiction writer. She’d hoped to be a suspense novelist, but couldn’t sell any of her manuscripts, so she ended up taking a detour into romance where she was stunned to discover that she has a knack for writing some of the world’s greatest love stories.

Her books have been released to wide acclaim, and she has won or been nominated for many national awards. She is particularly proud to have been named “Best Storyteller of the Year” by the trade magazine Romantic Times BOOK Reviews.

She lives and writes in Hollywood, California, and she loves to hear from fans.

Places to visit Cheryl: 

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CHAPTER ONE

London, May, 1813…

“When will I see you again?”

Michael Wainwright, Viscount Henley, straightened his trousers and stepped away from his paramour. As sounds of gaiety drifted from the crowded ballroom, he stared at her, struggling to remember her name.

What was it? Mary? Marie?

“Will you be at the Belmont's supper tomorrow night?” he inquired.

“Yes.”

“Perhaps we can sneak off for a bit.”

“I'd be delighted if we could,” she gushed.

She was practically quivering with glee, assuming she'd won his favor, so it was probably time to find a new lover.

With his title and his tall, dark good looks, it was never difficult to attract a female, but they all thought they would be the one to tie him down, to geld him with bonds he didn't intend to form. As a bachelor, who'd been shoved onto the unwelcome road to matrimony, he had loose women throwing themselves at him wherever he went, but he simply wasn't partial to monogamy or fidelity.

Yet, he never declined their offers. He was only human, after all.

After serving in the army for over a decade, he was bored out of his mind and trying to fill his days with activity. Unfortunately, he leaned toward debauchery, when he ought to be exercising restraint.

His peccadilloes were being bandied at every club in town, and while families were keen for a union with his own, money had recently become an issue. He'd hate to have the wealthiest girl cry off due to rumors that were most likely true.

He nodded to the door. “Why don't you go out first?”

She rose on tiptoe and brushed a kiss across his mouth.

“I'll think of you every second until tomorrow night,” she vowed.

He flashed a look—that might have indicated anything—but she took it to be smoldering passion. She hurried over and peeked into the hall, and as she flitted off to rejoin the party, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He dawdled to ensure that she was gone, then he proceeded to the other wing of the house, and the meeting ordered by his father, Alfred Wainwright, Duke of Clarendon. Nearly an hour had passed since he'd been summoned by the exalted ass, and although Michael made it a habit to annoy him as much as possible, the Duke couldn't be ignored forever.

Michael skirted the festivities in the ballroom, content to walk by relatively unnoticed. The cream of London society was present, and he was in no mood to chat.

Couples twirled by, laughing, as the orchestra played a fast waltz. Jewels glittered under the chandeliers. The women's expensive dresses swished in time to the intoxicating rhythm, but Michael couldn't bring himself to share in the revelry.

With the death of his older brother, John, Michael had become his father's heir. The calamity had forced him to resign his military commission and return to London, but the position brought a duty and obligation he'd never coveted. Previously, he'd often bragged that he wasn't his brother, and he'd tormented John over the fact that John had had to study and train and behave, while Michael had had to do very little, at all.

John had been a carefree, happy, and mischievous boy, who'd grown to be a dissipated, cynical man, but as a child, Michael had worshipped and emulated him. He'd loved John, and he felt it uncouth to be entertaining so lavishly. He didn't like having so many people in their home, didn't like them guzzling the liquor and gobbling the food, but the Duke had decreed that the party would go forward, so go forward it had.

Of course, John had been deceased for six months, so it wasn't as if tragedy had struck the prior afternoon. But still, Michael didn't comprehend why they couldn't have waited a tad longer to carry on as they always had.

He entered the library and shut the door, and as he glanced around the ostentatious, masculine room, he saw that the Duke had already arrived. He was lounged on a sofa by the fire and sipping a brandy, and his scowl signified that Michael had been too slow in scurrying to his side.

Michael was thirty years old, a viscount in his own right and would one day be a duke, yet his father treated him like a servant.

“Where have you been?” the Duke queried, dispensing with any greeting.

With the death of his older brother, Michael Wainwright, Viscount Henley, has become heir to his father, Duke of Clarendon. The Wainwright men are renowned cads, and as his brother's will is read, it's discovered that he sired an illegitimate son and has left the eight-year-old boy his entire fortune. Michael decides to bring the boy to London so he can be showered with all the wealth and status guaranteed by his inheritance. But first, he has to gain custody from the boy's aunt, who is determined to keep her nephew away from Michael's dissolute family.

Frances “Fanny” Carrington has always lived in a small village in the country. As a newborn, she was left in a basket on the church steps and raised by the vicar and his wife. But they've died, and Fanny is in dire straits, struggling to raise her nephew, to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. When she begins to receive correspondence from Michael, asking for custody, she can't help but be suspicious. For years, the Wainwrights have refused to claim her nephew or provide financial assistance to him. She's alarmed by their sudden interest. What can it mean?

As Michael finally meets Fanny, their attraction is swift, blatant, and dangerous. He can't fight the need to have her at any cost, and gradually, he lures her into his decadent life of affluence and privilege. But she's never possessed the callous nature required to thrive in the cut-throat world of the aristocracy, so she can never understand the peril she faces from those who would do anything to keep them apart…

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble |

Check out the Lord Trent Trilogy: 

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SCAVENGER HUNT BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

5/13: Rambling from this Chick

5/14: Harlie's Book Reviews

5/15: Romancing Rakes for the Love of Romance

5/16: Confession of a Romaholics

5/17 Romancing the Book Reviews

5/20: Susana's Parlour

5/21: bookworm2bookworm

5/22: Rockn' the Muses

5/23: Saucy & Sinful Reviews

5/24: Romantic Crush Junkies Reviews eZine Blog

Check out what's up for grabs.

Up For Grabs:

• 10 lucky winners will win a print copy of Love's Promise

To Enter: 

• Please leave a comment/questions for Cheryl.
• International Shipping Available. 
• Please fill out the Rafflecopter form.

Good Luck! 

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