Ramblings From This Chick: Caught Under the Mistletoe...with Elise Rome and Giveaway

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Caught Under the Mistletoe...with Elise Rome and Giveaway

Caught Under the Mistletoe on Christmas Eve - Elise Rome

Elise Rome has never forgiven Margaret Mitchell for making her fall in love with Scarlett and Rhett in GONE WITH THE WIND then not giving them a happy ending. She likes to think that she makes up for this injustice with each romance novel she writes. When she isn't working, Elise stays busy entertaining her three young children and bribing her husband to do housework.

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When I received my theme for this year, I knew that I wanted to write the unexpected. Maybe I’m the only one, but when I first thought of a couple being caught under the mistletoe, I thought of the hero and heroine being forced into a marriage of convenience that neither of them wants (outwardly! inwardly, of course, we all know they’re happy about it ;)). I hope that you enjoy the surprises in my scene today.

Right now, my plan is for the following scene to be part of a prologue for an upcoming novella in the Unmasked series titled LOVER OF MINE (to follow the first full-length novel, THE SINNING HOUR). I’m including the blurb and pre-order links for THE SINNING HOUR below (please note that I’m not yet certain of the publication date).

Caught Under the Mistletoe on Christmas Eve

He possessed a habit of wanting.

The first time he’d heard her laughter, he’d watched its effect in “the migration”: throughout the drawing room, heads turned, eyes searched, bodies shifted toward her—a ripple of devotion which had amused him as he, too, turned toward the laughter’s source.

The first time he’d seen her, he’d thought her a confection of frills and ribbons, of pink and innocence and wide-eyed delight. He’d dismissed her, as he’d never acquired a particular fondness for sweets.

He’d been accused of the sin of self-indulgence more than once, had admitted to its place among his collection of socially-condoned faults. But what some saw as whimsical plays at power, as his dashing across life’s chess board stroke by impulsive stroke, Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Dearing, considered to be the culmination of plans ruthlessly devised.

He possessed a habit of wanting and, more importantly, of possessing what he wanted. And, since discovering the truth of who she was, he’d never craved anything as much as he craved Miss Evelyn Westwood.

It was this desire which led him from the ballroom ornamented in garland and candlelight, to follow her and her suitor across the hallway and into the gallery draped with shadows.

It was this desire which led him to wait, watching as they conversed in intimate whispers, as she gazed up at the other man with earnest adoration. As they moved closer and closer to the cluster of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling above.

And it was this desire which, upon seeing their eyes begin to shut and her hands reaching toward the man’s shoulders, led Hugh to stroll across the room, spin her toward himself, and kiss her—an act, he planned, of ruination.

A fortnight later, Miss Evelyn Westwood became Evelyn Courtenay, the Countess of Dearing.

It was a kiss he would never regret more.

I adore authors who keep me on my toes. To celebrate one of my favorite historical romance authors who always surprises me in delightful ways, I’m giving away Sherry Thomas’s recent e-book duo: THE HIDDEN BLADE and MY BEAUTIFUL ENEMY (US only, due to geographic restrictions).

She came from the alleyways, adorned by grime and soot…

Simon Astley has no reason to hire Miranda Post as his housemaid. She has no experience, no credible qualifications. She looks and smells better suited to the East End rookeries than to his West End town house. Worse yet, she reminds him of a soul-staining past he’d prefer to forget.

Unfortunately, she also becomes his fascination.

Physically scarred and lost to a life of poverty, Miranda has but one goal: survival. Although she distrusts her new employer’s generosity, she is determined to save herself, to save her father, and to crawl her way out of despair.

Each wants nothing more than to continue their roles of master and housemaid. But one night, in one sinful hour, when everything changes, a sensual battle begins between the corrupt and the innocent, and to win both Simon and Miranda must lay at stake something neither can afford to lose: their hearts.

Read Chapter 1 & 2: eliseromeauthor.com/the-sinning-hour

Pre-Order: eliseromeauthor.com/bookstore