Love Someone – Lukas Graham – Violine Cover (Daniel Jang)

…“How do we have guests?” Grace asked as she checked her appearance in the mirror while Walter straightened and fidgeted with his clothing. “I did not think anyone would know we had arrived back in town until at least tomorrow.”

In the mirror, she could see his grin. “What have you done?”

He shrugged and shook his head. “It is a secret,” he whispered…

[From Her Secret Beau, Touches of Austen book 3]

Published to YouTube by Daniel Jang on June 28, 2019

If you're interested in the lyric version of this song, you can find a lyric video here. 

We have come to it — the week when both Grace’s and Mary’s stories draw to a close! I will have to take both stories off the blog soon as I am going to be getting them ready to publish. I will also be taking Apple Blossoms down for this same reason. So, make sure you get your reading done within the next week.

Another thing which is changing soon is the set of books in Kindle Unlimited. Willow Hall will be leaving Kindle Unlimited on November 19, 2019. If you are a KU subscriber, make sure you have all those books (or the box set) downloaded before that date. You can still read after that date if you have already downloaded the book. 

I have updated the Books in KU page to include the next set of books that will be going into KU. If you are a reader on a platform other than Kindle (so Apple Books, Kobo, Nook, etc), the Choices series will be moving from those vendors to being exclusive with Amazon around November 19, 2019. The series will return to all vendors after the ninety-day exclusivity period is over, which should be in February.

Sometime right around when the switchover between books in and out of KU is happening, I also hope to have Persuading Miss Mary up for pre-order. I am still working my way through a read-through of Her Secret Beau, and therefore, do not have any firmed up publishing plans yet.

I will also be reading through the four Nature’s Fury and Delights novelettes and getting those ready for publication as well. I finished the final story for that collection this week! 🙂

That’s a lot of reading and publishing details to get ready! I will be a busy lady (as if that is different from how I normally am LOL). I’m now at the strange feeling place where I have to decide what is the next story to be written. I feel so restless until that decision is made. Writing is such a part of my routine that it feels wrong when I don’t have a story ready and waiting to be written.

I know I have to write another story for both Sweet Tuesdays and Thursday’s Three Hundred, but I am not certain which other story I should be writing now. Whatever that story ends up being, in addition to reading, I guess I will also be doing a lot of story prep and starting stuff. 🙂 Maybe, I’ll have more to share about that next Monday.

Again this week, I have an excerpt from the story I wrote this week. I will not be sharing any more of this story than this excerpt, but I just can’t resist letting you all have a little peek at this sweet story which is currently just called Fog. This excerpt is on the longer side, but I wanted you to meet Noah.

I was not intending to put any Touches of Austen in this story, but after I shared the story with a writing friend, she mentioned how she was reminded of Willoughby when reading the parts about what happened to Madeline in this excerpt. What do you think?

This is how Fog begins: 

The horizon crept closer while the sun sank in the sky and the shadows of twilight welcomed its misty friend. Together, they would obscure much – houses, roads, stars, and even some of the light of the moon. The light from the lantern hanging in the garden would be scattered and hazy rather than crisp and far-reaching.

Fog brought things close. It shrouded everything with its blanket, leaving everything changed by its presence. It was not unlike how sorrow could envelop those it touched.

Madeline Adcock blew out a breath and watched it join the mist that hung in the air. The evening was cool, damp, and rather dreary. Such an atmosphere suited her just fine. She did not feel like being anything more than melancholy. She was done. She could not hold onto a foolish dream any longer.

“I have decided.” Her heart raced at her own declaration. While her mind had reconciled itself to a future for which she had not longed, her heart was not as easily convinced of the correctness of her choice.

“You have?” Her brother’s arm tensed under her fingers.

“You may choose.”

“Are you certain?” Fletcher’s somber tone held a touch of disappointment.

“I have had three seasons to attempt to make my choice, and still, I cannot see anyone without thinking about him.” Neither she nor her brother would mention the name of the charming cad who, during her first season, had led her to believe that he was more than he was. She knew she should be grateful that she had not had quite enough money to tempt the fellow to actually marry her, and in a way, she was. Life with such a dissembler would not have been a happy one. Yet, part of her longed for the picture he had painted of a home filled with frivolity and good fortune.

For three seasons now she had attempted to prove to herself that such a portrait was not a fantasy. However, risking her heart to discover if it were attainable was far more difficult than she had ever thought it could be. Her ability to trust had been shattered in the game that scoundrel had played.

“He is but one in a sea of thousands. Not every fellow is going to pretend to be what he is not.” Her brother stopped walking down the garden path and turned toward her. “I want you to find someone who loves you as I do – well, a bit more, I suppose,” he added with a teasing smile. “And I want you to be equally as smitten with him.”

“That is precisely why I have chosen to allow you to pick a husband for me. I trust you.” And very few others.

“You forget that I was taken in by him just as much as you were. I did not see him as duplicitous until that announcement appeared in the paper.”

Oh, what a wretched day that had been! Madeline had not seen him for two weeks. He had not been at any of the soirees she had attended, nor had he sent her a note to say he was going to be gone. Then, on that fateful morning, there was his name in the paper, printed in black letters for all to see and linked with that of another lady. He was married. According to the article in the gossip sheets, his wife was a distant cousin and the heiress of a fortune, which, Madeline discovered later, included an extensive estate. Her ten thousand had paled in comparison to such a situation.

She had seen him once after that. In the park. Happily ensconced in a fine carriage. He had nodded his head in her direction and then kissed the fingers of his wife.

She had nearly fainted dead away, but her brother had been there and had kept her from succumbing to the flurry of emotions that overcame her at the scene. That was how Fletcher was. He was steady and strong. She wrapped her arms around his and rested her head against his shoulder. He would make certain she was safe. He always had.

“I trust you,” she said once again.

“Very well, I shall give it consideration and see who I might know and could recommend, and then, once you are married, you can return the favour and help me settle on a bride.”

“I thought you were decided. Miss Gray is so sweet, and you seem fond of her. I even heard you speaking about her to Mr. Portman.” Noah Portman and her brother had been friends for as long as Madeline could remember, and for her brother to have spoken of one lady as frequently as he had Miss Gray, both to her and to his dearest friend, had marked the young lady as a potential sister in Madeline’s mind.

“I am nearly decided, but one never knows what might have happened over summer. If I had met her at the beginning of the season instead of at the end…”

Madeline felt the shoulder against which she leaned lift and lower.

“One should not make hasty decisions,” he added.

She would not disagree with him on that. She had allowed her heart to be given too easily her first season, and look where that had gotten her. Nowhere worth being, that was for certain.

“What decisions are you making in haste?” a voice asked from the misty shadows near the low hedge that bordered the garden near the drive.

“Eavesdropping is not polite, Mr. Portman,” Madeline replied.

Noah chuckled. “I was not listening on purpose. I just happened to hear. That is not the same as eavesdropping, I will have you know.” He pushed his way through a small gap in the hedge.

“We have a gate,” Fletcher said.

“Not where I needed it.” He clapped his hands and then rubbed them together. “Now, with what decisions can I help you?”

Madeline shook her head. “None. I have made my decision.”

“Then, Fletcher, explain the situation to me, and I shall give you my best words of wisdom.”

Fletcher laughed. “Words of wisdom? Did you get some when you were in town?”

“You wound me!” Noah cried in mock indignation.

“Was your journey good?” Madeline asked, bringing a more serious tone back to the conversation.

“Yes. It was exceptional. My new curricle will be ready in a month’s time.” He pulled a watch from his pocket. “And, tell me, Miss Adcock, what do you think of this chain?” He dangled it in front of her.

Madeline caught the twirling timepiece, which she knew was one of his prized possessions, and looked closely at the links of gold attached to it. “I think it suits it quite well. It as if they were always meant to be together.”

He lifted the watch from her hand and ran a finger over the cover before tucking it back in his pocket. “I thought the same thing. I think Grandfather would have chosen this particular chain. That is why I picked it.”

“He would be pleased to see you caring for it so well.”

“I thank you.” His eyes lingered for a moment on hers before he turned back to her brother. “About the decisions you need to make – do you think we might be able to discuss the particulars inside with a cup of tea or mug of ale?”

~*~*~

MAILING LIST    PATREON