Sadly, this is the last Monday of Christmas in July. It’s been lovely taking some time to think about Christmas during a very hot and humid month for us here in Nova Scotia. Today’s giveaway is not a surprise since there is only one book left on my list. It is a book that has to do with a gift of love that is given from brother to sister, so I thought this song would be perfect for today.
Published on Youtube by TheSorrowfulFlower on December 20, 2012.
The giveaway link, as always, is right below the writing news and before the story excerpt.
Writing News:
The biggest news I have for you this Monday is that Charles: To Discover His Purpose is starting its way through the polishing process. I do not have a firm date on publication yet, but I am hoping it will be toward the end of August. 😀 There is an excerpt from the story in tomorrow’s Austen Author’s post and the last Monday excerpt from it below.
That means, next week, I may (probably won’t) have a story excerpt on Monday. 🙁 I hope to spend this week seeing if I can complete Delighting Mrs. Bennet.
Are you wondering what I will be writing next? Me, too. 🙂 Actually, I know that one story I will be working on is Mary Crawford’s story, which follows Charles’s story in the Other Pens series. However, I am also trying to decide on another Dash of Darcy title…but so far, I’ve got nothin’. 🙂
My reorganizing of the Dash of Darcy and Companion Collection is on-going, though it is getting closer to completion.
And one last thing: For those of you who frequent Facebook, I wanted to let you know that Rose Fairbanks, Zoe Burton, and I are doing a weekly Jane Austen Trivia game in our Longbourn Literary Society group. Each week on Tuesday, we will be posting two trivia questions from a different novel. You will have until Friday to participate by commenting on the posts, and for your participation, you will be entered into a draw for a giveaway.
And now for the last…
CHRISTMAS IN JULY GIVEAWAY:
CLICK HERE TO CLAIM ONE OF THE 5 COPIES OF Two Days Before Christmas.
The copies are available on a first come, first serve basis until all five have been claimed or the link expires on Friday, August 3, 2018.
Update: All five copies of this book have found homes.
The following is from the last portion of the book. It may include some spoilers, although I did try to select something that doesn’t contain the most spoilery spoilers. (There are three important chapters after this excerpt.) However, you will still want to read at your own risk.
ONE LAST (longish) EXCERPT FROM Charles: To Discover His Purpose:
“Enter,” Charles called in reply to a knock at his door.
“Henry,” he greeted with a smile. “What brings you to my home today? Does Miss Linton tire of you already?”
Henry chuckled. “No, she does not. You were supposed to be meet me for lunch at our club.”
Charles palmed his forehead. “Was that today?”
“Yes,” Henry replied as he took the chair next to Charles. “It is not like you to forget something like that. Do you care to tell me what has you so preoccupied?”
Charles shook his head. “No, I would prefer not to.” He leaned his head against the wing of the chair. “However, I do suppose you deserve some explanation for my not showing up when expected.”
Henry nodded. “I had almost expected it to be because you were with your children or Miss Barrett.”
“They are not my children,” Charles replied with a scowl. “They are Mrs. Verity’s wards.” Truth be told, he found it difficult to not think of those two boys as more than just orphans and students in need of instruction so that they might acquire a good place in some wealthy person’s home.
Henry was sitting quietly, just looking at him as if he expected some other reply.
“Your explanation,” Henry prompted.
“Oh, yes, right. My explanation.”
“You are not normally so scattered,” Henry watched his hands as he steepled his fingers in front of him, only glancing at his friend. “Your clear thinking is what has kept you out of many scrapes. Are you certain you are well?”
Charles expelled a breath in a great whoosh. “No, I am not well. Not in the least bit. My life seems to be turned on end. I find I would rather spend my days teaching children how to tie knots and tend to coats and boots than to spend them lying in bed after a night of carousing.” Charles tossed one leg over the other. “And when I am out, it is always in a well-lit venue filled to overflowing with respectable sorts of people, and do you know what I am doing while I am there?”
“Dancing, listening to music, watching a play –”
“Yes, yes, those things but in addition to those?”
Henry shook his head.
“Listening to learn if there is any gentleman in need of servants! Fortunately, I have refrained from inquiring directly at this point.” He shook his head. He had caught himself just before posing such a question twice during the last soiree he attended. His success at the card tables had decreased due to his preoccupation – his pleasant, yet life-unsettling, preoccupation with a beautiful kind-hearted lady whom he wished to see happy with every ounce of his being. She had taken over every facet of his life. It seemed as if he almost lacked any desire to see himself happy. No, that was not it. It was that his happiness rested completely in hers.
“And do you know how often in the last weeks I have even contemplated some rendezvous with a willing widow? Zero. None. Not once. I find I do not even care to assess the beauties of the season.”
“And they all pale to Miss Barrett when you do?”
Charles nodded. If any of his friends could understand the higgledy-piggledy state of his life, it was Henry. “They do. I do not know of one who has half the compassion Miss Barrett has, let alone her beauty.”
“I am afraid that does not completely explain your absence at lunch today,” Henry pressed breaking the silence that had fallen on the room after Charles’s admission about Miss Barrett.
Charles shifted in his chair and sighed. “I am taking a trip.”
“You are taking a trip?”
Charles nodded. “To visit Miss Barrett’s father and brother.”
Henry’s eyes grew wide. “Do you have reason to believe Miss Barrett might be open to an offer from you?”
Charles scrubbed his face. “I cannot make my intentions as clear to society or her mother as I would like to while Mr. Marsh is still awaiting her reply to his offer nor while Mrs. Barrett still looks at me with suspicion. I will admit she is more welcoming with each meeting, but if I had her husband’s approval, then, I might be able to present myself to both her and her daughter.”
“That is, um, an interesting plan.”
“Is it not still common practice to approach a father regarding his daughter before approaching the daughter?”
Henry nodded.
“Then I see nothing wrong with the plan. I do, however, worry about its success.”
“As any gentleman wishing to claim a particular lady as his wife does.” Henry made a small amused huffing sound. “I do not think I ever truly expected to hear your name and wife in the same sentence unless it also contained something about being discovered or forced to marry.”
“I appreciate your vote of confidence,” Charles replied dryly.
“I only say it because I am surprised, but also very pleased to be wrong.”
“Well,” Charles rose from his seat, “do not be pleased for me until I am successful. Will you ride with me?”
“Of course. But, I must make an appearance at Linton’s.” Henry followed Charles from the room.
“I believe I can suffer the inconvenience.”
“You might be rewarded for your suffering,” Henry quipped.
Charles shook his head. “Miss Barrett is hiding at Eiddwen House.”
“Hiding?” Henry asked.
“Did Constance not tell you?”
Henry shook his head.
“Hmm.” That seemed strange to Charles. He had thought that Constance and Henry kept no secrets from each other. “She is avoiding Marsh.”
“I knew she was not favourably inclined to accept his offer, but I did not know she was avoiding him.”
“Then, you do not know now either,” Charles replied as he mounted his horse. “I did not think it was so great a secret as for me not to tell you, but perhaps it is.”
Henry rode beside him. “How do you know she is hiding from Marsh at Eiddwen House?”
“She told me when I found her there a few days back.” The day when he had laid his heart at her feet, and though she had not immediately picked it up and cherished it, she had not crushed it either. That was the day he had finally admitted to himself that his days as a dissipated scoundrel were through. He had a new purpose in his life. She believed he could be more and would reward him for becoming so, and there was nothing that he desired more than to be all that she expected he could be.
“And you have been visiting her there ever since, I suppose?”
Charles shrugged. “For a few minutes each day, yes. Except for today.”
“Does she know you are going to speak to her father?”
Charles shook his head. “Only you and Finley know about that. I wish to keep the shame of my failure to a small audience if I should not be successful this time.”
The comment was met with laughter. “This time? You are determined to succeed then?”
A sly smile crept across Charles’s face. “When am I not determined to succeed, my friend?”
“Never,” Henry admitted.
~*~*~
KOBO AMAZON NOOK IBOOKS MAILING LIST PATREON SOCIETY6
Well, this certainly was interesting. Wow! A very determined young man. I can’t wait to see what happens. It has been nice listening to the Christmas Music during July. In the craft stores, I am already seeing fall, Halloween and Christmas decorations and craft supplies. Man… they start earlier and earlier every year.
They do start early with the holiday stuff. I suppose some crafts would need a good amount of time to complete. I’m not sure that I am that organized to know to start this early, 😀 although I admit to having contemplated writing a Christmas story already. Charles is very determined which is good because Evelyn is no wilting wallflower. She’s a bit unconventional compared to many debutantes of the day.