Story Excerpt – Page 4

Music Monday: After All (Robin Spielberg)

PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY ROBIN SPIELBERG – TOPIC ON JUNE 23, 2015

This week’s choice from my Music to Write By playlist on Spotify, After All*, seemed well-titled to go with today’s short excerpt from The Tenant’s Guest.

In this excerpt, Darcy and Elizabeth have met to talk the day following their surprise reunion at Willow Hall.

“What do you wish?” Her heart drummed fast and heavy in her chest as she voiced the question.

He smiled sadly. “My wishes and desires remain as they were.”

Her cheeks reddened, and she had to look away as she asked, “And what if my wishes have changed?” She looked back at him briefly before looking away once again. “Is there any hope that we might ever be more?” She shook her head. “I know I do not deserve it, but might I have a second chance?” Nearly before she had finished speaking the words, she found herself wrapped in his embrace, and then just as quickly, she was standing on the path looking at his back.

“Forgive me. I should not have — ”

“I am uninjured, sir,” she interrupted.

“But I had no right — ” Her smile as he turned toward her snatched all thought from his head.

“I am uninjured, sir,” she repeated. “In fact, I find I am quite well — more well than I have been in months.”

[from The Tenant’s Guest]

Find all the places where you can download And Then Love here.

Find all the places where you can purchase The Tenant’s Guest here

Sales price of $0.99 is USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, EUR, GBP, all other currencies also reduced

*The link in the first paragraph is to the song on Spotify. This is not an affiliate link. It is just my way of attempting to help out the artists whose music I share.

Music Monday: Scarborough Fair (Taryn Harbridge)

PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY TARYN HARBRIDGE ON SEPT 29, 2019

Welcome back to Music Mondays. These posts will be no more frequent than every other week. They will, however, still feature a story connection. This week’s choice from my Music to Write By playlist on Spotify, Scarborough Fair*, seemed to have just the right sort of tone for the excerpt from the turning point from things going well in the story to things going very badly. Have you read this book? (It was once a Thursday’s Three Hundred story.)

Darcy jumped down from the carriage and lifted Elizabeth to the ground so that neither would have to wait for the steps to be put in place. If his sister were injured, he knew that he would not wish to wait for such a thing, and he assumed from the distraught look on Elizabeth’s face that she felt the same.

Elizabeth thanked him once again and then hurried toward Lydia, calling to her. Lydia jumped at her name, and Elizabeth thought for a moment she would run away. “Lydia,” she called again.

“Lizzy,” Lydia called back as she turned to meet Elizabeth.

The sisters met in an embrace with Lydia clinging tightly to Elizabeth and weeping. Darcy stood a short distance away. He neither wished to intrude on their privacy nor did he wish to be too far away if assistance was needed.

[from With the Colonel’s Help]

Click the image above to find all the places where you can get this book.

Sales price of $0.99 is USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, EUR, GBP, all other currencies also reduced

*The link in the first paragraph is to the song on Spotify. This is not an affiliate link. It is just my way of attempting to help out the artists whose music I share.

The Saturday Broadsheet (August 2020)

We are still enjoying some hot temperatures here. It has been a very warm summer for us, but those temps make our Saturday evening beach walks quite enjoyable. This picture is from this past Saturday’s walk. We checked out Conrad’s Beach. This vantage point if looking back to where our car is parked — waaaaaaay over there near the white house. Because this area with it’s sand dunes is a breeding ground for the Piping Plover (a small shorebird), everyone crosses from where they parked on the road across the boardwalk and to the sandy beach beyond. The beach is worth the trek.

My husband starts vacation from one of his jobs next week, so maybe we’ll be able to venture further afield to walk on some beaches that aren’t so close to where we live. That could be fun.

But enough of that. Let’s get on with all the writing, publishing, and book news you have opened this post to find. 🙂

Writing News

The only writing project I have worked on to any extent since my July update has been Her Convenient Forever. I thought it was going to end at chapter fifteen which I hit last week. However, it hasn’t ended yet. 🙂 Therefore, I have not started any serious work on any other writing project.

In editing news, I have gotten my manuscript back for Protecting Miss Darcy and will be starting the final read-through while making corrections this week. I’m still working towards having it ready to publish by September 3.

That reminds me! There was one other thing that I got written since I last posted. I wrote an epilogue for Protecting Miss Darcy / the Marrying Elizabeth series. I’ll schedule that to post this coming Thursday.

MM: The Approaching Night – Philip Wesley (Piano Cover)

PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY PIANO TIME ON MARCH 23, 2020.

I find it mesmerizing to watch the lights dropping down, showing the notes. That is why I chose this video to share today. The reason I chose the song is for the title, for today, I am sharing a chapter from my very first published book, Oxford Cottage, which is where the dark part of the tale begins.

You can find The Approaching Night by Philip Wesley on Spotify here.

Oxford Cottage, Chapter 6

July 1811

Darcy looked across the assembly hall and watched the dancers as they wound their way through the steps of a country dance. His eyes followed Elizabeth for a few moments before he pulled his attention back to the rest of the people standing around him.

Just to his left, Mrs. Bennet fidgeted and fussed with Kitty’s dress. “Stand up straight, Kitty,” she scolded. “No man wants a woman who is all bent and crumpled.”

“Yes, Mama,” said Kitty.

Darcy suppressed a chuckle as he watched Kitty roll her eyes before she pulled herself up, squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. It reminded him of Georgiana. How often had he, when watching Miss Kitty, noticed similarities between the two young ladies? Both shared an exuberance for life that was infectious, and neither appreciated the reminder to carry themselves in what society deemed a ladylike fashion. Miss Kitty was a bit silly, but she was a sweet and caring young lady. She was the sort of young lady with whom Darcy did not mind having his sister associate.

Having seen to her daughter’s lack of posture, Mrs. Bennet had moved on to discussing with several local ladies her very good fortune of having “three daughters so agreeably attached.” Mr. Bennet was attempting to calm his wife’s happy nerves in order to keep her voice at an acceptable volume. Darcy shook his head slightly and smiled. How a man as intelligent as Mr. Bennet could abide such a fluttering wife was beyond his comprehension.

But he knew it to be true that Mr. Bennet did not just abide his wife, he loved her and showed it through his solicitous attentions and patience. Although some might only see the man who teased and laughed at his wife’s silliness, Darcy had observed the soft glow of his eyes and an occasional touch that accompanied such teasing. Mrs. Bennet often responded in a huff of emotions but there was always a twinkle in her eye, a little wink, or a slight upturn of her mouth which let him know she was not truly put out by her husband’s comments. It was a dance of words and actions, a game they played, a game he was just beginning to learn to play with his beloved Elizabeth. He allowed himself the pleasure of once again watching her dance.

Music Monday: Innocent Heart (Brian Crain)

PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY BRIAN CRAIN ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2016.

I decided to revisit a favorite artist for this week’s song selection. If you are a Spotify listener as I am, you can find this song there at this link.

Today, I am pairing this song with a story where I would say the heroine has a very innocent heart. It is a heart that is not looking in the right place for its forever love, but the guy sitting next to her and attempting to help her catch the attention of her crush and his brother will make certain by the end of the story that her heart finds its true home.

The story I am talking about is His Beautiful Bea, which is the first book in my Touches of Austen series, and the innocent heart belongs to Beatrice Tierney.

Important note: This book is currently on sale for $0.99 but ONLY until today. At some point tomorrow, that price will be going up!

If you have been reading my Sweet Tuesday stories, I think you will recognize a name or two in this chapter.

His Beautiful Bea, Chapter 2

“You are a fair sight to see,” Max said later that afternoon as he plopped down next to his sister on a couch in Stratsbury’s drawing room. He flicked her book. “You’ve not finished it yet?” he queried. “I half expected you to be ready to peruse the library before we leave today, but you have more than half the book left to read.”

Bea smiled at her brother. He was not a great reader. He preferred being out of doors and doing things to sitting and reading.

“I promise I shall not disappoint you,” she replied. “I have completed my book of poetry and would like to replace it. Sir Herbert has already promised me that I might. Will you help me choose a new book?”

Max shook his head and laughed. “Not likely. My knowledge of poetry is limited.” He stretched out his arms, resting them on the back of the sofa with one wrapped around her shoulders. “I know a few poets and poems, but not a vast array. You would be better to ask Everett or even Graeme. They would know more.”

“Then if I require assistance, my dear brother, I will ask one of them and not you.”