#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR COURTNEY J. HALL'S ARTIST HEROINE LADY SAMARA

A Sketch of Mary Tudor

Today we sit down for an interview with Lady Samara, artist heroine of Courtney J. Hall’s Some Rise by Sin.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

It was actually rather wonderful. My lord father paid little attention to me, and although that hurt when I wanted his love and attention, it left me plenty of free time to pursue my hobbies of swimming, sketching, and avoiding housework.

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

My ability to capture on paper the inner essence of something—be it a person, my kitten, or even scenery. Most people don’t realize that scenery is living. It might not speak, or eat, or breathe, but it changes.

What do you like least about yourself?

My lack of knowledge about the world. I went to court without the faintest idea of how to conduct myself, and feared I would embarrass myself and bring shame to my family name.

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you? She sent me to court! I’m a country girl; I’ve never set foot anywhere outside the perimeter of my father’s lands. But she dumped me in London with only a few weeks’ worth of preparation. It was terrifying.

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

I did at first—she had the most ridiculous ideas about me! But we eventually came to an understanding about the person I am and the kinds of things I would be capable of doing, and now we get along well.

What is your greatest fear?

Being alone. I love my independence, but I can get lonely sometimes. My sister Cecily is good company but she’s a child. I wouldn’t mind having someone to whom I can tell all of my secrets.

What makes you happy?

Being out of doors, a fresh new sheet of paper, when my lord father gives me his attention.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I would keep my lady mother alive. She died birthing my youngest sister, Cecily, and it destroyed my lord father. I would keep her alive not just for my sisters and myself, but for him.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

My sister Katherine. She is the perfect chatelaine and has no qualms about reminding me that no man will ever consider me worthy of being his wife. Not that it matters. Marriage has always been the furthest thing from my mind…until now.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Aunt Madge. She lost her husband at an early age and while that is sad, she was able to spend the rest of her life unencumbered and able to do as she pleased.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Her website is located at www.courtneyjhall.com. She divides her time between writing stories about myself and my sisters and other stories about people who live in her time, and celebrate Christ’s Mass much differently than we do!

What's next for you?

I’ve just learned that I’m with child, so I imagine my immediate future will see me getting used to being a mother. I admit I’m a bit frightened, as I don’t remember my own mother. Time will tell if I’m good at it or not. My sisters are also on the verge of marrying—I imagine they will have stories of their own to tell.

Some Rise by Sin

When Cade Badgley returns from a diplomatic mission in Rome to discover that his estranged father is dying, he has no choice but to accept an unwanted earldom, a crumbling estate and empty coffers. A kindly neighbor offers aid in return for an escort that will take his daughter to London to find a husband. Though the girl is a tempestuous artist with no marriageable skills, she quickly becomes sought-after by a man Cade has every reason not to trust. As Queen Mary Tudor lies dying, threatening the security of the realm, Cade finds himself in a battle involving his conscience, his heart, and his very life - and that of the woman he's come to love.

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#BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--OOPS! HEROINE ACCIDENTALLY ELOPES WITH WRONG MAN!

Today we sit down with Katherine, niece of Earl Quamby, from author Beverley Oakley’s The Accidental Elopement.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

Believe me, I had my life all mapped out. The pinnacle of my ambition was to make the most illustrious marriage possible during my London season. I was beautiful, from a well-connected family (if you disregard my mother’s pre-marriage scandals) and I had three suitors. Then my author threw me together with my childhood friend, Jack – a boy from the foundling home – and we fell madly in love.

I was furious that she should do that to me – for about five seconds – because truly, I was prepared to cross shark-infested waters to be with Jack. In fact, I nearly did (well, not shark-infested but raging seas). Unfortunately, I got into the wrong carriage. The one that wasn’t taking me to those raging seas I was prepared to cross. And that’s when my life took a very dark turn.

Excuse me if I don’t go into the details right now. The trauma is still quite fresh in my mind.

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I shouldn’t need to tell you that a well brought-up young lady doesn’t advertise her good qualities which should be evident to all her eligible suitors. However, if there’s one thing I secretly like about myself, it’s my love of adventure. I was so lucky to have been able to climb trees with Jack and join him on adventures when we were seven. This was when Jack would be brought over from the foundling home to be a playmate for my cousin, George. But it was Jack and I who found some mischief to get into – and Jack always defended me and took the blame – even if it was my fault. Sorry…I didn’t mean to get tearful but I do miss Jack. Or rather, the fact that he is lost to me and…the fact we’re doomed to be apart.

What do you like least about yourself?

My impulsiveness. Oh, yes, definitely that! If I hadn’t been so foolish and impulsive, I never would have made the biggest, most terrible mistake of my life. I never would have…I’m so embarrassed to admit it because who would do such a thing? Who would accidentally elope with the wrong person?

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

Strangest? Or do you mean most terrible? Because, there’s no getting around the fact that my author utterly ruined my life! That carriage I got into? How was I supposed to know it had been sent by someone other than whom I assumed had sent it?

But I can’t blame anyone other than myself. All this happened seven years ago and I’m not the feather-brained, impulsive debutante I was then. I’m older and wiser – lonelier, too, though I deserve it. But I have a beautiful seven-year-old daughter and she’s my treasure.

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

I argued about the fact that I thought it wasn’t that Jack and I couldn’t be together again after we’d been apart for seven years. After all, I was widowed and Jack was not yet married. But my author said honour had to prevail. She said it was one thing that I’d only just been widowed but quite another that Jack was honour-bound to marry the daughter of his dying mentor whom he’d promised, in the West Indies, he would protect. He’d just brought Odette back from across the seas so how could I expect he’d leave her to marry me? Even though I knew Jack loved me?

I suppose I can’t blame him. I was the impulsive one. I brought all my troubles upon myself. It’s hardly any wonder Jack thought I had forsaken him.

But I did ask my author if I couldn’t just tell him everything about what had happened and how I felt about him. She said I could but only if I wanted to put him in the impossible position of choosing between his heart and his honourable soul. I’m still trying to find a way to get around that one.

What is your greatest fear?

That Jack will never know how much I love him. And that he will never learn my secret. I want him to know it – yet I know it would destroy him.

What makes you happy?

Being with my child makes me happy. I lead a quiet life after my late husband ruined my reputation and gambled away our worldly goods so I take pleasure in simple things.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I would rewrite the end because I think Jack deserves to be happy but I think I do, too. And we can only be happy together. But Jack is about to marry and then he will be lost to me forever.

My author found me in tears this morning. She told me my story isn’t finished yet but I don’t believe her. Jack is marrying so soon. It’s set in stone. His bride-to-be is sweet and worthy and her father is dying. My aunt thinks she has a plan to make her fall in love with someone else, but it won’t work.

I must accept that Jack and I are doomed to be forever apart.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

My cousin George, for sure! He was spoiled and whiney when we were children and he hadn’t changed much when we were eighteen which is when he suddenly decided he wanted to marry me – even though he knew Jack and I were soul mates.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Odette, Jack’s betrothed. Because she is the one who will have Jack for the rest of her dying days. But she won’t have his heart. I thought I would take comfort from that but I can’t. I don’t want her to suffer as much as I have for the truth is that she’s a good person. Better woman than I am. It’s just that Jack loves me. And I love him.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Beverley Oakley is an Australian author who grew up in the African mountain kingdom of Lesotho, married a Norwegian bush pilot she met in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, and started writing historical romances to amuse herself in the 12 countries she’s lived as a ‘trailing spouse’. She writes historical romances laced with scandal and intrigue and Africa-set romantic suspense as Beverley Eikli. You can read more at www.beverleyoakley.com.

What's next for you, the author?

She’ll be writing book three in her Fair Cyprians of London series. Each story features a courtesan at Madame Chambon’s elite Soho establishment. Keeping Faith, like the other stories in the series, is based on fictionalized versions of the interviews of the ‘fallen women’ nineteenth century journalist Henry Mayhew included in his study of Victorian vice, London’s Underworld. Sacrificing Charity is about a courtesan who’s been groomed by her protector to be her ‘beautiful weapon’. It highlights hypocrisy and has at its heart a revenge and redemption theme.

The Accidental Elopement

Today we sit down with Katherine, niece of Earl Quamby, from author Beverley Oakley’s The Accidental Elopement.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

Believe me, I had my life all mapped out. The pinnacle of my ambition was to make the most illustrious marriage possible during my London season. I was beautiful, from a well-connected family (if you disregard my mother’s pre-marriage scandals) and I had three suitors. Then my author threw me together with my childhood friend, Jack – a boy from the foundling home – and we fell madly in love.

I was furious that she should do that to me – for about five seconds – because truly, I was prepared to cross shark-infested waters to be with Jack. In fact, I nearly did (well, not shark-infested but raging seas). Unfortunately, I got into the wrong carriage. The one that wasn’t taking me to those raging seas I was prepared to cross. And that’s when my life took a very dark turn.

Excuse me if I don’t go into the details right now. The trauma is still quite fresh in my mind.

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I shouldn’t need to tell you that a well brought-up young lady doesn’t advertise her good qualities which should be evident to all her eligible suitors. However, if there’s one thing I secretly like about myself, it’s my love of adventure. I was so lucky to have been able to climb trees with Jack and join him on adventures when we were seven. This was when Jack would be brought over from the foundling home to be a playmate for my cousin, George. But it was Jack and I who found some mischief to get into – and Jack always defended me and took the blame – even if it was my fault. Sorry…I didn’t mean to get tearful but I do miss Jack. Or rather, the fact that he is lost to me and…the fact we’re doomed to be apart.

What do you like least about yourself?

My impulsiveness. Oh, yes, definitely that! If I hadn’t been so foolish and impulsive, I never would have made the biggest, most terrible mistake of my life. I never would have…I’m so embarrassed to admit it because who would do such a thing? Who would accidentally elope with the wrong person?

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

Strangest? Or do you mean most terrible? Because, there’s no getting around the fact that my author utterly ruined my life! That carriage I got into? How was I supposed to know it had been sent by someone other than whom I assumed had sent it?

But I can’t blame anyone other than myself. All this happened seven years ago and I’m not the feather-brained, impulsive debutante I was then. I’m older and wiser – lonelier, too, though I deserve it. But I have a beautiful seven-year-old daughter and she’s my treasure.

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

I argued about the fact that I thought it wasn’t that Jack and I couldn’t be together again after we’d been apart for seven years. After all, I was widowed and Jack was not yet married. But my author said honour had to prevail. She said it was one thing that I’d only just been widowed but quite another that Jack was honour-bound to marry the daughter of his dying mentor whom he’d promised, in the West Indies, he would protect. He’d just brought Odette back from across the seas so how could I expect he’d leave her to marry me? Even though I knew Jack loved me?

I suppose I can’t blame him. I was the impulsive one. I brought all my troubles upon myself. It’s hardly any wonder Jack thought I had forsaken him.

But I did ask my author if I couldn’t just tell him everything about what had happened and how I felt about him. She said I could but only if I wanted to put him in the impossible position of choosing between his heart and his honourable soul. I’m still trying to find a way to get around that one.

What is your greatest fear?

That Jack will never know how much I love him. And that he will never learn my secret. I want him to know it – yet I know it would destroy him.

What makes you happy?

Being with my child makes me happy. I lead a quiet life after my late husband ruined my reputation and gambled away our worldly goods so I take pleasure in simple things.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I would rewrite the end because I think Jack deserves to be happy but I think I do, too. And we can only be happy together. But Jack is about to marry and then he will be lost to me forever.

My author found me in tears this morning. She told me my story isn’t finished yet but I don’t believe her. Jack is marrying so soon. It’s set in stone. His bride-to-be is sweet and worthy and her father is dying. My aunt thinks she has a plan to make her fall in love with someone else, but it won’t work.

I must accept that Jack and I are doomed to be forever apart.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

My cousin George, for sure! He was spoiled and whiney when we were children and he hadn’t changed much when we were eighteen which is when he suddenly decided he wanted to marry me – even though he knew Jack and I were soul mates.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Odette, Jack’s betrothed. Because she is the one who will have Jack for the rest of her dying days. But she won’t have his heart. I thought I would take comfort from that but I can’t. I don’t want her to suffer as much as I have for the truth is that she’s a good person. Better woman than I am. It’s just that Jack loves me. And I love him.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Beverley Oakley is an Australian author who grew up in the African mountain kingdom of Lesotho, married a Norwegian bush pilot she met in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, and started writing historical romances to amuse herself in the 12 countries she’s lived as a ‘trailing spouse’. She writes historical romances laced with scandal and intrigue and Africa-set romantic suspense as Beverley Eikli. You can read more at her website.

What's next for you, the author?

She’ll be writing book three in her Fair Cyprians of London series. Each story features a courtesan at Madame Chambon’s elite Soho establishment. Keeping Faith, like the other stories in the series, is based on fictionalized versions of the interviews of the ‘fallen women’ nineteenth century journalist Henry Mayhew included in his study of Victorian vice, London’s Underworld. Sacrificing Charity is about a courtesan who’s been groomed by her protector to be her ‘beautiful weapon’. It highlights hypocrisy and has at its heart a revenge and redemption theme.

The Accidental Elopement

Book 4 in the Scandalous Miss Brightwell series

A seven-year secret. A tragic misunderstanding. Can love outwit fate in this tale of misadventure and thwarted dreams?

Earl Quamby’s niece, Katherine, and Jack, a foundling home lad adopted by a local family, have been loyal friends for as long as they can remember. 

As Jack is about to leave England to make his fortune and Katherine is being courted by two eligible suitors, they unexpectedly realise their friendship has blossomed into passionate love. A love, they are warned, that has no future.

Despite a brave attempt to defy the forces keeping them apart, tragedy results and the pair is separated.

When chance throws them together seven years later, Katherine, newly widowed, is being pressured into a marriage not of her choosing to avoid scandal and Jack feels he must honour his pledge to the worthy Odette whom he met in India and whose father is dying.

Katherine knows that revealing a long-held secret may win Jack to her but she also knows conflicting obligations from past and present may tear him apart.

Can master matchmakers, Fanny, Antoinette and Bertram Brightwell, outwit fate in its latest attempt to keep these star-crossed lovers apart and deliver them the happiness they deserve?

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MEET STEPHEN CHAPLIN, HERO OF LADY ELINOR'S ESCAPE

Today we sit down with Stephen Chaplin from Lady Elinor’s Escape by author Linda McLaughlin.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

Quiet and peaceful!

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I pride myself on my honor and integrity.

What do you like least about yourself?

My inability to resist a damsel in distress, as it caused me many difficulties during Lady Elinor’s Escape.

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

She made me fall in love with a lady far above my touch. An Earl’s daughter, no less!

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

Alas, there’s no point in arguing with her.

What is your greatest fear?

I fear that my author will match my sister Olivia with my oldest enemy in the next book. I pray she never writes it.

What makes you happy?

Helping people in need.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I would change the part where I fail to recognize the woman I love at a masquerade. How could the author think I could be so clueless?

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

My nemesis, Marcus Knightley.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

I might be persuaded to change places with my law partner, Owen Tudor. To date, his life has been almost entirely without drama.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

She tells me it’s https://lindalyndi.com, though I have no idea what a website/blog, is.

What's next for you?

I have no idea. It’s all up to my nefarious author!

Lady Elinor's Escape

Lady Elinor Ashworth always longed for adventure, but when she runs away from her abusive aunt, she finds more than she bargained for. Elinor fears her aunt, who is irrational and dangerous, threatening Elinor and anyone she associates with. When she encounters an inquisitive gentleman, she accepts his help, but fearing for his safety, hides her identity by pretending to be a seamstress. She resists his every attempt to draw her out, all the while fighting her attraction to him

There are too many women in barrister Stephen Chaplin's life, but he has never been able to turn his back on a damsel in distress. The younger son of a baronet is a rescuer of troubled females, an unusual vocation fueled by guilt over his failure to save the woman he loved from her brutal husband. He cannot help falling in love with his secretive seamstress, but to his dismay, the truth of her background reveals Stephen as the ineligible party.

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#FASHION--A BRIEF HISTORY OF UNDERGARMENTS BY AUTHOR ROSEMARY MORRIS

British historical romance author Rosemary Morris stops by today to give us a fashion lesson on undergarments. Learn more about Rosemary and her books at her website and blog.

A Brief History of Underclothes

It would be unrealistic to deny that, throughout history, as well as having a practical purpose, feminine undergarments have had an erotic effect. Once, even the glimpse of a stockinged ankle titillated. Modern fashion, which is more practical and comfortable, has removed feminine mystique.

In the past, female underclothing was the focus of sensual curiosity. In the prudish Victorian era, mention of trousers or drawers was considered unseemly. It reminded people that men and women have legs.

In the medieval period women wore smocks or, as the Normans called them, chemises. They were pulled over the head and were either plain or embroidered.

In “The Miller’s Wife” from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, there are the following lines:

“…brooded all before

And eke behind on her colere about

Of cole-blak silke, within and eke without.”

Women also appropriated the term petticoat, little coat, from the word coat used by men in the Middle Ages.

The evolution of underclothes is interesting. After the early Saxon period, tunics concealed men’s breeches, which were subsequently called drawers. Centuries later, men wore knee-length breeches then close-fitting ankle length pantaloons. Next, they wore trousers and, more recently, shorts and jeans beneath which minimal undergarments are worn.

By the Victorian era, women wore a linen chemise and petticoat, sometimes attached to a bodice. In early 19^th century England, drawers were considered scandalous until Princess Charlotte, heiress to the throne, wore them. By the 1830’s they were commonplace. Also, the French custom of wearing pantaloons when riding side saddle had become popular. After the Regency era, small waists were admired. Tight lacing was necessary to be fashionable. To achieve it, corset makers used steel, whalebone and buckram, which compressed women’s figures so much that they couldn’t move naturally and suffered from stomach aches and other pain.

Crinolines were superseded by bustles, until, in the late 20^th century underwear evolved into the scanty garments worn today, although bras are used to emphasis the bust to enhance the figure.

 

Famous names have been used to describe female underwear. From American Mrs. Bloomer came the term bloomers. Some of many other terms are undies, cami-bocks, cami-knicks, knick-knacks, frillies, bras, slips and thongs, all of which have erotic connotations.

The main purpose of underclothes has been warmth. Men’s shapes have remained similar throughout the centuries, but women’s have been altered by artificial means. These included bustles, corsets, crinolines, farthingales, hoops and stays, all of which gave rise to speculation about what females wore beneath their outer garments. One can imagine a curious bridegroom eagerly anticipating a revelation.

Today, people bathe frequently. Their clothes are dry-cleaned or washed. This means few underclothes are necessary to keep outerwear clean. It was not so, for example, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, when splendid clothes made in costly fabrics needed protection from unwashed bodies.

 

Towards the end of the 18^th century, the Macaronis stressed the importance of personal cleanliness. In the first part of 19^th century John Wesley preached ‘cleanliness is next to Godliness’. Beau Brummel, the famous Regency dandy, agreed, also advocated cleanliness. In Queen Victoria’s reign, men and women changed their underwear frequently. To move on in time, between the 1^st and 2^nd World Wars fewer underclothes were worn. Which brings me to the present day. Mini-skirts, shorts, sleeveless tops with shoestring straps, bikinis and extremes of fashion leave little to the imagination.

In the past, deliberate revelations of underwear, such as the edge of a chemise or the hem of a petticoat, suggested female disrobing was erotic. At other times, the bodice looked like a corset. This implied a woman had dressed immodestly. For at least six centuries, women wore corsets to emphasise the bust and slim the waist. Laced too tightly they compromised health.

Men’s shirts may also be regarded as underwear. They divided the working classes from upper classes. In Henry VIII’s reign, shirts were revealed by slashing the jerkin; in the 18^th century the top of the waistcoat was unbuttoned to reveal part of the shirt. Spotless white shirts, frilled or plain, divided the social classes.

Linen, the oldest material used for underwear; cotton, regarded as inferior to linen; wool and flannelette have been used for undergarments. Only well to-do people could afford silk until the last part of the Victorian era. More recently artificial fabrics, such as nylon are popular and can be washed and dried as often as we bathe. We no longer stink as our ancestors did.

Far Beyond Rubies

Set in 1706 during Queen Anne Stuart’s reign, Far Beyond Rubies begins when William, Baron Kemp, Juliana’s half-brother claims she and her young sister, Henrietta, are bastards. Spirited Juliana is determined to prove the allegation is false, and that she is the rightful heiress to Riverside, a great estate.

On his way to deliver a letter to William, Gervaise Seymour sees Juliana for the first time on the grounds of her family estate. The sight of her draws him back to India. When “her form changed to one he knew intimately – but not in this lifetime,” Gervaise knows he would do everything in his power to protect her.

Although Juliana and Gervaise are attracted to each other, they have not been formally introduced and assume they will never meet again. However, when Juliana flees from home, and is on her way to London, she encounters quixotic Gervaise at an inn. Circumstances force Juliana to accept his kind help. After Juliana’s life becomes irrevocably tangled with his, she discovers all is not as it seems. Yet, she cannot believe ill of him for, despite his exotic background, he behaves with scrupulous propriety while trying to help her find evidence to prove she and her sister are legitimate.

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#TRAVEL TO #ENGLAND WITH GUEST AUTHOR COURTNEY J. HALL

The Author at Shakespeare's Birthplace

Courtney J. Hall lives with her husband and a stolen cat in a fixer-upper in suburban Philadelphia. Learn more about her and her books at her website.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a sneaking suspicion that I don’t belong where I am. I live in the United States, in suburban Philadelphia, and have since the day I was born – but something out there, something elusive, has always been tugging at me. Beckoning me. Trying to get me to follow it, find it, whatever it was. And I finally figured it out.

 It was England.

I’ve always been an Anglophile, with a love of the history and an attachment to the Union Jack even before it became a ubiquitous home décor trend. I’ve always been partial to tea, tiny pastries, and gothic architecture. But I thought that was just my taste. Just things I liked. It wasn’t until my husband and I finally ventured across the pond and I stepped off the plane at Heathrow that I knew.

My body might live in the States, but my heart and soul belonged to England.

It felt like coming home after a long trip. My instincts came roaring out. I knew how to ride the Tube, where to get on and where to get off. I recognized street names, buildings and places I’d never seen before, not even on TV. Getting off the train in Stratford-upon-Avon, I somehow managed to walk directly into the village. My husband swore it was because I looked at maps, but I don’t. At least nothing more recent than the 1572 Braun & Hogenberg map, which wouldn’t be all that helpful to me in 2016. I just knew. It was in my head, in my heart. In my bones. I’d come home.

The Author at Tower Bridge

It was, hands down, the best week of my life. Better than any spring break or senior week. Better than any Caribbean vacation. Better than my honeymoon (but don’t tell my husband). I saw thousand-year-old palaces and the tombs of history’s greatest kings and queens. I walked in Anne Boleyn’s footsteps and saw portraits painted by Holbein. I ate lots of delicious food and talked to some wonderful people. And every new experience reiterated that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I loved it. Getting back on the plane at the end of the week was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

People ask me why I don’t just move there. While I’d love to, there are still a few important things holding me here. But if anything ever happened to change that, I’d swim there. Just try and stop me. It’s my home – I just don’t live there.

Yet, anyway…

Some Rise By Sin

Cade Badgley has just returned from an overseas diplomatic mission when he learns that his father is dying. Cade has no interest in filling his father’s shoes, but the inheritance laws of sixteenth-century England leave him no choice: he is the new Earl of Easton, with a hundred souls dependent on him, a rundown estate, and no money in his coffers. A friendly neighbor offers to help, but at a cost: Cade must escort the neighbor’s daughter Samara to London and help her find a husband. 

Samara, a tempestuous artist, would rather sketch Mary Tudor’s courtiers than woo them. But her beauty, birth, and fortune soon make her the most sought-after young woman in London. As Cade watches her fall under the spell of a man he has every reason to distrust, he must balance his obligations to Easton against the demands of his heart and the echoes of a scandal that drove him away from his family twelve years before. 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR ROSEMARY MORRIS

The Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer,
painted about 40 years prior to the time of The Captain and the Countess

Normally we feature a craft project on Mondays. Today we’re changing things up a bit with a visit from British historical romance author Rosemary Morris, here to tell us about the artist hero she created for one of her books. Learn more about Rosemary and her books at her website and blog.

The subject of this article is the effect of the hero’s artistic talents. in my novel, The Captain and the Countess.

In 1706, Edward, the Right Honourable Captain Howard, who served in Queen Anne’s navy, is on half-pay.

Edward appeared in my mind while reading The Command of the Ocean by N.A.M Rodger, in which he states: “Off-watch, seamen had time to relax, especially on men-of-war with their large crews. Music, reading and gambling were common pastimes. Some ships had bands – ‘trumpets, hautboys and violins in the case of the H.M.S. Duchess’.”

Many sailors, including the officers, put their free time to good use, learning foreign languages and developing their skills. Edward Howard took the opportunity to develop his abilities as an artist, and in that capacity he became exceptionally observant.

Edward first saw Kate, Countess of Sinclair, an acclaimed beauty, whose sobriquet was ‘The Fatal Widow’, when she stood in the doorway of his godmother’s salon, her cool blue eyes speculative.

He stared at her without blinking and whistled low, and wondered if her shocking reputation could be no more than tittle-tattle?

While Edward scrutinised her, unlike most gentlemen who took scant interest in female fashion, he noted that rumour did not lie about her Saxon beauty, which she made the most of. “Her ladyship was not a slave to fashion. She did not wear a wig, and her hair was not curled and stiffened with sugar water. Instead, her flaxen plaits were wound around the crown of her head to form a coronet. The style suited her. So did the latest Paris fashion, an outrageous wisp of a lace cap, which replaced the tall, fan-shaped fontage most ladies continued to wear perched on their heads.”  Later, he sketched her from memory.

Although Kate was ten years his senior, Edward enjoyed flirting with her during their first encounter. However, his sharp eyes saw beyond her outward facade. “A frozen glimpse of despair deep in her eyes unsettled him. Did he imagine it? He could not speak. Why should a lady like the countess despair?”

Edward was consumed both by desire for Kate and determination to paint her portrait. When he visited her, “he stared at the tips of her slippers resting decorously side by side on a footstool,” and he said, “Truth to tell, I would like to paint you with your skirts drawn up a little to reveal your ankles.”

He invited her on a picnic in the country and tried to persuade her to allow him the privilege of painting her portrait.

Kate, who was accustomed to artists clamouring to paint her, refused, and explained. “At my late husband’s command, I sat for my portrait. Never have I suffered such ennui. I never wish to experience it again.”

Edward, who intended to use his artistic skills to win her, persisted, but Kate declared. “I detest picnics because it either rains when one is planned, or the sun is too hot to eat and drink in comfort.” 

Undeterred Edward wagered a flask of perfume blended by the famous perfumier, Lille, against Kate’s permission to capture her in oil paint, if their picnic is not spoiled by inclement weather. Amused, Kate agreed but warned him that he would lose.

Although Kate flirted with him, she rebuffed his advances, but Edward was not fooled. His sixth sense told him she was attracted to him but would not succumb because, behind her smiles and seeming gaiety, she was the victim of deep-rooted unhappiness.

When Edward arrived on the day agreed upon for the picnic, it was pouring with rain, so Kate assumed she had won the wager.

Edward, who considered himself too young to marry, hoped Kate would become his mistress, yet, when they set out for his house in Chelsea, he was torn between desire and his wish to help her overcome the grief behind her fashionable façade.

When they arrived, it poured with rain, so Kate assumed she had won the wager. However, Edward led her to a summer house in which they would enjoy their picnic. He pointed out, that he had won because the summer house was part of the garden. “So,” he began triumphantly, “when the weather is more favourable, with your permission, I shall sketch you beneath the boughs of a spreading oak tree.”

“Captain Howard did you paint the interior?” Kate asked, intrigued by a scene of woodland carpeted with bluebells, in which she noticed timid rabbits partially concealed in the lush growth, a suspicious badger peering out from his set, and a wary fox peeping from behind a gnarled oak tree. “Were you not an officer in Her Majesty’s navy—and if you had the need to do so—you could command a living as an artist.”

There is much more to Kate’s young admirer than she had realised. As for Edward, as time passed, he fell in love with the countess and wanted to marry her; so he thanked fate, which determined that through his skill as an artist Kate, who had declared that she would never marry again, regarded him more favourably.

The Captain and The Countess

Why does heart-rending pain lurk in the back of the wealthy Countess of Sinclair’s eyes? 

Captain Howard’s life changes forever from the moment he meets Kate, the intriguing Countess and resolves to banish her pain.

Although the air sizzles when widowed Kate, victim of an abusive marriage meets Edward Howard, a captain in Queen Anne’s navy, she has no intention of ever marrying again.

However, when Kate becomes better acquainted with the Captain she realises he is the only man who understands her grief and can help her to untangle her past.

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