"A love at First Sight novella"
The Back cover blurb:
One grave transgression in her past,
and Lady Louise de Winter, has accepted all hope for love and romance is but a
dream she dare not embrace.
Aware her semi-closeted existence on the Harcourt
Estate is no more, and a substantial inheritance awaits her pleasure, her
friend Count Casarotto suddenly brings his personal troubles to her door and
seeks sanctuary. Worse, pursued by officers of his majesty’s regiment of horse,
Louise endeavours to conceal his presence despite qualms as to his innocence
when the bare facts are laid before her. What is more, devastatingly attracted
to the senior officer, Louise battles to retain sense of propriety as burning
desire within takes hold. But despite Major Fitzwilliam’s reassurance he cares
not a jot about her past, the truth remains she is not as other young would-be
brides. Therefore, dare she give her heart into his care?
And my thoughts on writing Spinsterhood plots!
Spinsterhood plots are quite a common trope within Georgian and Regency novels, and in general the heroine becomes a governess or a companion to some flighty young miss, which in turn provides sense of purpose in her otherwise lonely existence. Often as not the heroine secretly falls in love with a father or guardian, and he likewise secretly falls for the sometimes irksome, and or withdrawn governess, and as time passes, often by way of tedious blow-by-blow accounts of the hero and heroine glimpsing each other amidst her domestic duties and his the drudgery of business, eventually a love bell will ring and the hero and heroine finally admit their feelings for one another. Whereas the Lady Louise de Winter amounts to none of those things so readily associated with spinsterhood. She bears a secret from her past, and her present life is not as expected of a spinster. Louise is a woman who has love to spare but dare not display it. Born to wealth and a title, and on the death of her father she has a substantial inheritance, and independent income. But love at first sight, as happens for her and the hero in her story is akin to a lightning storm, each knowing something has sparked between then, both aware it can burn if they cross the divide without sense of honesty. Truth, absolute truth, can sometimes kill desire, and therein lies the risk of losing someone who touches your heart as no other has. Some dilemmas are best served in the heat of the moment, or delivered with cold realism before the touch paper is lit? But Fate is unpredictable, as is the outcome of Louise's story as she walks and rides in her father's footsteps within a second place he truly thought of as his home!
