Once a month, Bria Quinlan and Alexia Reed host a bunch of authors who get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t have to be published to participate–just be a writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site or click on the banner above!

This month’s excerpt is drawn from Revealed. I decided to continue where we left off last month’s excerpt where Barrington and Marcia were paired up at dinner and he has no clue why she’s so standoffish with him. She can’t believe even he has forgotten the incident which solidified her introverted tendencies, when after all he was to blame, too bad if he didn’t know her identity at the time.

As always, any comments or criticisms are welcome.

The man was impossible to ignore. All her attempts failed. She never expected to be betrayed by her own proper upbringing. Good manners had allowed him get around her defenses. She had felt obliged to reply, conditioned as she had been in the nursery and schoolroom.

Would you please pass the salt?

As she savored the warm, husky tones in which he had delivered that line, warmth flooded her cheeks. Then she noticed the flower precariously balanced on the edge of her plate. She plucked the bloom from her plate and tucked it into her lap, hoping no one else had seen.

She couldn’t afford to allow herself to be drawn in by his boyish charm and devilish good looks again. She admitted to being mystified and intrigued by his attention to her tonight.

Could it be true? Had everyone, as Daphne claimed, but her forgotten the incident six years ago? Marcia didn’t think it possible even Lord Barrington had put the incident from his mind. She didn’t think she liked what that revealed about her.

“What do you want?” She allowed her anger to thrum beneath her whisper. She strained to keep her voice low enough to avoid being overhead by anyone else at the table.

“To pass an enjoyable evening.” He leaned closer so he could whisper just as quietly. He glanced, once again, to where the Duchess sat. He was as nervous as an errant schoolboy afraid of being caught, which made no sense since the Duchess had, so obviously, paired them off earlier.

“Then why disturb mine?”

“You do not mean to tell me that you enjoy wooden conversation with youths barely old enough to shave. Do you?”

“I enjoy conversing with gentlemen who know how to behave as such.”

A fleeting look of hurt and guilt flashed across his face. Perhaps he hadn’t forgotten.

“I assure you, last night was an aberration. Put it from your mind.”

Last night? She frowned, recalling Lady Henrietta’s mention of Barrington’s name linked with scandal from the previous night. He had forgotten too.

“It shan’t happen again. Your reputation will not suffer as my dinner companion tonight.” His gaze darted from the Duchess to the Duke and back again. “I am on my best behavior.”

“I referred not to last night, my Lord. However, if you feel you should bear the burden of guilt, I shall not stop you.” She sniffed, taking another bite of beef.

“I do not recall giving offense, so I must assume my reputation has once again preceded me. Why do you dislike me so?” The intensity of his gaze bore into her until she was almost convinced the secret of his existence might hinge upon her response.

She took great care to finish chewing and swallowed before she replied. “Dislike you, my Lord?” Dislike didn’t begin to describe the range of feelings she had harbored over the years.

“How, then, would you describe your attitude toward me, if not as one of dislike?” She tried to ignore the quirk of his eyebrow and focused once again on her plate.

“I fail to comprehend your meaning, my Lord.” Her throat was tight and dry. Swallowing only emphasized how her tongue no longer fit behind her teeth. She reached for her wineglass. Concentration slowed the tremors in her hand to an occasional twitch and she managed a sip of wine without splashing any on her dress or placing the fine white linen tablecloth in danger.

“I’ve seen you at various events around Town. You don’t look at me. You look through me.”

He had been watching her? How long? In an effort to distract her self from those disturbing thoughts, she set the wine glass on the table, placing it far out of her reach, lest it topple.

“At first, I thought you merely shy and reserved.”

She nodded. That was certainly not a closely held secret.

“Then I noticed not everyone is held at bay. You are very close to Lady Daphne Holtcombe, are you not?”

She nodded again, attempting to puzzle out his purpose, if indeed he had one beyond irritating her.

“Neither do you shun the company of every gentleman at many events.”

He phrased his words as a statement, not a question. She swallowed uncomfortably. The piece of meat hadn’t seemed so tough a moment ago. She decided no response was required of her.

“So I am left with the impression you harbor a certain, personal dislike for me.”

“It is not personal, my Lord.” She hated lying, but if he didn’t remember his part in her utter humiliation, she refused to be the one to remind him.

Maybe she would have to admit Daphne was right if even Barrington had forgotten the incident. She needed to put the past behind her and move on.

“I am nothing like my mother. I find no joy in crowds nor in making small talk with strangers.”

“You also have a peculiar notion as to what passes for small talk as well.”

As he formed the word ‘peculiar’, she scrutinized his mouth, fascinated by the luscious shape of his lips. Memories of the kiss they’d shared rushed back to her.

“My Lord, I…” Her protest tapered off half-formed on her lips as she tried to slam the door on the memories flooding from the dark hollow in her heart where she had crammed them when she ran from her tormentors all those years ago.

“When was the last time you considered furthering an acquaintance?” As he turned to look her in the eye, his knee brushed against her skirts.

“I-I’m n-not sure, my Lord.” Six years ago. Just a mere three weeks shy of six years.

“You should try it sometime.” With that, he turned back to his meal, his attention and patience withdrawn.

If you enjoyed this, you might enjoy some of my other Excerpt Monday offerings.

Links to other Excerpt Monday writers
Note: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site.

So, to kick it off, our hosts:
Alexia Reed, Urban Fantasy (R)
and
Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG13)

Joining in this week:
Jane Bled, Yaoi/M-M Erotica/Vampire/Paranormal/Horror (PG 13)
Danie Ford, YA Urban Fantasy (PG 13)
Heather S Ingemar, Dark Fantasy (PG13)
Babette James, Fantasy Romance (PG13)
Cynthia Justlin, Contemporary Romance (PG 13)
Kaige, Historical Romance (PG 13)
Julia Knight, Fantasy Romance (PG 13)
Jeannie Lin, Historical paranormal romance (PG 13)
R.F Long, Fantasy (PG13)
Shawntelle Madison, Paranormal Romance (PG 13)
Debbie Mumford, Fantasy (PG 13)
Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG13)
Megan S, Paranormal (PG 13)
Rosalind Stone, Women’s Fiction (PG 13)
Jo Lynne Valerie, Paranormal Romance (PG 13)

Kendal Ashby, YA (R)
Jax Cassidy, Contemporary (R)
Cate Hart, YA Paranormal (R)
Inez Kelley, Romantic Comedy (R)
Aislinn Kerry, Fantasy (R)
Jeanne St. James, Contemporary Erotic Romance (R)
Cherrie Lynn, Paranormal Romance (R)
Jeanette Murray, Romantic Comedy (R)
Christa Paige, Paranormal (R)
Michelle Picard, Fantasy Romance (R)
Mary Quast, Contemporary Romance (R)
Alexia Reed, Urban Fantasy (R)
Zora Stout, Contemporary Erotic Romance (R)

Sara Brookes, Erotic Sci Fi (NC 17)
Emily Ryan-Davis, Romance (NC 17)
Ella Drake, Historical Paranormal Romance (NC 17)
Angeleque Ford, Erotic Dark Urban Fantasy (NC17)
J.W. Hankins, Dark Fiction (NC 17)
Annie Nicholas, Paranormal Romance (NC 17)
Kim Knox, Erotic SF Romance (NC17)
Michelle Polaris, Erotic Futuristic Romance (NC 17)
Bryl R. Tyne, Contemporary M/M (NC 17)

I feel like I’ve made progress this week. Not as much as I’d like, but I can say that progress was still made. With 56 days remaining until the end of the year, I have about 52k words left on my Regency Beneath His Touch and figure I’m about 42% of the way done. I’ve almost made my +5k goal for this week. That gives me Thanksgiving, Christmas and two other days off at this point. Phew!

Working with others has been extremely helpful in achieving my word count each day. Just knowing someone else is out there working at the same time on their own project is incredibly motivating and inspiring. I’ve noticed more and more people joinging in with #amwriting, #writegoal, #goalwar on Twitter and I know many people gather in chat rooms like the one on Romance Divas. Some groups are even using AIM’s group chat feature to do timed writing sprints. No matter where you find it, or what you call it, it works for many people. When you have to admit how many words you did or didn’t write, it can push you to keep at it.

Even though I’m not doing NaNoWriMo this year, I’m still reading about it and one of the great finds this year is Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld’s dueling NaNoWriMo tips on their blogs. In Ms. Larbalestier’s post NaNo Tip No. 2: The Zen of First (Zero) Drafts, someone in the comments there mentioned that Nora Roberts calls that first rough draft the “discovery draft.”

I love that term and it’s accurate for the way I write as well. I may work with scads of spreadsheets and try to pinpoint the bones of my plot down before I start writing, but I still love the discoveries my characters reveal to me along the way. I’ll never be pantser enough to completely trust these little gems, but the fact that they appear from my subconscious pleases me.

Today, I had a couple minor characters surprise me with secrets they’ve been keeping hidden close, but they opened up to my heroine with the least little coaxing on her part. I love surprises like that. It’s a similar kind of fun as setting up random code for an interactive game and watching the resultant emergent behavior of the characters controlled by the computer. It might just be a tad cooler, because it’ll never happen by chance that way again. And that’s just cool.

Monday the 9th is Excerpt Monday again… you all know what that means, right? Yep, it means I have to figure out what I’m going to share this month. I don’t think it’ll be anything new from this ms, but I’ll probably dig into The Flower Queen’s Daughter or Revealed again. Whatever I choose will go live after midnight on Monday and as soon as the other links are live and posted, I’ll add them so you can find even more great excerpts to read for free.

I decided I’m not going to do NaNoWriMo again this year. I’m taking a slower approach and hoping to complete the first full draft of my Regency, Beneath His Touch, by December 31st. This gives me 67 days to write another 56k words to end up with 90k total. When I’ve been able to sit down and focus, I’ve been able to write a bit over 1k words a day. This is lower than the 1667 words a day for NaNoWriMo. To finish this book in November, it would take around 1900 words a day, something I’m not willing to commit to right now.

Unfortunately, I’m not a crazy college student with all the free time in the world on my hands. I have two middle schoolers who are in need of a bit more direction and support to make it through this next quarter while trying to keep up with martial arts and scouts as well. Not to mention all the normal holiday fanfare in the next two months that will fall on my shoulders.

But that’s what the group, Accountability Corner, I belong to is all about: balancing life with writing. Lately, we’ve been trying to think of our writing as starting a small business and what all needs to be done to make it successful. I still feel like I’m very much in the R&D and early product development stages. I know what I want, but I’m not quite sure the prototypes are living up to my expectations. It was surprising to see how many activities we could tie to the ones listed for starting a small business and even more so, how many of them we were already pursuing. Some of us more than others, but we were all headed in the right direction.

Speaking of R&D, I’ve been doing a lot of research lately. Not necessarily Regency specific research, although a lot of people have been visiting my Regency Resource pages, but I’ve been reading voraciously this year. I could only recall about 79 books that I’d read last year, but this year I decided to keep track with GoodReads and set up a shelf for books I read in 2009. I’m surprised that I’ve read 105 books so far and I have another two in progress as well. I tend to keep one book in the car to read while I pick up the kids and I forget to bring it in, so I pick up and start another one in the house. I’m curious to see how far I’ll get on that count in the next 67 days as well.

So, what are YOU going to do in the next 67 days?

Once a month, Bria Quinlan and Alexia Reed host a bunch of authors who get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t have to be published to participate–just be a writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site or click on the banner above!

This month’s excerpt is drawn from Revealed. Barrington and Marcia have been paired up at dinner and he has no clue why she’s so standoffish with him. She can’t believe even he has forgotten the incident which solidified her introverted tendencies, when after all he was to blame, too bad if he didn’t know her identity at the time.

As always, any comments or criticisms are welcome.

Hugh knew he had not been seated beside the Duchess out of friendship but so she could keep an eye on him. However, the reason the Duchess had paired him with the shy, mousy Miss Drummond puzzled him. Perhaps Tabitha expected the girl to provide a calming influence on him. Ha!

As the first course was served, Hugh turned to Miss Drummond and asked her opinion of the dish. Instead of favoring him with her reply, she stared straight across the table at Lady Henrietta. So, the chit thought to ignore him, did she? A grin spread across his face and he felt the Duchess deliver a kick to his shin.

“Remember, Hugh. You promised.” The Duchess said in a low voice for his ears only.

“Not every thought that brings a smile to my face portends trouble, Your Grace.” She hated when he called her that. An easy friendship had grown between them during her time in Bolster’s employ despite the Duke’s efforts to monopolize her attentions.

Tabitha narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “Please just behave, Hugh.”

He nodded to her and turned his attention back to his plate. Tales of his escapades rarely dogged him as closely or as thoroughly as this time. Usually, he could bask in the attention that amused everyone and had them laughing along with him and forgetting about it as soon as the next scandal broke and swept society’s attention away again.

Footmen cleared the plates from the table and the second course was placed before them. Hugh pondered how to engage Miss Drummond in conversation.

He’d noticed her over the years only because of the way she always clung to the fringes of events. She never danced any more; she never promenaded about a room on anyone’s arm. In fact, the only person capable of drawing an honest and lively response from her seemed to be Lady Daphne Holtcombe. When the two were together, Miss Drummond transformed into a different person, one vibrant with life and passion. When she smiled, everything around her seemed brighter. He decided that would be his mission for tonight: to coax one of those luminous smiles from her. Just for him.

He nudged Miss Drummond’s elbow with his own. Experience assured him that a lady possessed of proper social graces would be hard pressed to ignore him for any substantial length of time.

She discreetly moved her chair over an inch.

This lady was determined. He liked challenges.

Moving his chair over by an inch, he ignored the questioning look Tabitha sent his way.

He smiled across the table at Lady Henrietta. She returned his smile and resumed her conversation with the young pup beside her.

He allowed the napkin in his lap to slide to the floor between his chair and Miss Drummond’s. As he leaned down to pick it up, he gasped as if he’d seen something unexpected beneath the table.

Miss Drummond stiffened beside him. Just the sort of reaction he had anticipated. He vowed to find a chink in her stony silence. Now that she was aware of him, she’d be incapable of ignoring him. Her natural feminine curiosity would have to be satisfied.

Her chair shifted.

He waited.

In vain, it seemed. He retrieved his napkin and straightened in his chair once again. The gasp under the table routine had always proven irresistible to the young ladies of his acquaintance.

Finishing his course, Hugh noted that she had been drawn into a tentative conversation with the gentleman seated on her right.

Apparently, she chose to ignore only him.

He needed something subtler but, at the same time, more provocative to draw her attention. The Duchess’ presence provided an additional challenge since he could not afford her displeasure. Spilling wine on the girl’s dress and the tablecloth would be a sure way to draw both Miss Drummond and Tabitha’s ire.

He needed something more intriguing, less pedestrian.

He considered his options while the second course was cleared and platters heaped with a variety of meats were brought to the table. The clank of tableware and conversation droned on around him and his dinner companion who had fallen silent again.

He turned to face her and was struck by the way the light shone against her honey blonde hair. She handled her cutlery with a quiet competence and grace.

She didn’t simper or flirt with him. There were no sly glances from beneath her batting eyelashes accompanied by a whispered request for him to cut her meat. Her unusual behavior puzzled him. He wasn’t used to females who could and would ignore his presence. What sort of creature was she?

She reminded him of a timid, little mouse. As a boy, he had befriended one in the barn on the estate in WHEREVER_MILKMAID_WAS. A bit of coaxing with the proper incentives, some bread and cheese, had won him a new friend that day.

“Miss Drummond, would you please pass the salt?” He mentally kicked himself. He was making a cake of himself. He could read tomorrow’s scandal sheet headlines now, “Duchess of Bolster Kicks Lord Barrington To Curb”.

The saltcellar appeared beside his plate. Progress! He smiled at her, but she still stared down at her plate.

“Thank you.”

“I-it was n-nothing.” Her fork clattered to her plate. Oh, ho. He’d found a chink. Her good manners would undermine her resolve and provide a way to engage her in conversation.

Her stutter confused him. He didn’t recall that.

“Are you enjoying the beef?”

“Y-yes.” One word again. He looked at her, or tried to since she was focused on her plate and her curls hung forward to curtain her face from his view.

“Are you always so retiring?” Why had that popped out? Great, now he was going to scare her off after he’d finally gotten her to speak to him.

“I have n-no f-fondness for crowds, m-my Lord.”

Looking down the length of the table, he counted no more than sixteen people seated there.

“To call this intimate gathering a crowd is a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?”

“N-no.”

As she fell silent again with this proclamation, Hugh sat back in his chair, stumped. Where was the radiant woman he had seen with Lady Daphne at the Holtcombe rout?

He glanced over at Tabitha. She cut her beef into dainty pieces and ate them with relish. Lord, he envied Bolster some days. He didn’t exactly regret she chose his best friend over him – a Duke would always trump his title – but he still felt the blow to his ego.

He caught Tabitha’s attention and raised an eyebrow, tilting his head toward his dinner companion, who having lapsed into sullen silence beside him, stared at her plate once again.

Tabitha smiled back, nodded encouragingly and stabbed another piece of beef. Clearly, she would be no help.

He plucked one of the flowers from the table arrangement and offered the blossom to Miss Drummond. She didn’t move so much as an eyelash.

Hugh placed the flower on the edge of her plate.

If you enjoyed this, you might enjoy some of my other Excerpt Monday offerings.

Links to other Excerpt Monday writers
Note: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site.

So, to kick it off, our hosts:
Alexia Reed, Urban Fantasy (R)
and
Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG13)

Joining in this week:
Jamie Babette, Fantasy Romance (PG13)
M.G. Buehrlen, YA Fantasy (PG13)
AJ Chase, Paranormal Romcom (PG13)
Stephanie Draven, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Heather S. Ingemar, YA (PG 13)
Cynthia Justlin, Romantic Suspense (PG13)
Julia Knight, Fantasy Romance (PG 13)
Nadia Lee, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Jeannie Lin, Historical Romance (PG13)
R.F Long, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Shawntelle Madison, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Christa McHugh, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Debbie Mumford, Fantasy Romance (PG13)
Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG13)
Megan S, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Dara Sorensen, Historical Fiction (PG13)

Melissa Aires, Futuristic Romance (R)
Kendal Ashby, Contemporary, (R)
KB Alan, Contemporary Erotic Romance (R)
Carly Carson, Contemporary (R)
Cate Hart, YA (R)
Felicia Holt, Contemporary Romance (R)
Ali Katz, Historical Erotic Romance (R)
Inez Kelley, Contemporary Romance (R)
Annie Nicholas, Paranormal Romance (R)
Christa Paige, Paranormal (R)
Mary Quast, Contemporary Romance (R)
Alexia Reed, Paranormal Romance (R)

Sara Brookes, Erotic Paranormal Romance (NC17)
Ella Drake, Historic Paranormal Romance (NC17)
Angeleque Ford, Dark Urban Fantasy (NC17)
J. W. Hankins, Dark Fantasy (NC17)
Kim Knox, Erotic Romance (NC17)
Elise Logan, Contemporary with Paranormal Elements (NC17)
Dawn Montgomery, Paranormal Erotic Romance (NC17)
Kirsten Saell, Erotic Fairy Tale Romance (NC17)
Bryl R Tyne, Erotic Sci Fi m/m, (NC17)

And don’t forget, we have a special Full Read Halloween Monday on October 26th. Stop by the main EM page and get to read whole Halloween stories by some of your favorite EMers.

So, the Warrior Writer Workshop. I was scared it was going to be too similar to Todd A. Stone’s Novelist’s Boot Camp, but reading the book, Who Dares Wins, I realized the Blood Lessons and the Circle of Success rang much truer and allowed me to take those ideas beyond the writing and see the applicability to other parts of my life. This is for those who want to be the elite, not just the rank and file. One is filled with only tactical approaches, Warrior Writer is a strategic approach that helps you build for overall success.

I dislike lecturers who can only give you the highlights of what’s already covered in the textbook. Bob Mayer does not do this, he goes beyond his book and even his slides and makes it personal. I think Bob also has an advantage in that he’s lived both sides of what he’s teaching and he admits he is learning right along with us.

It’s interesting to see the Circle of Success in action with the different levels represented in the workshop. Bob was circling around again himself with his goals of educating authors and improving the workshop. The multi-published authors were on another plane and the less experienced writers were lower yet, but not excluded by any means. What is a strategic goal for a newer writer such as “finishing my novel” is merely one of the many tactical goals that the more experienced writers are looking at. I love the modularity of it. Once you’ve read or attended once, there are plenty more layers to come back and discover and learn about yourself.

It was interesting how one of the recurring comments was “I can’t believe more people aren’t jumping on this!” We concluded, and it was a real revelation for Bob, that just by showing up, we were ahead of the game. You have to be ready to hear some of the things he’s saying and to look inward and be honest with yourself, never mind these strangers sitting around the table, about your strengths and weaknesses that are going to affect how you approach the world and your writing.

I think just reading the book and doing the exercises would be worthwhile, IF you are serious about wanting to change how you do things and you can be honest with yourself in your answers. The deeper you can dig, the more you will be rewarded. If you are passionate about something, it will make all the necessary hard work all the easier too.

If you have a chance to attend one of Bob’s Warrior Writer workshops or sessions, I recommend jumping on the chance to participate. You won’t regret it!

I’m taking a huge step outside my comfort zone tomorrow. Bob Mayer is coming to town and giving two days of workshops: one focused on writing and the other focused on the writer. Originally the one today was supposed to be for non-fiction writers, so I wasn’t interested. Turns out it was changed to a fiction workshop after I’d signed up for Sunday’s author-centric one and didn’t feel I could afford to do both.

I think I made the right decision in any case. I need to focus on my habits and goals in order to produce the writing in the first place. The workshop is called Warrior Writer and is based on his experiences as a Green Beret and his book Who Dares Wins: The Green Beret Way to Conquer Fear and Succeed.

Yeah, that’s so not me, right? Disciplined, decisive, daring? Those are all areas I need to work on. Just going through the exercises for the workshop discussion have been interesting in which I’m willing to plop down answers for and which I’m still avoiding looking at. The other reason I think this is the right workshop lies in the whole conquering fear bit. I don’t like new situations or going places where I don’t know anyone. Yup. This definitely fits the bill as stepping out into my courage zone.

According to the Meyers-Briggs evaluations I fall right into the INTP classification. Bria’s gonna laugh, since she’s the one who dubbed me the highly theoretical diva once. The definition on the Myers-Briggs site for INTP is:

Seek to develop logical explanations for everything that interests them. Theoretical and abstract, interested more in ideas than in social interaction. Quiet, contained, flexible, and adaptable. Have unusual ability to focus in depth to solve problems in their area of interest. Skeptical, sometimes critical, always analytical.

Ayup. “Puzzle. Must. Solve. Puzzle.” Makes it clearer why I over think everything and analyze it to death, doesn’t it? Definitely explains the problems I’ve had with wrapping my head around plotting and the ones I had in graduate school going for my Master’s degree in Economics. They weren’t trying to teach “theoretical and abstract” which is what I was interested in learning. Definitely wasn’t interested in using higher mathematics that first required a degree in math to understand. The biggest block I think was when the History of Economic Thought professor said it was pointless to even discuss Karl Marx, because it was irrelevant. The Soviet Union fell, case closed. Gee, maybe we could have learned something from WHY it fell and where his theories were flawed or was it just the implementation? Pffft. Now you see why I didn’t finish.

Anyway… the workshop’s tomorrow and I had horrible stress dreams this morning. I got to the workshop, lost my laptop, and was totally unprepared and lost compared to everyone else who’d been there today and had become the best buddies. Bleah. I’ve been trying not to think about it. I’ll survive, have fun, and even learn some new things. I really am looking forward to it. I need pushed from my comfort zone, I’m just usually willing to do it myself.

Maybe after tomorrow, I’ll have to adopt a new image?

Once a month, Bria Quinlan and Alexia Reed host a bunch of authors who get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t have to be published to participate–just be a writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site or click on the banner above!

This month’s excerpt is drawn again from Beneath His Touch. The outrageous bet portrayed below was recorded in the famous betting book at White’s and was typical of how many bored aristocrats threw away their money during Prince George’s Regency. In today’s terms, the 3,000 pound wager would translate to a little over 2.1 million British pounds or 3.52 million in U.S. dollars. The hero is disgusted that the heroine thinks him capable of such excess and frivolities but has been unable to convince her of the inconsequential nature of the bets between him and his friend, the Viscount Barrington.

As always, any comments or criticisms are welcome.

James turned up the collar on his great coat against the rising wind. The weather suited his mood. He slowed his horse to a walk as they turned the corner onto St. James Street.

Light flooded from the front windows of White’s—a haven of masculine society—into the night. A similar pool of light marked Brook’s establishment farther down the street.

He dismounted, handing off the reins to a footman, and proceeded up the front steps. Alvanley held court at the table directly before the bow window. With Beau Brummel’s hasty departure for the continent, the throne of the club’s most socially influential member had passed to Baron Alvanley.

James had little interest in the sartorial domain over which Brummel and Alvanley presided. He gladly donned the simple, dark suit of the London dandy, but only out of expediency and comfort, not any heightened sense of fashion. His uncle’s valet tied his cravats in whatever manner suited he pleased for James was not particular about his neckcloths.

The footman stationed inside the door collected James’ hat and coat. A nod to the harried majordomo served as a greeting. The quiet upper rooms of the club were preferable to the crowded main floor this evening. James fancied a stiff brandy and some solitude. Miss Gifford could complain about his drinking habits all she wanted. His consumption had risen dramatically since her arrival.

He needed to focus on his task of getting his cousins married. It would truly be a waste if they were forced to marry scoundrels of Estwicke and Swinburne’s ilk. With the way news traveled so quickly through the ton, everyone would be talking about his disgraceful behavior by tomorrow, reducing the girl’s chances for a suitable match.

He wandered past rooms where men played whist or hazard or debated politics, all good Tory arguments. He avoided their laughter and headed toward the sound of a harpsichord being expertly played.

“Surprised to see you here tonight, Bolster. Brandy?” Without missing a beat, Lord Blackwood gestured to the tray on the instrument before him. “Heard you lost control of your party at Threapwood’s.”

“Not exactly, Blackwood. Just my temper.” James sank into the nearest chair and settled in to be questioned. His old school chum was nothing if not thorough. Discreet, but he always wanted to uncover the truth behind the latest gossip himself.

“And you bloodied Barrington’s nose. Close friends only come to blows over a woman.” Blackwood ’s long fingers danced over the keys. “Who is she?”

“An employee. I’ve hired a new companion for my cousins. When Barrington—I misunderstood his intentions.” His own intentions were far more easily grasped for their baser roots.

“Perhaps it was just another one of his pranks.”

Barrington’s reckless obsession with attracting society’s attention made no sense. He’d never drawn his friends into one of his stunts without their consent. Murder would be too light a punishment for him if tonight were the first. “One can hope.”

“My condolences on your recent losses. One would think your grief alone would excuse a little overreaction on your part.”

“The ton lives for scandal broth.” The gossips would have a field day with tonight’s incident. Henri and Juliet did not deserve to be caught up in his mess.

“Wyndham House has always provided a simmering pot.”

James shrugged. His aunts deserved to live out their remaining years in peace after surviving the tittle-tattle that had naturally followed the Wyndham men. History could not be argued with and he’d instigated enough indignities in his youth.

“Your cousins have grown into lovely young ladies. I understand that their presence will grace many ballrooms and salons this Season.”

“That is the plan.” The plan included neither Henri’s desire to act as if she were the son Uncle Robert never had nor Juliet’s need to flirt with every man who crossed her path. His family’s drift toward the line of social suicide must be halted.

If Miss Gifford could be trusted, she might be their only chance to live up to his uncle’s expectations. If he could ignore his growing attraction to her. He shifted uncomfortably in the chair.

“I wish you the best in your endeavors, Bolster.” Blackwood closed the keyboard cover on the harpsichord and stood. “The hour grows late and it sounds as if the storm is about to break. A pleasure to see you.”

James stood and replaced his glass on the tray. “I’ll walk out with you. My head is much clearer than when I arrived. Perhaps the rain will hold off until I reach home.”

“Unlikely, I hear the rain hitting the windows already.”

As they reached the foyer, a loud cheering came from Alvanley’s table by the bow window. James arched an eyebrow at the unusual fervor exciting the usually sedate dandy court.

The majordomo approached them. “Your Grace, would you care to join the bet or enter one of your own in the book?”

Grown men hunched around the window, cheering on unseen racers. Only an imbecile would run a footrace in the dark, at this late hour. Stranger things had gone on the books here at White’s. “What’s the current bet?”

“Alvanley has bet Pierrepoint three thousand pounds that his raindrop will reach the bottom of the pane first.”

“I shall pass.” James shook his head. Miss Gifford’s reaction to the trivial wager between himself and Barrington struck him as a more appropriate response to a colossal waste of time and money such as this vulgar display.

“You’d think they’d learn from Brummel’s mistakes instead of doggedly trotting along in his footsteps.” Blackwood accepted his greatcoat from a footman and shrugged it on. He twirled his hat in his hand before donning it. “A good evening to you, Bolster.”

“Blackwood.”

The cheering around the bow window exploded into a divisive din of victory and defeat. James cared nothing for the outcome and slipped out the front door to fetch his horse. At least he would not be walking home in the rain.

His boots echoed smartly on the marble stairs and he collected the reins from the footman holding his horse. He swung up into the saddle and tossed a shilling to the young man for his trouble.

His horse’s hooves splashed through the growing puddles. The city needed a good rain to wash away the stench and coal dust that only seemed to fester and linger with the pervasive fog that crept through the streets.

Turning left at Piccadilly took him past Green Park, where dark shadows lurked beneath the trees of the Queen’s Walk. A crack of lightning raced across the sky, outlining the landscape with eerie silhouettes and causing his horse to dance nervously.

“Easy, boy. Nothing to be afraid of.”

A flash of movement flickered at the edge of his vision while thunder echoed off the nearby buildings. Scenarios rushed through his mind. A tree swaying in the wind or someone taking cover behind it. The rain beat down harder, muffling clatter of a distant carriage as it retreated up Halfmoon Street.

If you enjoyed this, you might enjoy some of my other Excerpt Monday offerings.

Links to other Excerpt Monday writers
Note: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site.

Stephanie Draven, Paranormal Romance (PG 13)
Babette James, Fantasy Romance (PG13)
Cynthia Justlin, Contemporary YA (PG 13)
Kaige, Historical Romance (PG13)
Julia Knight, Fantasy Romance (PG 13)
Jeannie Lin, Historical Romance (PG13)
Shawntelle Madison, Paranormal Romance (PG13)
Christa McHugh, Paranormal Romance (PG 13)
Debbie Mumford, Time-Travel Historical Romance (PG13)
Bria Quinlan, Rom Com (PG13)
Megan S, Paranormal (PG13)
Dara Sorensen, Historical Fiction (PG13)
Bethanne Stausser, Romantic Suspense (PG13)
Rosalind Stone, YA Fantasy (PG 13)

Flicka Holt, Contemporary Romance (R)
KB Alan, Erotic Paranormal Romance (R)
Cate Hart, YA Paranormal (R)
Cherrie Lynn, Erotic Contemporary Romance (R)
Inez Kelley, Fantasy/Shifter Romance (R)
Aislinn Kerry, Fantasy (R)
Christa Paige, Paranormal Romance (R)
Alexia Reed, Urban Fantasy (R)
Rebecca Savage, Romantic Suspense (R)
Jeanne St.James, Contemporary Romance (R)
C.M. Torrens, Urban Fantasy (R)
Paige Tyler, Erotic Romance (R)
Vivienne Westlake, Paranormal Romance (R)

Stephanie Adkins, Erotic Romantic Suspense (NC17)
Evie Byrne, Paranormal Romance (NC 17)
Ella Drake, Erotic Paranormal Romance (NC17)
Angeleque Ford, Erotic Romance (NC 17)
Kim Knox, Erotic SF Romance (NC17)
Emily Ryan-Davis, Erotic Historical Western (NC17)
Dawn Montgomery, Erotic Contemporary Romance (NC 17)
Kirsten Saell, Erotic Fairy Tale Romance (NC17)
Bryl R Tine, Erotic Contemporary m/m (NC17)

This coming Monday, the 14th, is the date for September’s Excerpt Monday!

Bria Quinlan and Alexia Reed, the hostesses, have changed things up a bit this month, so be sure to go visit the main page for the details. The good news is that you no longer have to worry if everyone’s links are correct or not on individual blogs. That’ll all be handled on the main page from now on. All in all, it sounds like a positive streamlining of the process and it’s still a great way to connect with other writers and new readers.

I’ll be posting my excerpt here on Sunday evening, so check back on Monday morning and be sure to visit as many of these talented authors as you can squeeze out the time for! If you want to join in, be sure to visit the Excerpt Monday Guidelines and Calendar for more details.

It looks like I forgot to update my 2009 Reading List for the last month or so. I’ve kept up to date on Goodreads.com, so it was easy enough to do. I was surprised to see I’d easily sailed past the number of books I recalled reading in 2008(79) and have read 87 books so far this year. Not bad considering there are another 16-17 weeks left in 2009.

So you know I like Regency-set Historical Romances, but that’s far from the only genre I read. This month, I’ve also read more craft of writing books (big surprise, right?), Young Adult (gotta stay ahead of the girl), paranormal, Victorian and contemporary. I also read fantasy and science fiction, but I’ve had too many regencies at hand lately.

The stand outs were Tessa Dare’s Goddess of the Hunt and Surrender of a Siren. I should probably just go pre-orderA Lady of Persuasion now. I’m also curious about her Legend of the Werestag which is an ebook put out by Samhain Publishing earlier this year.

• The Viscount’s Kiss (Harlequin Historical Series)
  Margaret Moore
  Aug 04, 2009
• Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure
  James Scott Bell
  Aug 13, 2009
• Mastered By Love ( Bastion Club # 8 )
  Stephanie Laurens
  Aug 15, 2009
• Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
  Tina Ferraro
  Aug 20, 2009
• Goddess of the Hunt
  Tessa Dare
  Aug 24, 2009
• Love Can Be Murder (eBook)
  Sierra Wolfe
  Aug 26, 2009
• Surrender of a Siren
  Tessa Dare
  Aug 27, 2009
• Bound by Your Touch
  Meredith Duran
  Aug 31, 2009
• To Catch a Bride
  Anne Gracie
  Sep 03, 2009
• Can’t Stand The Heat (A Recipe for Love)
  Louisa Edwards
  Sep 03, 2009

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been reading. How about you, got any good recommendations?

I just spent far too long updating my Regency Resources page. I mostly cleaned up AOL and Geocities links. I LOVE the wayback machine (http://www.archive.org) for things like this. I also added a bunch of new links I had sitting waiting to be put in.

I’m still thinking about how to make it more readable and usable. I put the current links, titles, and descriptions into an excel file so I can sort, add and rearrange stuff easily, but need to figure out what I want it to look like in the end. I figure since I use it as my personal regency bookmark system, it needs to be functional as well, especially since it gets a good number of visits as well.

Enjoy! And if you have any suggestions or additions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment.