Monday, December 19, 2016

#Holiday#paranormal romance & fudge #recipe spotlight on Holiday's Bite

Please welcome author J. Rose Allister.  Can you share a holiday recipe?
I make no secret of the fact that I’m a die-hard chocolate fanatic. (Even if I did, I fear my waistline might give me away.) Although I sneak chocolaty treats into my diet all year long, there’s one mega-indulgence that I only bring out during the holidays. It’s a creamy, super easy fudge recipe that was elevated from great to fabulous one year by accident. I sent my husband to shop for the ingredients, and he came home with milk chocolate chips instead of my trusty old semi-sweet. I tried them out with a skeptical heart, and the results rocked our world.
This fudge comes as close as I’ve ever gotten to duplicating my absolute childhood favorite: the pan fudge sold at the candy stores at Disneyland. Yum. Even better, it only requires four ingredients and no candy thermometer.
Ingredients:
24 ounces (approx. 1 ½ bags) of milk chocolate chips
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
In heavy saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate chips together with sweetened condensed milk and salt. Stir constantly to avoid scorching. As soon as chips are melted, remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and pour into a greased 8x8 inch pan. Chill until solid, cut into squares.
Makes about 24 squares (depending on the size of your cuts!)
Optional: add a handful of chopped nuts OR substitute the ½ bag of chocolate chips with flavored chips of your choice or about ½ cup nut butter.

Now for a spotlight on Holidays Bite by J. Rose Allister

An erotic paranormal holiday romance
Get it now!
Amazon
Apple iBooks
Nook/Barnes and Noble
Bookstrand


What goes together more naturally than vampires and Christmas?

When an annual holiday tradition turns into a near-fatal accident, Stephanie regains consciousness to find herself alone in a cabin with her rescuer, Thomas—a man who is gorgeous, dangerously sexy...and undead.

Despite the winter storm and her injuries, she knows she should run. So why does she keep winding up in the powerful, seductive embrace of the vampire who has exiled himself from humans to avoid his worst time of year for temptation?

“...more than just a Christmas tale...this is a story that can be read multiple times because it has so many rich layers to be discovered.” –Happily Ever After Reviews

Excerpt:
Stephanie walked out of the bathroom with as little limp as she could muster, thankful when a flood of adrenaline aided the cause. She wanted to give the impression she was less helpless and pathetic than the picture she’d painted thus far. Thomas stood by a newly stoked fire, and she ignored his searing gaze while she headed for the couch. Her socks, boots, and parka lay nearby, tempting her. Donning the latter now would be too obvious, however. She’d have to make a grab for the coat on her way out.
“Brr,” she said, making a show of rubbing her arms. “Cold after that shower.” She sat on the couch and pulled a quilt around her shoulders to give the appearance of settling in while she tugged on her socks and footwear. “But hopefully I smell better now.”
“Stephanie.”
She went on ignoring him and laced her boots tight.
“Stephanie.” He moved toward her.
“Hmm?”
She threw him a quick glance and a smile, refusing to meet his eyes. Then he knelt in front of her and took hold of her chin so she couldn’t look away.
His eyes searched hers. “I know what you’re thinking.”
“What I’m thinking?” She tried to keep an innocent tone. “I don’t know what you mean.”
His arched brow told her he knew she was lying. “You think I’m a vampire.”
She laughed. “Vampires don’t exist.” Please, God, let him laugh along. Her smile faded when he didn’t. “So, it’s true then?”
He glanced away, his lack of response providing all the answer she needed and didn’t want.
She shook her head. “Guess I didn’t do a convincing job pretending I didn’t know.”
“We can sense those who see us for what we are. It’s a built-in survival trait.”
“Handy skill.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to figure this out.”
She rubbed her arms again, this time against a true chill. “You’re a vampire. That just figures.”
“What does?”
She raised her arms. “Oh, just the old Stephanie Mars luck. I go for a simple outing and get dragged off by a raging creek. I meet the perfect guy, and he turns out to be an undead monster. No offense.”
His brow rose. “You think I’m the perfect guy?”
She shrugged. “What I think is that none of this is really happening. Maybe I bashed my skull so hard that this conversation is all going on in my head while I’m lying unconscious in a hospital somewhere. So yeah, if I have to be stuck in a concussive hallucination, why not include the perfect guy?”
A smile lit his dark expression out of nowhere and threatened to steal her breath. When white teeth flashed, she couldn’t help but look for sharp points. She saw none, and the smile vanished as fast as it had appeared. “So what if it turns out this isn’t a hallucination?” he said. “What if your so-called perfect guy is real, and he’s a vampire?”


About J. Rose Allister


I tend to dream up stories while either lying in bed at night, sitting at my desk at work, or anywhere I happen to be at the moment. It’s exciting to watch a story unfold, especially when my characters say or do something unexpected!
When I’m not busy playing chase-the-muse around my laptop, I enjoy spending time with my family, movies, and reading books. I rarely go anywhere without a reading device, even if it’s on my phone! I’m also a big fan of chocolate and coffee, even better together—and best alongside a book!

Author links:

Thursday, December 15, 2016

#Holiday romance #recipe Plantation Rolls @#!/katherinebone


Please welcome one of my favorite authors, Lady Katherine Bone who believes the holidays ARR a perfect time to celebrate romance and try out new things, especially recipes. And special thanks to Author Tina Gayle for organizing this #Holiday Romance and #Recipe Exchange. I’m looking forward to the tasty additions I’ll be adding to my recipe file! Huzzah!
As you can see, I love the holidays. ’Tis the season for sharing and I’m especially happy to reveal one of my all-time FAVorite recipes, one that comes from my days at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and the Old Plantation restaurant. These rolls, large and with good texture, are a delicious addition to any meal, any time of the year. I get loads of compliments on this one!

Old Plantation Rolls

Ingredients:
1 Egg
1 Yeast cake
1 tsp. Salt
½ cup Sugar
2 cups Lukewarm water
7 cups All-Purpose Flour

Combine dry ingredients. Create a well in center of dry ingredients. Add mixture of egg and water. Mix well, working slowly from inside out. (Dough will be hard to mix. Once dough is moistened, mix with hands, and then knead into a large ball.) Place in a greased, covered bowl and let rise to double in size. Work down, pinch off a golf ball size piece of dough, knead into ball, tucking edges under the roll and pinching them together, and then place in greased muffin tins. Cover with lightweight hand towel and let rise to double in size.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place muffin tins in oven and cook until golden brown, usually 6-7 minutes. Remove to cooling rack. Serve warm. (Great size to make turkey sandwiches—I call rollwiches—later in the evening or for lunch!)

When your feet are too tired to walk, your shopping is done, and you’ve got spare time on your hands, there’s nothing like diving into a good book. Here’s a peak at my latest release, The Pirate’s Debt, the continuing story of the Black Regent in my Regent’s Revenge Series.

Lady Chloe Walsingham is an enthusiastic gothic romance reader and hopeless romantic focused solely on finding her perfect hero. She also happens to have a penchant for getting into trouble. So when the man she loves disappears after a scandalous duel, she decides to follow him to the ends of the Earth. To do so, however, Chloe must evade her brother, an infamous revenue man, and board a ship bound for Penzance. And nothing in her beloved books can prepare her for the harsh realities of wreckers who ply the coast.
After his father destroyed the lives of countless innocent people, Basil Halford, Earl of Markwick is willing to do anything to earn back his honor. Betrayed by his blood and his reputation ruined, Markwick answers the request of a well-heeled duke and dons the Black Regent’s mask to repay the debt. His task? Rescuing a young woman who is chasing down a ghost of a man.
But a pirate has plenty of enemies, and Markwick isn’t any different. No matter how diligent a captain he may be, sailing to Lady Chloe’s rescue involves risking not only the Regent’s legacy but the last thing he can afford to lose…his heart.
  
Amazon           Nook           Kobo           Apple

~ Excerpt ~

Seated in Markwick’s cutter, cloaked in his clothing, Chloe felt incredibly shallow. To think that she’d cast all inhibitions to the wind and sailed off for an enterprising adventure, only to need to be rescued by the very man she’d set out to find. Though she hadn’t known she’d be finding the Black Regent.
Regent sightings were rare for the average villager. She’d never known anyone who’d actually met the gallant hero that stole from the rich and gave to the poor.
Oh, to be sitting so near to him now, to have touched him, to be in love with him, is even more exceptional than I imagined it would be!
She fought to curb the jubilation pulsing through her veins, igniting her headstrong passions, and forced herself to remember this was all about her devotion to Markwick and the lives lost on the very ship on which she’d obtained passage. To anyone else, the Black Regent might be a dashing pirate who’d just plucked her off the Mohegan’s decks and saved her from certain death, but Markwick was also the man she loved.
She sighed, half trembling, half in despair. Unable to tear her gaze away, she desired to stretch out her fingers and touch the man, to assure herself that he wasn’t a figment of her imagination. What kind of nightmare would that be, to discover she was dreaming and that Markwick really wasn’t there?
Oh, but the blackguard truly was just as she’d envisioned! In her mind’s eye, he’d been a swashbuckling champion born from the pages of fiction and fantasy. Now, sitting before her, was the living man whose very existence defied her infatuations because he was the man she loved. Broad-shouldered, lean, with a firm authoritarian profile, he stood a head taller than she did, and oh . . . when he’d held her in his arms on board the Mohegan, a lightheaded euphoria had immediately stunned her. Markwick had stood behind her before but only to teach her how to shoot a bow and arrow. Not like this. Never like this!
Her gaze lowered to his upper arms. They were thick, flexing muscular limbs capable of sweeping her off her feet at a moment’s whim. And oh, she wanted to be his Matilda. She wanted him to be her Theodore.
Bother. Matilda and Theodore were Horace Walpole’s creations. She and Markwick lived in the real world. She inhaled a breath of frigid, moist, salty air.
Admit the truth, you silly girl. Markwick triggered breathless exhilaration and the unbridled beat fluttering within her breast, not the Black Regent. For her, there had always only been the Earl of Markwick.


National best-selling historical romance author Katherine Bone has been passionate about history since she had the opportunity to travel to various Army bases, castles, battlegrounds, and cathedrals as an Army brat turned officer’s wife. Who knew that an Army wife’s passion for romance novels would lead to pirates? Certainly not her rogue, whose Alma Mater’s adage is “Go Army. Beat Navy!” Now enjoying the best of both worlds, Katherine lives with her rogue in the south where she writes about rogues, rebels, and rakes—aka pirates, lords, captains, duty, honor, and country—and the happily-ever-afters that every alpha male and damsel deserve.


Ports of Call:

Thank you for allowing me to share one of my all-time FAVorite holiday recipes with you and your readers, Lady Kathleen. I wish you all a very tasty and hearty holiday season!
Blessings,

Katherine

Monday, December 12, 2016

#Holiday romance #recipe Alpha Lover #paranormal @brenda_sparks

Please welcome paranormal romance author Brenda Sparks! Alpha Lover is Book 3 in the Alpha Council Chronicles series. Alpha Lover is up for preorder and will be released on Wednesday, December 14th.  Stay tuned for Brenda's holiday recipe.

Book Blurb:
Starved for blood, vampire, Nicholai Peterhof is greatly relieved when two tourists, in Russia for the Christmas holiday, decide to grace his restaurant, but one sip from the pretty brunette and his world is forever turned upside down. Juliette Staint-John is everything he could have asked for in a heartmate; pretty, smart, built with curves in all the right places…and totally unavailable.

Juliette doesn’t want anything to do with the handsome, young-looking Nicholai. As if their differences aren’t enough, the acute grief over the loss of loved ones keeps her heart guarded. He may be her fantasy, but that’s all he can ever be.

To get past Juliette’s defenses and in order to keep her safe, Nicholai must prove himself worthy of her love and trust. Unbeknownst to the couple, her personal demons are not the only ones threatening their relationship. Hiding virtually unseen by the vampires, Demon Royalty plots to destroy not only the couple but the entire vampire breed. Luckily, Nicholai will do anything for Juliette—even if it means sacrificing himself.

Excerpt: 

     She had only a second to realize Nicholai stood
in the doorway before Desmond’s powerful thighs brought him to the door in a single bound.
He grabbed Nicholai’s shirt with one hand, his other made a fist that landed squarely on Nicholai’s jaw.
Nicholai’s head snapped back. Shock took his face. With a mighty push, Nicholai threw Desmond backward across the room into one of the flowery couches. It moved under his weight, crashed into the end table, and the Tiffany lamp tumbled to the floor.
Julie’s eyes went wide. The two men became a blur of motion, bodies flying apart then back together. She had to concentrate to make out the shapes of hard forms in the powerful whirlwind.
Connor pulled, lunging at the whirling mass. His deep growls and barks added to the chaos as the two males swirled around the living room. They spun around the room like a tornado, moving so fast Juliette’s eyes did not register their kicks and punches. However, she heard bones crunch and the slap of skin while the two exchanged blows.
The furniture that exploded when the blurry mass neared evidenced the fierceness of their battle. Julie watched one piece of furniture after the next burst into pieces. First her delicate coffee table, next the end table where the Tiffany lamp had been, then the rocking chair. When the mass moved toward the antique credenza, Juliette screamed.
Her beautiful roses sprayed about the room. Red petals floated slowly to the floor in surreal contrast.

Buy Links:

Amazon buy link: http://mybook.to/AlphaLover

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alpha-lover-brenda-sparks/1124934443?ean=2940156932726

iTunes: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/alpha-lover/id1173716918?mt=11




Meet Brenda Sparks--
Born in Virginia, Brenda Sparks now resides in the Sunshine State.  Balancing her professional commitment to the local school district with her writing is challenging at times, but writing suspenseful paranormal romances is a passion that won’t be denied. Her idea of a perfect day is one spent in front of a computer with a hot cup of coffee, her fingers flying over the keys to send her characters off on their latest adventure.  Brenda loves to connect with readers.  Please visit her online or stop by her website to say hi.

Author Links:
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/forBrendaSparks
Twitter : @brenda_sparks https://twitter.com/brenda_sparks

Recipe:
Festive Holiday Punch
" Make a day in advance to allow the flavors to meld."

Ingredients

·       1/3 cup white sugar
·       1 quart cranberry juice
·       2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
·       3 tablespoons almond extract
·       1 (2 liter) bottle Lemon/Lime soft drink such as Sprite
·       1 pint of cranberries
·       Vodka (optional)

Directions

  1. In a large container, mix together sugar, cranberry juice, pineapple juice and almond extract. Refrigerate for 1 day.
  2. To serve, pour juice mixture into a punch bowl. Stir in Lemon/Lime soft drink.
  3. Garnish with cranberries
Optional:
  1. To make an alcohol version stir in vodka to desired taste

Sunday, December 11, 2016

#Anthologies #Sweet #Contemporary Secrets of Moonlight Cove

Why is it that small towns have the deepest secrets? In Secrets of Moonlight Cove, an anthology written by six authors, there is a secret shared in every story.  All take place in the small California beach town of Moonlight Cove, and stories intersect. 



A blurb for each story:

Mr. Valentine Comes to Town by A.G. Reid:  A mysterious vacationer—and supernatural entity—Mr. Valentine is matchmaking despite strict instructions from the goddess Venus to leave the people of Moonlight Cove alone.

Maggie’s Mystery Man by Barb DeLong: Who is the reclusive visitor that has rented the entire Bed and Breakfast in the historic Moonlight Cove Lighthouse and who only appears in public in a bad disguise complete with a ridiculous fake wig? Maggie might find the big story that will save her small town paper. Or she might find much more.

Once Upon a Love Letter by Jill Jaynes:  Chloe Reiser sees dead people, and now that she’s back in Moonlight Cove to make a fresh start, she’s done keeping it a secret. But how is she going to tell her more-skeptical-than-ever high school crush that his dead father has an important message for him?

Surprise Deliveries by Shauna Roberts:  Serious, sensible Mr. Hamasaki left for a trip and never came back. His daughter and an artist must team up to find him.

Second Time Around by Janna Roznos:  A woman with her business on the brink may find more than she bargained for in the old Victorian house left to her by her dead sister.

Lily’s Pad by Kathleen Rowland:  Lily Holmes knows enough tricks to attract celebrities to her beachside bistro, Lily’s Pad. She knows the rules but breaks one when she falls in love with her valued client, reality T.V. star Scarlett Royale’s man, Creed Taylor.

Excerpts:
Maggie’s Mystery Man by Barb DeLong:
          The investigative reporter in Maggie flared to life. She wanted to know the 5 Ws of Mystery Man. Who was he really? What was he doing here? Where was he from? When was he leaving? Why was he so, well, mysterious?

Once Upon a Love Letter by Jill Jaynes
          Chloe blinked up at the guy standing before her. Her glance slid up over the black leather jacket that accentuated his slim waist and broad shoulders, then settled on his face: green eyes, ruffled auburn hair, killer smile complete with dimple. He’d been a heart-throb basketball star in high school, and her secret (okay, maybe not so secret) crush for her whole junior year. He’d apparently grown into the full powers of his charm.
Mr. Valentine Comes to Town by A.G. Reid
          The problem with being immortal is that you can’t vacation in the same place very often. Usually, a couple of weeks every decade was all Valentine allowed himself. More than that, and people started asking too many questions. Moonlight Cove. His research told him this location was ideal for his needs. A coastal city with a Mediterranean climate, extended dry summers and short wet winters. The structures, though old, were well maintained. Best of all, Moonlight Cove has a transient tourist population.
Surprise Deliveries by Shauna Roberts
        
“You’re not Jorge!” This UPS man was a stranger.
        
The man groaned again and eased himself up onto his elbow. He looked up at her, blinking, his eyes gazing in slightly different directions. “And you’re not Mr. Hamasaki. At least, I don’t think so.” He lay down again, closed his eyes, and took deep breaths.
Lily’s Pad by Kathleen Rowland
          Most everything in Creed Taylor's life came easily. Women? Anyone he'd wanted, but he saved his animal urges for Scarlett. Lately, those urges presented a problem. Was now the time to cut her loose?
Second Time Around by Janna Rosnos:
         
"Maybe she left all that when she moved up here. Stranger things have occurred."
           Patrice rolled her eyes at him. "You don't really believe that do you?"

          
He shrugged. "Moonlight Cove has a way of affecting people. Remember what we did here?"
           
Patrice's face turned bright red.



Buy Links
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Moonlight-Cove-Romance-Anthology-ebook/dp/B01M2B1PVG/
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Moonlight-Cove-Romance-Anthology-ebook/dp/B01M2B1PVG/

* * *
About the authors:

Jill Jaynes began her love affair with romance when she was a teenager growing up in Southern California, spending many a late-night under the covers with a flashlight and good romance novel. 
Today she writes stories with happy endings her own way--with a dash of magic that means anything can happen.
When she’s not writing, you can find her wine-tasting or hiking with her awesome husband, plotting her next story with her writer-daughter or working at her day job in her spare time.

Shauna Roberts writes historical fiction, science fiction, romance, and fantasy and is a graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop. Her publications include more than a thousand nonfiction articles, three nonfiction books, several short stories, two novelettes, and three novels (Like Mayflies in a Stream, historical fiction, 2009; Claimed by the Enemy, historical fiction with romantic elements, 2014; and Ice Magic, Fire Magic, fantasy with romantic elements, 2015).
A.G. Reid developed a love for romance novels while serving in the military. It helped keep him grounded. He now writes romantic stories with a paranormal twist. Enjoy his short story "Mr. Valentine Comes To Town" in the romance anthology "Secrets Of Moonlight Cove".
Barb DeLong loves all things romance, animals and light-hearted, so she combines the three into her contemporary and paranormal stories. She has published a short story in Romancing the Pages anthology, Secrets of Moonlight Cove anthology, and is currently working on another short story plus a three-book paranormal romance series. 

Janna Roznos writes about the middle-ages: middle-aged women that is! Second chances, life changes and starting over are themes she continues to explore in her writing. Her short story, 'Second Time Around’ for The Secrets of Moonlight Cove is her first published work.  

Thursday, December 8, 2016

#romance #amwriting - How to write a mainstream lovers' triangle

     My novella, Lily's Pad, is a lovers triangle, and I'd like to share how I wrote it.  The two characters who end up together are the protagonists.  The third person is the antagonist and has villainous traits.   Readers of romance find the happily ever after more convincing if the lovers triangle is written this way. 
     It’s true that Young Adult readers adore the drama of a trio.  A YA story such as Twilight is conflict driven, and the heat level is no higher than kissing.  When the heat level goes up, that's where the trickiness comes in. 
     Adult readers of romance want characters in the triangle to exhibit more desire but don’t approve of two-timing sexual conduct.   For erotica it may be different, but the monogamous rule applies for a lovers triangle.   Here is the trio in Lily’s Pad:
Lily Holmes-- sweet girl-next-door crushes on Creed Taylor
Scarlett Royale-- narcissistic reality T.V. star plans to marry Creed
Creed Taylor-- ex-Army Ranger is the new second grade teacher in town who is falling for Lily.

Creed and Scarlett are childhood sweethearts, but their relationship changes when he returns home with a war injury.  He walks with a cane and has not had sex with Scarlett for six months when he begins to fall for Lily.  I treat Scarlett as I would an antagonist.  Scarlett is turned off by Creed’s busted knee and has a boyfriend on the side who is a loan shark.  Lily  runs a bistro, the Lily Pad, and Scarlett’s boyfriend tries to cheat her out of it.  Creed sees Scarlett for who she is and falls for the girl who loves him. 
Here is the blurb for Lily's Pad: 
Lily Holmes drowns in a lovers’ triangle of her own making. She knows enough tricks to attract celebrities to her beachside bistro, Lily’s Pad. She knows the rules but breaks one when she falls in love with her valued client, Scarlett Royale’s man, Creed Taylor.
Former Army Ranger Creed is the new second grade teacher in town and now walks with a cane. His childhood sweetheart, reality TV star Scarlett, plans to marry Creed whose war disability makes her lovable to her fans. Creed never misses breakfast with flirtatious Lily at her bistro. Scarlett arranges predatory lending with the mafia in order to snap up properties to fund her publicity. Lily’s Pad is next on her list, but whose heart is on the line?

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

#Holiday regency romance #recipe The Marquis and the Midwife @AlinaKField

 Welcome Alina K. Field who will share about her release, The Marquess and the Midwife, and a holiday recipe for golden pecan cups. 

Separated by lies, united by secrets
Logline:
Finding the woman he lost turned out to be easy. Winning her is another matter.
Blurb:

Once upon a time, the younger brother of a marquess fell in love with his sister's companion. He was sent off to war, and she was just sent off, and they both landed in very different worlds. 

Now Virgil Radcliffe has returned from his self-imposed exile on the Continent to take up his late brother's title and discover the whereabouts of the only woman he's ever loved. 

Abandoned by her lover and dismissed by her employer, Ameline Dawes has found a respectable identity as a Waterloo widow, a new life as a midwife, and a safe, secure home for her twin girls. Called to London at Christmas to attend her benefactress's lying-in, she finds herself confronted by an unexpected house guest--a man determined to woo her anew and win her again. 

But, is loving the new Marquess of Wallingford a mistake Ameline cannot afford to repeat? 

Blurb:
Uncovering a lie drives a new marquess back from a self-imposed exile at Christmas to find the only woman he’s ever loved. Finding her turns out to be easy, uncovering her stunning secrets, a bit harder. But winning her back will be the greatest challenge of all.

Excerpt:
A whimpering came from the bed. One of the girls sat up, rubbed her eyes, and began to cry.
He headed for the bed, but Ameline flung his coats at him, took his arm and whisked him to the door.
He dug in his heels—his stocking-clad heels.
The other girl sat up and joined in with a wail that tugged at his heart.
“Now look what you’ve done,” Ameline said. “We’ll wake the whole household.”
“I’ll help—”
“Leave.” Her eyes flashed at him, her hair in such wild disarray he wanted to sink his hands into it and kiss her one more time and maybe never stop. That would shock the girls out of their crying.
She flattened a palm against his chest, but her attention was all directed toward the bed where his daughters were vying for her attention.
So this was fatherhood. He set a finger under her chin and she turned his way, in such a wild mix of anger and concern and frustration he wanted—he needed—to stay. She needed him.
But his being here added one more aggravation to the mix, one that she wasn’t ready for. “All right. We’ll talk tomorrow. We’re not finished yet, Ameline.”
“Oh, we’re finished.”
“May I get my boots?”
Her gaze traveled down him and, moments later, she thrust his boots at him. “Here. Now leave.”
“I will. Good night.”
At the bed, a body was lowering itself down by the sheets, like a sailor going over the side on a line. He swallowed a chuckle and dropped a quick kiss on Ameline’s cheek. “Tomorrow, then. I love you, Ameline.”
Moments later he sat in his banyan by the dwindling coals in his own chamber, arguing with himself about going back down the corridor to her room.
He’d found her, and he’d talked to her. He’d made progress—frustrating, annoying, torturous progress. He’d talk her around.
And by God, he wanted her, and whether Ameline would admit it or not, she was ready to take him back as a lover.
He gripped the arms of his chair. If the girls hadn’t been there tonight…well, it wouldn’t take much more than one night in that bed to convince her to hang up her midwife’s smock and put on a coronet. Blast it, he didn’t want to live this life without her.
The noise down the corridor diminished, but even as his girls were quietening, elsewhere another child had taken up the call of the wild.
He laughed. Since Waterloo, he’d never been able to sleep much. Perhaps he was made for fatherhood.
And by God, he’d be a good father to his girls. Their girls.


Buy Links
iBooks
About the author:

Award winning author Alina K. Field earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and German literature, but her true passion is the much happier world of romance fiction. Though her roots are in the Midwestern U.S., after six very, very, very cold years in Chicago, she moved to Southern California and hasn’t looked back. She shares a midcentury home with her husband, her spunky, blonde, rescued terrier, and the blue-eyed cat who conned his way in for dinner one day and decided the food was too good to leave.

She is the author of the 2014 Book Buyer’s Best winner, Rosalyn’s Ring, a 2015 RONE Award finalist, Bella’s Band, and a 2016 National Reader’s Choice Award finalist, Liliana’s Letter, as well as her latest release, The Marquess and the Midwife. She is hard at work on her next series of Regency romances, but loves to hear from readers!

Visit her at:


A holiday recipe from Regency romance author Alina K. Field:



My sister-in-law gave me this recipe many years ago. With all the butter, nuts, and cream cheese, it’s rich and yummy, a holiday favorite at my house!

GOLDEN CUPS

Crust:
2 cups flour
¼ tsp salt
1 cup margarine or butter
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese

Cream together margarine and cheese. Add flour and salt. Mix and then chill dough a couple of hours. Once chilled, divide dough into 4 equal parts, then divide each part into 12 balls and place in miniature muffin tins, pressing around sides and bottom.

Filling:
2 eggs
1 ½ cup light brown sugar
2 tbsps melted margarine
1 ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
¼ tsp vanilla extract

Beat eggs, mix with remaining ingredients. Fill prepared muffin cups.


Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from muffin tin. If desired, top with a sifting of powder sugar.

#BookQW word is DRINK-- excerpt from Unholy Alliance, a #Tirgearr Publishing #RomanticSuspense --

Book quote Wednesday's word is drink.   Here's how we play it-- find the word in an excerpt.  Below in Unholy Alliance , the...