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- To Marry a Devil
Hello everyone! It’s a breezy August day here and I’m busy trying to figure out the ending for To Marry the Devil, the sequel to In Search of a Hero.
To any readers of my last book, you’ll be glad to know I’ve listened to some feedback and this book will not feature villains, swashbuckling or otherwise! It’ll be wholly focused on the relationship between my two characters, the wicked Devil of St James and the bookish Annabelle Beaumont, and the way their attraction for one another eventually grows into love.
Little Annabelle finds her fire and rakish Jacob finds his devotion and it’s all because of each other. Cue sigh here.
Life Update
This summer has been an extremely busy one in the life department. In the past month my husband and I have been to London twice, once for our anniversary and the second time visiting friends, to Strasbourg with our choir, and have had numerous friends visiting during the week.
Who needs a day job, right?
On the plus side, I’m getting closer to getting this next book ready for beta readers, and its release date is October 22nd! Which is also my birthday weekend, so I’ll be able to celebrate thirty creeping ever closer.
(Of course, that’s also the weekend my husband’s family are all having an enormous get-together with his American family, so I’ll be busy socialising and trying desperately not to think about books too much. Good fun.)
New Covers
Well, one new cover to be exact. I’m commissioning a new cover for my first book, and I’ve had a first draft of my second book cover back from the designer!
It’s a similar style to my first book, but handled by a professional not a monkey (me) with photoshop. It’s also freeing up some much-needed writing time. I’m a busy, busy bee.
Bonus Spicy Scene
As I’ve been writing and rewriting, I’ve discovered a spicy one-bed inn scene that unfortunately no longer belongs in the book (in its current iteration). Which means I’ll be sharing that with my lovely subscribers as exclusive bonus content. Annabelle and Jacob are tragically caught in a snowstorm in their local town of Chester and have no choice but to shelter at an inn and give into their mutual attraction.
(What a shame).
Here’s an extract. I’ll publish the full scene in October with the release of my book. Any readers who don’t like writing of a sexual nature, look away now!
Jacob should have known better than this. She was a flame, and he was singeing himself on her heat, but he was only human, and she had made her feelings plain.
She was close to being drunk, if she was not already, but he wanted her.
If he had been a better man, he could have resisted, pulled away, told her that theirs was not a relationship of this nature. But he was not that man, and she tasted too good to for his own sanity when he kissed her again. Roughly, because she did not deserve his softness. If instruction was what she craved, he would give it to her; he would show her the best ways to please him, and he would show her what it meant to lie with a man. What pleasure could be in store.
No, that was dangerous thinking. If he went down that road—
He would have to stop it, somehow, before it went that far.
They would be sharing a bed tonight.
He groaned in frustration, already knowing the outcome and unable to fight against it any longer. Her mouth was soft and warm below his, parting in invitation, and he took everything she offered, demanded more when she broke away for breath. At any moment, he expected her to plead mercy, or claim that he was being too violent with her.
She did not.
Her tongue tasted of wine and sugar as she tentatively returned his caresses. When he caught her bottom lip between her teeth, nipping her, she let out a soft moan that made him harder than he could ever remember being. They were still fully dressed, still in a private parlour that was liable to be walked in on at any given second, and he throbbed with need.
“Jacob,” she said against his mouth. He liked the sound of his name on her lips, liked it altogether too much when it was breathy with desperate want. “Jacob.”
He licked her neck. “I haven’t even touched you yet.”
She shuddered in his arms. “Then touch me.”
Current Read
I’m binging all of Tracey Sumner’s Regency books. I love her writing and the chemistry between her characters. There’s just so much to love. But if anyone has any recommendations, let me know! Both steamy and not, although there must be chemistry (and preferably banter).
Until next time!
Terri x