Lost in Time: His Lady in Green 13

‘Eve – no!’ But Sebastian was already fading as she stepped back, his outline blurring. The electric lights began to flicker like flames.
‘Yes. I must go back.’
‘You met someone.’ His voice sounded flat. ‘Do not risk it, Eve, however you feel for him –‘
‘I don’t know.’ The draft around her ankles bit like ice now, the bulbs had vanished and the only light was from candles. ‘I do not know! They are all part of you and you, of them. I don’t know what is right, what I want.’ Who I want. ‘I only know that I must go back…’

Her voice trailed away as he vanished. The room was the same, but furnished now. A fire blazed in the hearth and under her feet a thick carpet covered the ancient flagstones.
‘Oh, Sebastian.’ Eve shook herself, there was no time for regret or worry. She must find the emeralds and make her choice, whatever the consequences to herself. She had never been in this chamber before on her travels, but that did not mean she could dismiss it. The furniture was massive carved oak. The carpets and hangings rich and sophisticated, blue and white china stood on every flat surface. Over the mantle hung a gilt-framed portrait of a man with very familiar features beneath a curling wig.

‘Restoration,’ she murmured. It was a relief to be able to put her knowledge into practice. At least she knew when she was now. She would search every drawer, every cupboard, every box for the necklace.
She flung drawers open as she had seen on crime films, starting at the bottom as she rummaged rapidly through the contents of each, then abandoned them to open the great oak cupboard that stood in the corner. It was full of folded cloths.
Six were on the floor and she was shaking the seventh when the door opened.
‘Zounds! A thief!’ The man who strode in had his sword half out of its scabbard already. With alarm she realised her dagger was lying on top of the chest. Then he stopped, his darkly handsome face a mask of amazement. ‘My lady.’

It took her a moment to recognise the elegantly dressed man in red-heeled shoes, a cascade of lace at his throat as the battle-weary Cavalier. ‘Rafe Daubenay.’ And well, and prospering, the first of her men from the past. The way her heart leapt at the sight of him took her by surprise: she had expected to be focused on her quest to find the emeralds, not experiencing pangs of – of what? Attraction? Love? ‘You survived the war and exile – I am so very glad. What year is this?’ She tried to tell his age, late thirties perhaps, and all the more attractive for that. Concentrate, Eve!

‘The year of our Lord 1660, my lady,’ he said impatiently, reaching for her.  ‘You have come back to me.’
‘No –’ she held him at arm’s length, no easy feat. ‘You must be married now, surely?’
‘I waited for you,’ he replied simply and, to her horror, knelt at her feet. ‘You have come back and I swear I will make you the happiest of women. As my wife – ’
‘I cannot.’ Suddenly she was certain it was not this man who was her destiny, courageous and loyal as he was. ‘I cannot be yours. I came back to try and find the emeralds, they are lost.’

Rafe stood, his face grim. ‘Then you shall see them, but you cannot take them. Come with me.’ He opened a door in the far wall and Eve followed him. Under the window stood a great iron-bound chest that yielded to a key he pulled from his coat.
‘Here, they are quite safe.’ The small jewel box he lifted out opened to his impatient, beringed fingers. It was quite empty.

‘The devil!’ He had gone white to the lips.
Eve backed away, the familiar sense of disorientation beginning to swirl through her. They were not here, in 1660. Did that mean they were lost in time before this date? Or had they vanished from everywhere at the moment they had gone from her neck?

‘One last kiss, sweeting,’ Rafe said, his voice husky. He caught her to him, and she reached up to pull him close, press her lips to his in something like desperation.
‘I will hold you here,’ he murmured into her hair.

‘Rafe, if you love me, let me go.’ Eve pulled herself free. ‘Find a lady worthy of you and raise children together, safeguard the future. But I must go, I have no choice.’
The dagger… it was in the other room. Did it matter? Somehow she knew it must. Eve turned and ran for the door, her feet stumbling, as the mist began to rise and swirl. Could she get there in time?

Louise Allen

Louise Allen is the author of more than forty historical romances and two books of walks through historic London.
Find out more at www.louiseallenregency.co.uk. Louise blogs here and at http://janeaustenslondon.com

January: Forbidden Jewel of India Harlequin & Mills & Boon
April: Scandal in the Regency Ballroom Mills & Boon
May: Tarnished Amongst the Ton Harlequin & Mills & Boon
July: Walking Jane Austen's London Shire Publications

His Lady In Green: Chapter Two

Even in candlelight this was obviously a bedchamber, not a stairwell.  Eve turned and found the door had closed silently behind her. Mist swirled. Strange, it must have been wood smoke drifting from the open fire.

Eve tugged at the handle. It stuck. ‘Oh, for goodness sake.’ She fought the impulse to hammer on the heavy panels: there would be a phone by the bed, just as there was in her room, she’d ring down and someone would come. She walked across the bare boards into the wash of firelight. ‘Aagh!’

‘I am sorry, Mistress. I startled you.’ The man who had been sprawled in one of the great oak chairs before the hearth stood, rising to a familiar six foot plus of broad-shouldered male.

‘Oh, Sebastian! You scared the living daylights out of me. Sebastian?‘

‘You mistake me for my brother, Mistress.’ The man bowed with a courtly elegance. ‘Rafe Daubenay, your servant.’

‘He did not tell me he had a brother.’ Surely this man was older, a little, than Sebastian. There was a honed edge to him that spoke of more than assiduous attendance at the gym. ‘Are you a soldier?’ It was a guess, but she could visualise him with a weapon in his hand. Then she realised that there was one at his side: a sword. A sword?

‘Of course I am a soldier.’ His mouth hardened. ‘And in the rightful army, that of our sovereign lord, the king. Sebastian skulks at home, dithering over which side to take when Charles needs every sword at his side. Especially now.’ The fierce anger in his voice ebbed and suddenly she saw he was beyond tired. Deep lines bracketed the familiar mouth, there were shadows under the blue eyes.
His hair was long, curling to his collar. His broad lace collar. Eve made herself focus on something other than his face. White, wide-sleeved shirt, soiled and ripped, buckskin beeches, high black boots. A re-enactor, of course. She pulled a deep breath down to her diaphragm. Honestly, you’ll be imagining ghosts next. She had surprised one of the family rehearsing for an English Civil War re-enactment, that was all. They got very deeply into character, she knew from a friend, an Anglo-Saxon warrior in a local group.

‘Which re-enactment group are you with?’ she asked and wished her heart would stop thumping quite so hard. Anyone would think something was wrong. But it is. The house smelled wrong – of beeswax, wood smoke, lavender. It sounded wrong, a deep silence, when before the faint music from the Great Hall had penetrated everywhere. The air was cool as though the central heating had been off for hours
‘Re-enactment?’ He seemed baffled.
‘Or perhaps you have been to a masquerade?’ Eve persisted, desperate now for a logical explanation. He was the perfect Cavalier. There was a plumed hat on the table, a coat with deep buttoned cuffs on the foot of the four-poster bed.

‘A masque?’ His laugh was harsh. ‘A slaughter… all too real.’ He swayed and Eve realised the stains on his sleeve were dried blood. ‘The bloody field of Naseby, the end of the kingdom if we cannot rally and fight on.’

‘You are hurt.’ She caught at his arm, solid and warm through the fine linen, and realised that she had half expected her hand to go right through. ‘You are not a ghost.’ She said it out loud and he stared as he fell back into the chair, pulling her down to kneel by his side. She could not drag her eyes from that intense blue stare.

‘No, I am not. But you are, I think. I never believed in the Lady in Green before. They say every heir sees her, that she wears the Meryngham emeralds.’ One long finger traced the necklace at her throat and Eve trembled, even as her mind reeled. Rafe is real? He had just fought at the battle of Naseby. Her mind scrabbled for the date. Sixteen forty… 1645.

His touch felt… right. She laid her hand on his knee to steady herself and felt the force of attraction lance through her. ‘I am real, as real as you.’

Rafe reached out and pulled her towards him. She smelt black powder, sweat, the metallic tang of blood, leather and horse. It was shockingly male. Eve swayed forwards.
‘They say she comes twice and that if there is a third time, she will stay. No-one knows if she ever has.’ His mouth found hers, arrogant, demanding. Then he lifted his head and said simply, ‘Stay. Stay with me now.’

‘Yes… No!’ The heat of him, the taste… This was insane, she was dreaming, she must be. Eve shot to her feet, backed away until her spine met the carved door panels with a painful reality. She wrenched at the handle and then she was in the corridor, dizzy, shaking. All the doors were closed. Which one had it been?

Louise Allen
 Lousie Allen is the auhtor of more than forty historical romances.
 Scandal in the Regency Ballroom -
Out in April in a special two-in-one edition - two of my favourite novels, both with heroines outside the world of the ton. In No Place for a Lady Bree Mallory helps run the family stage coach company – as did many real women in the late Georgian period – so when she attracts the attention of Nonesuch whip Max Dysart, Earl of Penrith, it can hardly be her eligibility for marriage that draws him to her!
Lily France is a very wealthy heiress with a fortune derived from trade and a family with humble origins. In Not Quie a Lady Lily, who has more money than taste, a love of shopping and no experience at all of not getting her own way, is determined to fulfil her late father’s dream that his grandsons would bear titles. What Lily needs is an impoverished nobleman. What impoverished nobleman Jack Lovell, Earl of Allerton needs is an investor for his mines, not to humble his pride by marrying money. When Lily proposes to him the sparks really begin to fly!

Fall In Love (Again) Giveaway Blog Hop -- Learn More about the Authors

Harlequin Historical offers a broad range of time periods but because the Georgian/Regency/Victorian  time periods are so popular, they do always offer at least one of these books in the their monthly offerings. Each author writes with her own unique voice and take on the period.

Louise Allen whose personal research library rivals Georgette Heyer's  has certainly ventured into the far flung places of the long Regency. She has a twist of humour and plenty of passion in her writing. She has also written books set in the Dark Ages, and the English Civil War as well as publishing a nonficiton book.  Her next book The Forbidden Jewel of India takes place in 1788 in India. It will be published in January 2013.

TO OBEY HIS DUTY IS TO DENY HIS HEART

Anusha Laurens is in danger. The daughter of an Indian princess and an English peer, she's the perfect pawn in the opulent courts of Rajasthan. Even so, she will not return to the father who rejected her.

Arrogant angrezi Major Nicholas Herriard is charged with bringing the alluring princess safely to her new life in Calcutta. Nick's mission is to protect, to serve–but under the searing Indian sun an initial attraction unfurls into a forbidden temptation.

This beautiful, impossible princess test the very limits of his honor–especially when Nick is left with only one option to keep Anusha safe: marriage. But the fast-flowing waters of the Ganges determine a different fate, and duty may separate them forever...
You can read an extract here.

Louise is offering a signed copy of one of her recent works Ravished by the Rake

A merchantman sails home to England from India with passengers whose lives will be altered forever when it hits the treacherous reefs of the Isles of Scilly.

In the first of the Danger & Desire trilogy meet Lady Perdita Brooke who puts a carefree face on heartbreak and scandal and whose sharp wit soon finds a worthy opponent in the devastatingly attractive shape of Lord Alistair Lyndon. Three months on board ship bring them into dangerously tempting proximity; one night of ultimate danger reveals a secret that threatens to part them forever.
You can read an extract here.

You can learn more about Louise and her books on her website www.louiseregency.co.uk




Elkizabeth Beacon writes Regency with fiesty heroines and goregous heroes. Georgette Heyer sparked her iniital love of the period. She loves the period and sees no need to venture outside it.

Elizabeth is offering a signed copy of a recent release The Duchess Hunt

"HAD SHE BEEN RIGHT UNDER HIS NOSE ALL THESE YEARS? Jack Seaborne, Duke of Dettingham, needs a duchess, but falling in love is definitely not on the agenda. The logical thing would be to throw open the doors of his ducal country seat, host a house party for this Season’s most beautiful debutantes…and pick one of them. But then Miss Jessica Pendle arrives – his aunt’s plain-speaking goddaughter – and she’s the one who stands out from the crowd. But Jessica is looking for love – the one emotion Jack resists. Although he can’t deny there’s something about Jessica that’s very persuasive…!"
You can read an extract here.

For a chance to win these books, you can enter the Harlequin Historical Authors Fall In Love Again Giveway here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway Blog hop and find  more giveaways to enter

To "Drop One Pious Friendly Tear"?

The hero and the villain face each other at dawn in some woodland clearing or quiet heath, far from the notice of the local magistrates. Their seconds confer with quiet seriousness about the weapons – pistols or rapiers. A doctor, reluctant and grumbling in the cold morning air, waits by the carriages.
It is an affair of honour of course – an accusation of cheating perhaps, or an insult to a lady. Both men are calm and show no fear: if they have been lying sleepless most of the night while they mentally review their wills they show no sign of it.

The seconds declare all is ready, the men take their weapons, pace out the distance, turn and wait for the signal to fire or to cross swords. The hero will win of course, or contemptuously delope, firing into the air. The villain will skulk away, or perhaps attempt a cowardly shot when the hero’s back is turned, but right will triumph and honour will be satisfied.
The print to the left, from the Sporting Chronicle, shows the hero, calmly awaiting the shot of his opponent who appears to be holding a pistol in each hand. The waiting man is stripped to the waist in order to prevent cloth being carried into any gunshot. The doctor peers nervously from the cover of a tree above, the seconds stand by and a carriage waits in the distance.

But was it really like that? Perhaps it was sometimes, but often duels arose out of misunderstandings or drink and resulted in tragedy. The last duel fought in Norfolk was on 20th August 1698. Sir Henry Hobart of the great Elizabethan house of Blickling Hall called out Oliver le Neve over words le Neve was supposed to have uttered when Sir Henry lost his parliamentary seat in an election.
Le Neve denied having said the offending words but, despite being left-handed and considered much at a disadvantage in a sword fight as a result, he was quite prepared to defend himself. His letter to Sir Henry survives –

Honored Sir,
I am very sorry that I was not at Reepham yesterday when you gave yourself the trouble of appearing there, that I might not only have justified the truth of my not saying what it is reported I did, but that I might have told you that I wrote not that letter to avoid fighting you but that if the credit of your author has confirmed you in the belief of it, I am ready and desirous to meet you when and where you please to assign. If otherwise, I expect your author's name in return to this that I may take my satisfaction then, or else conclude the Imputacon [sic] sprung from Blickling and send you the time and place; for the matter shall not rest as it is though it cost the life of
Your Servant
Oliver Neve

They met on Cawston Heath. Le Neve was wounded in the arm but he ran Sir Henry through the stomach and he died the next day at Blickling Hall in great pain. Le Neve fled the country and lived under a false name in the Netherlands, but when he heard he was being threatened with outlawry he returned, stood his trial for manslaughter and was acquitted in 1700.

The duel is commemorated in the Duelling Stone (above) which stands in what was the garden of the Woodrow Inn beside the road to Norwich - a memorial to wounded pride.

At least Sir Henry was the aggressor in this and refused to listen to le Neve’s protestations of innocence. An even more tragic memorial is a tombstone in the old churchyard of Sawtry St Andrew, next to the old Great North Road in Huntingdonshire.

James Ratford. 25th Day of June 1756. Aged 37 years.
Near to this stone, who’ere you art, draw near
In Pity drop One pious, friendly Tear;
Far from His native Home, He lost His life,
By One who seem’d His Friend, Ill timed strife.
The best of Husbands; to His Children, dear,
Courteous to all, and to His Friend, Sincere.
Resigned to his Fate, well may the Wretch feel woe
While He in endless Bliss and Pleasure go.

The local archives confirm that this was a duel. James was far from his home in Leicestershire. What had happened between him and the friend to whom he had been so “sincere” to result in the death of the best of husbands and a dear father?

These two real-life tragedies haven’t stopped me writing about duels if they fit into one of my novels, but they have made me pause and think about the truth behind the dashing image of duellists at dawn.
What do you think? Is a duel a good opportunity to see the hero at his courageous best, or would true valour lie in walking away?

Louise Allen

HH September Release: The Shocking Lord Standon by Louise Allen

Rumors fly that Gareth Morant, Earl of Standon, is to be wed. He cannot honorably deny them, but he won't be forced into marriage.Encountering a respectable governess in scandalizing circumstances, Gareth demands her help—to make him entirely ineligible.He educates the buttoned-up Miss Jessica Gifford in the courtesan's arts. But Gareth hasn't bargained on such an ardent, clever pupil—or on his passionate response to her! He wanted to cause a stir—it seems they are about to brew a scandal!

Read the excerpt
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The Shocking Lord Standon


Part of the Sexy Historical Promotion
Also out this month as a Mills and Boon Historical

August HH Release: The Outrageous Lady Felsham by Louise Allen

A certain proper lady of our acquaintance is flirting with ruin. yet even the most virtuous would find it hard to resist such a dashing soldier…Freed from her unhappy marriage, Belinda, Lady Felsham, plans to enjoy herself. She suspects that the breathtakingly handsome Major Ashe Reynard is exactly what she needs. Society is just waiting for them to make a slip! Still, the outrageous couple embarks on an affair—and Belinda becomes increasingly confused. She has no desire to marry, but Ashe is a man she cannot live without….

BOOK 2 of the Scandalous Ravenhursts.
Read the excerpt
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The Outrageous Lady Felsham

August HH Release: A Scandalous Lady by Francesca Shaw

Playboy bachelor the Earl of Ashby had become fascinated by the beautiful actress Lysette Davide, agreeing to a wager with his friends—to make her his mistress. But Lysette, in actual fact, was the highly respectable society lady Miss Camilla Knight, and she would be ruined if anyone discovered her scandalous secret! Courting the beautiful Camilla by day and trying to win his reckless wager by night, when would the earl realize that Camilla and Lysette were one and the same woman?

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A Scandalous Lady

Note: Louise Allen was one half of the Francesca Shaw writing team.

HhJuly 08 Release: The Dangerous Mr Ryder by Louise Allen

He knows that escorting the haughty Grand Duchess of Maubourg to England will not be an easy task. But Jack Ryder, spy and adventurer, believes he is more than capable of managing Her Serene Highness.He's not prepared for her beauty, her youth, or the way that her sensual warmth shines through her cold facade. And what started as just another mission is rapidly becoming something far more personal….

Start of a new miniseries!

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The Dangerous Mr. Ryder

HH April Release: No Place for a Lady by Louise Allen

Miss Bree Mallory has no time for the pampered aristocracy! She's too taken up with running the best coaching company on the roads. But an accidental meeting with an earl changes everything....Soon, beautiful Bree has established herself in Society. She hopes no one will discover that she once drove the stage coach from London to Newbury...or that she returned unchaperoned with the rakishly attractive Max Dysart, Earl of Penrith.Bree's independence is hard-won: she has no interest in marriage. But Max's kisses are powerfully—passionately—persuasive!

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No Place For a Lady

HH December Release:Virgin Slave, Barbarian King by Louise Allen

Julia Livia Rufa is horrified when barbarians invade Rome and steal everything in sight. But she doesn't expect to be among the taken! As Wulfric's woman, she's ordered to keep house for the uncivilized marauders. Soon, though, Julia realizes that she's more free as a slave than she ever was as a sheltered Roman virgin. It would be all too easy to succumb to Wulfric's quiet strength, and Julia wants him more than she's ever wanted anything. But Wulfric could one day be king, and Julia is a Roman slave. What future can there be for two people from such different worlds?

Read the excerpt

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HH May Releases: A Most Unconvential Courtship by Louise Allen

Benedict Casper Chancellor, Earl of Blakeney, is the kind of elegantly conservative English lord that Alessa despises. She wants nothing to do with him—even if he is shaped like a Greek statue come to life! But the maddening man seems determined to wrest her away from her comfortable life in beautiful Corfu. Worse, he'll return her to the bosom of her stuffy family.
The Earl hasn't anticipated Alessa's propensity to get herself into a scrape. Now, in order to rescue her, this highly conventional Englishman will have to turn pirate!

read an excerpt

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A Most Unconventional Courtship

M&B H April Release: A Most Unconvetional Courtship by Louise Allen

Respectable gentleman…accidental pirate!
Benedict Casper Chancellor, Earl of Blakeney, is the kind of elegantly conservative English lord that Alessa despises. She wants nothing to do with him – even if he is shaped like a Greek statue come to life! But the maddening man seems determined to wrest her away from her comfortable life in beautiful Corfu. Worse, he’ll return her to the bosom of her stuffy family.
The Earl hasn’t anticipated Alessa’s propensity to get herself into a scrape. Now, in order to rescue her, this highly conventional Englishman will have to turn pirate!

Buy A Most Unconventional Courtship