I have posted a short exerpt from my new novel, Lydia. It is now available for purchase on Amazon.com!
“If you are not already engaged for the next dance, Miss Hathaway, I would be honored to be accepted as your partner.”
Her pulse increased, her breathing faltered, and her cheeks warmed, victims of his penetrating eyes and stunning smile. An intense desire to accept his request warred with the echo in her head that she must resist him, and for a moment she was unable to answer. “I thank you, sir. I would be very glad to dance with you.”
He held out his hand, and with some hesitation, Lydia rested her fingers in his palm. She felt the warm, gentle strength of his hand as it closed around hers. He led her out onto the floor, where she took her place across from him, timid under the confidence of his gaze. He is a rake and a rogue, her good sense shouted. What can you be thinking? Tomorrow you will be sorry to have given in, but all of it was drowned out by the pounding of her heart.
“Are you as fond of dancing, Miss Hathaway, as you are of hiking through bushes and streams?” Lord Denton teased, a laugh tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Quivering with a kaleidoscope of sensations, she rattled off a defiant answer. “I do love to dance, my lord, nearly as much as I enjoy tackling thickets and wading across streams. And you sir, do you enjoy dancing as much as you like trampling ladies into the mud?”
“Miss Hathaway, though I do love to dance, I find it a far less entertaining pastime than rescuing unfortunate maidens.”
Gripped anew with anxiety that he would divulge her secret, she abandoned their game and asked, her brows knit with concern, “I pray, sir, that you will continue to keep our adventure between us alone.”
“I am a man of my word, and your secret is safe, though I must confess that my pledge of silence denied me the very great pleasure of a good laugh with friends.” Denton smiled broadly.
Remember the gorgeous Rupert Penry-Jones who starred as Captain Wentworth in the 2007 tv adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion? They made a great choice of a leading man in that one. He was a real dream! The last Pride and Prejudice remake was back in 2005 with the handsome Matthew Macfayden, and I was thinking we ought to send on our advice as to who a great new Mr. Darcy might be. I would love to hear your suggestions. Please drop me a comment or send me an email with your ideas. I was combing the internet for possibilities since my familiarity with British actors is sadly limited, and I thought Henry Cavill a great choice. I think he has "the look." Do you agree? If not, who else might be a good choice. I would love to hear your thoughts.
