Vengeful Lord, Defiant Lady

Dear Reader,

Vengeful Lord, Defiant lady is a regency romance, set in Llangorfan, an old Welsh mansion. Catherine, who readers will remember as the friendly spirit that helped the romance along in my first book, is a spirited, spoilt regency miss. Married against her will to Lord Alex Tremayne, though she is initially vehemently opposed to her marriage she finds it impossible not to fall in love with her husband and believes he is beginning to love her in return. All too soon her idyl is shattered by the revelation that her husband is a man so obsessed by revenge, that he will stop at nothing. Her innocence and her father’s ruin, is the price he demands in return for the loss of his sister Emily, drowned in an Italian river.
Hidden letters between Alex and her father tell a harrowing tale and Catherine has to face the fact that her husband is capable of a frightening ruthlessness, but can she really believe him capable of murder?

Alex set out to avenge Emily, but found himself unable to stop himself falling in love with the bride he swore to use as his tool of vengeance. Can he put the unholy mess he finds himself embroiled in right? More importantly can he do it while unmasking a gang of horse thieves and rescuing his wife at the same time?

Excerpt:
‘Still awake Kate?’
She’d not heard him open the door and so his quiet question startled her, she spun around to face him as her heart began to thump out a less than steady beat in her chest.
‘And still dressed, now why is that? Is your maid to be reprimanded?’
He moved over to her bed, looking down at the letters and the velvet pouch with its contents strewn there. He spoke without looking up.
‘Ah I now I see, you have been distracted, so engrossed in reliving the evening’s events that you have quite lost track of time and failed to prepare for bed. So tell me Kate, what conclusions have you come to? Have you revised your earlier estimation, are you afraid of me now?’
Now he looked up, eyes dark, fathomless as he waited for her reply.
‘No my lord, I am not afraid of you.’


Note from the author:

The ‘castle’ that inspired this story lies not far from my home and is more of a gothic house than a bona-fide Welsh castle. As I wandered its grounds I began to imagine what it must have been like to live there, to maybe sweep down the steps to the garden, lifting the heavy skirts of a period gown. Would my heroine have been alone, or would she be followed? I imagined a tall man, austere of countenance, a lover maybe or a husband, angry at some transgression yet to be imagined.
Catherine, having made her debut in my first book, came to life as if of her own accord in this charming regency romance. Spirited and courageous, I like her a lot and am confident my readers will too.
kindest regards Maggie P