Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A Ravishing Redhead Excerpt

I'm very excited for the release of A Ravishing Redhead on May 1st. Margaret was a fun character to write. She is much less reserved than Catherine and has no qualms about telling her husband Henry exactly what she thinks of him! I hope you enjoy this sneak peek excerpt from the second novella in the Wedded Women Quartet. 
“In two weeks I will be traveling to London on business. You will accompany me,” Henry said after a brief pause. Unwrapping his fingers from Margaret's wrist, he wiped them clean on a white silk handkerchief he procured from the vest pocket of his riding jacket.
The gesture was not lost on Margaret, but she was too fixated on what he had just said to comment on it. “I will not go to London with you!” she cried, positively aghast.  
He stared down at her without expression. “This is not a matter open for discussion.”
 She almost felt sorry for the poor man. No doubt he expected her to bow her head and go meekly along with whatever he had planned. She could only assume the women he had encountered in his life thus far had been so in awe of his title they had all but swooned at his feet. He had probably been told countless time how handsome and intelligent he was. He was quite handsome, with his sandy blond hair, lean frame, and piercing green eyes – she would give him that – but intelligent? Margaret bit back a snort. Hardly. “And why in the world would I go with you?” she asked.
“Because you are my wife,” he said simply.
“And pray tell, why have you decided to play the part of dutiful husband after all these months? A guilty conscience, perhaps?” she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes for good measure.
“You are quite ill mannered,” he observed, glancing at her with a distracted frown as if he had forgotten she was there.
Margaret felt a new wave of anger spilling over her, so potent she nearly choked on it. Even when he was standing right in front of her husband could not be bothered to give her his full attention.   “And you, sir, are a lummox!”
“It is getting quite late,” he said, ignoring her insult. “I will have to spend the night here. Go inform the servants I shall require the master bedroom made ready, a bath to be drawn, and a dinner plate brought up.”
She wondered what he would do if she kicked him in the shin. Probably whisk me off to London all the more quickly, she thought darkly. It was ironic, really. Here she had been bemoaning the fact that her husband had abandoned her, and now that he had returned she wanted nothing more than for him to leave again.
“Did you hear me?” asked Henry.
Margaret released a very unladylike snort and tossed her head. “Oh, I heard you all right. Will I do as you ask? Now, that is the question, your Grace. And the answer to that question is no.” With that said, she spun on her heel and stomped back to the stables without so much as a backwards glance.

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