Tom shook his head. “My apologies, but you will have to explain that.”
“It means she is not indifferent to me, and I have hope of succeeding if I stay my course.”
“I had no doubt you would succeed,” Tom replied.
“Yes, you did.” He lifted his mug. “To success,” he said before taking a large draught of his ale.
“To success,” Tom repeated. However, his mug was empty, so the toast was not so effective as it could have been.
[from His Sensible Heart, Touches of Austen book 6]
He had not had much in the way of wealth and worldly possessions when they had first met, but she had known, to the depths of her soul, that it was only a temporary state for him. She had always believed he would be a great success, and from what she had seen today and had heard since she arrived in Bath, her assessment had been correct. He was a success and would continue to be so.
Oh, to be a part of his life and cheer him on to further greatness as his wife! Her heart still cried for what had been lost. It ached with its desire to be the lady at his side. But how could she be? Why would a gentleman who had been so wronged ever wish to be tied to the very family who had threatened to deny him of his profession?
[from His Irreplaceable Belle]
PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY JOE YAMADA MUSIC ON FEBRUARY 7, 2020
I picked this pretty piano piece from my Music to Write by playlist today because it has the right tone and title to match with the book I have releasing tomorrow. In Her Convenient Forever, Felicity Love thinks she has lost her chance for love, and Boyd Hedrington thinks he cannot love again. While the story has some very somber notes, it also has moments of hope, joy, and rediscovery much like this song, To Love Again, does.
The excerpt from chapter 3 below hits one of those somber, sad notes in the story.
“Where shall we sit?” Mr. Hedrington asked Matthias, who looked at Felicity.
“I am going to sit on the sofa near the hearth,” she said.
Matthias smiled and nodded his head.
“Will three fit?” Mr. Hedrington said with a laugh.
“I should hope so,” Mr. Love said with a chuckle of his own. “My Felicity has always charmed the young gentlemen, but I was not aware that her abilities extended to such young gentlemen.”
He was teasing, and three months ago, Felicity would have rolled her eyes and giggled. However, at present, her cheeks flamed as she forced a small laugh.
“I am pleased to see Matthias wishing to sit with you,” Mr. Hedrington said softly as they sat down. “He has not found it easy to accept new acquaintances. I have had several neighbours call on us since our arrival, and aside from Mrs. Jones, he has not warmed to any of them.”
“Felicity is hard not to like,” Mr. Love said with a smile.
Again, while Felicity knew her father was praising her, she blushed and could not accept it. She had not been easy to like. In fact, she had been dreadfully difficult and even impossible to like for some people. One only needed to ask her sister, Grace, to discover the truth of it. There were many sins she had contemplated while looking at the stars when sleep would not come.
“Miss Love said you live a distance from here,” Mr. Hedrington said.
“Ah, yes, a little further than a day’s drive to the northeast into Kent,” Mr. Love said. “But we come here nearly every summer. There have been a few summers where we have not been able to make the journey due to other obligations, and we have missed our time here.”
“Is it always this cottage at which you stay?”
Mr. Love nodded. “We enjoyed it so much on our first trip that we have never considered any other place. Of course, our first time to the ocean was after our marriage. Mrs. Love had never seen the sea, and I could not resist being the first to show it to her.”
Felicity loved the way her father’s eyes grew soft when he looked at her mother and spoke of their wedding and first trip to this cottage. How many times had she asked him to tell her that story when she was young? It was likely why she had fallen so deeply in love with the idea of marriage. What girl would not wish to be so treasured as her father’s look said her mother was? Of course, as it turned out, Felicity had not gone about trying to find such a situation for herself in the right way, and now, she would never have someone to look at her in such a fashion.
“If you will excuse me,” she said before rising quickly and leaving the room, for she knew that those tears which had threatened before would not be refused this time.
[from Her Convenient Forever]
*The link in the first paragraph is to the song on Spotify. This is not an affiliate link. It is just my way of attempting to help out the artists whose music I share.
Some days just need a little Brian Crain, and I decided that today is one of those days. 🙂
I selected this particular song* for a couple of reasons (besides the fact that I love it). First, while there are no falling leaves in this excerpt, the scene is happening when it is raining, and the music lends itself well to imagining rain falling in place of the leaves. Second, it’s October, and October means falling leaves around here. 🙂
So, Happy October to you! And enjoy the excerpt. 🙂
Bea made a show of concentrating on the flowers she was planting in the garden on her canvas, and said, “A house party will be exciting, I am sure.”
“Oh, indeed!” exclaimed Grace before beginning a litany of things that she just knew would happen at this party. This, in turn, led into another recital of many of the interesting bits of gossip from the season. This meandering stream of stories which were of great interest to the Misses Loves and of little interest to Beatrice continued until there was a soft tapping at the door and in walked Max, followed closely by Everett and Graeme.
A story about an unfortunate gentleman who had been rejected twice by the same lady ended abruptly and was replaced with excited exclamations of greeting and cries of how dreadfully dull the day had been without the gentleman for company.
“Did you miss me?” Graeme asked Bea. He had wandered away from the shrill voices of the Misses Loves and had found his way to the corner where Bea was working. “It is a fine representation,” he said, tilting his head to study her painting. “You are becoming quite proficient in landscapes, which means you will soon have to move on to other things such as handsome neighbours whom you missed.”
He had missed her. As he settled himself against the wall just behind her to her left, he had to admit how pleasant it was to be greeted by her smile. He had been restless all day, but here, he finally felt at ease.
Bea chuckled. “Did I miss you?”
“Oh, you did,” Graham replied with a smile. “I hear it was quite dull around here without me.” Beautiful blue eyes filled with amusement met his.
“Most dreadfully, but if you do not believe me, you may ask Grace.”
“There is no need for her to repeat it. I heard her quite well when we arrived,” he replied with a laugh.
[from His Beautiful Bea]
*The link in the first paragraph is to the song on Spotify. This is not an affiliate link. It is just my way of attempting to help out the artists whose music I share.
Before we get into the writing news for this week, I wanted to say that I know the past nearly two weeks have been fraught with strife for my American readers, relations, and friends. You have and will continue to be in my prayers, and I want you to know that I will continue to strive, as I always have, to demonstrate through my actions and words my love and respect for you all.
So far this week, I have written one chapter of Protecting Miss Darcy. That’s it. That’s all I wrote. 🙂 I hope to have time later today (Friday) to write another chapter of something.
My reason for such a low amount of writing this week was editing. I finished my first round read-through of Matching Mr. Darcy and have sent that off to my sister for her critique.
Sneak peek time!
By this time next week, I expect to have preorder information for Matching Mr. Darcy to share with you. If you’d like to see the book cover and read the first (unfinalized) chapter of this book, you can find both of those things at this link.
Continue reading TSB: Writing News, Sneak Peeks, and More
