A Bit of BLOOD LILY
Happy New Year, all! 2010 has already started with a bang for the Pink Carnation. In only four days, the paperback of Night Jasmine comes out. In just over a week, on January 12th, we have The Betrayal of the Blood Lily!
Between January 5th and January 11th, I’ll be hosting daily mini-contests on the site, with a big give-away to celebrate the release of Blood Lily on January 12th.
To celebrate the New Year– and the impending arrival of The Betrayal of the Blood Lily!– here is one of my favorite out-takes from Blood Lily:
As those of you who’ve read the first chapter might have gathered, Captain Alex Reid wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of escorting Lord and Lady Frederick to Hyderabad. Penelope, naturally, doesn’t make his chaperonage any easier….
In this scene, their party is on the road to Hyderabad. Having already flatly refused to ride in a palanquin, Penelope decides to entertain herself by badgering Alex.
“Shouldn’t you be riding with your husband?”
“Afraid we’ll cause a scandal? I assure you, Captain Reid, we are more than adequately chaperoned.”
“It is a relief to know that my virtue will be safe with you.”
Lady Frederick eyed him speculatively. “Do you know, you’re rather fun when you allow yourself to be sarcastic.”
“That was never my intent.”
“Some of us have learned to take our amusement where we find it. What do you do for amusement, Captain Reid?”
“Not all of us live for amusement, Lady Frederick. Some of us work for a living.” He sounded, Alex realized, rather a prig.
“Trust me, Captain Reid, amusement is hard work. It can be terribly taxing amusing oneself. It’s much harder than trying to amuse others.”
“You need occupation,” Alex said callously.
Lady Frederick’s amber eyes glinted in the sunlight. They put Alex in mind of a tiger waiting to pounce. “Do you have one in mind?”
Alex thought of the endless lists that occupied his evenings, the accounts, the persnickety recording of every ounce of grain consumed, every cookpot broken. It would serve her right—but he couldn’t.
“Nothing suitable,” he said with regret.
“Anything unsuitable?”
It was so over the top that Alex couldn’t resist responding in kind. “Am I to fear for my virtue again, Lady Frederick?”
With a laugh, she spurred her horse away from his. “Not today, Captain Reid,” she called over her shoulder. “Not today.”
Check back for more out-takes, contests, and give-aways as we count down to Blood Lily….
