It's taken a little longer -- okay, a LOT longer -- than I'd hoped to get this ready to publish. I'm anticipating it will be available in another month or so. Until then, here's a little teaser for you, when the heroine Allegra learns she's inherited a manor in England:
~~~~~
"It really would be foolish to let an opportunity like this slip by."
"Exactly!" Her mom beamed. "It's like all those times when you were a kid and dreamed you were a princess, wishing you'd find out you had inherited a castle. Now you have."
"How did you know I dreamed about that?"
Her mom snorted. "Every little girl dreams of that when she's mad at her mom. I did, too."
"Really? But Gran is so sweet—"
"Of course she's sweet. Now. When she doesn't have an angry daughter stomping around wishing her father the king would come rescue her."
Allegra laughed, feeling the first flutter of excitement. "It's been a long time since I've had any kind of vacation. Why not go there for a couple of weeks, check out the manor, and see what it's all about?"
"I agree." Her mom added several cucumber sandwiches and a crumpet to her plate, sighing happily. "I can't wait to hear all the details."
"Wait. You're not coming with me?"
"Not this time. This is an adventure you need to take by yourself."
Allegra gulped. She hadn't expected to set off on this excursion without a safety net.
"What if—I mean, they're probably expecting someone completely different than me. It's not like I know how to be the lady of the manor or anything."
"That's easy. Just fake it until you make it."
Allegra narrowed her eyes. "That always sounds like it's great advice, but I'm skeptical about how often it actually works."
"Allegra, that's the beauty of all this. Nobody knows you there, so you can be whoever you choose to be. I'm kind of envious, to be honest."
She had to admit it did sound appealing. She'd have the chance to be strong, courageous, decisive, maybe even lighthearted and playful—all kinds of things she hadn't been for the longest time.
Maybe she could even quit looking for anvils to fall out of the sky. At least for a couple of weeks.
"Okay, you've convinced me. A femme fatale might be a stretch," Allegra said with a laugh, "but a newly widowed American who has unexpectedly inherited an English manor should be within my range."
~~~~~
An uncertain American woman. A restless English man. And the Regency house that brought them together.
Allegra Watkins has finally stabilized her life after the unexpected death of her husband, and she’s not eager to interrupt that. So a letter in the mail declaring her the heiress of a mansion in England is hardly the great news it might seem to be. Still, Allegra figures that a Jane Austen vacation might not be the worst thing, so she packs her bag and heads to Wayward Manor, so named for the spirited widowed sisters who first owned the house.
Connor Maximilian, called Max, is dying to get out of his boring rural life. But his ties to the Tudor house that his family has always owned are too strong to break, so he plods through life the best he can while dreaming of more adventure-filled days. What he didn’t know was that his adventure was about to come to him, in the form of the new American neighbor at Wayward Manor.
The Widows of Wayward Manor is a lighthearted romance that dances between the contemporary adventures of Allegra and Max and the Regency romances of Allegra’s widowed ancestors.
Coming soon-ish!
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