Winning Joanna Released today! My good friend and critique partner has another hot release today from Ellora's Cave. Romantic and sexy with a Medieval setting. I highly recommend this one (I've read it) :)
Kathleen has a way with historical facts. Our group is always learning interesting tidbits about the times. She also has a wonderful voice that fits the historical stories lines well. I'm sure you'll enjoy Winning Joanna for the hot, romantic and emotional scenes.
BLURB:
e widowed Lady Joanna Leland wants nothing more than to be left in peace. When the king commands her to remarry, she informs him she has other plans. Those plans did not include getting trapped inside her manor during a blizzard—or the near-frozen stranger deposited outside her door, a man who awakens sexual yearnings she thought long dead.
Lord Hugh, the king’s finest battle strategist, has been sent by the king to change Joanna’s mind. As the blizzard roars outside, the temperature inside rises until the attraction between Hugh and Joanna ignites and they succumb to long nights of sensual delight. Tempting her body is only half the battle. He must secure her heart as well. But Hugh’s been keeping a secret that could destroy everything he is fighting for…and winning Joanna is one battle he can’t afford to lose.
EXCERPT:
Chapter One
Windsor Castle
February 14, 1347
Hugh Radcliff, the Earl of Reston, gazed out into the night. The courtyard of Windsor Castle lay quiet and empty below him. A handful of torches guttered in their brackets, sending flickering shadows across the paving stones. The day had been balmy for mid-February, but with the setting of the sun, the air had grown chill. He shivered and his skin rose in bumps as a slight breeze flowed over him. He rubbed his hands up and down his upper arms to warm himself, the thick scar on his left shoulder pressing into his palm. He’d received the wound in August at the Battle of Crécy. Nearly six months had passed since that hot, bloody day he realized.
Time to go home. He should have gone months ago, before the Yule festivities, but he’d lingered until another holiday rolled around. The first few weeks after he returned to England and the court, he’d used the half-healed sword slash to his shoulder as an excuse. It had been valid at the time, but the real reason for the delay had little to do with a physical wound. Instead, it lay within, in a heart where grief, guilt and regret tangled like the roots of an old tree. No coward on the field of battle, he dreaded looking into the accusing eyes of the daughter he hadn’t seen for nine years.
“My lord, close the shutters and come back to bed, else I shall not leave a crumb of cake for you.” A sultry feminine voice interrupted his musings.
Hugh pulled the heavy wooden shutters closed. As he turned to smile at the woman sprawled naked on his bed, his face held no hint of the emotional battle raging inside him. Lady Kate Selwyn was one of Queen Philippa’s fairest ladies-in-waiting. Sun-kissed brown hair flowed over her shoulders. It shifted as she held out a linen napkin with the piece of almond cake they’d saved from the feast. The movement allowed a plump pink nipple to peek out between her silken curls.
His cock twitched and grew harder at the sight. He’d thought himself most fortunate when their names had been pulled from the lottery to share a trencher at the St. Valentine Day’s feast. He’d felt even more fortunate when she’d been willing to leave the Great Hall early to celebrate the holiday in ways most suitable to a festival honoring love.
He crossed the room in two strides and stretched out next to her. With a teasing smile, he removed the sprig of yarrow, the traditional garnish for the St. Valentine’s Eve treat and tossed it aside before biting into the corner of the proffered cake. He swallowed it then leaned forward and kissed her.
Kate gave a gasping giggle and tried to wiggle away. “Ooh, you be cold as an icicle.” Her nipples puckered in agreement.
Hugh pushed back a lock of brown hair and nuzzled her ear. “I shall have to find some way to warm us.”
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Want to learn more about Kathleen and her books? Check out her website and blog:
2 comments:
Oooooh, I'm intrigued. Going to check it out.
Hey Amber, I've read this one and it's an awesome story.
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