My award-winning Regency romance, PAGING MISS
GALLOWAY, is my homage to a popular Regency theme: a lady who disguises herself
as a boy or a man. Danielle Galloway has a most noble reason for this
masquerade. She fears her beloved brother is dangerously ill, and yet her
unfeeling father refuses to allow her to travel to Bath so that she can nurse
her brother back to health. What’s a headstrong young lady to do?
The answer is obvious: do the unthinkable! Dress as a
servant boy so she can safely travel the countryside with no questions asked.
Alas! How good intentions often go astray! I really enjoyed the challenges of
making Danielle/Danny act as the Earl of Tremaine’s page!
A determined young
miss, a battle-weary lord, and a reckless masquerade.
More Than She Bargained For: Danielle Galloway is determined to visit her
convalescing brother. She won’t let her father’s lack of permission stand in
her way. Disguising herself as Danny, a servant boy, she takes to the road to
begin her grand adventure...only to have her money stolen and her face battered
by street ruffians. How will she get to the resort town of Bath now?
More Than He Bargained For: The Earl of Tremaine rescues a down-on-his-luck young
lad. Against his better judgment, he takes Danny on as his page as he journeys
to Bath. But this boy harbors a shocking secret. What’s the earl going to do
when he discovers his latest act of kindness might hurl him into the parson’s
mousetrap?
What will the Earl of Tremaine do when he discovers
his page’s shocking secret?
Amazon.com eBook and Amazon.com
Print
This book has
garnered an impressive list of awards and reviews including WINNER of the
prestigious Awe-Struck Regency Award; EPIC Award Finalist for Best Historical
Romance; Readers Top Pick Award at Romance Readers At Heart; and FIVE star
reviews at Fallen Angel Reviews and Amazon.com, in addition to being on the
Awe-Struck and Fictionwise.com best seller lists.
Music is composed by Franz
Schubert, The Fantasie In C major, Op. 15 (Wanderer Fantasy).
This book is part of the prestigious Elegant Regencies line.
Also, a fan was very kind to send me this picture of her with her paperback copy:
Here’s an excerpt
from PAGING MISS GALLOWAY that was inspired from real life, I’m sorry to say!
Many years ago I wasn’t much of a wine drinker, just like our heroine,
Danielle. And because I wasn’t used to the intoxicating power of wine, I forgot
an important rule: never drink on an empty stomach. Two glasses of the stuff at
an afternoon gathering proved my undoing: I had to “cast up my accounts” just
as Danielle did!
Scene set-up: During a picnic nuncheon with her
employer, the Earl of Tremaine and his friend Lord Raleigh, Danielle, in her
disguise as Danny the page, drinks her first glass of potent Madeira wine.
The Earl of Tremaine held up his
wine goblet. "Let us not concern ourselves with business. Fill my glass,
Danny, and keep it filled. The same for Raleigh and you."
Danielle did as she was
bid, with Lord Raleigh holding the third glass for her. Sitting as the men sat,
with one knee up and the other resting on the ground, was a very liberating
sensation. As was the sweet, fortified wine.
Soon her head swam in an agreeable
haze. The men engaged in conversation that didn’t interest her, so she allowed
her mind to wander. She gazed out at the peaceful countryside. A plentitude of
tiny wild daisies dotted gentle slopes of unruly green grass. The horses took
their fill of the grass, stopping only to quench their thirst at a nearby
babbling stream.
Leaning back to rest
her weight on her right hand, she sipped at the wine with her left. She smiled,
in harmony with one and all. "This is so lovely."
She turned at Lord
Raleigh’s laughter.
"Look at the red
cheeks on the lad. Pure scarlet! I believe the dear boy’s a bit bosky." He
grinned. "I will wager your head is spinning, Danny."
Her smile widened.
"Maybe. Only a bit."
His laugh deepened.
"No? Not three sheets in the wind yet? Just wait!"
Before she could blink,
Lord Raleigh set her glass aside and grabbed her hands. He pulled her up and
out from the elm tree’s shade. Still holding her hands, he ran with her in a
tight circle, humming a tune and laughing at the same time.
At first she enjoyed
the sensation, then her head really did start spinning. She tried to pull away,
but he didn’t release her hands.
The next thing she
knew, Lord Tremaine had wrenched her free from Lord Raleigh. But she still
spun. Wide-eyed, she stared at the moving images of the earl. Then her stomach
revolted. She clapped her hand over her mouth. Good heavens, she was going to
do the unthinkable: cast up her accounts right in front of him!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you enjoy my take on
this popular Regency theme, and also Danielle and the Earl of Tremaine’s story!
Happy reading,
Susanne Marie Knight
Read outside the box: award-winning Romance Writing with a Twist!
