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Lilly Gayle Romance

Lilly Gayle Romance

Category Archives: NC

Slightly Tarnished has a release date!

15 Saturday Jan 2011

Posted by lillygayle in historical romance, Lilly Gayle, London, NC, Portsmouth Island, Slightly Tarnished, The Wild Rose Press

≈ 2 Comments

I’m so excited. I have a release date for my historical: Slightly Tarnished. Just in time for my 31st anniversary!
Here’s the info:
Title: Slightly Tarnished
Imprint: English Tea
Rating: Spicy GLV? no
Keywords: North Carolina, Victorian Era, marriage of convenience, suspense, disabled
Page Count: 308
Print ISBN: 1-60154-923-7 or Print ISBN 13: 9781601549235

Digital Release Date: 2011-06-03 Digital Price: 6.75
TENTATIVE Print Release Date: 2011-06-03 Print Price: 14.99

 Blurb:
Victorian romance laced with danger.

When a brooding English earl with a SLIGHTLY TARNISHED reputation marries his dead wife’s American cousin to save her from her uncle’s vengeful schemes, the sea captain’s daughter with a taste for adventure sparks desires he thought long dead.

Nicole Keller has always been headstrong and independent, but after a failed business venture and a sinking ship take her father, her home, and her childhood sweetheart, Nikki must support herself and her mother. But moving to England and marrying Chadwick Masters, Earl of Gilchrest isn’t what she has in mind. And falling in love with the mysterious earl could endanger both their lives.

Excerpt:

“This will be your room.” He opened the door and stood to one side so she could enter. “I’m afraid you will have to continue to make do without a lady’s maid. The only household staff I employ are Mrs. Lomax, Dickens, Cook, and my groom. My driver lives in the village as do the few maids I hire on occasion to help Mrs. Lomax with the laundry and heavier cleaning.”

Nikki smiled. “That’s quite all right, Lord Masters. I’m used to doing for myself, and it’s only for a week.”

He returned her smile and leaned forward, his warm breath fanning her cheek. “What happened to Chad? Surely we’ve gone beyond such formalities now, Nicole.”

Gooseflesh rippled over her skin. Her body quivered. “I don’t think it would be proper for me to call you by your given name.” She risked a glance at his face and wished she hadn’t. His eyes no longer looked worried. They were hot—almost feverish. Her skin heated.

“It didn’t stop you before,” he said, his deep voice a husky rumble. Despite the heat, Nikki shivered.

Oh my!

“I don’t think this is proper either,” she stammered when he brushed his lips against her temple. A delicious tingle skittered down her spine.

“No, probably not,” he said, nibbling her neck.

A strange tension rippled through her muscles, tightening them with pleasure. She arched her neck, granting him access as he slid his lips along the column of her throat. Her hands bunched the skirt of her plain, serviceable dress. Her stomach quivered.

“What are you doing?” she asked, breathless and giddy.

He pulled his hands from his pockets and pulled her closer. “I’m seducing you, I think.”

“Seducing me?” Her heart hammered against her ribs.

“Hmm. You’re doing it again.” Then he lowered his mouth and kissed her.

Graveyards and Tombstones

17 Friday Sep 2010

Posted by lillygayle in Beaufort, cemetaries, Fredericksburg, history, Lilly Gayle, NC, Old Burying Ground, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, parnaormal, The Wild Rose Press, vampire romance

≈ 3 Comments

I love history, and the paranormal has always fascinated me. I suppose that’s why I write both paranormal and historical romance. And perhaps, that explains my love of cemeteries. Or maybe I like cemeteries because as I child, I attended a country church with an old cemetery on the grounds.

After Wednesday night services, my siblings, cousins and some of our friends would play hide and seek in the graveyard. Playing the game among the graves never struck us as disrespectful. Just spooky. And fun. And on Sundays we’d often walk through the graves reading the names.

My father’s sister is buried in that graveyard. She died when she was less than three months old. I remember looking at that concrete lamb on top of that tiny grave wondering what her life would have been like had she lived.

Would I have been blessed with more girl cousins? I sure could have used more! But that graveyard wasn’t the only one I visited as a child.

Growing up, my family used to visit Fredericksburg, Virginia quite often. I have family there and my parents used to take us to visit. While there, we’d take side trips to battlefields and grave yards or spend a day at Belvedere Beach. And sometimes, I think I loved the visits to the graveyards and historical sites as much as I enjoyed my time spent on the beach.

My great uncle’s home has a family plot in the front yard. The home now belongs to my cousin and I never visit John without going into the grave yard and taking a look around.

Lucky for me, I married a man who loves history as much as I do. And we often took our children to visit museums and historical sites when they were younger. Neither daughter fears graveyards, but I’m not sure they have the same love of them that I do.

But my love of spooky old graveyards must be a family trait. I recently spent an afternoon with my brother and his family visiting the Old Burying Ground in Beaufort, NC.

The graveyard is on Anne Street next to a church. There are Southern live oak trees that grow inside the cemetery gates. They’re old and gnarled and provide beauty and shade to the peaceful cemetery. Inside those iron gates beneath a canopy of leaves, rest the souls of soldiers from The Revolution to the Civil War. There are also graves of small children. Too many children.

Sadly, the infant mortality rate in the late 1800’s was 20 to 35% and it was probably closer to 40% in the 18th century.

Adults weren’t immune to the higher mortality rates either. A young minster buried in the church grave yard was only twenty-three at the time of his demise.

There is also the grave of a sea captain and a British Naval officer in the Old Burying Ground in Beaufort. The sea captain is buried beneath his cannon.

And the naval officer was buried standing up, forever saluting his monarch.

I spent over an hour in that cemetery with my brother and his family.And when I left, I realized I don’t need a monument commemorating my life when I die. I have family who will remember me and children who will take a part of me with them into the next generation.

Visiting graveyards reminds me that life goes on long after we leave this mortal plane.

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