What's an impoverished aristocrat to do when a beautiful heiress asks him to marry her?
Katherine is an heiress who uses her shrewish tongue to keep fortune hunters away. But what is it about Lord Ashfair that leaves her speechless?
Katherine is an heiress who uses her shrewish tongue to keep fortune hunters away. But what is it about Lord Ashfair that leaves her speechless?
Although in need of money, Peter Monroe, Marquis of Ashfair, has
resolved to restore his ravaged estates on his own. How can he convince
Katherine that he wants her, not her money?
Publisher: Breathless Press
Date Published: March 14
Genre: Regency Romance
Word Count: 18,000
Available
for purchase:
The scene from THE SHREW THAT TAMES:
The evening of the Harrington's ball,
Ashfair and Sir Anthony escorted the Driscol sisters and their mother to the
event. Bianca was besieged at once, and her dance card filled quickly.
Katherine stood to the side, watching
her sister's card fill.
Ashfair bowed over her hand. "Will
you do me the honor of adding my name to your card, Miss Driscol?"
She clutched her card tighter, her head
up. "Really, my lord, you do not have to dance with me simply because you
are my escort."
His brow went up. The men in this town
were all fools if they would dance with such a lovely woman only to edge closer
to her money or her sister and not herself. How many times had she been hurt
because of it? "You are right, of course. I have to dance with you because
I want to see what it is like to hold you in my arms. There are two waltzes
this evening. Please put my name beside one of them. And if you will honor me
with a second dance, the quadrille would be nice."
As she added his name to her card, he
bent to whisper, "I wish I could dance more than twice with you."
"You are entirely too forward, my
lord." He heard her set down. However, he also saw the blush that tinged
her cheeks. He tried not to smile, but he was beginning to enjoy teasing a
blush into her cheeks.
Katherine had a smattering of attention,
mostly, Ashfair
At last they began the quadrille, and
Ashfair led Katherine onto the dance floor. As they went through the forms of
the dance, he noticed that she became transformed. Her features softened, she
gracefully floated, and pleasure sparkled in her eyes.
"You love to dance!" he
exclaimed.
Laughing, she agreed. "I always
have."
The movements took them apart for a
moment. When they came together again he said, "A smile or two from you
and your dance card would be full."
Her mouth pursed. "And be forced to
endure every crack-wit fortune hunter in the place with sweaty hands and a
penchant for writing bad verses to my eyes?" She shook her head. "I'd
rather be a wallflower."
Surely by now she knew he was one of
those fortune hunters. He pulled her close. "You are dancing with
me."
She tossed her head. "You do not
have sweaty hands, my lord."
"And so far, I have failed to write
a single ode to your eyes. What a dastardly escort I am."
"Yes, terrible." She laughed.
Micehlle Stegman's take on what is
happening in the story:
The Shrew That Tames is a twisted
retelling of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. I never did like the way
Petruchio treated Katherina in that play. And I never liked the way she
knuckled under after what I considered rather abusive treatment. She had a
right to be a shrew with every man around after her for her money. Men who
never saw her for herself.
In my story I follow Shakespeare's
general story line, but I give my hero, Peter
Monroe, Marquis of Ashfair, good
reason for the things he does--and none of it is malicious. I want him to truly
care for Kathryn, not just her money. She deserves a real hero!
By the time we get to this scene, he
has already begin to care for her, and although she realizes he is in need of
her money, she is beginning to like him, too. This scene cements their
attraction. He thinks the other men are fools for preferring Kathryn's sister.
He doesn't want to see her hurt.
She lets him know she realizes he is a
fortune hunter, but she also lets him know it doesn't matter because she is
starting to care for him and can tell he cares for her.
We also see deeper into Kathryn's character.
She isn't just a pursed-mouth shrew. She's a human being who loves to laugh and
dance--if only it wouldn't open her up to opportunists.
These two are still "dancing
around each other," both literally and figuratively, in this scene, but
they are beginning to think that there might be more for them as a couple than
merely fortune hunter and heiress.
Author
Bio:
Michele Stegman has
loved history all her life. When she was studying history in graduate school,
one of her professors quipped that she put too much romance into her research
papers. She decided to put in more romance and write historical
romances.
Michele lives her
history every day in an 1840's log cabin, and sleeps in a 200 year old bed with
her very own hero, her husband, Ron. She spins, weaves, makes her own soap, and
bakes her own bread and crackers.
Two cats, Chopstix
and 5, demand lots of petting, but her two daughters, Kira and Shana, are the
delight of her life.
Michele also dabbles
in art, and is a member of the Southeastern Indiana Art Guild.
You can contact
Michele at Stegman14@yahoo.com or leave a comment on her website at
www.MicheleStegman.com.
THE SHREW THAT TAMES, her latest release from Breathless
Press, is set in Regency England and is a retelling, or rather a complete
twisting, of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.
Also from Breathless
Press is her Medieval romance, Conquest of the Heart.
Connect
with Michele Stegman:
Hi Michele,
ReplyDeleteI really love your vision (re-envisioning) for the Taming of the Shrew. I agree with you--the heroine gets treated horribly and takes it like a mat. Your story sounds much better suited to our times. Of course, you're also hitting my soft spot for Regency Romance. This looks like a wonderful read. :)
Thank you for hosting me, Melissa!
ReplyDeleteI much prefer Shakespeare's Portia in Merchant of Venice. He gives her an important role and a real person.