Scandal On Half Moon Street

So there are only a few things that make a snowy and cold day even more magical around Christmas time, one of them is a Holiday Regency Romance to read while I sip hot chocolate. (preferably a Salted Caramel one from S-Bux) Astraea Press has recently released a selection of Holiday Regency Romances that are the perfect companion to that cup of chocolate.  Today I'm thrilled to have Vivian Roycroft share a sample of her Holiday Regency Romance "Scandal On Half Moon Street".    Here's the blurb and a exciting excerpt!

Blurb...

All the Honorable Anne Kirkhoven wants is to be wrapped in the arms of the man she loves, Frederick Shaw, Esquire, barrister, solicitor, writer of the best Gothic romance novels in England, and surely a future Member of Parliament. But despite Frederick’s many perfections, Anne’s mama has forbidden her to speak with him, much less marry him, and until Anne attains her majority, all they can do is wait.

But now the most notorious duke in the ton, Ernst Anton Oldenburg, the First Duke of Cumberland (and some say a foreign prince), is making a public point of assessing her… attributes, sending shivers to portions of her anatomy she’d rather not name. Who’s the right man? And will her reputation survive the Duke’s assault long enough for her to find out?




Want A little more?  Here's a excerpt!

The Fleet Street crowd thinned ahead, beside the windowed front of the linen draper’s shop, and there stood sweet Dorcas, one of the most delectable morsels he’d ever chewed. A stray beam of unexpected winter sunlight flashed off her golden curls, and the sudden blaze reflected, sharp and multiplied, in the many little diamond panes of the window beyond. Her gaze meshed with his through the crowd, that split-second, undeniable flash of recognition as bright as her hair in the sunshine. Her equally brilliant smile flashed a moment later.

An indiscreet moment later, to judge by the scowl of her new husband beside her.

And of course their swift, smiling recognition had been spotted. Dear Lady Gower’s hawk-like eyes, glittering beneath an admittedly outré bonnet, glanced back and forth between them from her perch aboard her high-flyer phaeton. When her glance swiveled his way once more, he kissed his hand to her and gave the twice-widowed and adorable predator his most seductive smile. The matched greys smacked the phaeton’s front wheel against the sidewalk’s edge before she returned to her own affairs.

And of course, by then the new husband had whisked sweet Dorcas beyond the Temple Bar. She might be a merchant’s wife now — since March, that was, and her new husband was no longer all that new — but as a former Wentworth-Gower, she was too well-bred to glance over her shoulder at another man while leaning on her husband’s arm, and her fading presence plunged the street again into a dull winter’s day. Ernst Anton Oldenburg, His Grace, the Duke of Cumberland sighed, but didn’t bother to hide his satisfied smile. Dorcas, now Mrs. Robinson, looked lovelier than ever, with her hand resting unconsciously on her almost-done belly, her complexion positively glowing, and Mr. Robinson glowering over her shoulder.

Well, he’d done what he’d intended for her. His Grace could honestly say, he’d made sweet Dorcas’ dream come true.

Leaving him free for a new adventure.

Who sat with her mother in the coffee house across the way.

In the table behind the window, the Honorable Anne Elizabeth Henrietta Kirkhoven, youngest daughter of Baron Wotton of Boughton Malherbe, Kent, sat straight as a sword blade over her cup. Her deliciously delicate face wore the most perfect rose-hued flesh and her eyes were downcast, but her Cupid’s-bow mouth curved in a smile both demure and knowing. Beside her, Lady Wotton chattered away in the superior manner some still-beautiful matrons claimed as a birthright. As well they should, of course, as much as their daughters’ mischievous innocence allowed.

And yes, there in the deepest shadows of the room’s corner, lurking out of Lady Wotton’s sight, sat the young solicitor the daughter admired and the mother scorned.

Time to play.

Time to play...what a great line! Hooked? Here's the buy links for both Amazon and Barnes.  So curl up with your e-reader, and enjoy Scandal On Half Moon Street.

Astraea Press

Smashwords

Kobo

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

Here's a little bit about our featured author:

Vivian Roycroft is a pseudonym for historical fiction and adventure writer J. Gunnar Grey. And if she’s not careful, her pseudonymous pseudonym will have its own pseudonym soon, too. Along with a library card, a yarn stash, and a corner at Starbucks.