Wicked Indiscretions

It's here: Book Five in the Wicked Affairs series. Release day is February 18th!

Marriage is fraught with emotion and I love writing about this bond. This is Book Five in the Wicked Affairs series and in it, we meet David and Juliana Abernathy. David is the strong, silent type and a reluctant marquess, titled after his brother died. He is married to the beautiful Juliana (sister to Clarissa Dunnaway from Wicked Desires and sister to Audrina Paquin that you met in Wicked Secrets) Juliana is vivacious and chatty, the perfect foil to David's seriousness. And his dogs love her.

They are madly in love and welcome their first child - only he dies in his infancy. David and Juliana are heartbroken and grief destroys their loving relationship.

Grief is a dark, debilitating emotion and has many facets, affecting one physically, socially and spiritually. It tears David and Juliana apart. This might be the most moving story I've written.

So here's the blurb:

David and Juliana Abernathy’s marriage is unique in the ton—they have real love. That is, until the loss of their only child shatters their short-lived happiness. Despair and anger drives David into the arms of countless paramours and Juliana into the arms of a notorious Italian Lothario.

When David realizes what he has lost, he arrives in Italy with one goal and snatches his wife from the bed of her lover, intending to bring her home. Could their situation be worse?

They are no longer the innocent, loving fools of their first year of marriage and they demonstrate that each night they are alone together. Beneath the hurt and betrayal, they can hide their love but their passion burns hotter than ever.

Wicked Releases

First off, thanks readers for the wonderful response to Wicked Secrets, Book Four in the Wicked Affairs series. Alizabet is one of my favorite heroines. I write a certain kind of heroine and she is one who appears to be the weaker sex but has a hidden strength. In other words, she is a lady.

Rule's restaurant, London

So the heroine I'm writing now, Viviana Love, is completely different. She was introduced in Book Three, Wicked Lord and will have her own book, with a working title of Wicked Heart, which will be the sixth book in the series. (I'll talk about Book Five shortly.)

If you'll remember, she is an opera singer. She gave birth to Redding's illegitimate son, Teddy who later died. At the end of Book Three, she is leaving Glen Arbor, escorted by the staid and proper Baron Alexander Preston. Needless to say, Viv has a way with men and Alex doesn't stand a chance.

So you know Wicked Affairs is about married couples. Viv and Alex are caught by the oldest trap of all. We call it knocked up. Viv finds herself with child and they find themselves married. Each to a complete stranger.

Viv tries to get past the baron's properness. Alex just wants to know her. But Viv is determined to be her own woman and will not allow Alex to be part of her life, other than meeting their physical demands and she refuses to give up the opera.

Drury Lane Theater, 1794

Alex falls hard. Viv finds him attractive and is slowly won over by his deep-seated kindness. The boring baron is truly a once in a lifetime man.

But Viviana Love isn't who she claims to be and Alex will go to any lengths to keep his most unconventional wife, including accepting the aid of his two least favorite people in London: The Duke of Pelham and the Earl of Redding.

What do you think?

Well, back to Book Five, Wicked Indiscretions. This book is already contracted and written and is with my Ellora's Cave editor awaiting edits. Here's a copy of the cover, completed by the lovely and talented Dar Albert.

This book is probably the most emotional one I've written.

David and Juliana Abernathy are truly in love but grief rips them apart. Five years into their marriage, they live in different countries, each determined to forget the past and forget their pain. But David wants his wife back and he wants his heir. Their only secret is that they are both still deeply in love but they don't know how to get past the hurt and betrayal.

Stay tuned. I'll let you know when there is a release date from Ellora's Cave.