An
adventurer and storyteller at heart, Annette Blair has explored
nineteenth-century Amish America; Regency England; and madcap, modern Salem
Mass, where bold women follow the Celtic faith with heart. There, she fought
dragons, and fell in love with an angel. More recently, she’s taken to solving
mysteries beside Connecticut’s Mystic River.
Annette's
work has garnered multiple Romantic Times TOP PICKS, Reviewers’ Choice Awards,
and HOLT Medallion nominations. A triple Golden Heart Finalist, she's also finaled
in the Golden Leaf, the Lauries, the Golden Quill, and National Readers' Choice
Awards. She’s won multiple Booksellers Best Awards, LORIES Awards, Laurel
Wreath, Blue Boa, Aspen Gold, RIO, Southern Magic, More than Magic, Orange
Rose, Winter Rose, PRISM, Beacon, Colorado Awards of Excellence, Write Touch
Readers' Choice Awards and an Orange County Book Buyer's Best Award. With SEX
AND THE PSYCHIC WITCH, Annette took home three Anne-Bonney Readers’ Choice
Awards out of four. CLOAKED IN MALICE her 5th Vintage Magic Mystery, was
her first NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.
E-books
include The Rogues Club & The Knave of Hearts Series,
Author Links:
Series Synopsis….
Knave
of Hearts Series by Annette Blair:
What
do a sea captain, a man of affairs, a comatose nobleman, and a vicar have in
common? The Zebulon Fishkill Academy for Unruly Boys, that’s what, and a
knaves’ pact to last a lifetime.
NY
Times Bestselling Author, Annette Blair, presents Sexy Scoundrels, bold brides
and marriages of sheer inconvenience. Get hooked on laughter, romance, calamity
and tears in a sassy, sensual quartet of “scandalicious” Regency Historical
Romance.
Book Links…..
Knave of Hearts Series, Regency Historical Romance
Book One--FREE!
Book Two
Book Three
Book Four
SEA SCOUNDREL
A Regency Historical Romance
by Annette Blair
An Excerpt
With
a scowl, a vial, a cloth and a knife, the rogue approached ... and
Patience stepped back. “If you think I’ll let a man, who’s been furious
since setting eyes on me, gouge me with a knife, you’re daft.”
“Shut up and give me your hand.” He dragged her close to the window and she let out a yelp.
He almost smiled. “I haven’t touched you yet.” He probed the largest
sliver and dislodged it, the pain of him ripping it out surprising her.
“Ouch!” Patience reclaimed her hand to soothe the sore spot with her
mouth. As she sucked it, he seemed ... startled? Fascinated? Whatever
it was, it gave her the fluttering jitters.
“Damn it, Patience,” he all but groaned. “Give me that hand and don’t move again until I tell you.”
“Yes sir, Captain, sir.” She pulled her hand away to salute. “Oh, sorry,” she said, when he snarled and pulled it back.
She was forced to kneel on the bench as he tugged her hand across the wide sill and close to the window. “Some of them are so small, I can hardly see them,” he said absently.
By the time they were in a position he found acceptable, her arm was stretched so far, her fingers touched the window. Her would-be surgeon hunched over her, one of his knees between hers, and she felt the contact to her toes. In his concentration he squinted, sketching deep lines around his ink-blue eyes and furrowing lines above his brows. In demon-like concentration his dark eyes were a perfect match to his bronzed skin and waving ebony hair. “You must be very old,” she said startling him. “Ouch.” She moved but he pinned her in place with his legs.
“Quit squirming. I’m nearly finished.” He concentrated on her hand. “Why do you think I’m old?”
“You have gray in your hair. Aunt Harriette does too and she’s very old.”
He frowned in mock-indignation, and she winked.
He chuckled. “I started turning gray four days ago. I suspect you gave your aunt her gray hair too.”
“So she says.” With
a sigh, Patience lay her head on her arm, and he shifted so he was no
longer above but beside her, her injured hand protected in his large
capable one. With those little lines relaxed now around his eyes, he gazed into hers.
The center-hung lantern creaked softly with the movement of the ship, almost like a hymn. And from nowhere, a sense of elation, or contentment -- or perhaps just relief that he was finished -- filled Patience.
As she had done, the Captain raised her sore hand to his lips and soothed it with his mouth.
Patience’s heart beat a new, rapid rhythm. Prickles raced from her hand, up her arm, and through her body, resting in the most ludicrous places. She
conceived an absurd notion to explain to him what was happening to her,
then she saw in his midnight eyes that he sensed what was happening and
where those feelings centered.
Heat rising in her face, Patience fairly leapt from the bench. “Thank you. I’ll go up, out, and leave you to your work.”
He emitted a strangled sound, like a groan and a growl at once, and if she could breathe, she would laugh. “Wait,” he ordered, in a sudden reversal that forced her to obey.
Trying to scowl, failing, he poured an oil from the vial onto a cloth and soothed the sore spots. Slow, soft ... sensual ... wonderful. And she saw wonder in his eyes too ... until his scowl snuffed their moment of harmony. And he nodded, affirming it, glad of it. “I want you to put a stop to Rose and Shane.”
“What?” Despite her confusion, his anger -- and now hers -- was understandable, comfortable, and easier to deal with.
“They’re spending entirely too much time together,” he said.
“They’re just friends. We’ve only been at sea four days.”
“Precisely. In a few weeks, they’ll be ... even friendlier. You’d damn-well better see to it that doesn’t happen.”
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