Three Proposals and a Scandal

7 Day Book Series.
Today I'm welcoming Anna Campbell
(And there's a giveaway.)

What does a house or a home mean to characters in a book?
I went outside my four walls and asked my neighbours - authors of Romantic Suspense, Historical & Contemporary Romance and Rural Romance. 
Join me and my guests over the next 7 days and find some wonderful new books.

Photo credit: Robyn Hills

Anna Campbell grew up on an avocado farm with views of Moreton Bay and Stradbroke Island. As a result, her ideal setting ever since has involved lots of water… Fortunately for us, she also writes Regency historical romance.

Anna is a multi award-winning Australian author of Regency historical romance. With “A passion for the past” Anna’s much loved books are available in sixteen languages.

A House is a Home When... with Anna Campbell

The Book:  Three Proposals and a Scandal: A Sons of Sin Novella, Book 6 in the Sons of Sin series. This is Anna’s latest release (June 2015)

Character: Lady Marianne Seaton, heroine

Giveaway: Anna is offering two eBook copies of Three Proposals and a Scandal to two lucky winners. Open internationally to all.

Who is Lady Marianne Seaton and where does she live?

Character bio
Lady Marianne Seaton is the Marquess of Baildon’s only child. Her mother died when Marianne was seven, and she’s spent her life since striving for her domineering father’s approval. Her natural shyness is a curse for an heiress at society’s highest level. The world cruelly interprets her reticence as coldness and watches avidly for her to put a foot wrong. When the Duke of Sedgemoor jilts her in favour of his childhood sweetheart, spiteful gossip is rife. Now her father is pressing her to marry rich, powerful Lord Desborough, despite Marianne’s forbidden yearning for rakish Elias Thorne, Lord Wilmott.

The House
Most of the action of Three Proposals and a Scandal takes place at a Regency house party at Ferney. Ferney is the palatial country home of Jonas and Sidonie Merrick, the hero and heroine of the first Sons of Sin book, Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed. Jonas is fabulously rich and he’s spared no expense in creating his Wiltshire residence. And I spared no imagination coming up with this opulent stately home – one of the fun bits of writing historical romance! There’s a huge conservatory with tropical plants and fountains, a gorgeous music room where the first kiss is set, suites for each guest, a morning room, a drawing room, a dining room, a sumptuous library. Personally I’d love a sumptuous library so I always include one in my fictional houses! Outside is just as extravagant with gardens and woodlands and a large prosperous estate, most of which goes underwater when floods trap the guests at Ferney in the course of the story. Next door to Ferney is gloomy Barstowe Hall which was the Merricks’ original family seat. That’s where Elias camps out after he pursues Marianne from London to the country. 

What makes a house a home for Marianne?

Marianne Seaton appears as a minor character in What a Duke Dares. In the scene where the duke of the title tells her that after a year of courtship, he’s suddenly married someone else, she was so brave and gracious, I decided then and there to give her a happy ending of her own. Marianne has never had a chance to discover who she is or where she belongs, and her life is focused on duty rather than joy. Any love she receives is conditional on meeting her father’s impossibly high standards of behaviour. It was lovely to watch her blossom as she found the strength to claim the future she wanted and step beyond the bounds of restrictive Regency propriety. At the beginning, she really has no spiritual home, despite her elevated social status. At the end of the story, after facing heartbreak and scandal, she finds her true home with a loving husband and three spirited children. She’s learned the hard way that home is where the heart is – and claiming a place in the world requires courage and determination and sacrifice. Home for Marianne is the place where love is steadfast and unconditional.  

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Books #1 to #5 in the Sons of Sin series by Anna Campbell
(aren't they sumptuous?)

Do visit Anna on Anna Campbell Facebook Fan Page – she posts fun historical facts and snippets, the occasional funny cartoon, and lets you know about any book sales. It's a great place to hang out with Anna and her readers.

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Book #6 in Sons of Sin series by Anna Campbell

Back cover blurb for book #6 in the Sons of Sin series - Three Proposals and a Scandal

Whose hot kisses will melt the ice princess? All London is agog to know!

As the season reaches its brilliant climax, three very different men pursue beautiful Lady Marianne Seaton. She’s the marriage mart’s greatest prize – even if cruel and unjust gossip paints her as a woman cold and glittering as any diamond.

Lord Desborough is her father’s choice – rich, powerful, safe. Lord Tranter is society’s darling – handsome, dashing, charming.

Then there’s the dangerous, compelling man nobody in their right mind calls eligible. Elias Thorne, son of scandal, reputed deceiver, possessing a rakish fascination no woman can resist. A lady might choose Elias as a lover, but as a husband, he’s too risky a bet. Even if Marianne’s forbidden yearning for him threatens her future and her reputation.

When Marianne’s suitors pursue her to the year’s most glamorous house party, there will be proposals and passion, rivals and revelations, secrets and scandals.

Let battle commence – but will the best man win?

Excerpt from Three Proposals and a Scandal by Anna Campbell

Marianne thought that a malicious fate was set on tormenting her into screaming insanity.

What in the name of heaven was Elias Thorne doing in Wiltshire? She’d hoped that awkward, humiliating encounter in London meant an end to this torture. Seeing him was so unfair when she’d finally put aside her forbidden hopes, when she’d steeled herself to reject his proposal, when she’d struggled so hard to reconcile herself to becoming Lady Desborough.

“Lord Wilmott,” she said, her voice chillier than the air in this isolated copse. Inside, she wasn’t cold at all, but furious. How dare he pursue her to the country when he must know he was the last man she wanted to meet?

A break in the weather had allowed her to escape the house. She’d been frantic for some privacy, particularly from her father. He hadn’t taken today’s news of her delay accepting Desborough well. He’d hectored her until her head ached and she was tempted to give in purely for the sake of peace.

She’d wandered disconsolately through Ferney’s woods before curiosity had drawn her onto the grounds of Barstowe Hall. Now she wished she’d stayed home with her embroidery, despite the prospect of another parental lecture.

Here her other bugbear leaned against a beech tree, looking as smug as a well-fed cat. Temper had her brandishing her closed umbrella like a weapon. She was so heartily sick of the male of the species that she didn’t care if she looked unhinged. Even males whose sheer beauty set her wayward heart somersaulting.

“That’s a poor greeting for an old friend,” Elias said without shifting from the lichen-covered trunk. He was the most remarkably malleable man she’d ever known, fitting himself with feline grace against anything upright and solid. She bit back a waspish demand for him to stand up straight like a Christian.

“An old friend would know when he’s not welcome,” she snapped.

A smile played with his mouth. “Old friends are always welcome.”

Her stare was sour. “Then clearly we’re not friends.”

With a theatrical gesture, he clapped one long-fingered hand to his chest. “You wound me.”

Reluctantly she lowered her umbrella. Paragons of behavior did not batter annoying gentlemen, no matter how much they might like to. “What do you want?”

His amusement receded, leaving in its place a disturbing intensity that set her belly clenching in dread. “You know what I want.”

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A few more of Anna's books...

Click on any book cover or collage to discover all the blurbs, all the books and where to buy, or click here AnnaCampbell.com 

Leave a comment to go into the draw to WIN one of two eBook copies of Three Proposals and a Scandal. 
Open internationally - thank you, Anna!
Good Luck!

And pop back tomorrow to see the next of my special guest authors and discover what a house or home means to a character who is running a multi-million dollar trust fund at night and trying to atone for his past mistakes by day … 

Jennie, in the company of Anna Campbell 

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