Never Desire a Duke (One Scandalous Season) (30 page)

Dear Reader,

History has always been my thing.

Boring? Never! I’ve always viewed the subject as a colorful, dynamic puzzle of moving pieces, fascinating to analyze and relive, in whatever way possible. I used to have a history professor who often raised the question, “What if?”

For example, what if Ragnar Lodbrok and his naughty horde of Vikings had decided that they adored farming, so instead of setting off to maraud the coast of England in search adventure and riches, they had just stayed home? How might that omission from history have changed the face of England?

And jumping forward a few centuries: What if historical bad boy Henry VIII had not had such poor impulse control, and had instead just behaved himself? What if he’d tried harder to be faithful to Catherine? What if he’d never taken a shine to Anne Boleyn? There wouldn’t have been an Elizabeth I. How might this have changed the path of history?

At the heart of history, of course, are people and personalities and motivations.
Characters
. They weren’t flat, dusty words in black and white on the pages of a textbook. Instead, they lived in a vivid, colorful, and dangerous world. They had hearts and feelings and suffered agonies and joy.

Just like Vane Barwick, the Duke of Claxton, and his
estranged wife, the duchess Sophia, who stand on the precipice of a forever sort of good-bye. Though the earlier days of their marriage were marked by passion and bliss, so much has happened since, and on this cold, dark night, understanding and forgiveness seem impossible.

Of course, in NEVER DESIRE A DUKE, the “what if?” is a much simpler question, in that the outcome will not change the course of nations.

What if there hadn’t been a snow storm that night?

Hmm. Now that I’ve forced that difficult question upon us, I realize I don’t want to imagine such an alternate ending to Vane and Sophia’s love story. Being snowbound with someone gorgeous and intriguing and desirable and, yes, provoking, is such a delicious fantasy.

If there hadn’t been a snow storm that night…

Well… thankfully, dear reader, there was!

Dear Reader,

So there I was, sitting in my office in the middle of a heat wave, staring at a blank page waiting for inspiration to strike. I typed Chapter One. Nothing. Nada.

And the problem wasn’t that I was writing a Christmas story in the middle of July. I had the air conditioner cranked up, holiday music playing in the background, a pine-scented candle burning, and a supply of Hammond’s chocolate-filled peppermint candy canes on my desk. FYI, best candy canes ever!

No, the problem was my heroine, Madison Lane. I didn’t get her, and honestly, I was afraid I wasn’t going to like her very much. Because really, who doesn’t love Christmas and small towns? At that point, I was thinking of changing the title from
The Trouble with Christmas
to
The Trouble with Madison Lane
.

It took a couple of hours of staring at her picture on my wall before Madison finally opened up to me. Okay, so I may have thrown a few darts at her, drawn devil horns on her head, and given her an impressive mustache before she did. But she won me over. Once I found out what had happened to her in that small Southern town all those years ago, I fell in love with Madison. She’s strong, incredibly smart, and loyal, and after what she suffered as a little girl, she deserves a happily-ever-after more than most.

Now all I needed was a man who was up for the challenge. Enter Gage McBride, the gorgeous small-town sheriff and single father of two young girls. A born protector, Gage is strong enough to deal with Madison and smart enough to see the sweet and vulnerable woman beneath her tough, take-no-prisoners attitude. But just because these two are a perfect match doesn’t mean their journey to a happily-ever-after is an easy one. The title of the book is THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS, after all.

I hope you have as much fun reading Gage and Madison’s story as I did writing it. And I hope, like Gage and Madison, that this holiday season finds you surrounded by the love of family and friends.