Skip to main content

"The Heir" Goes Airborne

When the lonely, overworked Earl of Westhaven decides to stay in London for the summer rather than face more of his ducal father’s marital schemes, the last thing the earl expects is to fall in love with his pretty, secretive housekeeper. When he proposes marriage to her despite the differences in their stations, the very, very last thing he expects is for her to turn him down—repeatedly.

And yet… isn’t romance just the best? “The Heir” is available this week, my debut novel, the first in the “The Duke’s Obsession” trilogy. The earl’s brothers are next in line to earn their happily ever afters, with Devlin St. Just’s story, “The Soldier,” slated for nest summer and Lord Valentine Windham’s story, “The Virtuoso,” coming next fall. I’ll warn you now, though, the Windhams are a big family, and these fellows have FIVE unmarried sisters.

I had such fun writing this book. My hero, Gayle Tristan Montmorency Windham, first came strutting into my imagination as a supporting character in a previous manuscript that also involved His Grace, the Duke of Moreland, behaving badly. When we got all that sorted out, Westhaven arched an aristocratic eyebrow at me, and the discussion went something like this:

“I believe you’re the author, Miss Burrowes.”

“I am that.”

“Well?”

“I beg your pardon, your lordship. Well, what?”

“Well, I understand you to be in the business of manufacturing happily ever afters for deserving fellows like my humble and modestly attractive self. Do you intend that I suffer more of His Grace’s queer starts, or might I trouble you to write a story where I get a proper outcome for a change? One grows weary of being a supporting character, you know, particularly for the likes of Lord Amery.”

“I’ll see what I can do, your lordship.”

He went off to gallop Pericles in the park, while I scratched my head and tried to figure out what sort of woman was going to be up to his weight. For all his good looks, family loyalty, and hard work, Westhaven wasn’t exactly brimming with charm.

Then along comes Anna Seaton, a gently bred lady who, in the role of Westhaven’s housekeeper, isn’t a woman he’d expect to have to charm. Instead, she charms him. The conversation went something like this.

“Anna, I know you have troubles enough as it is, but do you suppose Westhaven has any potential in the swain department?”

She was quiet a moment while she arranged some flowers in a vase. “He’s a good man, dear in his way.”

“Yes, but is he dear enough, in the right way?”

She wrinkled her nose, her gaze going out to the gardens, where Westhaven and his two brothers were coming in from the mews. “He’s lonelier than he even knows. I understand what that’s like, and he positively dotes on his siblings. He’s going to make a first rate duke.”

“Anna Seaton, what I’m asking about has nothing at all to do with strawberry leaves.”

She smiled a little. “No, you’re more in the fig leaf line, aren’t you? I’ll consider it, but if you’ll excuse me, his lordship is likely to be both hungry and thirsty.” She bobbed a little curtsey, and something in the gleam in her eye told me I’d found Westhaven’s match.

The best thing about writing this book wasn’t typing, “The End,” nor even seeing how my characters worked out their difficulties. It wasn’t getting the Call, though that was a stellar moment. It was coming down to my computer early yesterday morning, letting the dogs out, starting the tea kettle, and finding in my email queue “The Heir”’s first piece of fan mail. Somebody derived enjoyment from my book (Hi, Lindsey!).

For so many years, as a single mom, as someone trying run her own business, as an attorney dealing every day with families in crisis, my primary consolation and coping mechanism was a well written romance novel. Mary Balogh, Loretta Chase, Judith Ivory, Sophia Nash, and many others ought to get invitations to my family reunions, so heavily did I rely on their wit and talent to sustain me through difficult years.

As a writer, I never want to lose sight of how significant a little piece of commercial fiction can be, just because it entertains. I want to contribute to other busy, sometimes overwhelming lives the way so many authors contributed to mine. My debut year is ending, but I hope my contributions in this regard are just beginning.

Comments

  1. What a wonderful trilogy name and concept! Raising a glass of cyber bubbly to you, Grace!

    BTW, I loved the conversation between you and your hero.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The dratted man is Anna's hero, which I suppose is appropriate, given that he spent four hundred pages earning her devotion.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like lots of fun, Grace!!! Isn't it wonderful that families were so big in olden times???

    ReplyDelete
  4. Terry, I'm one of seven siblings, as I believe was Jane Austen. I'm hoping that's significant, but I wasn't about to HAVE a big family myself. Nope, nope, nope.

    ReplyDelete
  5. LOL, Grace! That's neat though! I have one sister, my mother was an only child, and my dad had one sister, no children. So I don't even have cousins. But when I was doing research into the family tree, I found it was more like your family--6 or 7 kids per family, which meant lots and lots of expanding roots as I added to the tree!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Grace: What an awesome launch ... love that your hero talked to you! Now I know that I'm not totally crazy when I hear character voices whispering in my ear! LOL
    Congratulations and may this debut year be the first of dozens!

    ReplyDelete
  7. My heroes have been known to ride shotgun for me when I drive to the West Coast to see my folks. These fellows are lousy navigators and all they do is gripe about how difficult it is, being so heroic without a proper heroine to inspire their best efforts. It's enough to make you pull over and start writing half way through Missouri.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sounds like you are off to a grand beginning, Grace. Many good wishes for a fabulous career!
    Amelia

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congrats, Grace, on a stellar launch and such wonderful reader feedback!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's always interesting when my characters talk to me - glad I'm not the only one! I tried to kill off a secondary character once - but he wouldn't let me!

    The books sound great! Best of luck with all your new releases!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good Luck Grace with the new book and for those of you who haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for. This story was simply wonderful from page one to the end. Another keeper for my collection.
    huggs,
    Terra

    ReplyDelete
  12. Terra, Can I send you a short excerpt from the second book? I've been meaning to put it up on the website, but have been a tad busy. Thanks so much for your encouraging words!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Congratulations on your debut release! Isn't fan mail the greatest thing ever? I expect you'll be getting lots more. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Grace~

    Congratulations, Girlfriend! I'm so excited to read it. Now all I have to do is get my book off to Deb, The Heir will be my reward.

    Hugs...Robin :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a great post. I loved how the hero convinced you to write his story. All the characters sound fascinating. Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Grace. I enjoyed your post! Best of luck to you with this series. It sounds wickedly delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, what a lovely post, Grace. I hope the same thing for you.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment