Welcome once again to Duck Chat!

And please welcome Elizabeth Hoyt to the Pond for the day!

If you’re an historical romance fan, you know that Elizabeth came racing into our lives in 2006 when her Princes trilogy debuted, and she hasn’t slowed down one bit since then. Next came her Legends of the Four Soldiers and she’s now working on a new series, which she’ll tell us about in a bit.

Elizabeth is married; she loves gardening but I’m assuming she doesn’t grow tomatoes since she really doesn’t care for them, but she does have twenty-six named varieties of daylilies in her garden; she grew up in Minnesota, the daughter of a frog biologist. She began her writing career at age thirty-five and her first book was published just after her fortieth birthday. Lucky for us it didn’t take any longer than that! Be sure to leave a comment or question for Elizabeth because she’s giving away a signed copy of To Desire a Devil!

So now that you know a little about Elizabeth, let’s chat!

DUCK CHAT: Elizabeth, for those few readers who may not have read your books yet – hopefully it’s only a few! – would tell us about your first series, The Princes Trilogy, just an overview of how the series came about and a little something about each book?

ELIZABETH HOYT: The Princes Trilogy books are (loosely) linked by the heroes, an odd trio of friends who all belong to the Agrarian Club which meets in a coffee house. The Raven Prince, is a about Edward de Raaf, the Earl of Swartingham, who lost his entire family in a smallpox epidemic when he was a boy. Edward is trying to re-create his family and has already found a suitable lady to marry. But then his land steward hires a new secretary for Edward while he is away and she turned out to be a rather argumentative widow who turns all of Edward’s plans upside-down. Harry Pye, the hero of The Leopard Prince, is a mysterious land steward. He finds to his horror that his employer, Lady Georgina Maitland, insists on visiting the land he oversees in the north of England and interfering with both his work and his private life. Simon Iddesleigh, Viscount Iddesleigh, is the hero of The Serpent Prince. He’s a sophisticated gentleman with a cutting wit, but he is entirely undone by a provincial lady who sees right through his blather.

These were the first books I wrote and actually I can’t really remember how they came about other than the fact that I was trying my hand at writing historical romance and then (as now) I was most interested in the hero of a story.

DC: If you could retire any question and never, ever have it asked again, what would it be? Feel free to answer it.

EH: The dreaded “Where do you get your ideas?” It’s dreaded because I honestly don’t know. Ideas just arrive while I’m driving or weeding my garden. It’s just part of being a writer, I think.

DC: Then there’s your Legend of the Four Soldiers series. What’s the genesis of this series? To Taste Temptation and To Seduce a Sinner are the first two books in the series; would you tell our readers about those stories?

EH: Well, okay, I do know (partly) where I got the idea for these books. The war in Iraq had just started and I wanted to address the plight of the soldier returning home from war. I grew up just post the Vietnam War, with all the books and movies about the subject, and I used to read World War I poetry as a romantic teenager. The idea of the soldier with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has always interested to me. So I wanted to explore what would happen to good soldiers, brave soldiers, who had fought well and returned home to an era that didn’t know anything at all about PTSD and where mental illness was considered a moral weakness.

The Legend of the Four Soldiers is about four very different men who were in the same regiment during the French and Indian War in the American Colonies. While marching in the New England woods, their regiment is ambushed and massacred. To Taste Temptation starts the series six years later with Samuel Hartley who was an American scout. He’s now a wealthy merchant come to London ostensibly on business, but in reality to find the man who betrayed his regiment. To do this he needs entry into London society and he seeks the help of Lady Emeline Gordon, a proper widow who is rather aghast at his backwoods ways.

To Seduce a Sinner is about Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, a bon vivant, always the center of attention during the day, who hides a secret at night. After Jasper is left at the altar by his flighty fiancée he is propositioned by Melisande Fleming. Melisande is plain and brown and has been in love with Jasper for years—though he has no idea of that when he hastily marries her.

DC: In May To Beguile a Beast, the third book in the series, hit the shelves. We meet Alistair and Helen in this story. Can you give us some insight to them and their relationship?

EH: Sir Alistair Munroe is a naturalist who was horribly scarred during the war. Because of his scars he’s hidden himself away in his crumbling castle in Scotland. But one and dark stormy night he answers the door to find a beautiful woman on his doorstep claiming to be his new housekeeper. To Beguile a Beast is a “Beauty and the Beast” story, but I wanted to explore what physical disfigurement meant in an age without plastic surgery, how a man can lose all hope and how he can regain it with the right woman.

DC: Then in November we’ll see the long-awaited To Desire a Devil, all about Reynaud and Beatrice. Can we get a little sneak peak, please?

EH: Reynaud St. Aubyn, Viscount Hope is the fourth and final soldier in the series. Presumed dead for seven years, he escapes captivity and returns home, ready to resume his life. But the life he left isn’t there anymore. His father, the Earl of Blanchard is dead, another man has claimed the title, and there are rumors that he’s insane. Everyone seems to be against him except the new earl’s niece, a woman named Beatrice Corning. Beatrice for her part is dangerously attracted to Reynaud, but can she make him see that what they have may be more important than the life he’s trying to regain?

DC: I’ve heard writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions, or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes?

EH: Sure. In fact, when I wrote the first scene of To Desire a Devil, I ended up with a character I hadn’t planned on (Beatrice’s friend, Lottie.)

DC: Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing? Who usually wins?

EH: Hmm. I don’t find myself arguing with characters, but I as I’m writing the book does sometimes go off the road and into the woods.

DC: And congratulations are in order for your new series, Maiden Lane, you just contracted with Grand Central Publishing for. Wicked Intentions is the first book in the series. Can you tell us about the series as a whole and then some about Wicked Intentions?

EH: The Maiden Lane series is set during the gin craze in London when one out of every four houses sold gin for a penny and a half a cup. There was wide-spread addiction, crime, and violence, but for economic reasons it took forever for Parliament to crack down on the sale of gin. My fictional Maiden Lane is smack in the middle of one of the worst areas of London at this time, St. Giles, And on Maiden Lane is the Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children run by Temperance Dews and her brother. But the home has recently lost its patron and the home is in dire financial straits. One night a man appears in her sitting room, Lazarus Huntington, Lord Caire, who has an interesting proposition: if Temperance will help him search St. Giles for a murderer, he will help her find a new patron for the home.

DC: What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?

EH: A good book.

DC: Now, I have to ask you about a few of the fun facts I read on your website. I became quite curious about some of them! First, you found yourself accidentally locked in at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, not hearing the bell indicating closing time. How long were you locked in? How did you get out? What was the reaction of the museum staff? I could go on for a bit on the little questions, so anything else you can tell us about the experience, please!

EH: The Ashmolean Museum is a wonderful place and I highly recommend it to anyone who happens to be in Oxford. When I was sixteen my family spent a year in Oxford and I used to walk to the “Ashmole” (as my art teacher called it) and spend entire afternoons there. On this particular day I was looking at Greek pottery, which at that time was literally stacked up in cases in the Ashmolean. Greek pottery can be quite pornographic, so I was taking a deep, artistic interest in the pottery when somehow I didn’t hear the warning bell, (Which, in my own defense, was kind of a musical chime.) Then I heard the door lock to the room I was in. So being a resourceful teenager I ran over and pounded on the doors and was let out by a middle-aged security guard who told me to listen better next time. Sadly, I still stare at Greek pottery in museums.

DC: How do you feel your male or female characters have evolved over your career? Do you think you write them differently now than you did when you started?

EH: Well, my “career” is only three years old—I was first published in 2006. I don’t think my heroes and heroines have evolved much in that time. Readers may disagree.

DC: Another fun fact tidbit is the fact you learned the difference between a frog and toad from your father due to this profession. I know this probably won’t be the question on the list, but I’m curious! LOL, what is the difference??? I’m a country girl and couldn’t tell you!

EH: My father used to take the entire family frog collecting in Minnesota when I was a child. He was interested in leopard frogs (the green frog with black spots that most people think of when they think of frogs.) Frogs generally have webbed fingers, toads don’t. Frogs generally live in or near wet spots and have smooth, damp skin (I once made the mistake of calling it “slimy” in front of my father!) Toads have dry, generally bumpy skin and the most common toads in North America excrete a poison from the bumps on their backs. It doesn’t hurt people, but it tastes bad to animals.

DC: Is there a genre you haven’t tackled but would like to try?

EH: I’d love to write a middle school book someday.

DC: What advice would you give to your younger self?

EH: Not to worry so much. But I wouldn’t have listened.

DC: Okay, just one more and I’ll let my curiosity go! You met your husband on an archeological dig. Would you tell us about that, where you were, what type of dig, and any romantic details you’d like to share?

EH: It was a summer field school in southwestern Wisconsin in the middle of a corn field and it was very hot and dirty and I thought my future husband was a complete jerk. He was the TA in charge of the dig (an older man!) and he strode around the dig in a tiny pair of running shorts (it was the 1980’s) and a bandana around his neck—no shirt—and was very grim because the dig was his doctoral thesis. (Which led to the comment whenever something went wrong, “it’s not my thesis!” Sadly, my future husband didn’t find it very funny.)

Almost a year later I took a lab class in which my future husband was the TA, although (as he made very clear) he didn’t grade me. After a couple of months he asked me out and six weeks later we were engaged.

DC: If you were a book, what would your blurb be?

EH: Hidden depths

DC: What would be your “voice’s” tagline?

EH: Strong, sensuous, and smart

DC: You also write as Julia Harper. For the Love of Pete is your latest release there. Can you tell us about that book and also what’s next for Julia?

EH: For the Love of Pete is about Dante Torelli, an undercover FBI agent assigned to protect a mob informant and his family. But when the informant’s hiding place is blown, a baby girl is snatched by a ruthless hitman. Now, Dante must save the toddler, uncover the traitor in his department, evade various bad guys, and deal with the toddler’s sexy aunt, all before the biggest mob trial in Chicago history, set to begin in just three days.

I’m contracted for one more Julia Harper book, right now we don’t have a release date.

DC: If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?

EH: Who knows?

DC: Aside from your Maiden Lane series, anything else exciting on the horizon for Elizabeth Hoyt?

EH: Well, I’m writing and posting a free novella on my website this year. It’s called The Ice Princess and features a secondary character from the Princes Trilogy, Coral Smythe, the Aphrodite of Aphrodite’s Grotto. All the chapters to date are posted here.

Lightning Round:

- dark or milk chocolate?   – milk chocolate
- smooth or chunky peanut butter?    – chunky
- heels or flats?    – flats
- coffee or tea?    – either, depending on my mood
- summer or winter?    – winter
- mountains or beach?     – mountains
- mustard or mayonnaise?   – both
- flowers or candy?    – flowers
- pockets or purse?     – purse
- Pepsi or Coke?    – Pepsi
- ebook or print?   – large print print book

And just because:

1. What is your favorite word?    – I’m a writer, I have an infinite number of favorite words. But I’ll go with serendipity.
2. What is your least favorite word?    – Squat. Isn’t that just the ugliest sounding word?
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?    – I get excited by other people’s creativity and talent. A really well written, smart movie, for example, ramps up my own creativity.
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?    – people who are jerks
5. What sound or noise do you love?   – crickets at night
6. What sound or noise do you hate?   – revving motors.
7. What is your favorite curse word?   – fuck
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?     – None. I’m very, very happy with what I do for a living.
9. What profession would you not like to do?   – Anything that involves a boss
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?   – “You’ve done well.”

DC: Elizabeth, we’re so glad you joined us today!  Thank you!

Gwen’s review of The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt
Historical romance released by Forever on 1 Sep 07

This book surprised me.  I read the excerpt and thought, “Oh look.  Nice, predictable historical.  Simple lass nurses wounded aristocrat, they fall in love and live HEA.”  So, I wasn’t in a big tearing hurry to read it.  Figured I’d get around to it eventually.  Well, I finally picked it up.  Holy crap.  Was I ever WRONG. 

This book was surprisingly unpredictable for me.  I read it in a day (thank goodness for Spring Break or I’d be looking for a job now).

We have talked about Hoyt’s Prince trilogy quite a lot on TGTBTU.  So much so, I only recently remembered I hadn’t yet read The Serpent Prince.  So yesterday, once I realized I was getting a bit burned-out on paranormals and contemporaries, I picked The Serpent Prince out of the TBR pile/mountain for a nice change of pace. 

Am I glad I did!  If you haven’t read this book yet, do not let anyone stop you on the way to the bookstore.  You must go buy it and read it.  Right now.  I’ll still be here when you’re done and you can share my gushing praise of this book.  G’head.  I’ll wait…

Are you back?   Finished reading it yet?  DIDN’T YOU LOVE IT?!

I don’t often get gushy over, well, anything.  I like to think I’m too pragmatic for “gush.”  You know – worldly older woman and all that.  But this book blew me away.

For those of you who didn’t heed my purchasing advice, imagine a formulaic historical turned almost completely on its ear.  What you thought would happen, doesn’t.  How you thought a character should act, won’t.  And the writing!  Oh my goodness, the writing!  I am soooo an author’s bitch if her/his writing is good. 

Let me share a favorite passage with you.  This is not long after the hero and heroine “meet” and they’re at dinner during Simon’s convelescence at Lucy’s house.  At the table are Lucy, Simon, Simon’s young friend Christian Fletcher (who I hope we get to see in his own book soon), and Lucy’s father Captain Craddock-Hayes.  The scene is being told from Simon’s POV, after Fletcher almost spilled some salacious beans about Simon:

     Good God.  “Surely that tale isn’t for a lady’s ears,” Simon hissed.

     Christian flushed, his eyes widening. “I only–”

     “But I enjoy hearing things not meant for my delicate ears,” Miss Craddock-Hayes said softly.  Her gaze challenged him until he could almost hear her seductive siren’s call:  Tell me. Tell me.  Tell me who you truly are.  “Will you not let Mr. Fletcher continue?”

     But the protective papa stirred, saving him from further folly.  “I think not, poppet.  Leave the poor fellow be.”

     His angel flushed, but her gaze did not waver, and Simon knew if he stayed here much longer, he would drown in those topaz eyes and bless the gods for his fortune even as he went down for the third time.

Holy crap.  I could read that scene over and over.  Especially now, knowing why he’s so tortured and, trust me, he’s legitimately tortured due to some really horrendous events and rumors.  I especially love that last sentence.  The book is chockablock with passages like that.  Hoyt really outdid herself with TSP.

Simon is urbane, smooth, sophisticated, vulnerable, tortured, and driven by devils of his own making.  He’s such a complex character that he’s perfectly paired with Lucy.  Lucy is Simon’s opposite when it comes to the negative side of his nature.   She’s intelligent, centered, calm, and pragmatic.  Everything he needs to find and keep his soul again.

The ending made me cry, smile, cry again, sigh, smile some more, and sigh again.  I loved this book.  I might even have to read it again and I NEVER read books twice in a row.  Just ask Syb.  But the writing was just so damn good.

Do not miss this book!  This and the other two Prince books, The Raven Prince and The Leopard Prince, are loosely related to each other thru some common chracters, but they’re all three standalone books.  And TSP is the best of the lot.  Best writing.  Most truly drawn characters who stay true to their motivation throughout the book. If you follow the earlier link to the TGTBTU posts, there’s an old post from Hoyt explaining the fairytale Prince theme – it was the perfect touch in this book.

Damn.  I’m gushing again.

Grade: A+

From the back cover:

     WHEN THE DEVIL MEETS AN ANGEL
     Country bred Lucy Craddock-Hayes is content with her quiet life. Until the day she trips over an unconscious man-a naked unconscious an-and loses her innocence forever.

     HE CAN TAKE HER TO HEAVEN
     Viscount Simon Iddesleigh was nearly beaten to death by his enemies. Now he’s hell-bent on vengeance. But as Lucy nurses him back to health, her honesty startles his jaded sensibilities-even as it ignites a desire that threatens to consume them both.

     OR TO HELL
     Charmed by Simon’s sly wit, urbane manners, and even his red-heeled shoes, Lucy falls hard and fast for him. Yet as his honor keeps him from ravishing her, his revenge sends his attackers to her door. As Simon wages war on his foes, Lucy wages her own war for his soul using the only weapon she has-her love…

     Read an excerpt.

We have winner(s)!

The five winners of an unsigned copy of The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt are:

Cherie J

Joan B.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I loved The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt. Well I can and I do have more than a few posts talking about it. It is the type of book I want everyone to read! So I have good news, Grand Central Publishing sent us FIVE, count ‘em, 5 copies to give away!!

You can read an excerpt here and another here. Elizabeth Hoyt talks about her hero, Simon Iddesleigh here. And you can find our reviews for all of her books at these links: The Serpent Prince, The Leopard Prince, and The Raven Prince.

So how do you enter the contest you ask? Comment on any of the posts in the paragraph above, or comment here and tell us your favorite Hoyt hero, heroine, book, cover art, scene, or line.  All comments submitted today, 9/11/07, thru midnight tomorrow (using comment time stamps), 9/12/07, are eligible.  Older comments will not be entered.

See how easy that is? One winner per household but you can enter as many times as you want.  Five winners will be chosen.

Elizabeth Hoyt, the wonderful and gracious author of The Serpent Prince, The Leopard Prince, and The Raven Prince, has written this Guest Post for The Good, The Bad, & The Unread.

We will also post a Hoyt contest later today, so check back with us. And now, without further ado, allow me introduce Elizabeth Hoyt!

—

Writing Simon Iddesleigh
by Elizabeth Hoyt

It’s the writer’s job to reveal her characters to the reader. Ideally, by the end of a book, the reader should be able to recognize a line of dialogue, a movement, a thought as coming from a particular character and no other. That really shouldn’t be all that hard, right?

The problem is that in order to reveal the character, the writer first needs to know that character.

At this point, the non-writers reading this are probably thinking that I’ve wandered off the path of reason and gotten tangled in the shrubbery of artistic idiocy. How can a writer not know the character she creates? Well, believe me, she can. Some characters hide behind foggy veils. The hero of my May [2008] release, To Taste Temptation, is Samuel Hartley and he’s one of those characters. He’d smile at me as I wrote (very cordially – he’s an easy going guy. Mostly) and say, “Am I really feeling sorrow here? Or is it anger-mixed-with-sorrow? Or maybe I’m just horny. I am a guy after all.”

Sam gave me fits.

Not so Simon Iddesleigh, the hero of my third book, The Serpent Prince. The moment Simon walked onstage in The Raven Prince as a secondary character I knew who he was. I knew how he portrayed himself on the surface and I knew that he was hiding three-fourths of himself from view, even from his best friends. Simon was a revelation. His language–his emotions–are so over the top at times that I would pause in my typing, stare at my computer screen, and wonder if I could really get away with a particular line.

Simon was – is – a writing gift. I hope you have as much fun reading about him as I did writing him.

Cheers!

Elizabeth Hoyt

—

Thank you, Elizabeth!!

Lawson’s review of The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt
Historical Romance released by Forever on 1 Sep 07

I can’t help it so . . . SPOILERS! SPOILERS!! You have been warned.

Lucy Craddock-Hayes had accepted she’d have a quiet, country life most likely married to the local vicar. Her life and future change when she finds a naked man in her village. On the verge of death, she takes him home in hopes she can save his life, though she doesn’t know who he is.

Simon Iddesleigh, Viscount Iddesleigh, has been doing some bad, bad things and he’s gotten himself nearly beaten to death for his trouble. He’s been on a quest for revenge against a conspiracy, but it’s nearly cost him his life. Recovery in a quiet village with Lucy to watch over him is something Simon realizes he needs.

Simon is soon too much for country-bred Lucy to handle, with his city manners and dandyish fashion sense (red heeled shoes, my goodness!). Lucy falls hard for Simon, but when his attackers seek him out he returns to London to spare her life, but soon realizes he can’t live without her. Lucy’s love becomes something that he realizes he could lose if he continues on his quest for vengeance, but it’s something he’s come to depend on, far too much.

There is a definite dark, brooding tone to this book, even more so than The Leopard Prince. Where Harry Pye was out to prove he was better than his father in his idea of revenge, Simon is going out and doing the worst thing possible: he’s dueling and killing his opponents. And he’s doing it for the memory of a brother he didn’t even really like.

When Lucy enters his life, Simon doesn’t really know how to react. She’s innocent, caring and someone he knows that he can corrupt, but he’s drawn to her goodness and light in a way to banish his demons. For Lucy, Simon is sophisticated, urbane, charming, and everything she’s ever wished for, without knowing it. After meeting Simon, she knows that her quiet, simple country life isn’t enough and marrying the local vicar won’t make her happy.

What is best about this book is the contrasts and complements that Lucy and Simon bring out in each other. And their love and love scenes are something worth wishing for. The love scenes are steamy, erotic and amazingly caring. Because no matter how Simon feels about Lucy, his personal mission to kill those who killed his brother eventually is too much for her to bear. And he doesn’t blame her.

There’s this great scene at the end of the book, that I just can’t talk about because it would be too spoilery of me, and I just can’t do that. But it’s just so. . .heartbreaking, and breathtaking, and wonderful.

Though there are Hoyt’s traditional well drawn secondary characters, including Harry Pye and The Raven Prince’s Earl of Swartingham, it’s the Simon and Lucy story and they carry the plot so well, I didn’t want it to end. Though Simon’s young friend, who turns out to be the villain’s son, makes a wonderful naive foil for Simon’s cynicism, Lucy is his perfect match and when Simon realizes that. . .again. . .best scene at the end of the book.

Go get this one now. Though dark for many tastes, it is worth the read for the sweeping love story, the secondary story of Simon’s revenge and the steamy love scenes.

Grade: A

[edit from Gwen:  Sorry but "Harry Pye" still makes me giggle like an adolescent boy.  But I am GETTING THIS BOOK!  Like, yesterday!]

The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

WHEN THE DEVIL MEETS AN ANGEL

Country bred Lucy Craddock-Hayes is content with her quiet life. Until the day she trips over an unconscious man – a naked unconscious man – and loses her innocence forever.

HE CAN TAKE HER TO HEAVEN

Viscount Simon Iddesleigh was nearly beaten to death by his enemies. Now he’s hell-bent on vengeance. But as Lucy nurses him back to health, her honesty startles his jaded sensibilities – even as it ignites a desire that threatens to consume them both.

OR TO HELL

Charmed by Simon’s sly wit, urbane manners, and even his red-heeled shoes, Lucy falls hard and fast for him. Yet as his honor keeps him from ravishing her, his revenge sends his attackers to her door. As Simon wages war on his foes, Lucy wages her own war for his soul using the only weapon she has – her love…

I am sure it is very wrong of me, in oh so many ways to say this, but…

If you haven’t already, put this down on your TO BE BOUGHT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE list.

This is a flat out amazing read. The Serpent Prince is a darkly beautiful, morally questionable and erotically charged must be read novel. Simon and Lucy have a love that seems so hauntingly raw, you won’t know if you are envious or if you want to kiss it and make it better.

A few people will have a very hard time reading this maybe even more than a few. It is as violent as it is passionate, with two characters I did not want to leave. I am on a complete book high right now and the only complaint I would say I had was it ended.

Well there were a few other minor things but I will tell you about that later. But trust me. You want this book.

The ever delightful Elizabeth Hoyt has given us another excerpt to share with you! This follows the first excerpt, you can find here.

E * X * C * E * R *P *T

“I’ll not have him in my house,” Captain Craddock-Hayes pronounced, arms crossed over his barrel chest, feet braced as if on a rolling deck. His bewigged head was held high, sea-blue eyes pinned on a distant horizon.

He stood in the entrance hall to Craddock-Hayes house. Usually the hall was quite large enough for their needs. Right now, though, the hall seemed to have shrunk in proportion to the amount of people it held, Lucy thought ruefully, and the captain was right in the center of it.

“Yes, Papa.” She dodged around him and waved the men carrying her stranger further in. “Upstairs in my brother’s bedroom, I think. Don’t you agree, Mrs. Brodie?”

“Of course, miss.” The Craddock-Hayes housekeeper nodded. The frill of her mobcap, framing red cheeks, bobbed in time with the movement. “The bed’s already made and I can have the fire started in a tick.”

“Good.” Lucy smiled in approval. “Thank you, Mrs. Brodie.”

The housekeeper hurried up the stairs, her ample bottom swaying with each step.

“Don’t even know who the blighter is,” her father continued. “Might be some tramp or murderer. Hedge said he was stabbed in the back. I ask you, what sort of a chap gets himself stabbed? Eh? Eh?”

“I don’t know, I’m sure,” Lucy answered automatically. “Would you mind moving to the side so the men can carry him past?”

Papa shuffled obediently nearer the wall.

The laborers panted as they wrestled the wounded stranger inside. He lay so terribly still, his face pale as death. Lucy bit her lip and tried not to let her anxiety show. She didn’t know him, didn’t even know the color of this man’s eyes, he was a stranger to her, and yet it was vitally important that he live. He’d been placed on a door to make it easier, but it was obvious that his weight and height still made the maneuver difficult. One of the men swore.

“Won’t have such language in my house.” The captain glared at the offender.

The man flushed and mumbled an apology.

Papa nodded. “What kind of a father would I be if I allowed any sort of gypsy or layabout into my home? With an unmarried gel in residence? Eh? A damned rotten one, that’s what.”

“Yes, Papa.” Lucy held her breath as the men negotiated the stairs.

“That’s why the blighter must be taken somewhere else–Fremont’s house, he’s the doctor. Or the poorhouse. Maybe the vicarage–Penweeble can have a chance to show some Christian kindness. Ha.”

“You’re quite right, but he’s already here,” Lucy said soothingly. “It would be a shame to have to move him again.”

One of the men on the stairs gave her a wild-eyed look.

Lucy smiled back reassuringly.

“Probably won’t live long in any case.” Papa scowled. “No point ruining good sheets.”

“I’ll make sure the sheets survive.” Lucy started up the stairs.

“And what about my supper?” her father grumbled behind her. “Eh? Is anyone seeing to that while they rush about making room for scoundrels?”

Lucy leaned over the rail. “We’ll have supper on the table just as soon as I can see him settled.”

Papa grunted. “Fine thing when the master of the house waits on the comfort of ruffians.”

“You’re being most understanding.” Lucy smiled at her father.

“Humph.”

She turned to go up the stairs.

“Poppet?”

Lucy stuck her head back over the rail.

Her father was frowning up at her, bushy white eyebrows drawn together over the bridge of his bulbous red nose. “Be careful with that fellow.”

“Yes, Papa.”

“Humph,” her father muttered again behind her.

But Lucy hurried up the stairs and into the blue bedroom. The men had already transferred the stranger to the bed. They tramped back out of the room as Lucy entered, leaving a trail of mud.

“You shouldn’t be in here, Miss Lucy,” Brodie gasped and pulled the sheet over the man’s chest. “Not with him like this.”

“I saw him in far less just an hour ago, Mrs. Brodie, I assure you. At least now he’s bandaged.”

Brodie snorted. “Not the important parts.”

“Well, maybe not,” Lucy conceded. “But I hardly think he poses any risk, the condition he’s in.”

“Aye, poor gentleman.” Brodie patted the sheet covering the man’s chest. “He’s that lucky you found him when you did. He’d've been frozen by morn for sure, left out there on the road. Who could’ve done such a wicked thing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Nobody from Maiden Hill, I’m thinking.” The housekeeper shook her head. “Must be riff-raff down from London.”

Lucy didn’t point out that riff-raff could be found even in Maiden Hill. “Doctor Fremont said he’d be around again in the morning to check his bandages.”

“Aye.” Mrs. Brodie looked doubtfully at the patient, as if assessing his odds of living to the next day.

Lucy took a deep breath. “Until then I suppose we can only make him comfortable. We’ll leave the door ajar in case he wakes.”

“I’d best be seeing to the captain’s supper. You know how he gets if it’s late. As soon as it’s on the table I’ll send Betsy up to watch him.”

Lucy nodded. They only had the one maid, Betsy, but between the three women, they should be able to nurse the stranger. “You go. I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Very well, Miss.” Brodie gave her an old-fashioned look. “But don’t be too long. Your father will be wanting to talk to you.”

Lucy wrinkled her nose and nodded. Brodie smiled in sympathy and left.

Lucy looked down at the stranger in her brother, David’s, bed and wondered again, who was he? He was so motionless that she had to concentrate to see the slight rise and fall of his chest. The bandages about his head only emphasized his infirmity and highlighted the bruising on his brow. He looked so terribly alone. Was anyone worried about him, perhaps anxiously awaiting his return?

One of his arms lay outside the covers. She touched it.

His hand flashed up and struck at her wrist, capturing and holding it. Lucy was so startled she only had time for a frightened squeak. Then she was staring into the palest eyes she’d ever seen. They were the color of ice.

“I’m going to kill you,” he spoke distinctly.

For a moment, she thought the grim words were for her and her heart seemed to stop in her breast.

His gaze shifted past her. “Ethan?” The man frowned as if puzzled and then he shut his weird eyes. In a minute more, the grip on her wrist grew slack and his arm fell back to the bed.

Lucy drew a breath. From the ache in her chest, it was the first since the man had seized her. She stepped back from the bed and rubbed her tender wrist. The man’s hand had been brutal, she’d have bruises in the morning.

Whom had he spoken to?

Lucy shuddered. Whomever it was, she did not envy them. The man’s voice held not a trace of indecision. In his own mind there was no doubt but that he would kill his enemy. She glanced again at the bed. The stranger was breathing slowly and deeply now. He looked like he was slumbering peacefully. If not for the pain in her wrist, she might have thought the whole incident a dream.

“Lucy!” The bellow from down below could only be her father.

Gathering her skirts, she left the room and ran down the stairs.

Papa was already seated at the head of the dinner table, a cloth tucked in at his neck. “Don’t like a late supper. Puts my digestion off. Can’t sleep half the night because of the gurgling. Is it too much to ask for a dinner on time in my own home? Is it? Eh?”

“No, of course not.” Lucy sat in her chair at the right of her father. “I’m sorry.”

Brodie brought in a steaming roast beef crowded with potatoes, leeks and turnips.

“Ha. That’s what a man likes to see on his dinner table.” Papa positively beamed as he picked up his knife and fork in preparation for carving. “A good English beef. Smells most delicious.”

“Thank you, sir.” The housekeeper winked at Lucy as she turned back to the kitchen.

Lucy smiled back. Thank goodness for Brodie.

“Now then, have a bite of that.” Papa handed her a plate heaped with food. “Mrs. Brodie knows how to make a fine roast beef.”

“Thank you.”

“Tastiest in the county. Need a bit of sustenance after gallivantin’ all over the place this afternoon. Eh?”

“How have your memoirs gone today?” Lucy sipped her wine, trying not to think of the man laying upstairs.

“Excellent. Excellent.” Papa sawed enthusiastically at the roast beef. “Put down a scandalous tale from thirty years ago. About Captain Feather–he’s an Admiral now, damn him–and three native island women. D’you know these native gels don’t wear any– Ahurmph!” He suddenly coughed and looked at her in what seemed like embarrassment.

“Yes?” Lucy popped a forkful of potato into her mouth.

“Never mind. Never mind.” Papa finished filling his plate and pulled it to where his belly met the table. “Let’s just say it’ll light a fire under the old boy after all this time. Ha!”

“How delightful.” Lucy smiled. If Papa ever did finish his memoirs and published them, there would be a score of apoplectic fits in His Majesty’s navy.

“Quite. Quite.” Papa swallowed and took a sip of wine. “Now then. I don’t want you worrying over this scoundrel you’ve brought home.”

Lucy’s gaze dropped to the fork she held. It trembled slightly and she hoped her parent wouldn’t notice the movement. “No, Papa.”

“You’ve done a good deed, Samaritan, and all that. Just as your mother used to teach you from the Bible. She’d approve. But remember”–he forked up a turnip–”I’ve seen head wounds before. Some live. Some don’t. And there’s not a blessed thing you can do about it either way.”

She felt her heart sink in her chest. “You don’t think he’ll live?”

“Don’t know,” Papa barked impatiently. “That’s what I’m saying. He might. He might not.”

“I see.” Lucy poked at a turnip and tried not to let the tears start.

Her father slammed the flat of his hand down on the table. “This is just what I’m warning you about. Don’t get attached to the tramp.”

A corner of Lucy’s mouth twitched up. “But you can’t keep me from feeling,” she said gently. “I’ll do it no matter if I want to or not.”

Papa frowned ferociously. “Don’t want you to be sad if he pops off in the night.”

“I’ll do my very best not to be sad, Papa,” Lucy promised. But she knew it was too late for that. If the man died tonight, she would weep on the morrow, promises or no.

“Humph.” Her father returned to his plate. “Good enough for now. If he survives though, mark my words.” He looked up and pinned her with his azure eyes. “He even thinks about hurting one hair on your head and out he goes on his arse.”

As good as Elizabeth Hoyt’s first two books were, this is her best book yet. SEPTEMBER 2007! Mark it down. You can thank me later.

By now you might’ve noticed that I have a thing for fairytales. Actually, it isn’t just fairytales. It’s myths, legends, fairytales, and fables – and I love them all. How much, do you ask? So much that I once spent a week when I was in high school making a genealogical chart for the Greek gods. So much that I took a course in college on the fairytale (me and almost the entire football team – they were taking it for the “easy” grade.) So much that when I went to write my very first book I had to include a fairytale.

That book – The Raven Prince - has a continuing fairytale that begins each chapter. The fairytale is one I wrote myself, but you’ll probably find that it seems familiar. That’s because it’s partially based on the myth of Psyche and Eros (or Cupid). Now the main story in TRP is about an arrogant earl (what other kind is there?) and a poor widow who decides to defy convention by applying for the job of secretary to the earl. On the surface, the fairytale and the book’s main story would seem to have nothing in common – and yet if you look beneath the surface they do have similarities. Both stories have lovers that disguise themselves from their partner. Both stories have heroines who must find a way to heal a hurt in the hero in order to make true love work. There are other, perhaps subtler similarities, but I’ll leave those for you to discover.

In my second book, The Leopard Prince, I took a slightly different approach. In TLP the fairytale becomes part of the main story as the heroine tells the story to the hero over the course of the book. The fairytale is based on one by Howard Pyle which he included in his book, The Wonder Clock. Pyle’s fairytale is about a faithful servant who serves a cowardly king. I loved this story as a child! Not only does it turn fairytale conventions upside down – the servant ends up with the beautiful princess – but in Pyle’s beautifully illustrated book the servant has the most handsome classical profile which I spend quite a lot of time examining as a pre-adolescent. I liked putting the fairytale directly in the main story in TLP because as it is told, the biases of both George (the heroine) and Harry (the hero) are revealed. Remember that George is telling a story about a hero servant to Harry, who is her servant.

I used the same idea in The Serpent Prince (September 2007) only this time the hero, Simon, is telling the fairytale to the heroine, Lucy. Since Simon is such a clever man (or so he thinks,) he’s pretty much making up the story as he goes along. This fairytale is a Cinderella-type story with a shape-shifting magician who, of course, is not the hero – at least in Simon’s version. Lucy ends up having very different ideas, much to Simon’s confusion – and delight.

Fairytales are spyholes into a culture’s collective unconsciousness. They reveal what we dream about and what we fear deep in the dark of night. They follow patterns and arcs that are so worn with time that they’re almost burned into our psyche. Ask a child to tell you a story and you’ll find that she’ll probably start following a fairytale pattern without thinking. Once upon a time – the magician or trickster luring the innocent into another world – trials that come in threes – the magical object obtainedthe –  return to the ordinary world – and they lived happily ever after…

I don’t know which came first, the fairytale or our innate human way of telling a story, but I’m convinced that they are intrinsically linked.