We are only two weeks away from the release of Desperate Daughters, a Bluestocking Belles Collection with Friends.

This collection of novellas by nine Regency romance authors is a perfect opportunity to sample some new-to-you storytellers. The stories are set around a central premise, a family of all daughters, left destitute by their late father, the earl of Seahaven.

Here’s the blurb

Love Against the Odds

The Earl of Seahaven desperately wanted a son and heir but died leaving nine daughters and a fifth wife. Cruelly turned out by the new earl, they live hand-to-mouth in a small cottage.

The young dowager Countess’s one regret is that she cannot give Seahaven’s dear girls a chance at happiness.

When a cousin offers the use of her townhouse in York during the season, the Countess rallies her stepdaughters.

They will pool their resources so that the youngest marriageable daughters might make successful matches, thereby saving them all.

So start their adventures in York, amid a whirl of balls, lectures, and al fresco picnics. Is it possible each of them might find love by the time the York horse races bring the season to a close?

It’s not just daughters finding romance…

Not everyone who finds love is a daughter. It was great fun to see the earl’s young widow find her own happily-ever-after. And my heroine, Lady Twisden, is a widowed great-aunt who learns that following her passion for painting doesn’t mean sacrificing love.

I’m continuing a series of blogs to give you a taste of the stories in this collection, today featuring Ella Quinn’s story.

 

I’ll Always be Yours

The Blurb:

All her life Miss Harriett Staunton believed she was the natural daughter of an earl. In the merchant society in which she was raised, that only garnered improper proposals. Knowing she would never wed, she moved to York, far away from her London family.

Lord Sextus Trevor needs to wed. Unbeknownst to him his father has arranged a marriage. But before he is even told about the betrothal, he’s whisked off to York, where he meets Harriett Staunton and must find a way to defy his father.

Excerpt

Harriett stared at the three walking gowns her maid had laid out. “The emerald green.”

“That’s what I thought, Miss.” Wyborn picked up the other two garments and took them into the dressing room.

Lady Beaumont had sent a note around late yesterday afternoon that the outing in the New Walk would be today. She planned to bring her two children, Elizabeth, who was four years old, and William, who was two. Harriett wondered if their nursemaids would accompany them as well.

She raised her arms as her maid placed the gown carefully over her head, then sat on the chair in front of the toilet table for her hair to be dressed. Several minutes later, Harriett left her room. She reached the top of the stairs when the door opened to the Beaumonts. With them were a couple who must be the Earl and Countess of Somers, and a gentleman who looked very like the earl and could only be Lord Sextus Trevor.

Both Lord Sextus and his brother were tall with silvery blond hair and warm blue eyes. However, from there the details of their features were different. The earl’s face was more weathered from being at sea, whereas Lord Sextus’s complexion was pale. Lady Beaumont had said he had been in Russia. Although both were broad shouldered, the earl had clearly done more physical work. Not that Lord Sextus appeared in any way soft, but he had obviously lived a different life.

At that moment, his eyes met hers, and she knew he had been studying her as she had been studying him.
Harriett walked down the rest of the steps and curtseyed. “Good afternoon.”

“Harriett, my dear.” Lady Beaumont drew Harriett forward. “Marcella, please let me introduce you to my friend, Miss Harriett Staunton. Harriett this is the Countess of Somers.” They greeted each other. “Harriett, allow me to present Lord Sextus Trevor, and his brother, the Earl of Somers.”

The earl remained by his wife and bowed, but Lord Sextus stepped forward and took Miss Staunton’s hand before bowing. “Miss Staunton, it is a pleasure to meet you.” He tucked her hand in the crook of his arm and proceeded out the door. Glancing back, he said, “Are the rest of you coming?”

Harriett was so shocked at the way he immediately took possession of her, she barely noticed everyone else following them out the door. No man had ever treated her thus. What was worse was she did not know what to think about it. Although his arm felt strong and somehow comforting, they had only just met.

Desperate Daughters is available for Pre-order for only 99 cents: https://books2read.com/u/bMwL17

Hurry! The price goes up after the book’s May 17, 2022 launch day.

About the author

I hope you enjoyed this latest Trevor book. If you haven’t already done so, please keep up with me on Facebook, Instagram, and on my mailing list. All the links can be easily found at www.ellaquinnauthor.com. All my books are there as well. I look forward to hearing from you.

What critics are saying:

A Marvelous Group of Authors

In addition to Belles authors, Caroline Warfield, Jude Knight, Rue Allyn, and Sherry Ewing, the collection features stories by Mary Lancaster, Elizabeth Ellen Carter, Meara Platt, Ella Quinn, and, of course, me!

I’ll be back soon for an excerpt from the next featured story, Jude Knight’s Lord Cuckoo Comes Home.

You can find the complete list of stories and blurbs on my Desperate Daughter‘s book page.