The new year is in full swing, and I have a new release–well, sort of a new release, available now for pre-order.

Lady Twisden’s Picture Perfect Match

This short, sweet Regency romance first appeared in Desperate Daughters, a Bluestocking Belles with Friends Collection and is now available outside of the collection and with a beautiful new cover from Dar Albert of Wicked Smart Designs.

Blurb:

After years of tolerating her late husband’s rowdy friends, Honoria, Lady Twisden, has escaped to York where she can paint, investigate antiquities, and enjoy her freedom. Then her stepson appears with a long-lost cousin in tow, the perfect image of an ancestor whose fierce portrait made her shiver with mad imaginings.

Promised York’s marriage mart and the hospitality of his cousin’s doddering stepmother, Major August Kellborn is shocked to find that his fetching hostess is the one woman who stirs his heart. To win her heart and hand, however, he must convince her he’s not just a perfect image of his ancestor, but her perfect match.

Excerpt:

As she crossed the battered black and white tiles of the hall, the knocker resounded.

Her blood spiked with a mix of apprehension and anticipation, and just a tad of annoyance. She had callers. Her painting must wait—and thank heavens they’d made the house presentable.

Meg was upstairs dusting. Mrs. Dunscombe was below stairs. Honoria smoothed her hair, ran her hands down the sides of her old day gown, and heaved the heavy door open.

“Mother?”

Wes was here, on her doorstep. Unexpected.

“Good heavens.” She mustered a welcoming tone. “What a surprise.”

“A pleasant one, I hope.” A grin split his handsome face.

He had his father’s blue eyes and dark blond hair, and none of his corpulence. She shoved the uncharitable thought aside and extended her hands.

He reached her first and lifted her, planting a kiss on her forehead, with all the exuberance of the six-year-old she’d taken into her heart.

Laughing, she told him to put her down.

“Why ever are you answering your own door?”

Here comes the scold. Having reached his majority and taken over the responsibility of the estate, the dear lad had begun trying to manage her. That was but one of the reasons she’d left Twisden Manor.

“Where is the footman? We need him to fetch in our trunks.”

We?

Looking past the broad shoulder she saw another figure approaching and…

Good God. Heat swamped her and flamed in her cheeks. Dark eyes shot darts at her over a grimly set, thin-lipped mouth. The palpable sternness of Wes’s companion sent a shiver of awareness through her. It was a familiar shiver, one she’d indulged during her tedious days at Twisden Manor when she’d found herself fighting off mad imaginings.

Wes’s laughter shook her tongue loose. “My goodness, sir,” she said. “You bear an uncanny resemblance to—”

“Old Ebenezer Twisden,” Wes said. “Yes, it is as if the old Warden has come back to life, Mother. As soon as I laid eyes on him in Brampton, I knew he must be a relation. And do you know who he is, Mother?” He laughed again. “I’ve written to Granny to tell her. She’ll be in alt when she reads the news.”

A man of perhaps forty, he was about the same age as Wes’s ancestor, the Warden in the painting at Twisden Hall who’d been in the King’s service for many years when that portrait was done. This new incarnation of Ebenezer wasn’t a particularly tall man, not as tall as Wes, but he still towered over her.

Old Ebenezer cleared his throat.

“But of course,” Wes said. “Where are my manners? Mother, may I present my cousin, Major Augustus Kellborn. Gus, this is my dear stepmother, Lady Twisden.”

While she curtsied, managing not to wobble, he dipped his head, never taking his gaze away.

Good holy heavens.

Release day is January 17, 2023. Buy Links:

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRVYWYM3

B&N:   https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940185651971

Kobo:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/lady-twisden-s-picture-perfect-match

Apple Books:  https://books.apple.com/us/book/lady-twisdens-picture-perfect-match/id6445327897?ls=1

Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=wjemEAAAQBAJ