ONE NIGHT WITH A DUKE by Sandra Masters Released June 21, 2017, The Wild Rose Press.
Setting:
Regency England 1817, the industrial revolution, and returning
soldiers with no employment set the scene for political turmoil.
Her
Grace, the Duchess, former Samantha Winston, as a young widow, permits
His Grace, the Duke of Ravensmere, to seek refuge in her carriage in a
time of need, and what starts out as a kiss in the name of safety,
becomes pleasurable and not safe at all. In spite of every caution, her
interest escalates into unexpected and welcomed desire.
His Grace,
Raven, Tenth Duke of Ravensmere, reclusive, politically powerful, denies
love after the tragic deaths of his duchess and baby son. Bound by a
deathbed promise made ten years prior, he vowed never to allow love to
enter his heart again. And then he met the lovely, high-spirited,
irreverent and beautiful Samantha.
When a high-spirited woman
disrupts the routine of a duke who follows the rules, sparks sizzle and
planets collide…the duchess laughs when she hears this tagline.
Author: What is your main fear, Duchess?
Answer:
Having been on the shelf, so to speak, I feared to fall in love again
passionately as I did with my late husband, Percival, whom I adored as a
little girl. My brother’s best friend was over the house all the time,
and I soon was the pest he liked. As I grew older and prettier, he grew
so handsome. Our friends said we were over the moon with each other,
but little did they know that Percival neglected to inform me of his
malady—impotence! You can imagine my empty bed on my wedding night while
he gambled the night away. Two weeks later he was killed by footpads
who robbed him. I then became an unconsummated widow. Of course, the
duke never became aware of this circumstance until it was too late.
Author: Can you tell me more about the circumstance?
Answer:
You were the one who concocted the scene, but I’ll relive the events
for our readers. After the stunning revelation from my new husband, and
after his death, I built walls around me. I have been known to have wit,
high spirit, and an interest in politics. The latter was a definite
negative when seeking a new relationship. I vowed I’d never let any man
dupe me again. I wanted to sample the masculinity before I committed
again. You made me outrageous.
When Raven and I first met in the
carriage, I felt a jolt of desire in his kiss. He was grateful for my
assistance in the carriage against the anarchists. When we met at the
ball, I raised my walls even higher by challenging his goals and
motivations. I wanted him to know that I wasn’t a ninny hammer, but I
went too far. I believe in the aftermath one of his comments was: “One
could say that to be called old, egotistical, a coward and an over-aged
schoolboy in the same two minutes of conversation is a novelty for
me. Tell me, did I miss any other affront to my dignity?” He controlled
his tone but kept it superior. “Yes. I also said you suffered from
vanity.” As I look back on it now, I did shock him. He made a reference
that he’d find me a soap box to lecture from in Hyde Park. My offense
was deliberate, but I regretted doing so.
Author: Did the duke ever speak to you again?
Answer:
Not for an hour or two, but he did present himself for a waltz upon
which we agreed before the entire hullabaloo. I remember it well. We
floated on air, and the chemistry between us regained its intensity. I
apologized, a difficult act for me, but I was too strong in my comments.
After the waltz, we sat and talked and that was when he won my heart
with his tale of loss. To endure such grief at the loss of wife and
child endeared me to him. I felt even worse for my actions. I concluded
that he could be a man of significance. He was fearless. I was
interested.
Author: Did you encounter him again?
Answer: At the
end of the evening, I bid him, Au Revoir, and I’m sure it jogged his
memory. My brother had invited him for lunch the next day. So, yes, we
were thrown together once again but the atmosphere heated, not in anger,
but we ‘played’ with each other in double entendres and all sorts of
mischievous romantic intentions. Then he created a scandal.
Author: Tell me, duchess, what scandal. It sounds delicious.
Answer:
It was. From our conversations, Raven knew I was afraid that at the
lunch auction of my charity that some rake might bid for two hours of my
time. Such a worthy cause. At the event, imagine my horror that one
rogue bid a high amount. I was terrified. The duke matched that sum with
the pastor conducting the sale, by five pounds each time. When the sum
got to five hundred pounds, every participant was stunned into silence
to know the outcome. The pressman reported it in every gossip trades
paper the next day.
Author: Tell us more. I’m on pins and needles.
Answer:
Since you created me, you know how unfair you were. However, the duke
bid the astronomical sum of one thousand pounds. The rake capitulated.
The crowd cheered, and my duke took me to a private table where we ate
lunch and took a long walk.
Author: You called him ‘your duke?’
Answer:
Not to his face. He was romantically aggressive, and I was a willing
student. Being grateful, I allowed him another kiss. In fact, there were
a few. There were many. His strong, masculine body pinned me against a
tree where no one could see me. He set me afire, a sensation new to me.
In between kisses, there was the sensual banter and wit. I remember
raking my hands through his hair. He whispered things I’d never heard in
referring to my lust-swollen lips. You wrote: “Energized blood coursed
through my body igniting every part, awakening my dormant soul with the
promise of all he might do.” It becomes obvious his manly parts worked.
Author: And then what happened?
Answer: As you well know, over the course of the next days and weeks, he did quite a bit.
Author: Did you allow him to do other things?
Answer:
Your readers will have to read the book. This interview has become too
risqué, and I’m sure Raven will think me indiscreet. Needless to say,
your book is about a May-December relationship, filled not only with the
romance aspects, but also, suspense, intrigue, international
skullduggery, an attempted assassination, and glorious sex. I was
determined to seduce him as I mentioned before…to sample the wares.
Author: And?
Answer:
They were more than acceptable. Now you have delved too far, and I
must conclude this interview. I hope your next heroine is different from
mine. Good evening.
Answer: Decidedly so. It took me seven years to
edit this too long epic story but demanded a reader audience. I’m
delighted you are still happily in love.
Author: Do you have any other comments?
Answer:
Mistress Masters, I can’t believe I did and said many of the things you
wrote. You took great liberties with my persona in our book. You
brought me out of the darkness of my personal life and gave me the
desire to live and love again. There were those who never would believe
me capable of such passionate utterings. They used to speak of me as the
spinster. The truth of the matter was that my heart needed rescuing and
my duke did an adequate job. You caused me great angst, pain, and
suffering over many chapters thinking I could lose him, but then I might
not have appreciated Raven and all his qualities: magical and
otherwise. He was so ready to be loved.
Author: For our readers’
sake, I’d like to say I had so many favorite phrases as compared to my
other books. My most favorite was when you asked him, “But what would I
have to do?” He answered, “I leave that to your resourcefulness…and
mine…under a starlit night with nothing but our naked imaginations.”
Answer:
Yes, I do remember thinking: His nearness too intimate; his touch too
hot; his desire too obvious. Hmm. I do believe I should see about the
whereabouts of my duke. He may want to play. Good night, again.
Author:
Samantha: Before you go, have you ever noticed your first name is close
to mine? That our personalities are somewhat alike? Oh, she’s left the
room. We’ll never know.
SANDRA MASTERS
http://www.authorsandramasters.com
I’m not Catholic – not very religious at all, in fact – so
the fact that part of the story is a young woman’s conversion to Catholicism
surprised me, too. It was the dominant and official religion in France in the
seventeenth century, of course, but magic was still a major player. France had
dabbled in witchcraft trials for a while, but never with the intensity of the
Spanish Inquisition and the English and their colonies. At the time I’ve set
this story, the court scandal was not that people consulted witches and bought
potions from them, but that some of those potions were poison bought to free
unhappy spouses and greedy heirs. 
