Hello everyone! Today I am pleased to welcome Sarah Granger to the blog. Sarah is here to talk to us more about her release, A Minor Inconvenience. She has brought along an original excerpt to share, as well as a great giveaway. So please join me in giving her a big welcome!
Excerpt
Lindsay’s set of chambers was luxurious—larger than Hugh’s and ideally appointed.
“As you are only here temporarily, I had thought you would put up at a hotel rather than take a set,” Hugh said, indicating the gracefully proportioned room.
Lindsay stretched out beside him, warming his boots at the fire. “I keep this set permanently for whenever I am in London.” He took a delicate sip of his sherry. “I find it affords greater privacy than a hotel.”
Hugh shot a questioning glance at Lindsay and found Lindsay was looking at him in a most particular way. Surely even he could not be misreading this. He swallowed. “I imagine it must.”
“Were you able to conclude your business satisfactorily?” Hugh asked, when the silence between them had gone on a little too long to be entirely comfortable.
Lindsay glanced away. “I did,” he said. “I was entrusted with a message to Colonel Murray of the Monmouth Light. They’re marching reinforcements out to meet Wellington, but we have wind that the French know of this and will set up an ambush, so we’re sending them to Coimbra by ship instead. It was felt inadvisable to entrust such sensitive information to a letter and as I had, apparently, nothing better to do with my time, I was dispatched to Colchester.” He affected a shudder. “Ghastly place—entirely uncivilised with no comfort to be found anywhere. No wonder the plague tried to wipe it from the face of the Earth.
“I can see how it must have compared unfavourably to a draughty bivouac on the Castilian plain,” Hugh agreed.
“You have no idea. Do you know, the wine they served in the Mess was mislabelled?”
“Dear God, no!”
“Yes. And what is even worse, my host did not appear to notice.”
Hugh adopted a suitably grave expression. “It was evidently vital you shook the dust from
your feet just as soon as you could.
Lindsay levelled a narrowed glance at Hugh. “I think you are not taking my travails seriously enough, Fanshawe,” he complained. “I have been quite overset by venturing into the wilds.”
The meal that was served to them appeared to put Lindsay on the mend, however. It was a splendid repast, accompanied by a particularly good—and most definitely not mislabelled—Moscatel. As a result, when the port was finished and they had repaired to the sitting room, Hugh was feeling comfortably satisfied, warm and full of good cheer.
He sat upon the sofa. Lindsay, having dismissed his man, brought him a glass of brandy and sat beside him.
“Did I miss any scandal in my absence, Hugh?”
Hugh froze at the unexpected sound of his first name on Lindsay’s lips. When he met Lindsay’s gaze, it was steady and friendly, and there was something else in it also. He placed his glass upon the side table, because otherwise Lindsay—Theo—might see the sudden slight tremor in his hand.
“I believe the ton survived tolerably well without you,” he said, “although I am sure your absence has resulted in several maidens’ decline, Theo.”
There was a very good reason why Hugh had joined the army, and it had nothing to do with wishing to fight Napoleon. He entirely lacked the easy social graces of his brothers and sister. Unlike Theo’s natural tone, his use of Theo’s first name was ugly and clumsy, and seemed almost to vibrate in the air for minutes afterwards to ensure it had drawn enough attention to itself. He could not hold Theo’s gaze.
“I’m sure you stepped into the breach heroically,” Theo said. He placed his hand upon Hugh’s thigh. The shock of being touched and the warmth that began to come through the wool of his pantaloons left Hugh breathing unevenly. “There is something I wished to discuss with you, Hugh. I have not forgotten my promise to introduce you to other gentlemen, should you so wish.”
“I—thank you, no,” Hugh managed. His mind was a fog, one in which he could not find his way. All he could think of was the weight and warmth of Theo’s touch, and the quiver of excitement deep in his stomach. He wet his lips and tried again. “I have no interest—that is to say—”
“Good,” Theo murmured. “I would not wish for you to kiss me only because you lacked alternatives.”
Blurb
Duty, honor, propriety…all fall in the face of love.
Captain Hugh Fanshawe returned from the Peninsular War with a leg that no longer works properly, thanks to a French musket ball. Now his fight against Napoleon is reduced to quiet, lonely days compiling paperwork at Horse Guards headquarters.
His evenings are spent dutifully escorting his mother and sister to stifling social engagements, where his lameness renders him an object of pity and distaste. But his orderly, restricted life is thrown into sudden disarray with the arrival of Colonel Theo Lindsay.
Theo is everything Hugh is not-a man of physical perfection and easy yet distinguished address. Surprisingly to Hugh, Theo appears to be interested in making his acquaintance. Lindsay turns out to be a most convivial companion, and Hugh finds great pleasure in his company. Their friendship deepens when they become lovers.
In spite of himself, Hugh falls desperately in love. But when a French spy is suspected at Horse Guards, Hugh discovers nothing is as it seems.and the paper he shuffles from day to day could be the instrument of his lover’s death.
Warning: Contains gallant English officers in love, dastardly French spies, skintight pantaloons (sometimes on the floor) and gleaming tasselled Hessians.
About Sarah Granger
Sarah Granger is a sucker for a happy ending. She believes, however, that characters will only fully appreciate their happy ending if they’ve suffered along the way.
Sarah lives in the Cotswolds, an idyllic part of the English countryside with gently rolling hills, dry stone walls of golden stone and fields dotted with sheep. She has shamefully broken with local tradition by not having a rose growing around her front door. When she isn’t writing, Sarah enjoys walking in the countryside with her elderly black Labrador.
Social Links: Website | Goodreads | Facebook
Giveaway
Sarah is offering up a great giveaway along her tour. See the Rafflecopter entry form to enter.
Thanks for being a part of the tour, Jay! What a GREAT excerpt – love the humour in it!
Thank you! 🙂 And echoing again your thanks to Jay for having me here.
Thanks so much for hosting me here today! I’ll be delighted to answer any questions anyone may have about the book or anything else, or just to chat about the many joys of Regencies and historical novels in general. 🙂
Hi!
I’ve already read the book. Just say that I really loved it. It is beautifully written and the characters are great. I do have a question. Do you have any sequel in mind? I wish you continued writing about Hugh and Theo. They are kind of addictive characters.
😉
Hi Susana, and thank you for your kind words! I’m so pleased you enjoyed the book.
I didn’t have a sequel in mind when I finished it, I confess, but since a few people have expressed an interest in a sequel, I’m beginning to think about it. Certainly they’re going to have more adventures, being the characters they are – it’s just a case of whether or not they’ll share them with me. 😉 I’m thrilled to hear you enjoyed them so much – I was sad to leave them at the end of the book.
Oh, please, do think seriously about a sequel. Hugh and Theo are the kind of characters you miss and don’t want to let go. I would be great to find out about the adventures they may be living … A new book on Captain Fanshawe and Colonel Lindsay would be a must in my library. I’ll keep my hopes up!
Thanks, Sarah
That’s so lovely, Susana – thank you! I’ll see if I can persuade them into sharing anything further. 🙂
I keep seeing A Minor Inconvenience pop up on my recommendations. The cover is nice so I notice it.
Thank you! It’s a gorgeous cover, isn’t it? Kim Killion is the artist, and I’m ridiculously thrilled that, along with everything else, she worked the Horse Guards building into the cover.
I haven’t read this yet, but it sounds great. Thanks for the excerpt!
Thanks, Antonia. I certainly had a lot of fun writing this. 🙂
I love HRs. Sound like a great read. I would have loved the cover models to tame their hair though. LOL!
Thank you! As for the cover models, well, perhaps the hair is a little wild because they’ve just extracted themselves from a romantic clinch…
LOL, no ma’am. Nice try but that’s not “thoroughly ravished hair”. that look is the “I borrowed Donald Trump’s toupe” type hair. LMAO. I do love historicals so I will have to cover my eyes on the cover:D
Not Donald’s Trump toupe, please! Have mercy.
Oh well, it was worth a try. 😉
Well, I am a total cover snob and I actually like this one quite a lot. I would say “windblown” way before toupee!
I have seen so many great reviews for this book! Added to my tbr list!
Thanks, kp! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂
i cannot wait to read this book. it sounds so amazing.
Thanks so much, eric!
I have not yet read any of Sarah’s books, but I have both The Unforgiving Minute and A Minor Inconvenience on my TBR list. Thanks for the post and giveaway!
That’s wonderful to hear, Jen – thank you! I do hope you enjoy them when you get there, and good luck in the giveaway.
I don’t usually read M/M historicals and this sounds interesting so count me in please 🙂
Thanks, Penumbra, and good luck in the draw!
I love reading ones set in the past. There is so much more of a risk to falling in love back then.
Agreed! Thankfully Theo finds a rather ingenious solution to keep them relatively safe.
I haven’t read many historical m/m books but this sounds too good to pass up. Thank you for the giveaway!
Thanks, H.B., and good luck in the giveaway!