Please help me welcome Regan Walker to my blog today. Regan has given me a great interview and she is giving one of you a copy of her first book, RACING WITH THE WIND, just for commenting. So be sure to comment. Now on to this great interview.

How did you get started writing?
Well my first stories were written in grade school, but I did not again take up writing historical romance until the last few years. I discovered historical romance about 2010 and fell in love with the genre. My first novel began soon thereafter. If I had it to do over, I would have taken up writing historical romance a long time ago.

What genre(s) do you write in and why?

I write historical romance and likely always will. I like history in my historical romance, too. So, there’s a lot of research involved, but I love that, too. Initially, I’ve written Regency romances because of a fascination with all that was going on in France and England during the time.

Tell us about your current series.

The idea came from my early love of mysteries and spy stories and my knowledge that all branches of government have their own agents. It wasn’t much of a stretch to conceive of the Prince Regent asking a few of his subjects to take on “special assignments.” Kings have been doing it for centuries. Hence my trilogy features heroes who have been asked by the Prince Regent to take on a unique task. First there was Racing With The Wind, and the British Lord who masqueraded at the Nighthawk, the thief of Napoleon’s secrets. Next is my latest release, Against the Wind, the story of Sir Martin Powell, the agent for the Crown in France who has come home to England for one last assignment. The 3rd in the trilogy—Wind Raven–takes place on a schooner and in the Caribbean in 1817 and features a rakish sea captain and a pirate who plied the seas around Puerto Rico at the time. I’m writing it now.

What inspired your latest book?

I was listening to a Ricky Martin song, “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely” and the scene of Kit in the bordello came to me, a young woman whose life has been shattered standing before a window, bathed in moonlight, staring out into the night, a “broken arrow.” She hears a voice behind her, a man in the shadows, saying “Come to me.” And from that I wrote the novel.

What is your next project and when will it be released?

I’m writing Wind Raven now. The hero is Captain Nick Powell. You meet him in Against the Wind. A privateer during the War of 1812, he is now a merchant sea captain in his family’s business. A rake and an emotionally wounded man, he loves all women and he loves none—that is until he meets an impudent American named Tara McConnell. It’s research intensive since I have to learn all the nautical terminology and understand life on a schooner at the time. And I’ve a very worthy pirate to understand, too. It’s so important to get all that “right,” elsewise some clever reader will point out that I got it all wrong! I hope it will be out late 2013.

How much time do you spend promoting your books? What works best for you?

Typically a few hours each day with Facebook, blog appearances, and Twitter, etc. But that can vary from a hour to much more if I’m promoting a new release like now. I also write articles for the Beau Monde blog that come from my Regency research.

Where do you get the ideas for your stories?

Ah, that can be from anywhere…a song, a movie, a dream, a desire to see a certain place, anything, really. I had a fascination with the time of William the Conqueror and that led to my half done medieval, The Red Wolf’s Prize, that I will come back to when I finish the Agents of the Crown series.

How likely are people you meet to end up in your next book?

That depends on how interesting they are. It’s more likely I’ll dredge up a composite character from several folks in my past. Or, in the case of the ever popular Muriel, Dowager Countess of Claremont, who is introduced in Against the Wind but then is a main character in my two short stories, I just made her up…a woman I’d like to know!

What is most difficult for you to write? Characters, conflict or emotions? Why?

Probably conflict. It is difficult to make it real and not contrived. So many romance novels have the hero suddenly violently angry with the heroine for some stupid reason or misunderstanding. That is one of my pet peeves as a reader, so I try not to fall into that trap. In Against the Wind, Kit believes Martin is a traitor to the Crown, and with good reason, as she overhears him plotting treason.

Give us an elevator pitch for your book.

A spy for the Crown returns from France and meets his love in a bordello, never knowing she is the daughter of an earl and a dowager baroness, and he sweeps her away to the Midlands, into the rising winds of revolution.

Tell us a little about yourself and your latest book.

As a child I loved to write stories, particularly about adventure-loving girls, but by the time I got to college more serious pursuits took priority. One of my professors thought I was suited to the profession of law (not sure that was a compliment), and I recall thinking that I’d rather be a hammer than a nail so I became a lawyer. Years of serving clients in private practice and several stints in high levels of government gave me a feel for the demands of the “Crown” on its subjects. So, it was natural that my first romance novels would involve a demanding Prince Regent who thinks of his subjects as his private talent pool. That led to Racing With The Wind and now to Against the Wind, the story of Sir Martin Powell, a spy for the Crown in France during the time of Napoleon who gets wrapped up in the Pentrich Rebellion in the Midlands of England in 1817.

Having achieved your goal to be a published author, what is the most rewarding thing?

The most rewarding thing is seeing my books published and hearing from readers they like my work. When some early reviews said they couldn’t wait to read the next one, I nearly cried. I was so happy to connect with the hearts of women.

EXCERPT

Under cloak of darkness, love will find you. Fearing the dark, you will never find love.”
—Unknown

Chapter 1
London, April 1817

She is dead.

Katherine, Lady Egerton, stared at the still form lying on the bed. Beloved sister, friend of the heart…Anne was gone. One minute she was struggling for breath, the next she lay silent and still. The only person in the world Kit loved more than life had left her.

They are all gone now. The sudden solitude tore at her heart.

Kit smiled sadly, gazing through eyes filled with tears at the frail body lying before her. The brown mouse. Anne’s name for herself. Delicate even as a child, she had not long survived her marriage to the cruel Earl of Rutledge. Kit knelt at her sister’s bedside, assailed by grief and guilt, and reached for Anne’s hand. Could she have done more to save her sister from the dread disease? Could she have done more to protect Anne from the heartless man who was her husband?

Pale in death, Anne was still beautiful. Kit had often sketched that heart-shaped face. Not a mouse, but a much-loved sister with a kind, unselfish heart.

Kit had seen the end coming in the last few months, months through which she’d faithfully cared for Anne. The coughs that wracked her sister’s slight frame had grown worse as Anne seemed to fade before Kit’s eyes. Kit knew she was losing her even as she willed that weak body to heal. The physician said he could do nothing; each time he left shaking his head and telling Kit to make “the poor girl” comfortable as best she could. Kit had tried to save Anne, doing the only thing she knew by giving her syrup of horehound and honey. But such a small measure was not enough. Then, too, her sister had seemed to welcome death.

Suddenly, the room grew cold. Kit felt his presence, a looming evil behind her. She took a deep breath and summoned her strength.

“Leave her and come to me.” Rutledge’s tone was harsh and demanding. Kit had no need to see him to know his face would be twisted in an odious scowl, his lips drawn taut. “It is time.”

“I must see to my sister.”

“You need do nothing. I have arranged for the burial. Come away now.”

Kit knew what he wanted, for she had seen the lust in his dark eyes. What at first had been sideways glances became leers and unwanted touches. Though she’d lived in his home since the death of her husband the baron, Kit had avoided the earl, rarely leaving her sister’s bedside. She had been thinking of a way to escape, but her exhaustion in caring for Anne these last days left those plans incomplete. With meager funds, her options were few.

When she failed to rise at the earl’s direction, his hand roughly gripped her shoulder. She stiffened at the pain of his fingers digging into her skin.

“I have waited long for you, Katherine, enduring that mockery of a marriage to your sister while all the while it was you I wanted, you I was promised. Now I shall have what is mine.”

“No!” She rose swiftly, stepping back as she turned to face him. Revulsion rose in her throat. What did he mean by those words? She never had been promised to him!

His smirk transfigured what many thought of as a handsome face. Hadn’t Anne at first been fooled by his aristocratic features and wavy brown hair? One had only to look closely to see his nature reflected in those thin lips and narrow eyes now focused on Kit. A deep furrow between his brows bore witness to his long having insisted upon having his way. When Kit sketched him, it had been as an attacking hawk.

“What will you do?” he asked smugly. “Where will you go, m’dear? You are alone and without funds. I am the one who has provided food and shelter for both you and your weak sister, though I wanted only you. You are mine, Katherine, and I will have you.”

Terror seized her. Cornered, her eyes darted about like an animal snared in a trap. His tall figure blocked the door to the corridor; the only way out led through his adjacent bedchamber. She fled toward it.

She hastened into the room as he stalked after her, knowing she had but seconds, and her eyes searched for a weapon, something to hold him at bay. At the side of the fireplace were tools, short bars of iron that could fend off a man. But could she reach them in time?

He lunged for her just as she ran toward the fireplace. His body collided with hers, and she fell upon the wooden floor with a thud. Pain shot through her hip. His body crashed down upon hers, forcing the air from her lungs. She gasped a breath just as his mouth crushed her lips, ruthlessly claiming dominance.

Tearing away, she pushed against his shoulders with all her might, but his greater strength held her pinned to the floor. His hand gripped one breast and squeezed. She winced at the pain, but that was quickly forgotten the moment a greater terror seized her: His aroused flesh pressed into her belly.

Violently she struggled, but to no avail. His wet lips slid down her throat to her heaving chest as his fingers gripped the top of her gown and yanked at the silk. Kit heard the fabric tear as he ripped her gown and the top of her chemise, and she felt the cool air on her naked breasts. Frantic, she mustered strength she did not know she had. Twisting in his grasp, she reached for the iron poker now a mere foot away.

His mouth latched onto her breast where he voraciously sucked a nipple. Lost in his lust, he did not see her grasp the length of iron, raise it above him and bring it crashing down on his head. Stunned by the blow, he raised up, his eyes glazed. Kit let the bar fall again, this time with greater force. Blood spattered her chest and face as his body went limp. He slumped atop her.

Kit’s heart pounded in her chest like a bird’s wing beating against a cage. Frantically she shoved his face from her breast and rolled his body to the floor.

Unsteady at first, her breath coming in pants, Kit rose and looked down at the crumpled form lying before her, every nerve on edge as she gazed into that evil face, now deathly pale. Blood oozed from a gash in the earl’s left temple. There was no sign of life, no movement.

I have killed him!

Fear choked off her breath as she wiped blood from her face with a sleeve, and with one last look toward her sister’s bedchamber she raced from the room. Footsteps sounded down the hall. Alarmed at the prospect of encountering one of the earl’s servants who would summon a constable, Kit knew she must find a place to hide, and there was nowhere to hide in the house. Quietly stealing into her bedchamber, she grabbed her cloak and reticule, stuffing inside it the one piece of her jewelry that could be sold to sustain her, and fled the dwelling.

Out on the street, she paused to draw her cloak tightly around her, desperate to cover her torn and bloody gown. Where could she go? Who would shelter her in the state she was in, given the deed she had done?

Only one name came to her.

Willow House.

Amazon buy link for Against the Wind:
http://www.amazon.com/Against-Wind-Agents-Crown-ebook/dp/B00BXIJ6QM
Author website URL: http://www.reganwalkerauthor.com/
Author’s Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Regan-Walker/e/B008OUWC5Y
Regan’s Romance Reviews blog: http://reganromancereview.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @RegansReview (https://twitter.com/RegansReview)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/regan.walker.104
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6450403.Regan_Walker