One of the problems I faced when starting Book #3 in the Merry Widow series was how my hero, Chandler Rhys, evolves from a somewhat quiet, scholarly type as portrayed in the second book (he was introduced in Betrayed in Brighton as a secondary character) into a man more passionate about the heroine, Felicity Drummond. Still keeping the light-hearted spirit of the holiday season, what could be the inciting incident that ignites that passion? Jealousy was a good starting point, I thought. But I needed something quick, right up front at the beginning of the story (since this is a novella, the timing is much tighter than in a full-length novel). Felicity is assertive in her own way and quite sensuous in nature. As a matter of fact, in the second book, her somewhat forward manner throws Rhys for a loop. So I started looking at classic paintings from this period, but also other images that might capture the "feeling" of what could set off Rhys' jealous bones, as wel
Author of contemporary and historical romance