My Lady Coward, a Serial Romance

As this site is devoted to clean and sweet romance, I'll post here about my new Regency serial I'm writing for the Clever Fiction site. (For more info on Clever Fiction, please CLICK HERE.) 

My Lady Coward is a clean romance that focuses on the mind of a young Regency bride as she struggles to balance her ladylike training with her love for her husband. Having come from the merchant class (and admired her father greatly for his work ethic*), her training was not as deeply instilled, making it difficult for her to always adhere to that training. However, what she lacks in natural breeding is more than stifled by her husband's very natural, very dukely (not a real word but I use it anyway) manner. Thus, she suffers in silence as he goes about his life in the way Society says he can, just because he's titled and privileged.

*For the record, work ethic dates back to 1959. I use it here for descriptive purposes only.

Below, you'll find the opening paragraphs of each installment and a link to the Clever Fiction site where you can read the rest of each part. There will probably be more My Lady Coward shorts in the future, so stay tuned! Enjoy!!

Part 1 (posted 10/06/11): 

  He'd had a mistress for years. She'd known it all along. Heart aching, she'd comforted herself with the thought that it was nothing more than a physical relationship, something he did to save face before his Society friends.

  He'd lost so much respect when he'd married her. She was nothing more than the daughter of a Cit, a despised class of people who earned their money from trade rather than inheriting it as any decent sort would.
  Lady Maria sighed and sipped her tea. Was marriage to a duke worth the heartache, the loss? With her marriage vows came the acquisition of a title and position in Society. Security. With her marriage vows came the loss of her friends, her family, and everything familiar and comfortable. Love.
  (to read the rest, CLICK HERE)

Part 2 (posted 10/20/11):
  Lady Maria waited in her bed, clothed in a diaphanous nightdress. A single candle, burning on the nightstand, kept the room from complete darkness.
  It was the fourteenth consecutive night she'd waited thus, a book in hand so as to appear nonchalant, less like a young wife awaiting her husband's presence in her bed.
  Would this be the night? She'd listened to rumor after rumor concerning her husband and where he preferred to spend his nights. She'd accepted it as life in high Society, the life of a real lady.
  They'd consummated their marriage, of course. Her face warmed at the memory, a tiny smile touching her lips. Even now, weeks later, Maria could still feel Richard's caress, feel his fingers grazing her skin, his lips brushing her lips, her neck, her shoulder, her...
  (to read the rest, CLICK HERE)

Part 3 (posted 10/27/11):
  They were married in October. No Society marriage ever took place in October. The weather had already turned cold, a harbinger of the no doubt difficult winter to come. Was it an omen, a sign of ill luck?
  Shaking her head, Maria turned away from the window through which she'd been blindly staring, watching the servants load boxes and traveling cases into the carriage waiting out front. The soft rustling of her skirts made a strange counterpoint to the occasional crackle from the fire, a necessary luxury on such a chilly morning.
  It was silly to believe in such superstitious nonsense. Her marriage was not doomed due to an October wedding or an early chill in the air. No, her marriage suffered the insurmountable odds of unequal birth.
  (to read the rest, CLICK HERE)

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