Get Lost With Collette Cameron!

Who is Collette?

Award winning, Amazon best-selling, and multi-published historical romance author, Collette Cameron, has a BS in Liberal Studies and a Master's in Teaching.  A Pacific Northwest Native, Collette’s been married for thirty years, has three amazing adult children, and five dachshunds. Collette loves a good joke, inspirational quotes, flowers, the beach, trivia, birds, shabby chic, and Cadbury Chocolate. You'll always find dogs, birds, quirky—sometimes naughty—humor, and a dash of inspiration in her novels. Her motto for life? You can’t have too much chocolate, too many hugs, or too many flowers. She’s thinking about adding shoes to that list.

The Blurb:

She won’t be tamed.

A fiery, unconventional Scot, Adaira Ferguson wears breeches, swears, and has no more desire to marry than she does to follow society’s dictates of appropriate behavior. She trusts no man with the secret she desperately protects.

He can’t forget.

Haunted by his past, Roark, the Earl of Clarendon, rigidly adheres to propriety, holding himself and those around him to the highest standards, no matter the cost. Betrayed once, he’s guarded and leery of all women.

Mistaking Roark for a known spy, Adaira imprisons him. Infuriated, he vows vengeance. Realizing her error, she’s appalled and releases him, but he’s not satisfied with his freedom. Roark is determined to transform Adaira from an ill-mannered hoyden to a lady of refinement.

He succeeds only to discover, he preferred the free-spirited Scottish lass who first captured his heart.

 

The Excerpt:

Smiling, a heart-wrenchingly sad smile, she said flatly, “I’m quite used to being the source of gossip and disapproval. One really does become immune after a while.”

Shoulders sagging, she dropped her gaze to her hands, and fidgeted with a ribbon on her gown.

Like hell one did.

People erected barriers and defenses and lived a lonely life of isolation. Or behaved outrageously, keeping the company of those even more scandalous than themselves. Or they became bitter and unfeeling, afraid to hope for anything better than the harsh hand they’d been dealt. He couldn’t let that happen to his free-spirited Adaira.

Stifling an oath, Roark straightened his shoulders. The infernal pounding in his head and throbbing in his nether regions affected both his patience and his ability to focus.

“You’d prefer censure and ostracism?”

Adaira tilted her chin, meeting his eyes. “I prefer them over being compelled to marry a man who doesn’t want me. You have made it very clear you disapprove of everything about me. I’m not foolish enough to mistake your lust for anything more than what it is, pure animalistic drive.”

She gave him a cynical smile and shrugged again. “You forget, my lord, I have a stallion that becomes crazed with the need to copulate. He doesn’t give a rat’s whisker about the mare he’s mating. She’s a means to an end. Humans are little better in my observation, at least the males of the species.”

By God, she’d compared him to her rutting stallion. Roark almost touched his jaw to make sure it wasn’t sagging open.

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Connect with Collette:

Website     Blue Rose Romance Blog   Twitter   Facebook

You can connect with Collette on Goodreads, LinkedIn, and Google+  too. Go to her website for the links, her email address, and mailing address.

Folks, Collette has interviewed her hero and heroine for us!

Collette: Thank you so much for joining me Lord and Lady Clarendon. Would you care for tea or perhaps a shortbread biscuit? A Shrewsbury cake or Maid of honor tart? Adaira settles onto the settee.

Adaira: Please, call me Adaira or Addy. I’ll never get used to being a countess. I’d adore a cup of tea and a shortbread biscuit. And I’m sure Rory won’t mind you addressing him by his first name. Roark takes a seat beside his wife, forcing Ayva, my miniature dachshund to move. She promptly climbs into his lap and licks his chin.

Roark: By all means, feel free to use my given name, and I’d quite enjoy some tea. Two lumps please, with milk. He pats Ayva’s head, and she promptly rolls onto her back for a belly rub.

Roark whispers to Adaira: She reminds me of Kiki.

Collette: Kiki, isn’t she the dachshund you rescued from drowning?

Adaira nods: Yes, the poor darling. It was rather scandalous of me to jump into the lake.

Roark: You were terribly brave.

Adaira: Your picnic guests didn’t think so. They were appalled by my sodden gown clinging to my every curve.

Roark winks: I quite liked the gown . . .  Adaira blushes prettily and swats his arm.

Collette: I know it’s a bit of a touchy subject, but can you tell our readers how you met? Roark raises an eyebrow.

Roark: My countess had her friend knock me over the head, and then she locked me her brother’s dungeon for several days.

Adaira takes a dainty sip of tea: That’s not entirely true. I didn’t know Brayan was going to clobber you.  But, yes, I did lock Roark in the dungeon. I thought he was his brother, you see.

Collette: When did you first suspect you had feelings for Roark, Adaira?

Adaira grins: Oh, I had feelings for him from the moment I met him. I couldn’t stand him! Or so I kept telling myself. She gives Roark an appraising look. I think it was when I met his staff and pets. So many of them were disfigured or handicapped in some way that I knew despite his crusty exterior, he was soft as warm pudding inside.

Roark: Pudding?  My dear, no man likes being compared to pudding.

Adaira giggles: For pity’s sake, Rory. You have a one-eyed dog, a three-legged cat, a blind mule, a deaf sheep. And you keep an owl in the library.

Collette: An owl? Truly?

Roark shrugs: Yes. Sophie’s feet are deformed.

Collette: Roark, when did you know you had feelings for Adaira?

Roark: When I stood in the stables at Craiglocky and watched her with the newborn colt.

Adaira: You spanked me that night!

Roark: I was rather annoyed at having been locked in the dungeon. And I’d dipped a bit too deeply in the whisky. He glances at me. I’d just learned my brother was likely responsible for our mother’s death. Ayva sneaks near Adaira’s plate and snatches a cookie.

Collette: I’m so sorry, Adaira. She’s a rude little minx.

Adaira chuckles and rubs Ayva’s ears. She’s just like Kiki.

Collette: Adaira, you risked your life to save Roark from the burning carriage house. Was there ever a moment you thought you wouldn’t be able save him?

Adaira: I didn’t know if I could get him to the door. I only knew I loved him, and I’d die trying though. Roark takes her hand and gives it a squeeze.

Collette:  Roark, can you tell me something about Adaira no one knows? Something fun or quirky?

Roark:  My dear wife is terrified of bats.  She also abhors fish. And, he lowers his voice to a sotto whisper, she snores.

Adaira: I most certainly do not!

Roark: Yes you do, but only when you’re very tired.  It’s adorable.  

Collette: Adaira, something about Roark?

Adaira eyes Roark: Well, he’s completely tone deaf, and the man has sweets stashed everywhere. Why just yesterday I came across a dish of bon bons atop the towels in our bathing chamber.

Collette: What does the future hold for you?  

Adaira smooths a hand over her stomach:  We have a little one on the way. I’ll continue with my horse breeding of course, and I’ve much to learn about being a countess.

Roark:  I intend to establish a home for men injured in the war who have nowhere else to go. He grins. And I imagine I’ll continue to drag needy animals home. By-the-by, Adaira, I forgot to mention the fawn one of our gardeners found yesterday. Poor thing has a broken front leg.

Collette: Lord and Lady Clarendon, it has been my absolute honor to have had you as my guest today. Please say you’ll come back again. I know your readers would love to hear more from you.

Adaira: Thank you, Collette.

Roark: We’d be delighted to visit with you again. Do drop by Cadbury Park if you are ever in England.

Okay, Collette! When are you and I heading to England? Seriously, though, thanks for stopping by and good luck with your story!