Four Enchanting Love Stories, One Little Season to Remember

A Season to Remember

Ava Stone

Catherine Gayle

Jerrica Knight-Catania

Jane Charles

Thank you for having us today at Get Lost in a Story!

In the fall of 1813, the Bartlett siblings take to London to experience the Little Season. Devlin has hopes to find suitable gents to whom he might marry at least some of his younger sisters off. None of them have any idea, however, that before the end of the Parliamentary sessions, all four of them will have found their happily ever after.

As a primer to A SEASON TO REMEMBER, in which you can find all four of their stories, the authors present to you a primer of each of our heroes and heroines, presented in trading card fashion.


DEVIL IN MY DREAMS – JANE CHARLES

Devlin Bartlett, Viscount Marston & Miss Louisa Whitton

Just the facts –

Devlin, Lord Marston
Age: 27
Birth order: 2 of 5, 2nd son
Hair: deep auburn
Eyes: brown
Favorite Pastimes: Spying on and then thwarting the French; fencing; being anywhere his sisters are not, unless it is the Season, or Little Season, where potential husbands lurk in every ballroom.
Quote:  “I am not at all sure how I feel about ladies with loaded pistols.”
Miss Louisa says: Devil is a much more appropriate name for Lord Marston because I seriously doubt he has ever experienced an angelic moment in his life. He has spellbound me somehow. Otherwise, why would I find myself dreaming about him every night when there is nothing special about him? Well, except his wide shoulders, warm brown eyes, and that wicked grin that makes my toes curl.  But we can’t tell him, and I must swear you to secrecy, or I will never bring him up to scratch before Christmas.


Louisa Whitton
Age: 20
Birth order: 2nd of two daughters
Hair: blonde hair
Eyes: blue eyes
Favorite Pastimes: target practice; eavesdropping and reading lips of those too far away to be heard; embroidery; and planning how to find a groom of her choice before her grandfather, the Duke of Danby, picks one for her, who will undoubtedly be a vicar.
Quote: “Your skill with the sword was very impressive, Lord Marston.”
Lord Marston says: I was drawn to Louisa Whitton the moment I spied her in the garden at Bentley Manor.  Unfortunately, I recently inherited guardianship of my three sisters, all of an age to be married, who I must to see to before I can consider a future for myself.  I just need to convince Miss Whitton to wait a year or two to marry, when I will be able to properly court her.

TO ENCHANT AN ICY EARL – CATHERINE GAYLE

Miss Calista Bartlett and Tristan Cavendish, Earl of Fordingham

Just the facts –

Calista Bartlett
Age: 22
Birth order: 3 of 5, 1st daughter
Hair: dark brown, almost black
Eyes: clear blue, like the Greek sea
Favorite Pastimes: scouring the gentlemen of London in search of a potential match who is as unlike her former beau as possible; evading Miranda and Penny at every turn, but especially Miranda, because…well, because she’s Miranda; consistently being surprised, both by herself and others.
Quote: “I deserve a man in my life who will do what I ask of him when he can, even if he goes about it in a way I never would have expected. I deserve to be kissed senseless on occasion, and continually surprised—and you give me all of those things and more.”
Lord Fordingham says: I’ll never be deserving of having someone so good and true in my life as Calista Bartlett, but it would take more than a thousand soldiers to convince me to let her go now. A man needs something good in his life.

Tristan, Lord Fordingham
Age: 30
Birth order: 1 of 2, eldest son and heir
Hair: sandy
Eyes: no specific color
Favorite Pastimes: removing annoyances from his life; issuing commands, before remembering that he should instead deliver requests; discovering how he ought to live his life, as opposed to living life in the manner his father thought he ought to do
Quote: “I’ll be asking for her hand within the week. Draw up the marriage contract.”
Miss Bartlett says: Lord Fordingham is at once everything he seems on the surface and nothing one would expect him to be. And while it is true he can be a bit demanding, he is so very caring and protective. A little more teasing will do him a world of good.

MY LORD HERCULES – AVA STONE

Miss Miranda Bartlett & Lord Harrison Casemore

Just the facts –

Miranda Bartlett
Age: 19
Birth order: 4 of 5, 2nd daughter
Hair: dark brown
Eyes: hazel
Favorite Pastimes: eavesdropping; sneaking into dangerous places she shouldn’t be; and putting arrogant men firmly in their place.
Quote: “You said you were keeping my secret so Marston wouldn’t put a ball in your chest. I don’t see that I owe you my name in exchange for your cowardice.”
Lord Harrison says: Miranda Bartlett caught my attention the moment she entered my favorite gaming hell, dressed like a dandy. She’s held my attention every moment since.

Lord Harrison Casemore
Age: 27
Birth order: 2 of 3, 2nd son
Hair: brown
Eyes: green
Favorite Pastimes: assaulting punch bags at Gentleman Jackson’s, trying his luck at one gaming hell or another, making certain his little sister is as happy as she can be.
Quote: “Whatever excitement you’re searching for, I’m certain I can provide it for you, whether it’s driving my phaeton or… something else. There’s no need to put yourself in a dangerous spot again.”
Miss Miranda says: Don’t tell Lord Harrison, but he’s reminded me of Hercules ever since I first met him. If he ever finds out, I’ll die of embarrassment. Can you imagine his ego should he ever discover I think of him as a demigod?

A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS – JERRICA KNIGHT-CATANIA

Miss Penelope Bartlett & Drake Lockwell, Viscount Flitwick

Just the facts –

Penelope Bartlett
Age: 18
Birth order: 5 of 5, 3rd daughter
Hair: light brown
Eyes: hazely-brown
Favorite Pastimes: talking to her cat Wilhelmina who is very wise and always has sage advice; pestering her siblings; and alternately avoiding her siblings
Quote: “Even if he was [still in the garden], he wouldn’t appear now for your amusement.”
Lord Drake says: There’s no one quite like Penny, so young and impulsive and trying desperately to break from the mold that her elder siblings have cast for her. In the end, what she really wants is to be loved for exactly who she is.

Drake Lockwell, Viscount Flitwick
Age: 31
Birth order: 1 of 3, 1st son
Hair: blond
Eyes: blue
Favorite Pastimes: avoiding his parents at all costs, spending time in the country with loved ones, stealing away from crowded ballrooms for a cheroot in the garden
Quote: “You are…like no one I’ve ever known. You are both Heaven and Hell wrapped up in one sweet, tempting package. But by God, I will not take you on the floor of a hired hack.”
Miss Penelope says: I never expected for such a handsome and refined gentleman, who is heir to an earldom, to be so very kind…and sentimental…and romantic. *sigh* He is the stuff of my dreams.


A SEASON TO REMEMBER

In Jane Charles’s DEVIL IN MY DREAMS, Devlin Bartlett was never meant to be Viscount Marston, yet he has inherited not only the title but three younger sisters, all of marriageable ages. He soon learns that thwarting the French was much easier than playing guardian to three young ladies, and decides the simplest solution is to marry them off.

Louisa Whitton needs to find a husband of her own choosing before Christmas.  At her sister’s house party, she meets the perfect gentleman—thus foiling her grandfather’s plans.  However, Marston refuses to even think about courting her until his sisters are wed, and he has the audacity to ask her to wait.  Louisa’s grandfather will never agree, so she sets out to find the perfect substitute for Marston, forcing him to choose between his sisters’ future and his own.

In Catherine Gayle’s TO ENCHANT AND ICY EARL, as the Earl of Fordingham, Tristan Cavendish has lived by the code his father beat into him for so long he’s driven everyone in his life away, including his brother. Now he is alone. Loneliness dictates he must change, so he sets out to make amends with his only sibling. Alas, his brother seems none too inclined to hear him out, and a woman who must be a vision from Fordingham’s dreams walks into his path. Now, more than ever before, he knows he must change his ways or risk driving her away as well…but how?

Calista Bartlett is on the hunt for a husband—but one who is nothing at all like the betrayer who was her former beau. When she sees the Earl of Fordingham across the room at a soiree, she knows she’s found the very man who is everything her one-time beau was not. Fordingham presents an icy façade to the world, but Calista discovers a passionate man who kisses her feverishly and warms her through to the bones. Can she ever convince him to let down his guard permanently?


In Ava Stone’s MY LORD HERCULES, Miss Miranda Bartlett is on a mission to locate her missing friend. Determined hoyden that she is, she’ll do whatever it takes to get the answers she seeks too, even if that means dressing like a dandy, sneaking into a gaming hell, and surrounding herself with London’s worst reprobates. However, she didn’t plan on bumping into a Herculean gentleman along the way. The handsome and honorable Lord Harrison Casemore immediately thwarts her plans and seems determined to save her at every turn, making it more than difficult to accomplish her task.

Ever since Harry Casemore spotted the exotic temptress trying to pass herself off as a fop, he’s been drawn to her. He hasn’t figured out what she’s after, but he’s fairly certain he’d sell his soul if she’d just let him help her with whatever it is.


In Jerrica Knight-Catania’s A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS, Penelope Bartlett has had a rough year, to say the least. She lost her eldest brother and her father in one fell swoop, and to make matters worse she had to miss out on her very first London Season. Now she's in the thick of the Little Season and all she wants to do is run away. It's torture to watch her siblings fall in love and she's simply not in the mood to make merry with all of them. Especially when they treat her as if she's still a little girl in leading strings. 

Enter Drake Lockwell, Viscount Flitwick. He, too, is typically eager to escape crowded ballrooms and matchmaking mamas in favor of his own company in a deserted garden or library. But a chance meeting in his brother’s garden one night changes everything. Miss Bartlett is young and impetuous, yet he can't help but fall prey to her charms. Perhaps she will be the one to finally mend the hole in his heart...

Or will his secrets be more than Penelope is able to handle?


We, the authors, are delighted about the very near release of A SEASON TO REMEMBER, and in celebration we will offer an e-book copy of its predecessor, THE BETTING SEASON, to one commenter. Thank you again to the ladies of Get Lost in a Story for inviting us to join you!