![](\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-_KLkHqCcZ_0\/WU8M5qbZs7I\/AAAAAAAAMKo\/KtscbtnxelcjT4n2HrurJ2xwpqIspFs9gCK4BGAYYCw\/s1600\/Banner%2BThe%2BDuchess%2Band%2Bthe%2BHighwayman.jpg\")
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<\/span>~*~*~*~*~*~<\/span> \u201cThe doctor doubts Ulrick will make Michelmas.\u201d The lazy drawl of her husband\u2019s cousin punctuated the silence as Phoebe resumed her position in an armchair by the fire. ~*~*~*~*~*~<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n a Rafflecopter giveaway<\/a> Rejection! Rejection! Perhaps you’re not meeting reader’s expectations… By Beverley Oakley A forbidden love, insurmountable odds and an angst-ridden ending. The first “romance” I wrote had all these elements. I’d thrown my heart and soul into my 587-page masterpiece, so why did Star-crossed Lovers keep getting rejected? It wasn’t until my sixth rejection that I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[794,430],"class_list":["post-7048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-featured","tag-romance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7049,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7048\/revisions\/7049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>A duchess disguised as a lady\u2019s maid; a gentleman parading as a highwayman.<\/span>
\nShe\u2019s on the run from a murderer, he\u2019s in pursuit of one\u2026<\/span>
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\n<\/span>In a remote Norfolk manor, Phoebe, Lady Cavanaugh is wrongfully accused by her servants of her brutal husband\u2019s murder.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>There\u2019s little sympathy in the district for the duchess who\u2019s taken a lover and made clear she despised her husband. The local magistrate has also vowed revenge since Lady Cavanaugh rebuffed his advances.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>When Phoebe is discovered in the forest wearing only a chemise stained with the blood of her murdered husband, she persuades the noble \u2018highwayman\u2019 who rescues her that she is Lady Cavanaugh\u2019s maidservant.<\/span>
\nHugh Redding has his own reasons for hunting down the man who would have Phoebe tried and hanged for murder. He plans to turn \u2018the maidservant with aspirations above her station’ into the ‘lady’ who might testify against the very villain who would see Phoebe dead.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>But despite the fierce attraction between Phoebe and the ‘highwayman’, Phoebe is not in a position to admit she’s the ‘murderous duchess’ hunted across the land.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>Seizing an opportunity to strike at the social and financial standing of the man who has profited by her distress, Phoebe is drawn into a dangerous intrigue.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>But when disaster strikes, she fears Hugh will lack the sympathy or understanding of her unusual predicament to even want to save her a second time.<\/span>
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\n<\/span> Buy Links: <\/span>
\nAmazon<\/a> | All other buy links<\/a><\/span>
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\nExcerpt:<\/span><\/p>\n
\nWentworth raised his cut glass tumbler to the light as he sighed in appreciation of Ulrick\u2019s best brandy. He took a sip and smacked his lips, meeting Phoebe\u2019s eye across her sleeping husband whom she\u2019d made more comfortable in his large leather armchair with the tasselled cushion Phoebe had embroidered to support his neck.
\nThe odious creature could not help but interpret Phoebe\u2019s critical expression correctly, but there was no defensiveness in his tone as he chuckled. \u201cThe old bastard can\u2019t enjoy his riches when he\u2019s gone.\u201d His teeth were white; sharp and wolfish beneath his black moustache and Phoebe looked away, pretending concentration on her handiwork while her stomach clenched with revulsion and fear. She would not dignify Wentworth\u2019s grasping remarks with a response.
\nFor a few minutes Ulrick\u2019s wheezing, rattling cough and the hiss of the fire broke the silence. The harsh caw of a raven in the darkness made Phoebe jump but she kept her fingers busy with her embroidery and her head averted from Wentworth\u2019s hard stare.
\nTonight? Would Wentworth insist on claiming her tonight, with Ulrick so very ill and likely to need her?
\nWentworth drained his glass, placing the empty vessel clumsily upon the low table beside him. Empty vessel. It\u2019s what she\u2019d always been made to feel as Ulrick\u2019s wife. \u201cUlrick was always mean with his liquor. A good supply for his heir, then, eh, Phoebe?\u201d Ulrick\u2019s Heir. Wentworth imbued the word with the disgust he\u2019d always felt for the fact that Wentworth was not Ulrick\u2019s heir. It was hardly better than the reproach that had always hardened Ulrick\u2019s tone in the days he could speak and implied that Phoebe had failed in providing him with a son to continue the family line.
\nPhoebe glanced up and saw Wentworth\u2019s thin lips were pursed, observing fleetingly that he looked like a malevolent raven, his dark eyes glittering in the face she\u2019d once thought so handsome. She tried not to show her fear.
\n\u201cHow long do you suppose it\u2019ll take my brother to drink the lot once he inherits?\u201d There it was. The bitterness he didn\u2019t bother to hide.
\n\u201cHush, Wentworth. You\u2019ll wake Ulrick.\u201d Phoebe cast the sleeping invalid a nervous look.
\n\u201cThe doctor opines that our poorly Lord Cavanaugh will not last three months.\u201d Wentworth didn\u2019t trouble to lower his voice. \u201cMy guess is he\u2019ll be gone long before Michealmas.\u201d
\nPhoebe could bear it no longer. She dropped her handiwork into her lap and sent her husband\u2019s regular and increasingly unwelcome guest an imploring look. \u201cPlease, Wentworth. He\u2019s not dead yet. Have the good grace to keep such thoughts to yourself. What if he hears you?\u201d
\nWentworth gave a short laugh. \u201cWhat do I have to lose by my graveyard talk? It\u2019s not as if Ulrick\u2019s in any position to deny me what my imbecile brothers already have simply by virtue of them being alive.\u201d
\nHow many times had she heard the same complaints? Phoebe forced aside her weary frustration and rose. \u201cI\u2019m going to bed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\nAuthor Info: <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>Beverley Oakley was seventeen when she bundled up her first her 500+ page romance and sent it to a publisher. Unfortunately drowning her heroine on the last page was apparently not in line with the expectations of romance readers so Beverley became a journalist.<\/span><\/div>\n
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