Book ONE
Finalist in the HOLT Medallion
Best First Book!
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The Wedding Duel
ISBN: 0-8217-7413-1
Zebra Books August 2002 (out of print)
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Ms. King has penned an excellent Regency romance in her debut novel. Keene and Sophie’s tale belongs on your keeper shelf. Suan Wilson, Reviewer - Old Book Barn Gazette
Reminiscent of Shakespeare's brighter comedies or a screwball film from Cary Grant, this one sparkles. Romanceatitsbest.com
After he is involved in an ill-fated duel, Keene Davies is stunned when his father threatens to cut off his inheritance if he doesn't settle down and marry - specifically a scandalous little hoyden named Sophie. Keene soon finds he cannot deny his unaccountable attraction to the spirited young woman he now calls his wife. But unbeknownst to him, Sophie is determined to teach her husband that honor begins with the heart and passion goes hand in hand with love . . .
Chapter One
The carriage rattled along the cobblestones. The steady clop-clop of the horses and the sway of the vehicle made sleep impossible. Keene Whitmore Davies lifted the shade and a shard of sharply angled morning sunlight pierced the dark interior.
This pure light should have been reserved for saints. He dropped the shade. A saint he was not.
Book TWO
Kensington's Romance Editor's Top Pick for June 2003
Bad boy hero Tony Sheridan was
Nominated for a Romantic Times
KISS Knight in Shining Silver
Award for June
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The Wedding Affair
Buy Karen's books at NewandUsedBooks.com
Available in Hardcover from
Rhapsody Book Club
I could not put this book down . . . Teresa Henson--Romance Junkies
The strongest feature of this well-paced romantic mystery is the marvelous characters King has crafted.
Kathe Robin--Romantic Times Book Club--4 Stars
. . a solid, well-paced, and engaging read with beloved characters,
It's a keeper. Judith Rippelmeyer--The Word On Romance
While he was fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, Major Anthony Sheridan's fiancée, Felicity, married another man and bore him a son. Now widowed, the impossible chit wants them to pretend to be engaged. Unable to forget the passion that simmered between them, Tony will go along with the ruse, if Felicity will agree to an affair.
Chapter One
February 1816, London
“Don’t you think that young man there should make a wonderful suitor?”
Felicity Merriwether tried to ignore the her mother’s unsubtle hint and gave only a cursory glance at the man descending from the carriage in front of them.
Book THREE
The Wedding Runaway
Zebra Books February 2005
*****
5 Blue Ribbons says
Romance Junkies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He sat on the bed beside her, the weight of the mattress shifting to make her feel as if she should slide into him. Part of her wanted to, but his dark eyes held a predatory look that she had never seen before. He had never known she was a woman before.
She stared at him, but then a frown furrowed his brow.
Her squeak of alarm must have amused him, because he gave her a half smile.
Victor scared her. Oh, Lord, if she was confused about her feelings before, they were now even more complicated.
He put his hand in the neck of his shirt and pulled it out, exposing his right shoulder.
She suppressed her second squeak and slid down staring up at him. Did he mean to remove his shirt? Her eyes were drawn to the discolored and puckered flesh of a scar.
“I lived through this. His voice was matter-of-fact, but there were hints at the deepness of the damage in his tiny wince.
She tentatively reached out to touch his scar when he let go of his shirt allowing it to slide back into place. Her fingers met silk. How, peculiar, her shirts for Leonard had been made in linen. Yet, the slide of the material left her feeling bereft of what she wanted.
His fingers closed around hers. “Don’t.”
“Does it still hurt?” She looked at his dark eyes and saw not pain or a wish to avoid pain, but a hunger that burned through her.
“No. It healed long ago.”
Then why didn’t he want her to touch there?
She let go of the nightshirt that she held closed with her right hand, hoping it wouldn’t fall down since she was in a more reclined position. Tentatively she reached for the neck of his shirt and pushed it back to see the scar. What she saw was the strong expanse of muscle and bone covered by smooth male skin and just the hint of dark chest hairs below where she held the shirt open.
His hold on her hand loosened, and she touched the marred and darkened skin. How many scars did he have? If she were to look, would she find more battle wounds, as if he were a knight of old? He turned his head slightly away as if it was hard for him to bear her interest and examination.
The flesh had healed, but the wound had been more than that. She didn’t know how she knew that, but she knew it with a conviction deep inside her.
She leaned up and pressed her lips to the mark. His taste was heady, slightly salty, all male. Her stomach fluttered and what she’d meant as comfort and an apology turned into something much more.
Yet, his palpable tension made her unsure. Had she erred in treating him to such gross familiarity? Did he find her attention distasteful? Was her kiss an imposition? She reached to be sure the nightshirt was still covering her, while ducking her head down. “Do you have many scars?”
“With such treatment, would that I could claim more.”
That brought her head up, and his face was so close to hers she could feel his breath on her lips.
He brushed his fingertips across her bared shoulder. “Does that mean I am forgiven?”
“I’m not sure.” She wasn’t sure at all what it meant.
He slid her slit sleeve down over her elbow. A welter of anticipation and fear and some deeper unable expectation curled down her spine. His dark eyes held hers. He reached and eased her other sleeve down, while she clutched desperately at the front of her gown. She clenched her eyes shut, knowing she should protest, wanting to delay her objection, but startled by his blatant removal of her gown.
“I daresay it is time you told me your name.”
ANTHOLOGIES
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The Bachelor and
the Bluestocking
I must admit my very favorite is
The Bachelor and the Bluestocking
from Karen L. King.
Judith Rippelmeyer--The Word On Romance.
Karen L. King's "The Bachelor and the Bluestocking" takes a traditional story and twists it, ... a tale worthy of an O. Henry short story.
Romantic Times—Kathe Robin
Chapter One
“Cecelia Louise Clemmons, what have you done to Mrs. Parmont?”
Uh-oh. Cecelia recognized her guardian’s exasperated tone. That he had shouted her entire name reminded her of the way her mother had scolded her as a child . . . back when her mother had been alive. Although her guardian, Devin Nash, known to all high society as Lord Beauchamp, resembled a mother about as much as a grouchy lion might remind a chick of its mother hen.
Going to the Chapel
Silver And Satin
Available now!
June 2004
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**** 4 stars says RT
Sterling John Cooper scratched out a fortune in the mines of California and he's ready to settle down at last. But his flighty fiancée leaves him at the altar and John is flummoxed. How did he miss the signs--and why did he overlook Mary Hamilton, her gentle sister? Mary's quiet tenderness soothes his wounded soul--and her love is the kind that lasts...
Poignant and Sensual, King's "Silver and Satin" brings
together an unlikely pair...in this touching tale.
Kathe Robin--Romantic Times
Silver And Satin
Mary Martha Hamilton had barely entered through the front door of the Boston mansion she’d called home all of her twenty-six years when her younger sister Suzanna raced down the stairs. Suzanna was younger by seven years, but at times it felt twice that or more.
“Oh, good, you’re back. You have to start planning the wedding.” Suzanna grabbed her arm almost causing a fatal accident or at least a deep scratch as Mary pulled out her long pearl studded hat pin.
“What wedding?” asked Mary her heart skittering in her throat. Had her fiancé’s ship, missing for years, finally made port?
She breathed an abbreviated sigh. Finally, she would be able to loosen her laces—except she didn’t have a single stitch of clothes here.
Oh my goodness! She couldn’t get out of the overly tight laces with nothing to wear. She pivoted and slammed into Sterling’s chest. “I have to go home.”
“Mary, you are home.” He wrapped one arm around her and reached behind her to unlock the door.
“I don’t have any clothes here. I need just a few things.”
“No, you don’t. Not tonight.” He scooped her up with one arm under her knees and one arm behind her shoulders.
Alarmed she clutched his shoulders while her head spun from a lack of oxygen. “I can’t stay in this dress any longer.”
“Good.” Sterling kicked the door shut behind him.
Oh! He meant to . . . they would . . . consummate their marriage. Oh heavens. In all the anxiety of the day she had only tried to get through each minute as it came. She hadn’t really thought about the wedding night. “It’s still light out.”
“You prefer the dark?” He grinned down at her.
She was mesmerized by his deep dimples and the amusement in his eyes. “Yes, no. I don’t know.”
He carried her still, but they hadn’t moved to the stairs. They would need a bed, wouldn’t they? Lord, she didn’t even have anything to sleep in.
SILVER AND SATIN
by Karen L. King