Sometimes it’s a little weird to be on a writing schedule a full year ahead of publication–while I’m brainstorming ideas for a whole new series and wrapping up edits on the final book in the current series, readers are still waiting for book 2’s release in a few months.

But since The Lost Heiress is at least out now, LOL, and I’ve been getting lots of questions about whether book 2, The Reluctant Duchess, is about Brice, I thought I’d take a few minutes to talk about these next hero and heroine.

In short, YES. It’s Brice’s story. 😉 (Wow, that was a short blog. Back to work now…LOL)

In case you haven’t seen the cover yet, here it is, with my heroine, Rowena.

I am so in love with that red dress…*blissful sigh* And the model is a great Rowena. I describe her as having honey brown hair and silver-grey eyes. She’s the heir to a Highland earl (women could inherit titles in Scotland if there were no sons). She’s also in desperate need of a hero to rescue her from a bad situation.

Cue Brice.

When one writes a “perfect” character, one gets a little nervous that reader feedback will be “He’s too perfect! Totally unrealistic!” But given that Brice, called Lord Worthing in The Lost Heiress, was just a secondary character, I guess I got away with it. 😉 Heir to the Duke of Nottingham, some of his confidence no doubt comes from his position in society. And the fact that he’s handsome. (I picture him rather like Justin Gaston…)

But Brice is certainly more than charming. He’s a man of deep faith, and that faith informs everything he does. That faith has given him a knack for seeing things most people don’t, and for knowing when and what to pray that people are always surprised by.

Obviously, Brice needed a fabulous love story. But what kind of love story does the silver-tongued charmer get??

An unexpected one. I had to pair him with someone totally unlike him. Someone who distrusts charmers. Someone who has absolutely no interest in becoming a duchess (Brice has inherited the duchy before the opening of book 2, so that I didn’t have to worry with shifting title names within the book. #YoureWelcome). Someone who at once needs the help he can offer and feels it’s worthless if she can’t help herself.

And Brice, who is always right . . . well, Brice gets a taste of what happens when he assumes he’s right and isn’t. (Cue the maniacal laughter.)

So while Brice isn’t quite “perfect” in this book, he’s still a man of compassion and faith and honor, and I hope the readers who fell in love with him in The Lost Heiress will love him even more in The Reluctant Duchess.

Meanwhile, I need to get back to editing his sister’s story in A Lady Unrivaled. So if y’all will excuse me now . . .