Spotlight & Giveaway: Betting On A Duke’s Heart by Royaline Sing

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Royaline Sing to HJ!

Hi Royaline and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Betting On A Duke’s Heart!

 
Hi, thank you for having me. So excited to be here!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

He’ll have the perfect racehorse in dowry at any cost. Even marriage.

She hates horse-mad men, Dukes or not.

Only way to settle? A game. Winner gets it all

If only their fiery wills stop clashing and sizzling kisses don’t get in the way.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Miss Dina Campbell tucked in a black curl in her upswept
hair arrangement, flattened the front of her gown, and
squared her shoulders outside Papa’s library, to discourage—
or dispatch, to be honest—her twentieth suitor. Or was it
thirtieth? It was hard to count correctly, with Papa’s horse
luring hordes of horse-mad men. But she was prepared.
An out-of-fashion purple gown with a globe-like bustle
behind her posterior? Check.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Dina (Heroine) translates Mahabharat stories. One such story is part of the book as you open each chapter.
• I love Briyani and I got a chance to sneak it in one of the scenes to talk about!
• Aetius is quite progressive and wants to remove the law where a footman with a red flag must walk in front of the automobile (This is set in 1895)
• There is a ladder involved that falls. This small inclusion is made to address many of my nightmares where I dreamed I was falling down a ladder.
• While the novel is set in late Victorian England, I ended it in Kolkata for Dina.Like her, I long to travel to my home soon to visit my family. Someday I’ll be able to visit Kolkata too.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

* Aetius notices she is not at all fazed in the face of his life-altering announcement (as he figures she didn’t know) and she questions him. He is not used to that and is intrigued.
* Dina is a horseman’s daughter, she notices his legs first. Though his physique and his care lure her in.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe Hero and Heroine’s love affair?

Naive, Stubborn, Wishful, Passionate, Romantic.
 

The First Kiss…

Dina is the one who doesn’t want to give Aetius any wrong idea but here it goes…… 🙂

She stared at his lips, slowly descending
toward hers, and she wished they would come faster. But
they didn’t. He locked his eyes with hers as if waiting for
something. Her.
“Dear Lord,” she whispered. A hot rush of blood
pushed her, and her toes lifted themselves.
More about it in the book!

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

My favorite scene is where Dina comes up with small means to annoy to dissuade Aetius from the arrangement. Here is one I like too.

She sat and pulled the robe’s end over her knees. On purpose, he was quite sure because it smoothed out the silk, flaunting a ferocious face of a tiger, draping her knees with its ears and flowing down to her toes with its wide-open jaws with deadly teeth. The wonderful strokes of black and orange, including the fine whiskers, displayed the cunning eyes of the animal especially well. Calculating. Intimidating, but still controlled. And leaving the viewer in no doubt of the power it could unleash if provoked.
A message. Hell, if he did not respond.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

The one where Aetius finally realizes he must make a grand gesture. While I can not share the whole scene, here is a small snippet of how he enlists his friend’s help for the same.

“And third, you wake me up in the dead of night—”
“At five thirty in the morning.”
“As I said, in the dead of night, you wake me up and
make me cross town with riff-raffs still abounding on the
roads. Well, we did punch an evil goat. That kind of puts
a bit of fun in the balance. Then, you top it all with a trip
across the ocean. On my yacht. With no preparation or my
valet.”
Aetius squirmed, flashing his eyes to the blue silk of the
waves spread to the horizon.
“I did say I owe you one.” Then he snorted at Westbrook’s
muttered he better remember that one.
“Besides, you can hardly complain of not giving you
time to pack. You brought five bloody trunks on your ship!
Corinthian of the ton that you are.”
Westbrook smiled, as if being modest, and made an
unbelievable bow from the exact position where he was
sitting.
“You are welcome, since you are helping yourself from
said trunks. Now, we’ve been on the water for days and you
still haven’t uttered a word about what we are doing here.”

Readers should read this book …

for a feel good romantic tale! Readers interested in horses and mythology would definitely like those elements as well. I’d also add they might pick up something on the cultural aspects that I included in the book.
 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I am toying with stories of Aetius’s friends. So far no other releases are planned but I would love to see Westbrook and Glecia’s story finished sometime in this life 😀 Hoping 2021 is a more productive year than 2020.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One print or e-book of BETTING ON A DUKE’S HEART in US/CAN only.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What draws you to read a historical romance, regency or victorian, or otherwise? For me, it is the softness of romance in them. But also, I learn about different traditions, places, and interesting food!

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Excerpt from Betting On A Duke’s Heart:

Hundreds of loose sheafs fell out with a whoosh. He bet it was Dina’s handwriting as it matched the notes she’d sent to him—which he still had. A few foolscaps sported crosses over many lines and others sported clean sentences. These definitely weren’t letters to a suitor. Fortunately, the pages had slid in the same order as they were arranged. He crouched to gather them and collapsed them in a rectangular heap.
For a fraction of a second his mind balked at reading locked secrets. The irrational side of his brain brushed it away. He had to know. He crossed his legs, getting comfortable on the rug, and began to read.
“The Love Saga Of Nala And Damayanti”
~ Mahabharata—Hindu mythology
King Nala ruled Nishadha, the ancient, prosperous
kingdom of India. No other king equaled him
in leadership, wielding weapons, horse expertise,
or Dharma, the duty.
Pages followed with a story of a king and a princess he had never heard of. The king was a paradigm of manhood brought low by his love of a good game and one angry god. The exiled King Nala and the Queen Damayanti roamed forests in hardship, when one day, the king decided to abandon the queen for her own good.
How could he leave her to the horrors of a jungle while she slept?
The next page slid from under his fingers with an odd weight. Because it was a heavier paper with a painting on it. He’d seen his share of erotic art, some not possessing any real artistic value. But the first impression of this painting was a sensual experience.
The swarthy, handsome man—King Nala, no doubt—was nude, kneeling over the green grass beside his disheveled queen who Aetius surmised to be Damayanti. The fair lady slept with a smile of a delightful memory. The sight of her torso as supple as a chiseled marble statue begged the king’s hovering palm to touch her. Nala’s face revealed misery. Aetius brought the picture closer and tilted it toward the light for a better view. Was this when Nala debated leaving her? Being torn by the urge to stay with his love? Intriguing.
“What are you doing here?” The vehement hiss mixed with the faint squeaks of the door hinges startled him. But he contained the jolt of his heart. Looked like time had slipped away. Well, he could hardly vanish now.
“What are you doing back so early? Didn’t you have a ball at which to while away your night?” Countering was the best defense. He picked up the pages and stood.
“Right. Because that’s what we ball-going people do. And the not-ball-going people spend their time in worthwhile pursuits. Such as housebreaking?” She glared at him. “What excuses you barging into my chambers without permission?”
“You are asking me? You, who barged in on my birthday fete? At least I ensured there was no audience.” He clutched the sheaf of papers over his chest and folded his arms.
Her head jerked back. “That… I didn’t enter your chambers!”
“Feel free to return the favor now.”
“Oh, dear Lord,” she said, closing her eyes with the base of her palms.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Aetius White, the Duke of Saxton, couldn’t save his father, but he’ll be damned if he won’t save the man’s dream. He’ll acquire a Triple Crown–winning horse at any cost, even marriage. Luckily, the lovely lady in mind loves challenges as much as he. Certainly he can win her heart without losing his own…

Hell will freeze over before Miss Dina Campbell agrees to marry a horse-mad man who wants her dowry of a prize stallion, no matter what her father wants. The duke may be handsome, but he’ll have to prove he is a suitable match for her before she’ll even consider the offer. And there’s no way this love-averse man will ever succeed with the wager that she has planned…
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

As my first fiction work, I’ve a notebook length movie script, featuring my favorite stars. I was probably ten. It hasn’t seen the light of the day (And it won’t).

But story telling lingered. Though I have a software engineering job, the creative world teased from afar. So one day, I finally put the pen to the paper (or my fingers to the keyboard?) and started writing.

Now, I write through the noise of my lovely two kids, a very supportive (but sweetly clueless) husband and a bank job where numbers rule.

Born and brought up in India, I’m a huge fan of Bollywood romantic movies and the music. I also like all things Marvel! I love to travel and so many destinations are on my bucket list. Scotland, London, Agra, you get the picture.

I am currently writing Historical Romances, with heroines setting their own norms and coming to toes with heroes worth loving.
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