Spotlight &Giveaway: One Season with the Duke by Addy Du Lac

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Addy Du Lac to HJ!

Hi Addy welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, One Season with the Duke!

 
Hello all!
 

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

Two friends form a marriage of convenience to save the woman from a hellish marriage but end up falling in love when an unexpected attraction blooms into something more and leads to complications that threaten to destroy everything they have.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Hettie clutched her reticule, feeling the crumpled letter
inside against her tight fist.
It contained only two sentences.
‘I know who you are.
Nothing but the bastard daughter of a second son.’

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• There were two previous versions of this book before I settled on this one.
• Three scenes, in particular, showed up in every version of the manuscript.
• Finn’s original name was Algernon.
• Henrietta was named after my maternal grandmother.
• I drew /designed dresses for Hettie while constructing the plot.

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

It’s a combination of humor, empathy and good old fashioned lust.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Friends to allies to lovers.
 

The First Kiss…

“Don’t make me marry someone else.” He lowered her hands but didn’t release them as he leaned forward.
There was a tiny instinct to maintain the physical distance. But his eyes were serious again and their intensity kept her where she was. His eyes and the thought that,
whatever she was obligated to give Phillip in the future, he would never have this. This at the very least was hers.
She saw the moment Finn realized she was not going to move away, that whatever he was about to do wouldn’t be rejected. Then his fingers were at her chin, gentle but firm, and her stomach swooped about in dizzying aerials like starlings.
His head lowered slowly, his eyes watching her carefully, and then his lips caught hers in a soft kiss that scattered every thought in her head. It was just the barest pressure of his mouth against hers, but she felt it all through her body.
She felt his sigh against her face and realized that he had pulled away from her. She felt sluggish, as if he’d cast a spell that trapped her limbs in treacle.
When she opened her eyes, she found him watching her with an expression she’d never seen before. It seemed like a mix of delight and relief. When he leaned in again, she lifted her face in anticipation as his palm cupped her cheek.
This time the kiss was longer. His lips caught hers repeatedly, and the friction was wonderful, but she found herself wanting more pressure, more…something. She leaned farther in to him and felt his large, warm hand shift to cup her face as he moved closer. Her hand found itself on his chest. She could feel his heart pounding through his clothes and smelled that deepand sharp scent of bergamot and lavender. Perfect.

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

The Sea cave scene:

She wanted to feel him, to touch every inch of his skin, but all she could do was hold on for dear life as he took her apart thrust by thrust. Everything was his body and the hot pleasure building in her core, radiating through her. “You are the selkie, husband.”
“Am I now?”
“Yes,” she cried out. “Seducing an innocent lady such as myself. Waiting until I’m taking my bath.”
“Mo selkie bòidheach.” He nibbled on her shoulder. “I’m just trying to keep you with me.”

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

The reconciliation between Hettie and Finn:

“You understand then why I am unwilling to place myself at your mercy again.”
“Yes.” There was a glint of tears in those gray eyes, tears she was terrified to see fall. “I let you down. You trusted me, and I let you down. I know that you need time, but I promise to do everything I can to make it up to you by whatever terms you decree. I will prove to you that I am still worthy of your trust and, if you decide to honor me with it again, I promise I won’t let you regret it. I swear.”

Readers should read this book …

If you like interracial historical romance and men who know when to take action and accept accountability.

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

I’m working on the second book in what I hope will be the Monfort Series. It will be a second-chance romance that tackles Alastair and his unique situation with his wife.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Signed Poster of the book cover.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Do you believe Finn and Hettie earned their Happy ending?

 
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Excerpt from One Season with the Duke:

When he found Hettie in their bedroom and saw her combing her dark, wooly curls and muttering to herself, all those worries and disappointments disappeared. She was here, after all.
Right here, where he’d always hoped she would be. Her nightgown was sliding off one slender, bronze shoulder, and the firelight bathed her in a warm glow, outlining the shape
of her body beneath the translucent silk. The picture she painted was so alluring, he almost didn’t hear what she was saying. Or trying to say. The closer he got, the clearer the sounds were, but he still couldn’t make heads or tails of what she was actually trying to say. When he was directly behind her, she glanced up to see him in the mirror.
“There you are.”
“Here I am. What’s this here?” he asked, resting a hand on her bare shoulder and leaning over to see the text she was reading. “Làmh-sgrìobhainn Fheàrnaig by Donnchadh MacRath? Where on earth did you find this?”
“Oh, is that how you say it?” she muttered.
It was a point of pride for him that he didn’t burst into laughter. He pursed his lips and nodded slowly. “Aye, that’s how it’s said.”
“I got my hands on a translated copy, so I know what it says…mostly. I was trying my hand at speaking it. I’m sure I absolutely destroyed it, didn’t I?”
He plucked her comb from her fingers and began working it through her tresses, starting from the ends as Elise had shown him. “It was a fair attempt.”
She sighed forcefully and began braiding the section of her hair she’d finished. “I butchered it. Your ancestors are probably rolling in their graves.”
He snickered and pressed three kisses to her head. He never could stop at one. “I’ll fight them off for you, leannan.”
The endearment slipped out before he could stop it. He tensed in alarm at how easily it had flowed off his tongue. How right it had felt before he thought of what it meant.
“Like that, for example, what does that mean?”
“What? Leannan?” he asked.
“Yes. Honestly, you could be calling me a donkey and I’d have no idea.”
He laughed and set down her comb before tilting her head forward and beginning work on a second braid. “I’m not calling you a donkey, I promise.”
“What does it mean then?”
“It means ‘sweetheart,’ sweetheart,” he replied before tying the braid off with a ribbon.
Her mouth curved into a shy but delighted smile. “Does it really?” She met his eyes in the mirror.
“Aye, it does.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek softly. “Of course, I could be lying to you.”
“Oh, you—” Her eyes flashed with outraged humor, and spun around, slapping his shoulder.
He laughed again, plucking her off the stool and pulling into his arms.
“I’m only teasing. So, other than your attacks on my mother tongue, how are you settling in?”
She mock-glared at him for a moment, then shrugged, sending her sleeve farther down her arm. “Well enough, I suppose. I’m going to need a tutor for this.”
“You will indeed.”
“You said your father wasn’t from the Highlands. Did he speak Gaelic?”
“Fluently.”
“Drat.” she said, pulling from his embrace and crossing over to the fireplace. She looked so lonely standing there in her thin white shift with her slender arms wrapped around herself. Did she really think that he saw her migration as something too minor to be of note?
He walked over and drew her back into a tight embrace.
You agreeing to be here is enough for me,” he whispered into her hair. She shivered against him, but the tension in
her body didn’t dissipate.
“Beggars can’t be choosers, as they say.”
He didn’t know how to respond to that comment regardless of its accuracy.
“Then I ran my mouth at dinner, so I have a mountain of things to do. I must learn Gaelic. I need to come to grips with all your properties and their ledgers and the people at all of them. I…I must help you create a new legacy from two or three separate ones, and I don’t even know the first thing about any of them. I have to figure out a way to make an impact on your people.”
“Don’t think about that now.” She’d have her work cut out for her, but he didn’t want her to spend the first night at their home tied up in knots. It wasn’t as if anyone expected her to learn a language in a week.
“You aren’t the one with something to prove.”
“Shall I distract you?” he asked.
She gave him a cheeky look over her bare shoulder. “Do you think you can? I’m terribly distressed.”
“I’ll do my best.” He kissed her deeply and she melted against him with a soft sigh. He wasn’t sure he’d ever grow to the idea that he could kiss and touch her whenever he wanted. That she would always respond so sweetly and eagerly to him whenever he reached for her. That she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
That she had accepted him to the point of taking on his dreams and his obligations. She drew away softly and turned in his arms to face him, and his chest tightened with emotions that he knew better than to express fully to her. “I’m so happy you’re here,” he whispered.
She watched him silently, with somber, shining eyes that seemed endless, until he worried that perhaps he had said too much. Just when he was about to take back his words,
she pushed up onto her toes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Heiress Henrietta Monfort would never do anything to hurt her beloved aunt and uncle. But thanks to her cousin—who’s discovered a secret about her parentage that even she didn’t know—she is moments away from ruin…unless she marries him. Hettie has no choice. She must accept the villainous snake’s hand in marriage. So be it. But no man will ever own her heart, body, or soul.

Lord Findley has always had a soft spot for Hettie. Discovering that she’s being blackmailed into marriage is nothing short of appallingly outrageous. How could he allow someone unworthy to marry the gentle-hearted and bright-eyed Hettie—let alone a blaggard of the lowest order? To hell with it. He’ll marry her himself…even if it is the scandal of the season.

Now they’re racing for Scotland, praying they can outrun the jilted crook who seeks Hettie’s hand and her fortune. But ahead of them lies their greatest obstacle yet…and one unexpected—and damnably inconvenient—attraction that will turn both their worlds upside down.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Born in the tropical paradise of Trinidad and Tobago, Addy Du Lac moved to the US with her mother at the age of twelve. She began writing historical romance while she received a double major in History and Creative Writing from the University of South Florida. She enjoys writing books with diverse characters and steamy happy endings. When she isn’t plotting her next series, she enjoys reading, traveling, and tempting her fate with new recipes.

Addy Du Lac lives in Tampa Florida with an eclectic library of books and a carefully curated wall of beautiful men.
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