Spotlight & Giveaway: To Covet a Countess by Sapna Bhog

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Sapna Bhog to HJ!

Hi Sapna and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, To Covet a Countess!

 
Hello dear reader
 

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

A chance encounter with a handsome earl on a snowy English night changed the course of this runaway Indian girl’s life.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

All she needed was a sign. Something from the universe to tell her that all would be well.
But what Sania Aaryan got was the howling of wind in her ears and snowflakes falling in a never-ending stream all around her.
A couple of months ago, the mere thought of even getting an opportunity to see snowfall had been out of her realm of possibilities. But as fate would have it, here she was, shivering in the dark, cold, English winter, surrounded by snow and wondering what the fuss was about, especially considering her fingers and toes were nearly frozen.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• An Indian heroine who’s run away from her homeland
• An emotionally scarred earl who doesn’t want to fall in love
• A chance encounter that changes their life
• An unexpected attraction
• A love worth battling their inner demons for

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

In the very first scene of their meeting, the heroine holds a dagger to the heroes throat. She nicks him before fainting in his arms.
Her bravery floors him. His kindness melts her heart.
 

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

Passionate, angsty, compelling, heartbreaking, devotion.
 

The First Kiss…

His finger pressed on the center of her lower lip. “I think I…I want to kiss you.”
Heat washed over her. He wanted to kiss her.
A deep want unfurled inside her at his words. She’d never been kissed by anyone before, and this kind, gorgeous man wanted to kiss her. She stared at his lips. Heaven help her. She wanted to kiss him, too. His finger coasted down her jaw, and he raised her chin up.
His mouth lowered, and when their lips were barely a fraction apart, he asked, “May I…kiss you?”
Her breath came out in a rush. “Yes.”
He captured her face in his palms, his thumbs gliding up and down her cheeks, and then he lowered his mouth to hers in a kiss so soft it stole her breath and made her ache for more. He shifted the tiniest distance, his lips hovering over hers, and stared at her.
“I shouldn’t be doing this,” he whispered, his tone husky.
Her heart rejected his words.
The need for more slammed through her.
That small taste of him wasn’t enough. The very thought that he would leave her like this, feeling incomplete and unsatisfied, was abhorrent. Without any further thought, she stretched up, grasped his shoulders, and pressed her mouth to his.

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

“Nicholas,” Sania whispered, kneeling next to him. She removed his soaked gloves and began to rub his freezing hands in her smaller ones. “Your coachman will be here any minute now. Stay with me, please.”
She helped him sit up, and sure enough, he saw his coach rumbling toward them. Tom, the coachman, jumped across and helped him into the coach. The girls followed, and Sania sat beside him.
“Take off your jacket,” she ordered.
He was too cold to even move, let alone take the effort to pull his jacket off. A shiver racked through him, making it hard to breathe. He wrapped his arms around himself, while chills raced down his skin like licks of fire.
But Sania was relentless. She set to work unknotting his cravat and tossed the wet cloth on the floor. Her small hands were hot against his neck as she set about unbuttoning the top buttons of his shirt. Only then he realized that she’d taken off her gloves. The heat from her bare hands singed his skin as she helped him remove his soggy jacket. She tugged at his arm, and he allowed her to remove his waistcoat and shirt as well. Quickly she wrapped him in a blanket, keeping his hands in her smaller ones, rubbing warmth into them.
“Will he be all right?” Isha asked from across him, the puppy held to her chest like a lifeline. “I’m so—”
“Not a word,” Sania snapped, continuing to massage his hands in hers.
“But I couldn’t leave the puppy in the middle of the ice,” Isha pressed forth. “He kept whining and slipping. I just had to help him, Sania. I had to.”
But Sania ignored her and concentrated on warming his hands.
“I shouldn’t have wandered away, but I just thought to take a look outside, and then I took a step forward and then another…”
Hawk tuned her out as more shivers racked through him, making his head pound.
The girls, especially the younger one, needed a strict chaperone, someone to constantly monitor her movements, and he most certainly wasn’t up to that task. The faster he sent them off to Lara, the better off he’d be. A mere day in their company and he’d had a knife pulled on him, his throat had been this close to being sliced open, and now he was a freezing, sodden, aching mess. Every inch of him hurt like the devil.
Perhaps this wasn’t the distraction he needed on this day. Though he couldn’t deny the absence of his father’s taunting voice in that exact moment.
Icy water dripped from his hair down his temple, chilling his forehead.
The mastiff chose that moment to join the chaos and started barking loudly. Isha cooed softly to the animal while she continued to explain her point of view to her sister.
Hawk pushed his throbbing head back against the carriage seat and shut his eyes.
“I killed him!” Isha cried. “Oh God. I killed him, didn’t I?”
“Nicholas, Nicholas,” Sania called out, slapping his cheeks. Hard.
His eyes snapped open.
Bloody hell. He let out an exhausted breath and met her worried gaze.
“I…I am n…not d…d…dead, and f…f…for the l…love of G…God, please stop talking.” He shut his eyes again.

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

He caught the intruder and spun him around. His hood fell off, and locks of long, silky black hair tumbled down. The intruder was a…woman. Her dark eyes shone with a
mixture of panic and alarm.
His jaw dropped, and shock rendered him mute. This
tiny woman was attempting to break into Wolf’s house? Using his distraction, she pushed him against a wall,
and in the next second, she had a dagger at his throat.
The knife at his throat shook before she steadied it.
“Who are you?”
Her accent sounded foreign.
Of all the preposterous things he might have encountered
this evening… He stared at the woman for a second before a loud laugh erupted from his mouth.
Her eyes flashed with surprise. “I have a dagger pointed at your throat and you’re laughing? Do you have a death wish?”
“Not really and you don’t look like you could kill anyone,” he drawled, his lips twitching.
Her chin jutted out, and she stepped closer to him, crowding him against the wall. Her scent wafted over him. Jasmine and oranges—intoxicating and intense.
The sharp tip of her weapon poked the side of his throat.
“I’d kill you in a second,” she challenged. “But first, who are you? And what do you want?”
“I don’t answer to petty thieves.”
She scowled at him. “I am no thief.”
“Says someone who was caught climbing a tree to break
into a duke’s home and is now holding a blade to his friend’s throat.”
The dagger nicked the side of his neck. He felt the sharp sting.
The woman gasped, and horror crossed her face, as if she hadn’t meant to injure him. Interesting.

Readers should read this book …

Because it features a full blooded Indian heroine who finds herself when she runs away from India to England.
It also features a handsome earl who lets go of his fears to claim the heroine.

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

I have a self published novel (enemies to lovers/marriage) to be released – Every Breath you Take – This is Book 6 in my widely loved Sehgal Saga which consists of romance stories set in India. This can be read as a standalone.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Amazon 5$ gift card.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Would you read historical romances featuring an Indian heroine?

 
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Excerpt from To Covet a Countess:

The logs in the fireplace crackled and popped. He gazed out through the terrace doors where a silver moon shone through the glass. He took a step toward the slightly ajar door, when a figure stepped out of the shadows.
“Nicholas, it’s me.”
He blinked, unable to believe his eyes. Surely, he must be dreaming because what other explanation could there be of Sania turning up—in his bedchamber, no less—when he’d just been thinking about her? It’s like he’d conjured her out of thin air.
He gaped at her. “What are you doing here? And how did you get into my chambers without alerting James or any of the other staff?”
She lifted her chin. “I climbed the tree near your terrace.”
“You climbed the tree,” he repeated slowly. His stomach pitched in fear as the extent of her recklessness hit his brain. He stalked toward her. “Good God, woman, have you lost your mind? You could have fallen and—”
“Broken my neck.” She dismissed him with a casual flick of her hand. “I know, you explained that already when we discussed my attempt to scale Wolf’s tree. I told you then that I’m very adept at climbing trees.”
“Clearly.” He tossed his hands in the air, unable to believe she was here in his room, chatting with him like it didn’t matter in the least that she’d climbed a bloody tree to meet with him.
He took a deep, calming breath. “Why not use the front door?”
“Because even I know that I cannot visit an unmarried gentleman in his house at night without causing a scandal.”
“So, you climbed a tree?”
She rolled her eyes. “I think we’ve already established that.”
“Yes, but in that?” He pointed at her attire. He couldn’t believe that she’d done her climbing encumbered by the heavy skirts of her woolen dress and the coat covering it. Apparently Lara had already managed to provide her with some better-fitted clothing.
“I’m wearing breeches under them.”
His brows shot up, and his gaze dropped to the lower half of her body. He couldn’t help but imagine how she would look in just those breeches, without the heavy skirts covering them. His cock stood to attention imagining the roundness of her bottom in the trousers, the narrowness of her waist.
She shifted, tapping her foot as if waiting for him to return to his senses in order to have a meaningful conversation.
Irritated with himself, he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Please, Nicholas, stop being so dramatic. I’ve climbed trees dressed this way for years. It’s not quite a big deal as you’re making it to be.”
Oh, but it was a big deal to him. Especially when her actions led her to his bedroom. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here because…” Her gaze fell on the triangle of exposed skin at his throat, and his body instantly warmed under her appraisal. She gulped, looking back at his face. “Because I wanted to talk to you.”

“And that couldn’t wait until the light of the day?”
This, her being in his bedroom alone, when he’d been missing her—yes, that’s what it was, he’d been missing her— was like a punch to his gut. His fingers ached to pull her close to him and finish the kiss that had nearly begun when they’d been on the swing the previous night.
“I wanted to thank you,” she said softly.
He frowned.
“You left so quickly,” she continued, “and I didn’t get
a chance to say thank you. What you did for Isha and me was so unexpectedly generous. It was beyond kindness. You are a good man, Nicholas Delmore, Earl of Hawksley, and I couldn’t sleep without telling you this.”
Over the years he’d been called a lot of things, and good wasn’t one of them. But this girl from a different world claimed it to be so, and it thawed a frozen part of his chest.
“Why did you leave so suddenly?” she asked before he could say anything.
He swallowed against the lump in his throat.
A knock on the door kept him from whatever excuse he’d been about to give her. James entered with a jug of water without waiting for him to summon him inside as he usually did.
Hawk spun around, heart pounding, but she’d disappeared. The only indication of her was the fluttering lace curtains and the lingering jasmine and orange scent in his room.
He hurried outside the terrace doors and spotted her running out of the back gate of his house.
He cursed. She had no care for her wellbeing. None at all. He squinted hard into the darkness, and only when he

saw her open the back gate of Wolf’s house did he breathe a sigh of relief.
The woman had his thoughts and he had to be careful else she’d steal into his heart. And he didn’t want that. Where Sania past and present embodied bravery, if history told a story, Hawk’s was full of fear.
She deserved more than a scarred earl with a terrible past.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Nicholas Delmore, the Earl of Hawksley, was not expecting a snowstorm-sieged London evening to end with a dagger held to his throat. Nor did he anticipate his spirited attacker to have glossy black tresses and lush red lips that might invite a lesser gentleman to steal a kiss. But before he can demand his beautiful assailant to identify herself, she faints dead away in his arms.

Sania Aaryan has no choice but to trust the breathtakingly handsome Earl of Hawksley with both her life and her sister’s. Trusting him with the truth, however, is out of the question. Because fleeing India for the icy shores of England was rash. Impulsive. And it might have saved her life—only to land her into the arms of a man who poses an entirely different kind of danger.

Now Sania is experiencing a world filled with luxury and opulent decadence. But starry nights and fairy-tale balls cannot chase away the shadows of Sania’s secrets. Especially when her terrible past arrives in London with an eye for icy vengeance…
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Sapna Bhog is an author from India who writes contemporary and historical novels. As a self-proclaimed die-hard romantic, her books are filled with swoon-worthy heroes and feisty heroines who clash all the time, but do get their happy ever after. Sapna has always surrounded herself with books and when she is not writing she is reading. Originally from Dubai, she now lives in Western India with her husband, kids, and a Siberian Husky. She loves to hear from readers. So do give her a shout if you’ve read any of her books.
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