Thank you very much Kelly for inviting me on to your
blog to tell you about my new book, The Artist.
This is an historical romance, with a good dollop of love, lust and even
a murder, based in England and Italy of 1850.
Many of you might know me as Rachel de Vine, and I
have published eight books with Blushing Books under this name. However, I am
making a change of pen name with this book – hence the name of Juliette Banks.
BLURB: Lizzie was a pretty, but quite simple
village girl when circumstances led her to the artist, Theo. She had made a bad marriage to Lionel, a man
who mistreated her, and who then threw her out when she refused to sell her
body on the street for him. Theo was a
rebellious son of a Viscount, who left his privileged background to pursue his
career as an artist, and his favourite subjects were pretty young women whom he
painted in the nude. He was delighted, therefore, when the beautiful Lizzie approached
his door one day and offered her services as a model.
It was only a matter of days before an
attraction was ignited between them and they became lovers. But Lionel, hearing that his wife was now
living with the artist, regretted throwing her out on the street and snatched
her back when Theo was away. But the artist had begun to have affectionate
feelings for his model and set off in pursuit.
In the ensuing struggle, when he caught them up, Lionel was killed and
the two lovers had to escape abroad to evade being charged with his murder.
Can the love between a son of a Viscount
and an illiterate country girl survive after such a troubled start? And would they have to face justice for the
murder of Lizzie’s husband? This is an
erotic tale of a young couple in mid-nineteenth century England and Italy.
Excerpt:
Theo was cheerful as he stepped down from the coach
when it stopped near the tavern. He had sold all three of the paintings to the
dealer, who liked them so much that he asked the artist if he could have some
more.
"You have a beautiful new model, Mr Harper,
that's for sure. And the way you have portrayed her—sensuous, but also fresh
and appealing, with just a hint of mischief—will appeal to a wide range of my
clients. Many of them are gentlemen of means who appreciate such a beauty as
your young model, and would be happy to have a painting on the wall of their
private study, although I daresay that they would forego the painting if they
could have the lady in question waiting in their bed instead; begging your
pardon, sir, I hope I do not offend."
"Not at all, Mr Simpson. I consider myself lucky
to have the acquaintance of such a lady, and now, if you will excuse me, I wish
to rush right back to the woman in question and begin painting again."
He had missed Lizzie more than he had expected. In
just a few weeks she had managed to penetrate his heart as well as become an
enticing and very desirable lover. He was not a man to lose his heart easily,
but sweet and sensual Lizzie made his heart skip a beat for the first time in
many years. It wasn't just the sexual urges she inspired in his groin, but she
brought out the protective side to his nature, and he found that he wanted to
protect her and show her a kindness that she had clearly not found in her
previous life.
On his
return journey from London he had spent much of the time remembering her sweet
face and her sensuous curves that provided so much delight for him. His cock
had stirred as he anticipated the pleasures in store for him on his return. As
a treat, both for Lizzie—and, it must be said, for him, too—he had bought some
fancy underwear for her, decorated with lace and ribbons, which he would take
great delight in peeling off her before bending her over the kitchen table and
fucking her soundly until she groaned with pleasure.
Now he was nearly home and he walked briskly towards
his house, whistling to himself and smiling at the thought of the pleasure
ahead of him. He was puzzled on his arrival home to see the front door a little
ajar, and wondered if Lizzie had been out and had forgotten to fasten the latch
on her return. He pushed open the door and called out.
"Lizzie, I'm back. Come here, my sweet little
model. I have some surprises for you."
He was met with silence. Perhaps she was outside the
back of the house, hanging out washing? He walked through the kitchen, but
there was no sign of her there. It was only when he went into the studio and
saw the damaged painting that his heart began to race. Something had happened
to his sweet little Lizzie and a wave of fear passed through his body.
He was as certain as he could be that Lizzie had not
left voluntarily, and nothing appeared to be stolen, which might have indicated
thieves. No, the damaged painting suggested one thing to him, which was that a
jealous husband had come to reclaim his wife. It seemed to Theo to be the most
likely event. But what was he going to do about it?
I hope you have enjoyed reading a little about The
Artist. Here are my contact details.
I can be contacted
at www.juliettebanksauthor@gmail.com
And my Facebook page
is http://facebook.com/juliettebanksauthor
Or I can be found on
Twitter at www.twitter.com/juliettebanksuk
I don’t yet have a
website for Juliette Banks, but information about this book can be found at my
Rachel de Vine site, which can be found at www.racheldevineauthor.com
If you read any of
my books I will be your friend forever if you leave a review at the site where
you purchased the book. Many thanks.
Juliette x
Picture of nude woman is entitled “Passion” and is reproduced by kind
permission of the artist, Irena Jablonski (USA)
Hi Kelly and Juliette, I love the blurb and enjoyed the excerpt. This sounds intriguing and hot! Congratulations Juliette :)
ReplyDeleteHugs
Roz
Thanks, Roz. That's great to hear. Thanks to for Kelly, and her great blog.
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