Title: On This Christmas, I Thee Wed

Author: Virginia Barlow

Publication Date: December 18, 2024

Pages: 280

Genre: Historical Holiday Romance

Bartered to Viscount Hudson Becker by her father, Lady Lavinia Holbrook escapes her arranged marriage and travels to her Godmother, the Duchess of Chauncy to seek asylum. Determined to put men and marriage behind her, she is unprepared for the duke’s interest or his heated kisses. 

The Duke of Chauncy believes love is a weakness and refuses to take a bride despite his mother’s scheming. When the duchess makes a wager he will marry by Christmas, he considers the matter a lark. Until Lavinia gets under his skin, and he rethinks his position on love and happy ever afters.

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GUEST POST

The Inspiration Behind On This Christmas, I Thee Wed

On This Christmas I Thee Wed is my sixteenth story.  In a previous story, the groom left the bride at the altar, and I thought a Regency Romance where the bride left a very eligible groom at the altar would be a fun story to write. 

 I enjoyed creating this story a great deal. 

The relationship between a man and his wife was so different back then. Women were treated as possessions and had no rights. They could not own property or voice their opinion in politics. 

I mention an incident in the book where a man put a collar around his wife’s neck and auctioned her off because he was displeased with her. This custom is referred to as wife-selling and originated around the end of 17^th century in England.

My heroine abhors the idea of being subjected to the whims of a man and runs away, hoping to make a different life.

I am a romantic at heart and believe true love finds a way. The duke has just as much reason to avoid marriage as my heroine but for different reasons. He has seen the devastation losing the love of your life can cause and avoids the situation at all costs because he believes love is a weakness.

The Wild Rose Press, who published this story, had a series named Christmas in the Castle. I wrote this story for the series and once I submitted the manuscript I received a contract.

When I wrote my first book, I purchased The Guide to Literary  Agents and submitted to every press who accepted romance submissions until I received an offer.

There is a lot of perseverance and soul searching involved, but my journey to being an author has been both fulfilling and exciting. 

I look forward to many more contracts and release days. I want to thank all my readers for their support. I couldn’t do it without you.

Happy Reading!

Book Excerpt

His mother planned his downfall into marriage with meticulous care or she wouldn’t have goaded him with her bet. And he didn’t believe her innocent of sending Lavinia to the wrong chamber last night, despite her feigned innocence.

Nay. His mother had nothing to do but plot his matrimonial demise and design a nursery for his progeny.

God. Though he loved her with all his heart, why wouldn’t she accept his decision to remain a bachelor?

Lavinia’s voice played in his head.

There, neither Papa nor the viscount can order me

to do anything I don’t want to do.

He understood her frustration, but even Scotland wouldn’t save him from his mother. The woman had a tenacious streak to rival Satan’s.

And who the hell was the viscount? He knew of no scandal involving Lavinia. Her voice continued.

I refuse to be some man’s broodmare, impregnated and discarded…

Snorting, he wanted to add his discontent to being a…What would a man forced to sire a child be called, anyway? A brood sire?

He chuckled. Discarded like a settee in the parlor.

Forgotten until the lord required someplace to sit. The girl used amusing analogies, he thought. But if she were his, he wouldn’t be sitting on her. Nay, she would be atop

him. The memory of her soft body in his arms made him rigid.

Shifting in his seat to ease his ardor, he remembered her mentioning being abducted by a Scot and taken to the highlands to ravish. Then her voice went all dreamy and soft as if ravishment by a highlander were every girl’s fantasy.

His lips tightened as he swung his chair around to stare out the window, steepling his fingers in thought.

English lords were much better lovers and far superior in every other avenue. What the devil did she have against them?

Perhaps her parents were the answer. The Earl of Holbrook and his wife were the epitome of a marriage of convenience, and with their history, he could understand her reluctance to join the marital throng. He avoided the marriage noose for much the same reason. Thoughts of being tied to some of the ladies his mother paraded through the castle made him shudder with revulsion.

Good god, what a dreadful thought.

– Excerpted from On This Christmas, I Thee Wed by Virginia Barlow, The Wild Rose Press, 2024. Reprinted with permission.