I’ve shared character art, buy links, and the cover image for THE SOLITARY ROSE, but you know what I haven’t shared? An excerpt from the book! Here is the official teaser: a scrap of dialogue between impoverished sorcerer Henry Dawson and wealthy recluse Emma Ainsworth.

This argument maddened him. He wanted to bury his head under a pillow and forget it had ever happened. “I am not engaged to you, I am not married to you, and I will not sell my virtue. You will have to find someone else to experiment on. The only woman I am planning on bedding is my wife. You don’t want to marry me, do you? Then this conversation is over.”

Miss Ainsworth narrowed her eyes. She lifted one arm so she could rest her chin on her hand as she looked at Henry. Henry grew nervous. He could not imagine what she was going to try next, but from the look on her face, she was not ready to throw down her arms. He felt even more certain of that when a slow smile crossed her bewitching lips. Something about that smile made the hairs on his arms stand up straight.

“Very well, Mr. Dawson,” she said. “You win.”

Henry blinked. If he had won, why was she smiling like the proverbial cat who had stolen the cream? “What have I won?” he asked cautiously.

“My hand in marriage, of course,” she replied. “I accept your proposal. We are betrothed now.”