Welcome back for Sunday Snippet and I’m continuing to share teasers from Once Tempted! Once Tempted is a standalone Christmas Regency Romance novella that published last year in the Snowflakes and Scandals anthology. The anthology is no longer for sale and the story now its own book.

The widow, on the other hand, would need rescue to enliven her night soon.

���I wager ten pounds. I���ll have the woman bedded within a week.���

Their friends chortled at his counter challenge. Seven nights was definitely long enough to woo and win an eager widow���s welcome. She���d hardly be much of a challenge, the way she was staring across the room at them yet again.

Yes, surely, she had to be very lonely.

Frederick would be charming, flirtatious, and a gentle shoulder for her to cry on if one was still needed, but one way or another, he���d have a lady in his bed well within the next week.

The greater challenge would have been a wager on winning the favor of the plain spinster standing at her side. Minnie Chase, however, was not the sort of woman a man like him dared pursue.

He smiled and put the spinster out of his mind. ���What say you, Chase?���

���Twenty,��� Humphrey ground out. ���I���ll have her first, and this week, too.���

���Done. Twenty it is,��� Frederick agreed, thrusting out his hand to seal the bargain quickly, lest Chase add further conditions to their wager. There was only so far Frederick would go to win a lady���s favor.

They shook hands firmly and went their separate ways immediately. Frederick to the hearth, where he pondered how best to approach the widow, or if he would need to. She was already watching him, rather than Humphrey���s taller figure.

���He���ll give you a run for the money this time,��� Thomas Moore warned as he joined Frederick by the hearth. ���He���s always fancied the woman.���

���She is worthy of attention,��� Frederick acknowledged, taking up position near the pianoforte. The woman was beautiful and a talented musician. Someone would ask her to play soon, and he would be there to turn her pages.

���He missed his chance during her first season, when she married that dreary vicar,��� Moore whispered. ���I���d never seen him so crestfallen.���

He turned to look at Moore in surprise. ���Chase has honorable intentions toward her?���

���Not that he���s said in so many words. You know how he is. Takes his time about everything. Women, wagers, even marrying his sister off is still unfinished business. Organizing this party alone took him two years.���

���Yes, he is a slug about many things. That���s half the reason I challenged him to win the widow in a week.��� He turned his gaze upon Humphrey Chase. They were long-time friends and usually competed harmlessly over everything. But if the man���s heart was already involved, it would be a vastly different sort of competition this time.

He wished he���d known about the length of Chase���s interest in the woman before he���d agreed to the wager.

Although, when he considered the matter further, a flirtation by Frederick, an intentionally unconsummated pursuit, might be just the thing to spur Chase to win the widow this time round.

Whether that led to matrimony or not was out of Frederick���s control.

However, he could certainly help prod him along and speed up a courtship. He might even enjoy this more than seducing a sure thing.

Since Humphrey Chase had made no move toward the woman yet and was, in fact, standing by the punch bowl with his back to the room. Frederick boldly strode toward the women���s circle and effortlessly insinuated himself between the widow and Miss Minerva Chase. ���Ladies, may I say how lovely you all look tonight? We are blessed, us poor men, to be surrounded by such elegance.���

The ladies blushed and fanned themselves furiously, exclaiming that he was too kind. He increased his compliments to include their hair, gowns and wit. But when his gaze fell upon Minerva Chase, the only spinster in the room, he balked at flattering her.

One did not flirt with a best friend���s sister. Even harmlessly.

You can catch up on last week’s post here. I’ll continue posting from this book until release week. Hope you enjoy.

A Standalone Christmas Romance

Of all of her brother���s rakish friends, Minerva Chase is most enamored of Fredrick. Tall, handsome, charming���and utterly blind when it comes to Minnie. Still, thanks to some spiked punch and a stolen moment, she harbors a bit of hope that she may gain his favor���until she learns of a wager between her brother and Fredrick that reveals the true measure of the man. He���s exactly the rogue he seems!

Fredrick Stonebeck is never one to eschew a challenge, and a bet is just the thing to enliven the winter house party he���s attending at the home of his friend, Humphrey Chase. Saving Chase���s spinster sister from the embarrassment of too much punch, however, turns out to be even more invigorating. Once tempted, Fredrick���s eyes are opened to what he���s been missing���both in Minnie, and in his life. But he may be too late. Both Minnie and her brother have plans for her future���and neither option includes Fredrick.

Once Tempted will release on December 16.

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