We really wanted a nice round but impressive number of stories for this anthology and so when we clocked in at only nine, I decided it was time. So as Chasity Bowlin, I wrote the Beast of Bath, a regency retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
Here's a little snippet from it.
EXCERPT:
In the bottom of the tiny boat was a blanket, none too clean and smelling worse for it. Still, she was freezing. Tossing it to her, he noted that her maidenly sensibilities seemed to have fled in the face of pragmatism.
She draped the blanket around her, shielding her charms from his view. “Who are you?” she asked again.
Dipping the pole into the water, he propelled the boat toward the opposite shore. Using slow and steady motions, it barely made a sound as it cut through the water. “Is it that important?” he fired back, his voice pitched low.
“Yes,” she responded emphatically. “It is. How do I know that I haven’t just traded one horrible fate for another?”
“That is something you may never know...I am Norcross, but you may know me better as the Beast of Bath.”
Her gasp was telling, but she didn’t cross herself or cower.
“And your name?”
“Lady Thessaly Shade, my lord.”
“I will see you safely to my home, Lady Thessaly, and then you will tell me what this is all about.”
She said nothing. Clasping her trembling hands together in her lap, she stared straight ahead.
Norcross let it go for the moment. He would find out.
Clive Standen, my inspiration for Lord Victor Mayhew, Viscount Norcross.
And Jenn Purviance, plus size model, my inspiration for Lady Thessaly Shade.
