This Rake of Mine

There is always more to the story than just what ends up between the pages. This page takes a behind the scenes look at This Rake of Mine including research I did while writing the book, character tidbits, and foreign covers (as I get them). Happy reading! ~Elizabeth

 

avon books
ISBN: 0-060-78399-0
October 25, 2005

This Rake of MineAs has happened with me before, I am happily writing along on one book when I throw a couple of lines in and suddenly another story unfolds before me. This happened as I wrote Once Tempted (which led to One Night of Passion, and then Stealing the Bride) and happened again when I was writing Something About Emmaline. Here was Miss Mabberly, so in need of rescuing from her soon-to-be marriage with the odious Lord Oxley, and here was Jack teetering through the London Opera House, in ahem, not the best of conditions. His mistaken kiss, that one moment of passion, changed the course for both these characters and there was no way I could just leave them there after what I had written.

But unlike my other instances of happenstance, where I get these marvelous story ideas as well as the entire plot, in Jack and Miranda’s case, I had only that one scene. That marvelous wonderful scene, the memory of a kiss that couldn’t be forgotten, but I hadn’t the vaguest notion what would happen next. Writing this book became a lesson in patience (not unlike the lessons my characters have to learn) and stubborn determination to see the story through. I had loved Jack, unrepentant loafer and lover that he is, since the first page of Something About Emmaline, and Miranda Mabberly tugged at my heart as the unlucky pawn in the ambitions of others. I can only hope that the story I discovered for them meets with your satisfaction.

On another note, This Rake of Mine is the original working title for this book. It’s always a thrill as an author when the powers-that-be think your title is just right for the book.

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  • This Rake of MineLord John Tremont, “Mad Jack” Tremont -- The brother ofthe current Duke of Parkerton, Jack’s disgraceful conduct in Something About Emmaline has led to his expulsion from his family, as well as society. Love Letters from a DukeAfter wallowing in self-pity, drinking and gambling away several years, he’s finally been given a chance to redeem himself. That is, until he encounters a tart-tongued spinster teacher at Miss Emery’s Establishment who has a vague resemblance to another troublesome miss who once crossed his path. Jack also makes an encore appearance in Love Letters from a Duke.
  • Miss Miranda Mabberly -- Miranda’s banishment from the ton’s good graces would have been enough to send most misses into a permanent decline. Having taken a new name, she’s forged a new life as Miss Jane Porter, respectable teacher of decorum at Miss Emery’s Establishment. But once she’s been tossed back into Jack’s path (and arms) decorum is the last thing on her mind. Miranda first appeared in Something About Emmaline and adds her able assistance in Love Letters from a Duke.
  • Misses Felicity and Thalia Langley, Lady Philippa Knowles -– Felicity “The Duchess” Langley, her sister Tally and their cousin, Pippin were modeled after three sisters I know. Felicity is the steamroller, Tally is romantic and unpredictable, while Pippin is whip-smart, cautious and a bit of a dreamer. Felicity has one goal in life and that is to marry a duke, and she is determined to find equally illustrious husbands for her sister and cousin. So who better to practice her matchmaking skills on than their beloved teacher, Miss Porter. Let us just say, mayhem ensues. Felicity’s story is told in Love Letters from a Duke.
  • Something About EmmalineMr. Birdwell –- I thought Mr. Birdwell quite the delight when I wrote him into Something About Emmaline. Such a stodgy fellow as the Duke of Parkerton would have only the most stodgy and respectable of butlers, right? Wrong. No one is ever as they seem in my books and Birdwell is no exception. A former highwayman and ne-er-do-well, Birdwell is as at home in the London town house he once managed as he is in helping Jack save England from her enemies. Oh, and did I mention he LOVES matchmaking?
  • Bruno Jones -– I got the name for this character from my checker at my local Safeway, Laurel. My son was introducing her to his bear, “Brown Bear” and she told him about her daughter’s bear, “Bruno Jones.” I loved the name and since Laurel is an avid romance reader, I asked her if I could use Bruno in one of my books. Hardly a teddy bear in the book, Bruno is a fierce brute of a man, capable of deeds untold, but dead on loyal to Mad Jack Tremont. A former pugilist and some-time forger, Bruno lends Jack a capable and much needed, albeit heavy hand when necessary.

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This Rake of MineI can rarely point to one book and say this was the most helpful, but these books help set the scenes, added to the historical feel of the book and helped add to the texture and plot of the book.

With the continent off limits during the Napoleonic Wars, the intrepid English tourist turned inward and travel within England’s borders became huge. Travel guides and advice books were widely used and it wasn’t unusual to have strangers knock on the doors of the great houses and ask for a tour, not unlike the mini-tour Miranda is escorting Felicity, Tally and Pippin on as they travel to their guardian’s house. Three books that explore this phenomenon are:

  • ~ Travellers in Britain, Three Centuries of Discovery, by Richard Trench, ISBN 1-85410-102-1.
  • ~ The Green Bag Travellers, Britain’s First Tourists, by Anthony and Pip Burton, ISBN 0-233-96761-3.
  • ~ The Polite Tourist, A History of Country House Visiting, by Adrian Tinniswood, ISBN 0-7078-0224-5.


And since I can’t just pop over to Kent and Sussex for an afternoon of house calls, I loved this book as my own version of country house visiting:

  • ~ The National Trust, Historic Houses of Britain, by Adrian Tinniswood, ISBN 0-8109-3411-6.

Learning about the more nefarious and not-so-nefarious past of Sussex, and the area around Hastings, I used these books:

 

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