Would you impersonate another to solve a crime against your family? IMPOSTER is getting 5 STAR reviews!

He’s the last man she wants to see.

But he’s the only man who sees right through her.

Haunted by their past, they’re desperate to save their future together…if they can.

He’s the last man Viv wants to see. 

Vivienne de Massé goes to Paris impersonating her oldest sister, the infamous Drury Lane actress, Charmaine Massey. Viv has a reason…and a plan to avenge the capture and death of their other sister during the Terror. Only one man can stop her.

Tate Cantrell is the only man who sees right through her.

Tate Cantrell bursts into her dressing room one night in Paris, and calls Viv’s bluff. He reminds Viv she plays a role—and a dangerous game she cannot win alone.

He declares she needs him. She always has. Indeed, he’s spent the last decade helping the émigré Massé family—and falling in love with charming Viv. Now the Earl of Appleby, Tate works as a spy for Scarlett Hawthorne’s network on the Continent. He alone has the means and the connections to help her….if she’ll let him. 

Haunted by their past, they’re desperate to save their future together…If they can survive those who would destroy them.

Excerpt, All rights Reserved, Lord Appleby’s Gorgeous Imposter, Cerise DeLand 2024.

Viv halted her mount. The sight before her brought tears to her eyes. Cringing, she caught her breath at sight of the huge, vacant plot where, according to witnesses, her father had been marched up a platform, hauled to Mademoiselle Machine Horrible, and murdered in the middle of the square. 

“Come away, my dear.”

She sniffed back her tears, caught and yet not surprised by the sound of the bass voice in her earshot. Tate Cantrell again. Was he her personal Paris plague? She chanced sight of him. So broad-shouldered, muscular, and bold, he presented that vibrant mix of flashing blue-green eyes and sugared cinnamon hair that made her mouth water. As if she weren’t in his thrall already, he added to the drama of his presence in a magnificent mahogany-brown riding habit. “I should expect you everywhere I go now, is that right?”

His eyes danced. But of course, said his look. “I know you well.”

Indeed. “Too well. You cannot annoy me into conducting a conversation with you.”

He gave a laugh. “Then I shall annoy you enough to protect you.”

Once she would have kissed his cheek for that. Now, congenial as his promise was, that irritated her. She ground her teeth and urged her horse back toward Pont Neuf. “I have enough protection.”

Tate rode beside her, easy as if he’d been invited. “He does look the part. I hope you pay him well.” 

“Ba! Look at him, monsieur.” 

She nodded toward her groom. Older, gruff with a day’s growth of beard and a bulbous nose long disfigured by too many brawls, Fortin flashed his black eyes at Tate. Then, with suave menace and a hand to the butt of his pistol at his side, he said, “Monsieur, if you please.”

“I assure you, sir,” Tate cooed in the sweetest French as he raised both gloved hands, “I am a friend and I mean no harm.”

Viv sniffed the air.

Her guard grimaced. “The lady does not want you, monsieur.”

Tate checked her eyes. “I believe she does. In fact, he always has.”

BUY LINK: https://books2read.com/u/3JBdJe

What precisely is a bourdaloue? And why would we need one? Hmm! Secrets of the bedchamber!

Before indoor plumbing, the private matters of personal toilette were carried out in very different ways from today.

In country homes and chateaux, water was primed from a pump and carried into the house in buckets. Heated, if necessary and then carted about inside in same buckets or perhaps pitchers.

Some houses were fitted with cisterns on the roofs to catch rainwater. Make-shift showers could be had by pulling the lever to allow the water to cascade down. But yes, that water was cold.

What then of disposal of bodily wastes?

While a few who were rich, including monarchs and their families, had privy chairs, beneath those open seats were, quite frankly, pots. In country houses and chateaux disposal of waste was much the same as in the growing cities. Waste was carried to the back of the house and dumped in bins for the night soil collector to dispose of. As we see below in one cartoon, urine was often simply thrown into the streets. Open sewers were a source of disease and contamination until the later part of the 19th century.
Until then, removal of waste was done by hand. By the hands of servants or the persons themselves, bodily eliminations were carried out in chamber pots or bourdaloues.

A pot is easy enough to imagine. Here is one with a fellow inside, who presumably, is there to guide one's aim!

But what, pray tell, is a bourdaloue?

A small receptacle usually made of porcelain, these boats, if you will, were specifically made for women to urinate in. Above, at the opening of this articles one and here is another rather lovely example!

But how were they used?

While one can imagine, I thought I spice up your day and show you a few illustrations from the period! Some are paintings, other cartoons! Do enlarge to read the captions. Useful to note that these folks could and did laugh at their inconveniences. One not so hilarious cartoon is the one in which one gentleman, I use the term loosely, is relieving himself in the same room with his dinner partners!

Why do I mention any of this? Because I am finishing up THE BUTLER'S FORBIDDEN FANCY, a short Christmas story in my CHRISTMAS BELLES series, and the hero who is a butler is discussing his duties. They would include ensuring that the guests at his employer's home have sufficient pots and bourdaloues for their conveniences!

https://www.amazon.com/Cerise-DeLand/e/B0089DS2N2/

I'm going to a #Regency ball and my choices of gowns are unlimited! Yellow is The Color I've chosen!

1817 Yellow Silk Gown,
Leeds Costume Collection

 We're going to ball, you and I, and it's the Regency period. Our Papa has unlimited money to spend on our wardrobes and that's a good thing because our seamstress is frightfully expensive. Delightfully, our complexions and figures can stand a dashing yellow frothy something or other! And to make everything simply scrumptious, we're arriving in Papa's marvelous new town coach. (Do see a marvelous black lacquered older version of it here.)

What color shall we ask for when we see our seamstress?

The colors available to us (in, say 1820) are numerous. And we see in the fashion plates a few we'd like.

I'm blonde with warm brown eyes. And my sister, Beatrice, is a honey blonde with green eyes. Let's see. Choice of fabric and drape has much to do with how complementary the gown will be. Silk, silk damask, silk gauze would be good choices. But what of the color? What do you think is best, hmmm???

(Colors listed are those used commercially with the approximate date in use and the modern color name by the British Color Council.)

Apollo, 1823. Bright Gold
Isabella, 1821. Cream
Bird of Paradise, 1830. Straw
Orleans, 1832. Rose Beige.
Cameloparde, 1828. French Beige
Congo, 1883. Coppery Gold
Dust of Paris, 1851. Ecru
Florentine, 1867. Yellow with Bronze tint
Oiseau, 1837. Chartreuse Yellow
Terre de Pologne, 1831. Yellow, bordering on Brown

Cerise's picture from her trip to Chateau Vaux le Vicomte:
Berliner de Ville, circa 1840,
by W. King and Company, London

1810-1812 Pale Yellow Evening Gown;
Metropolitan Museum

1811 Ballgown, Regency era

1800-1805 Dress
(no attribution, Pinterest)

Care to waltz? #Regency style? Sip Champagne with FABULOUS #Regencyromance authors?

Amazon

     Do come join me Tuesday on FACEBOOK when 20 of my best friends and I celebrate the release of my box set, REGENCY ROMPS!


     This collections contains nearly 500 pages, the first 3 of my ROMPS series for a ridiculously low price of 99 Cents. But hurry, because the price is for a limited time only!


     Buy the box set and come join us for our own Assembly Room Ball beginning at 11:15 EASTERN and going on until the wee hours of the evening here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1379820468724985


    And look who's coming to receive all of you with me! A marvelous group of some of the most talented authors you can read today! Many write Regency, but others are masters of contemporary. All write stories you will adore.

NOTE WELL: THESE TIMES begin with EASTERN Time Zone!

11:15 EST/ The Receiving Line with Cerise DeLand

11:30 EST/10:30 C/9:30 M/8:30 P     Amy Rose Bennett

12:00 EST/11:00 C/10:00/9:00 P        Kate Richards

12:30 EST/11:30 C/10:30 M/9:30 P   Susanna Ellis

1:00 EST/12:00 C/11:00 M/10:00 P   Nicole Zoltack

1:30 EST/12:30 C/11:30 M/11:00 P   Patricia Walters-Fischer

2:00 EST/1:30 C/ 12:30 M/11:30 P    Eliza Loyd

2:00 EST/1:30 C/ 12:30 M/11:30 P    Paige Tyler

3:00 EST/2:00 C/1:00 M/12:00 P      Teri Wilson

3:30 EST/2:30 C/1:30 M/12:30 P      Caroline Warfield

4:00 EST/3:00 C/2:00 M/1:00 P        Layna Pimentel

4:30 EST/3:30 C/2:30 M/1:30 P        Madison Sevier

5:00 EST/4:00 C/3:00 M/2:00 P        Cerise DeLand

5:30 EST/4:30 C/3:30 M/2:30 P       Anabelle Bryant

6:00 EST/5:00 C/4:00 M/3:00 P       Elle James/Myla Jackson

6:30 EST/5:30 C/4:30 M/3:30 P       Ella Quinn

7:00 EST/6:00 C/5:00 M/4:00 P       Dominique Eastwick

7:30 EST/6:30 C/5:30 M/4:30 P       Suzi Love

8:00 EST/7:00 C/6:00 M/5 P            Sabrina York

8:30 EST/7:30 C/6:30 M/5:30 P      Sherry Ewing

9:00 EST/8:00 C/7:00M/6:00 P      Jolene Navarro

9:30 EST/ Last Waltz with Cerise DeLand!

Cerise visited #Regency #Osterley Park, brought home a patroness of Almack's!

Caretaker's cottage beyond main gate!

Going to England? One of the best homes to see if you are a Regency fan is Osterley Park. Nestled in a rolling estate not far from central London, the house is a gorgeous example of Regency architecture and Georgian furniture.

Taking the Tube, you can easily get to the stop in a few minutes. Yes, it is a bit of a walk from the station, perhaps a mile or two, but the terrain is flat. (And the trek works off your eggs and banger for breakfast!) If you'd prefer a taxi, those are readily available on the street.

But as for Mr. Deland and me, we did the walk and were glad we did. This always give us a greater sense of the town, the people, the restaurants and yes, I even spied a black gas meter in the sidewalk, circa. 1880!

Nestled off the main road, the house and the grounds sit away from the bustle of traffic. The gate is lovely, the caretakers cottage, too. And then suddenly you are greeted by the four-legged inhabitants! These shown here are only a few of this working estate. Charolais cattle are the drawing card but the day we were here, they must have been on vacation.

The winding walk around the pond toward the house...just there amid the trees.

That four-pillared entrance portico you see was designed (and added on to the house) by famed architect Robert Adams. Interesting because it does not cover the entire walkway to the front doors, it adds a Palladian charm and symmetry that makes the house grander than its more humble Tudor origins. 

Built by a Tudor financier, the house and grounds over the centuries became dilapidated. They were purchased in mid-18th century by Francis Child, a trader and banker. His intention was to keep the original footprint of the Elizabethan house and improve it with Adams' more contemporary sensibilities. Not only did Adam plan to improve the appearance of the outside of the house, but he redecorated the inside by deciding on each piece of furniture and ornamentation. 

Those who owned the house were a family grown rich from their involvement in the East India Company and afterward in banking. The appointments in the house reflect that interest with a lot of Chinese porcelain of the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties, ivory carvings from India as well the yellow and jades colors well associated with those periods. The Long Gallery, where ladies could take their constitutionals on rainy or snowy days, showcases these family treasures.

Intriguing to see so well preserved is the bed in the State Bed Chamber which is more than 14 feet tall and almost 8 feet wide. Huge and canopied, the massive bed was meant for a visit by King George III who never visited. But the crown atop the carved canopy denotes the hope the monarch might arrive. The lavish appointments of linens and coverlet are lovely works of the period. The bill for this room, the bed and furnishings was so enormous, Robert Child ripped up the paper and never told anyone the final tally!

Up an elaborate green marbled staircase are more bedrooms and a library. Each is preserved in varying degrees with period furniture, draperies and fittings. The library is rather bare, because the contents (original works) were sold for profit and/or given to museums long ago. The music room on the main floor features a piano given to one of the ladies of the house. In the servants hall downstairs I suggest you take your time to look at each and every pot, pan, loooong wooden table, sinks for washing vegetables and a century-old oven. Next to that is the estate manager's office, large and dark and imperious. In all, the house inspires visions of who had walked here, what finery they wore, what dreams they dreamt.

Sarah Sophia Child Villiers
Countess of Jersey
(4 March 1785 – 26 January 1867

One intriguing story is about the daughter of Robert Child. Sarah Anne wished to marry the 10th Earl of Westmorland, a known gambler and rake. When the man asked her father for her hand, Robert refused on grounds he was not worthy of her. Plus, he feared the man married her for her fortune.

When the earl asked her father, What would you do if you loved a lady and her father refused you?
Robert replied, Why, run away with her, to be sure!

And so the young man persuaded the lady to elope with him to Gretna Green in Scotland. Robert was in hot pursuit but to no avail. The marriage was completed. The Westmorland's however lived happily together despite the fact that Robert rewrote his will, disinheriting his daughter and awarding all his fortune to her second child. That child was a girl who became a scion of society and famous patroness of Almacks, the famous 5th Countess of Jersey. 

As with houses operated by the National Trust, this one must be preserved by careful cooperation with visitors. Pictures inside were a no-no. And so I urge you to go see the house for yourself. And please do take a preview of the house and fabulous furnishings
at the website! http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/osterley-park-and-house.

HIS FORBIDDEN DEBUTANTE by @AnabelleBryant new #Regency #romance excerpt!

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1X1Ng8b

B&N: http://bit.ly/1Pr1SJl

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1QMOD8r

Deep, dark secrets.  We all have them. Guilty pleasures we never confess. Inner thoughts we guard in our soul. Whether one accepts them, buries them, or pretends they don’t exist; secrets are there, under the surface of consciousness, scratching to be revealed.

And that’s the problem. Secrets are alive. They pester, prod, and insist on being heard. They dare to be exposed. So much so, many of us produce new secrets to cover the old in a frantic attempt to destroy the compulsion to confess.

In His Forbidden Debutante, Randolph attempts to smother his love for a woman in his past and advance the Earldom by choosing a practical wife. Still the difficult choice comes at a high price. 

How will he forget the intimate conversation shared by correspondence with a woman who disappeared with a word? This yearning begs the question is he hiding his secrets or are they hiding him? Will he be able to forget the past and embrace the future?

Lavinia Montgomery is on the cusp of independence. Having lost the one man she loved, she isn’t ready to settle for a sensible match. When she marries, if she marries, it will be to a man of her choosing—one who respects her opinion, shares her passion and cherishes her gift of love like the author of numerous love letters locked in a rosewood box on her bureau, a reminder of the possibility of true love.

This well-kept privacy binds and separates Livie and Randolph, exerts control through passion, confrontation, abandonment, and realization because secrets kept for years become a strong force with will all its own.

His Forbidden Debutante is a romantic character driven story with the right balance of sensuality and action to keep you turning the pages.

His Forbidden Debutante Excerpt: All rights reserved, Copyright 2016.

He cradled her face with his palms, holding her mouth to his. She tasted like a fantasy, ethereal, sweet and forbidden, a temptress who experimented with sin, yet at the same time conjured cherished remembrances of childhood, daring, carefree adventure. She even smelled like the honeysuckle flowers that grew beneath his window. They were bonded somehow. Plighted.

Her tongue touched his, at first a flick of curiosity, then a slide of assertive demand, only to curl around his with inviting bliss. She offered and he took. He could hardly think for the pleasure of it, falling down a well of pleasure and he didn’t care a whit.

He heard the quiescent rustle of fabric before he experienced her touch, the composed caress of her fingertips along his jaw. Such a tender affection in the throes of their passion, the opposing sensations engulfed him, warred at his conscience and threatened anarchy, urging him to continue though he knew it as wrong. Didn’t want it to stop. He needed to stop. Damn it to hell, he had to stop, but the decision did not translate to action.

She was wondrous and original, yet somehow warm and familiar, all things combined, and he pulled her closer, not wanting a breath of space between their bodies as he kissed with all the pent yearning he’d stored for too much time, aching desire and dire longing. He deepened their embrace and moved his hands from her shoulders, over her arms to her waist, locking her within his hold. She made a tiny noise in her throat that ignited his blood like fire. Did she experience the same ferocious need that devoured his better sense? That dared him to do, want, take what he knew he shouldn’t?

Blood drummed in his veins, through his heart to his groin. What was this ferocious torture? He barely conceived thought, his body dictating all action. He wanted to feel her smooth flesh, the pleasure of her scent filling him, tempting him. He slid his hands upward, his fingers poised at the soft swell of her breasts. He could feel her every breath, each tremble hot and inviting. He wanted more. So much more.

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1X1Ng8b

B&N: http://bit.ly/1Pr1SJl

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1QMOD8r

Author Links:

Website: http://www.anabellebryant.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnabelleBryantAuthor  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnabelleBryant

Youtube Channel:  http://bit.ly/1r0TjsY

Author Bio:

Anabelle Bryant is the bestselling author of seven historical romance novels for Harlequin/HarperCollins. Her love of writing Regency romance keeps her busy in front of her laptop when she’s not in front of a classroom. His Forbidden Debutante released in February and completed the Regency Charms series where every romance was linked by different charms on a fateful bracelet. Sign up for her newsletter and keep up with her novels at AnabelleBryant.com.

Cerise's MASQUERADE WITH A MARQUESS, #3 in #Regency Romp series, videos of hero's home!

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Victor Cameron, the hero in MASQUERADE WITH A MARQUESS, is a nobleman with wealth and a few fabulous homes. One is in London, one near the border in Yorkshire, but the other lies in Berkshire. And a fabulous abode it is, too.
Want to take a look?
Of course you do!
This picture is the National Trust's photo of Basildon Park in Reading, Berkshire.

YOUTUBE OF HOUSE (28 minutes long): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovA1lQeRx5E

Missed it in 2005 Pride and Prejudice? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep7NVFZbEPY

The real house of Basildon was built beginning in late seventeen hundreds for the then current owner. In the Palladian style which conforms to very strict standards of elevations and dimensions of apertures such as doors and windows, this house is nonetheless a late example of the style brought from the Continent by those noblemen who took their grand tours.

During the Regency period, the center block was the main house for the owners, with ground floor used as wine cellars, servants quarters and service rooms. The rooms opened to the center court, hall or stairs and were in a row, one leading to another. The wings would have served secondary functions.

Do watch the videos of the house. I think you will enjoy seeing the true "Cameron Park" as much as I!
I also hope you are reading (if you haven't already) the other three novels in this series. Each stars a man who fought, served and spied for the Crown during the wars against Napoleon.