WE LOVE HISTORY TOUR: CLAIMED BY THE ROGUE BY HOPE TARR

RWA/NYC Celebrates Historical Romance.

Medieval Times. Regency. Victorian. Jazz Age, 50s, etc.

Visit us daily for excerpts from our members’ historical novels.  

Happy Reading!

CLAIMED BY THE ROGUE

By Hope Tarr

SUMMARY:  He crossed an ocean to find her. His secret could prevent him from claiming her heart...

When Robert Bellamy signed on with the East India Company and set sail for Calcutta, Lady Phoebe Tremont took his promise to heart. Their separation would be but brief; in six months he would send for her.  Six years later, believing her love to be drowned at sea, Phoebe hides her tears behind a disguise at a masked ball to celebrate her engagement to a dashing French aristocrat. It is there she encounters a handsome guest costumed as a rogue of the sea—a pirate. When he drops his mask, she finds herself looking into a dead man's eyes. A ghost's eyes. Robert's eyes.  Through hardship and degradation, Robert never lost his resolve to return home to England a rich man. Now a successful ship's captain, there is one prize left to reclaim—Phoebe.

The East India Docks, Blackwall

London, April 1820

Home, finally I’m home.

Captain Robert Lazarus, formerly known as Robert Bellamy, stood on the ship’s bridge. A hand upon the rudder, he steered the East Indiaman through the narrow neck of waterway leading into the harbor, prompting cheers of “Land, land!” and much waving of caps and brawny arms among his men. Once they’d made Spithead, he’d dismissed his pilot and taken the tiller himself.

This was his last voyage, his swan’s song upon The Swan—or so he hoped—and he’d felt a deep need to pilot her into his home port himself. Ahead, the lock gate lifted. Beyond it, the bustling diorama of the London Docklands unfolded. Merchantmen similar to his craft crammed the berths, their cargo of sugar and spices, tea and Madeira wine offloaded under the watch of armed militiamen wearing company coats, the burly stevedores bearing their burdens toward the warehouses fronting the quay. Everything seemed busier than he remembered and vastly bigger. Was it truly so? He couldn’t for certain say. Six years away had muddied his memory, erasing all but the most vital details—the silken feel of Phoebe’s skin beneath his fingertips, the way her eyes mirrored the shifting hues of the London sky, the tangy taste of her tears when last they’d kissed, a kiss meant to convey not farewell but a brief goodbye... 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Hope Tarr is the author of twenty-five historical and contemporary romance novels, including OPERATION CINDERELLA, optioned by 20th Century Fox, and IRISH EYES, an historical women’s fiction saga set in Gilded through Jazz Age New York City. Hope’s books have been translated into thirty languages including French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Korean, Japanese and, most recently, Slovene! Hope is a co-founder and current curator of Lady Jane’s Salon®, New York City's first, and still only, monthly reading series for romance. Now entering its seventh year, the Salon has five satellites nationwide, all of which donate their net proceeds to a 501c(3) charity; the NYC Salon supports Win. Prior to launching her writing career, Hope earned a Master’s Degree in Developmental Psychology and a Ph.D. in Education, both from the Catholic University of America. She lives in Manhattan with her real-life romance hero and their rescue cats. Find her online at www.HopeTarr.com, www.Facebook.com/HopeC.Tarr,http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/254454.Hope_Tarr, http://www.pinterest.com/HopeTarr, www.instagram.com/HopeCTarr and www.twitter.com/HopeTarr. 

Join Hope at Lady Jane's Salon the first Monday of each month.  

For more information, visit www.ladyjanesalonnyc.com.

REMEMBER TO COME BACK TOMORROW

FOR ANOTHER HISTORICAL ROMANCE EXCERPT.