The Holiday has Officially Begun!

 

I cannot believe it is December! Weeks ago, thoughts turned to gifts for friends and family. I can simplify your list by offering discounted prices on ebooks that can be ‘sent’ to people on-line. 

Gift cards work as well, or maybe you need another ebook or two added to your ebook reader?  

Each week until December 23, 2023 I will offer several ebooks ON SALE

Such as…

On a quest to return signet rings, the duke walks into his own kidnapping. It was Tara's brother who kidnapped this nobleman, and the two of them end up escaping through the snowy landscape of Scotland. Ruffians, a Highland bull, wild weather and more surprises them both. Ebook Regular Price: $6.99 (US) SALE PRICE: $2.99

Just in case this fantastic price is not enough, please enter my Holiday giveaway, a $25 Amazon Gift card to use however you wish. No purchase necessary. Click HERE to enter. And find all Buy Links HERE And get ready for a fantastic Holiday season! Nancy Lee Badger

March is Marching Closer

Here in Raleigh, NC the weather has improved, but much of the northern Midwest and New England is suffering through the aftermath of ice and snow. Is there anything more inconsistent than the weather?

My phone, the television, and the radio keep me up-to-date but the real hint of spring is felt the moment I walk outside. (At this writing, our doors are open and the birds are singing, while the squirrels are chasing each other.)

For me, just a few weeks after cataract surgery, I am getting back into writing. On Wednesday last I finished editing and formatting my next book, The Rogue's Ring. It is the third full-length book in my Treasure Tales series and follows The Earl's Treasure and The Duke's Diamond. Here is the plot in a nutshell (yep, still thinking about those darn squirrels.)

Heading out on his horse, Ghost, into the snowy Highlands of Scotland in January 1817 was not sane, but Bryce Ketteridge would never let down his friends. If a duke, an earl, and a former spy felt finding the owners of nobleman’s rings was important, he would do his share. Coming across masked bandits, and shooting one, turned his life on end. What follows was not in his plans. 

The last thing Cat Douglas wished to do was steal coins from the handsome stranger she meets at a tavern. When he later shoots her while she threatened a nobleman’s coach, she suspected he had no idea it was her. Kidnapped boys, pirate threats, and murder propel them to save a boy named Blake. He was, after all, special to them both.

My next challenge is creating a book cover that does the story justice AND reminds readers of Books #1 and #2. I have already chosen the couple who will grace the cover, but I still need a background. Should I use an ocean scene? A pirate ship? His horse? The cave she lived in? Lots to decide. Once I have a cover, I will upload the ebook information to Amazon and others, which will give me a chance to let my readers know that the book will be released on May 12th.

I hope you signed up to get my infrequent newsletters because I also will be giving away an Amazon gift card very soon! Signing up is free and I NEVER share your name or emails. Click HERE to sign-up.

While you wait for my new book, make sure to read Books #1 and #2. Each will take you on a fantastic treasure hunt while my three brooding men find love in the Highlands of Scotland.

Find all Buy Links on my Book Page HERE

It is SUMMER TIME!

 

Have I told you how much I enjoy getting up early, pulling out the lawn chair and bucket of sunflower seeds, and welcoming my neighborhood critters? A carrot brings out two rabbits including the little fellow (above).

I love to read and am currently getting paid to read, but I am also trying to write more stories that keep screaming to be put on paper.

What's next? 

I finished a Scottish historical adventure, set around a medieval Christmas. A GIFT FROM THE SEA will be released November 1st in an Anthology created by a group of authors we are calling YULETIDE KISSES. Yum!

In January 2023, I will release the third (fourth?) book in my Treasure Tales series. The series actually started with LOVE, HAMISH, a novella, then was followed by full-length historical novels THE EARL'S TREASURE and THE DUKE'S DIAMOND

Writing and reading keeps me busy and I hope you are enjoying the weather and 'friends' like I am doing.

Nancy Lee Badger

Another Birthday and Another Book by Nancy Lee Badger

I am celebrating my birthday month (yes, at my age I take a whole month because Scorpios do whatever they want!) During the month, I will travel, eat good food, and write a new book. This book will be the third full-length novel in my Treasure Tales series.

This month, though, I released the latest book in print. The Duke's Diamond follows The Earl's Treasure and Love, Hamish and I enjoy writing about dukes, earls, rogues, and Scottish lasses as they search castles, caves and pirate ships for treasure.

Sound interesting? Check out all ebook and print book choices HERE

Stay safe and READ!

Nancy Lee Badger

Patriotic Parfaits by Nancy Lee Badger

I have been terribly busy this month: three days of Jury Duty, several doctor appointments, one surgery, exercising and swimming... but I made these parfaits for our recent get-together of the family. I cheated a bit (busy, right?) and used a yellow cake mix that my sister found. 

It is SUGAR FREE and smells and tastes exactly like a cake should. This made the creation easy, so I thought someone out there might enjoy making it, too.

Nancy's Red-White-&=Blue Parfaits

Pillsbury SUGAR FREE Yellow Cake mix (or Regular cake mix)

*cook as directed using 1 cup water, 1/3 cup oil, and 3 eggs)

Strawberries, hulled and sliced

Blueberries

Sugar Free Cool Whip or Whipped Cream

Clear Glasses

Bake cake as directed. Cool, then cut into small hunks. Place some in bottom of a glass. Top with some berries. Add some whipped cream. Add more cake, berries, and cream. Place two blueberries and a slice of strawberry on top for color. Yum!

I assembled them after our dinner, and served them to my family right away. Fresh and cool and sugar-free. My Christmas in July theme this month is to help celebrate the release of my new book.

You can find all buy links for 

this book and others HERE

Happy summer!

Nancy Lee Badger

Christmas in July Release Day - TheDuke'sDiamond

 

Enjoy Christmas in July by two of your favorite authors...

DONNA STEELE  and her new book COUNTRY DOCTOR

and

Me (NANCY LEE BADGER) with THE DUKE'S DIAMOND

These ebooks are surrounded by the authors' other 

Holiday-themed ebooks such as...

Find all Donna Steele's Books HERE

Check out all my books HERE

Keeping busy in the heat

and under threats by Hurricane Elsa

Nancy Lee Badger

1st Chapter Peek: The Duke's Diamond by Nancy Lee Badger

 

THE DUKE’S DIAMOND

  A Treasure Tale

 by Nancy Lee Badger

 

Chapter One

 

North of London

December 27, 1816

Bryce Ketteridge and Archie Kent climbed inside the coach, while Payton, the 6^th Duke of Bellmeer, stamped his boots on the cold walkway. He should leave the gaming house with his travel companions, but the crisp air and fresh fallen snow invigorated him. After hours amid the stink of smoke and perfume, the night promised all he required, mainly solitude.

The last few weeks had given him more to think about than he cared to admit. Several deaths, a mysterious treasure, and his friend’s sudden marriage made his head spin, but he relished the adventure. He enjoyed how they’d traveled from the snowy north of England to a frigid castle in Scotland, then home to his country estate in Longtown.

When all was said and done, how could he forget the happiness of his friend, Stone, better known as the eighth Earl of Larchmont? For a man verbally against matrimony, he had fallen for his childhood neighbor, although the path to their recent wedded bliss had proved more of a trial by fire.

Marriage was not in the cards for Payton, even though he’d succeeded quite well at cards tonight. As his ducal coach disappeared down the lane then turned down another road toward their temporary abode, a slight noise beside him made his hackles rise. He reached for his sword, but he had left it at their leased lodgings, because the Bellingham gaming hell did not allow weapons.

Turning, he recognized the profile of Viscount Phillip Manning, the card player he had recently separated from a vast amount of his dwindling assets. He and his friends had done their investigation before tracking down the viscount. Surprisingly, the man wasn’t scowling, nor acting vengeful.

“May I offer you a ride, Your Grace?” The jingle of tackle, the creak of a carriage’s axles, and the muffled pounding of hooves over a snow-covered street grew louder. “Here is my coach.”

Payton looked up at the viscount who stood about two inches taller than his own six-foot height and sported broader shoulders. Did the viscount box or fence to stay so fit? Or, did the man more likely wear a great coat lined with thick wool against the winter winds? Thinning brown hair beneath his beaver top hat contradicted what Payton knew was the lord’s rather young thirty years. The viscount’s pale gray eyes opened wider, as if expecting Payton to say yes.

“I appreciate the offer, but I wish to walk,” he said. Payton lifted his feet, right then left, to keep warm. “Fresh air and new snow are inviting.”

“Then I shall join you.” He motioned for his driver to follow and the two men began their journey.

Despite the man’s smile, Payton grew wary. As they walked, they left the smells of the gaming hell behind, replaced by the fresh scent of newly falling snow and the slight spice of whatever the viscount had splashed on his face.

Facing away from Manning, he took slow, deep breaths of clean, crisp air that managed to soothe his sudden nervousness. His companion was not someone he would like to meet in a dark alley, but he had to remind himself that Manning was a gentleman.

A poorer one, tonight, but still.

Tiny flakes settled on Payton’s nose and eyebrows. Lights from closely built town homes lit their way through the night and reminded him of the late hour. Where his beaver top hat and evening cloak could not reach, the back of his neck grew chilled.

A hot bath will do me good.

“This is invigorating,” the viscount said.

Payton’s suspicions increased. Did Manning want him relaxed for some nefarious reason, such as to demand the return of his signet ring and the money he lost at cards?

I am glad I had the forethought to place them in Archie’s care.

Even though he had recently met Archie Kent, the former soldier came well-recommended by his good friend, Stone. Archie saved Stone’s life and now worked as the earl’s valet.

Payton’s rented townhome stood a few blocks farther. He had no idea where Manning lived. Archie knew the man’s address, as he had spoken with a few of the servants in the viscount’s employ. That Manning could afford even the few he housed was another mystery. Why didn’t he stay in rooms meant for bachelors, where servants were not needed? How could he afford a coach, a driver, and the four tired beasts pulling the creaking vehicle?

The coach in question pulled up beside them, which is when Payton realized they had paused. Many questions lingered on the tip of his tongue. As the coach door swung open, Payton said, “Manning, I should like to know—”

Slam!

Payton’s hat went flying to the curb while he fell backward through the open coach door. He tried to roll to his side, but the small dark space prevented it. Someone tossed a sack over his head. While stunned and in shock at such manhandling of a peer of the realm, he was yanked up onto his knees. Shoved sideways, he landed in an awkward angle with his head resting on the thinly cushioned bench. The sack’s rough fabric scratched his cheek and stank of wet horsehair and whiskey.

As he lay disoriented, his leather gloves were torn from his hands and his wrists bound behind his back. He assumed Manning or the viscount’s driver treated him with contempt, yet he sensed someone else’s presence. In an attempt to turn toward his assailant, something hard and metallic slammed his skull. Beneath the blackness of the foul-smelling sack, he saw stars.

Trying not to breathe too deeply, he swayed beside the bench. With escape on his mind, he turned his head toward what he assumed was the nearest exit. Before he could move an inch, the door slammed shut and the coach took off at an unsafe speed.

Striving to remain conscious, his other senses came alive. He managed to turn and sit on the floor of the coach. Luckily, they hadn’t tied his ankles. He thought to rise, find the door, and somehow jump from the coach, but the flowery fragrance of a lady’s perfume penetrated the sack. The rustle of silk was similar to the burn of the rope around his wrists…barely perceptible. The side of his head throbbed and his back ached from his fall, but he worked to sit a little straighter. His reward? A soft sigh that filled the dark void. 

The second book in my 

Treasure Tales series 

will be released on 

July 9th

Find all Buy Links HERE

p.s. Happy Birthday America July 4 1776

Cover Reveal THE DUKE'S DIAMOND by Nancy Lee Badger

The second book in my Treasure Tales series will be released on 

July 9th

This story follows The Earl's Diamond, which was released last December. The story goes something like this:

Payton Hartwell, the Earl of Bellmeer, is on a quest to return signet rings to various less-than-noble men whom a dead man had blackmailed. Instead, he walks into his own kidnapping. Separated from his cousin and friend, and finding himself alone with his kidnapper’s Scottish stepsister, his travels take on a serious tone. Saving her from Viscount Manning’s despicable plans, as well as Payton’s possible murder, takes a turn during a costume ball.

 

Tara Scott cannot believe her stepbrother kidnapped a nobleman and tied him up in his country manor’s barn. She saves Payton from the bitter cold and starvation, then is punished by an irate Viscount Manning. When Payton helps her escape, they find themselves on a journey into Scotland that is filled with ruffians, a Highland bull, wild weather, and a sexual awakening that surprises them both. Back in England at a New Year’s ball and the second discovery of a huge blue diamond comes to a head when the viscount and his men attack. It will take Payton, Tara, and all his friends to thwart a man set on vengeance and treasure.

You can Pre-Order the ebook HERE

Creating a full-length book takes time and energy and was an accomplishment during months of a pandemic. I even found the time to make the cover. 

Did you miss the first book in the series? 

Check out all the Buy Links HERE

Keep safe!

Nancy Lee Badger