Carole Mortimer: The Scandalous St. Claires

April, May and June, sees the publications of my Harlequin Presents trilogy, Return of the Renegade (Top Pick in the April Romantic Times), The Reluctant Duke (Top Pick in May Romantic Times), and Taming the Last St Claire (still to be reviewed), and collectively titled The Scandalous St Claires.

In 2008/09 I had written a quartet of Regency books and a novella for Harlequin Historical, called The Notorious St Claires (The Duke's Cinderella Bride, The Rake's Indecent Proposal, The Rogue's DisgracedLady, and Lady Arabella's Scandalous Marriage), featuring three brothers and their younger sister, with the hero of the novella (Christmas at Mulberry Hall) having been a minor character in three of these books, and who I felt deserved his own story.

For eight months I had completely immersed myself in the lives of this fascinating family and their friends, and so when it came to the time to say goodbye to them all I found that I couldn't do it, felt that there was still more to tell. Which was when I had the 'what if...?' question that comes to so many authors. In this case, 'what if there were three gorgeous aristocratic brothers who were the present day ancestors of my Regency family....?'

Once I'd asked myself that question there was just no stopping my imagination from overflowing with ideas, and luckily my editor agreed with me - I wasn't quite finished with the St Claire family yet! Within days Jordan, Lucan, and Gideon had become three fully fledged characters, as had the three women destined for only them, and the trilogy, The Scandalous St Claires, is their story.

Enjoy!

Carole Mortimer

http://www.eharlequin.com/author.html?authorid=158