I'm so excited to let you know I just released book two in the It's Reigning Men series,
HEIR TODAY GONE TOMORROW. And book three,
BAD TO THE THRONE, is available for pre-order, with the release set for June 29.
If you love a modern royal romance, I think you'll enjoy this story, set in the beautiful fictional European principality of Monaforte.
Here's a sneak peek of HEIR TODAY GONE TOMORROW. Now it's Caroline and Darcy's turn...I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter One
“It was a dark and story night,” Caroline McKenzie typed. Only her m key kept sticking, so instead of
stormy, it apparently was story. Whatever that meant. That stuck key was pretty
much a metaphor for how this embarrassing attempt to figure out if maybe she
could just drop everything in life and be a writer was going.
Ever
since Caro’s best friend, Emma Davison, had jumped ship for the small European
principality of Monaforte and the gorgeous Prince Adrian who’d lured her there,
life had become a distinctly dull shade of gray—and no, not in a way that
involved hot men and questionable bondage practices, thank you. Until then, Caro
had worked as a photography assistant for Emma while she was figuring out what
she wanted to do with her life and had enjoyed a perfectly fine time in her
off-hours social life, flitting about like a hummingbird, zipping from flower
to flower and drinking tasty nectar.
For
her that nectar came in the form of mostly charming, usually handsome, and almost
always entirely forgettable men. But now without that job, she really had to decide
what she wanted to do with her life and maybe put a lid on that boy-crazy
nonsense and start figuring herself out. Considering she was fast approaching thirty
with little grand achievement to show for it, it seemed time. At least
according to her mother—and latest stepfather and grandmother, and any other
blood-ish relative she knew of, come to think of it.
She
closed out of her document, putting an end to her fledgling writing career. She
figured her time was better spent FaceTiming with Emma, whom she’d been missing
something fierce since her friend had closed up her business, packed up her
belongings, and departed for a life most people could only dream of. She opened
up the app and dialed through.
“Caro!
What a pleasant surprise!” Emma said.
“What
up, bitch?” Caro replied, sticking out her tongue and then putting her face so
close to the screen Emma could see likely every pore on her nose.
“Awww,
so glad to see you haven’t changed on me,” Emma said. “I’d bitch you back, but
I’m trying to pay attention to decorum—”
“—now
that you’re going to be a real-life princess.”
Emma
laughed. “Honestly, I still can’t get used to that whole concept. Me! Of all people! Although I suppose if
the media can dub Kim Kardashian American royalty—I mean, come on, now,
seriously?—I guess anybody can be.”
“Yeah,
well, I’m still waiting on my chance,” Caroline said, forcing her lower lip out
in a pout.
“Still
haven’t heard anything from Darcy?”
Caroline
and Darcy Squires-Thornton—the Marquess of Weltenham and Adrian’s best friend
and equerry—had seemed to hit it off, well, royally, when Emma and Adrian were
getting to know each other, when Emma had helped Adrian flee a forced marriage
his mother was trying to impose upon him. Right up until the time Caro hastened
Emma off by surprise to Monaforte to be reunited with Adrian. After which Darcy
weirded out and turned into a complete and total jerk.
“The
guy’s a complete and total jerk. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Only
she did. Big-time.
“Okay,
let’s change the subject then.”
“Have
you seen him?”
“I
thought you said you didn’t want to talk about him!”
“I
don’t,” Caroline said, pulling strands of her hair outward and making long,
thin braids with her gorgeous, bright red hair. “Maybe I should be a
hairdresser?”
“Oh
yeah, that would be perfect for you,” Emma said. “You did such a good job
frying my hair with a curling iron in college. I had hair sprouts growing out
of my scalp for months. I’m still not sure if I’ve forgiven you for that.”
Caroline
sighed. “Too late. Now that you’re a princess to be, the slate’s wiped clean. Guess it’s back to the drawing
board for moi. My writing career didn’t
pan out either.”
“Caroline,
you regularly got Cs in English
class. And didn’t you drop that creative-writing class your sophomore year?”
“Well,
we had a really long paper due,” she said, raising her voice in a whine. “Besides,
that was the weekend of that superfun fraternity festival out at that big lodge
on the lake. Priorities!”
Emma
shook her head. “Oh yeah, I remember. We had to hitch back to town, and it was
like ten degrees out, and you kept sticking out your leg to try to attract cars,
and then that idiot Bruce Bishop stopped for us—”
“—but
he’d been drinking all day long, so we refused to ride with him. And he was so
insulted, but he agreed to pull over on the side of the road and we all slept in
his tiny two-seater car with the heat blasting, you and me squished together in
that one seat, till about five in the morning when the car ran out of gas and
the heat died.”
“And
then we had to find a tow truck on a Sunday morning, and I think we had about
half a bar on our crappy old flip phones, so it took a thousand times trying to
get enough of a signal to call someone.”
“Ah,
but we lived to tell about it. And then I lived to watch my best friend grow up
and have the kick-assiest life imaginable while I lingered here and became a
has-been.”
Emma
tsk-tsked loudly, wagging her finger at her friend. “Hey, Care. That’s not you
talking. You’re no has-been. You’re an up-and-coming. You just haven’t gotten
there yet. But in the meantime you’re the most fun friend a girl—or guy—could
have.”
Caroline
felt tears welling up. “If I’m so fun, then why did that jerkball bail on me
just when we were starting to have a great time? Was I that bad in bed?”
“Don’t
you mean in beach?” Emma said with a
wink.
Caroline
and Darcy had sort of PDA’d it after skinny-dipping in twenty-degree weather at
the beach in North Carolina where Adrian had holed up, and they had seemed to
actually have some potential as a couple. Back then, Emma had been too busy
blubbering about her own broken heart once Adrian returned to his real life to
worry about Caroline. Besides, Caroline had a reputation as a love-’em-and-leave-’em
type, which suited most guys just fine. After all, from a guy’s perspective,
what’s better than a girl who’s full of life, loves to fool around a little,
and then doesn’t demand the guy put a ring on it?
“You
never answered my question.”
Emma
arched her brow. “Which one was that?”
“Have
you seen him?”
Emma
shook her head. “Honestly, Caro, I’ve been crazy busy since I moved here, and
Adrian has too, and now he’s been out of the country for weeks, so I haven’t
had a chance to think about much of anything except what is right in front of
my face. I know a few weeks ago Adrian said something about Darcy’s father being
ill, so maybe he’s been sticking close to his family lately. Plus you told me
not to ask around. You said you’d feel stupid if he knew you were prowling.”
“Yeah,
but that was before I didn’t hear from him at all.”
“How
was I supposed to know you had a sudden change of heart?”
“You’re
my best friend. Of course you need to know that intuitively.”
“Okay,
then. I’ll just double-check in my crystal ball next time I have a chance to
come up for air so I can second-guess you from across the Atlantic Ocean.”
Caroline
rolled her eyes. “Rubbing salt in the wound that you’re so far away. And that
you’re so busy you don’t have time to deal with the likes of me.”
“Oh,
honey. I know you’re upset with him, and I totally understand that. But I hope
you can understand that I’m just doing what I have to do to become part of this
family.”
“This
royal family.”
“Oh
yeah, no forgetting that. I think I’ve seen more sabers in the past month than I
saw in the entire Three Musketeers
novel. And velvet. Wow, do we have a lot of velvet here. And ermine. The queen
has a deep red velvet cape trimmed in ermine. If I weren’t so sad about how
many little ermines had to die to make that cape, I’d want to use it as a
blanket at night. Even though I’m not sure what an ermine even is.”
“A
weasel.”
“I
don’t think Darcy’s a weasel, Care. I think he’s just dealing with other things
right now.”
“I
wasn’t talking about Darcy, you dingbat! An ermine is a weasel.”
“Huh.
Wonder who decided it was particularly regal to wear a weasel. I could see
something like a sable sounding more royal, but a weasel?”
“A
sable’s kind of weaselly too, to tell you the truth.”
“And
you’re an expert on royal fur trimmings because?”
“Remember
that protest-march phase I went through? Only I wasn’t so wild when the group
decided to throw red paint on fur-wearing women, even if I did think their fur
coats were better off on the original owner?”
Emma
nodded her head knowingly. “I was sort of glad you stopped that only because I
wasn’t up for having to bail you out of jail. Even though I totally respected your
conviction.”
“Yes,
conviction minus the conviction. To be honest, my mother threatened to take me
out of the will if I got cuffed and put in jail. Even though we all know there
is no will. But considering I’m still
paying off college loans, I didn’t want to cut off my nose to spite my wallet,
just in case my mother ever happened into a cash windfall. Or something like
that. But enough about me. Let’s hear more about palace life.”
Emma
walked over to sit in what looked like the world’s most comfortable chair,
something long and overstuffed but posh with what appeared to be hunt scenes
involving leopards on the upholstery. It was right by a fire blazing in one of
those mammoth fireplaces in which you could cook an entire ox on a spit. She put
up her feet and leaned back, settling into the chair, which seemed to swallow
her whole, it was so cushiony. A beautiful yellow Labrador was asleep beside
her. It could’ve been a scene from a Norman
Rockwell: the Royal Years painting.
“They
call this a fainting couch. Do you love it?”
“I’d
love it more if I were sitting in it rather in my apartment in northern Virginia.”
“I
hear ya. You know you have an open invitation to come over here anytime.”
“Thanks,
Em. I do know that. And believe me, I’ll take you up on it. As soon as I can
drum up the funds.”
“Once
I’m feeling more settled, maybe I can figure out how I can enlist the royal jet
to come for you. Surely I’ll have some access to it.”
“Don’t
force it yet. I don’t want you getting kicked out before you’re even in.”
“I
really do want to see you. And I’d love for you to be here to help me plan this
wedding.”
“Oh,
my God. I still can’t believe you’re going to be married. You, of all people.
The last of the holdouts. Well, besides me, that is.”
“Tell
me about it. If you’d have asked me just a few months ago if I’d even date
someone, let alone marry them, I’d have cackled in your face.”
“I
think maybe you did that.”
“Okay
fine. You know what I mean. But really, Caroline, you’re my only royal
attendant. There are going to be times where it would be really nice to have
you here.”
“Like,
say, a bachelorette party, being that you don’t know a bleeding soul in the
whole country? It will be the world’s smallest hen party.”
“Oh,
you are so funny. Actually I really love Adrian’s sister Isabella. She’s as
sweet as can be and a little feisty. Reminds me of you, sort of. And I even
kind of enjoy Serena’s company, believe it or not. She’s not half bad,
especially now that I know all that I thought was true about her wasn’t. She’s
got a little pissy streak in her, in a good way. And she can be pretty bawdy
too, for a blue blood.”
“So
what’s it like having people wait on you hand and foot?”
“Sometimes
it’s amazing. I mean like never having to wash a dirty dish is so not a bad
thing. I could truly get used to that. Actually, I have gotten used to it. Wait—no
I haven’t. At meal times I go to clear my dishes, only someone else clears them
before I can even think to. Sometimes I feel a little pampered. Okay, I feel
really pampered. It’s just incredible.”
“And
your royal wardrobe?”
“So
get this: they come to me. I mean if I want to shop at stores I can, but I can
also have people bring me clothes. Stylists and designers. Considering the
fanciest I ever got was J. Crew or Anthropologie, and that was only for really special
occasions, this is way out of my league.”
“And
you and Adrian?”
Emma’s
eyes got all swoony and her face Dalai Lama–serene. “It’s amazing, Caro. He’s amazing. Never could I have
imagined being so happy with someone. I am absolutely over the moon.”
Caroline
smiled, finally. “Enough with the amazings
already! But seriously, it couldn’t have happened to a better person. I’m so
happy for you, Emma. So, so very happy for you.”
And
she was. Although she wished right about now she could make crank calls to
Darcy like the kind she and Emma used to make back in sixth grade. Maybe one of
those I hear you have Prince Albert in a
can. If so, you’d better let him out! type of calls. Maybe she could say
Prince Adrian, make it more authentic. Anything to get his attention. To hear
his voice with that dreamy accent. To enable her to take the pulse of the
situation. To understand why it was that they had gotten along so well and
their chemistry was pretty darned electrifying, and then all of a sudden he’d dropped
off the face of the earth. It didn’t make any sense, and things that were
senseless made Caroline crazy.
But
the fact was she couldn’t be making long-distance phone calls to Europe. Nor
did she want to come across as desperate. If he wanted her, he’d have reached
out to her. And clearly he had moved on. So what that when she showed up at
Emma’s wedding he was going to be the royal equivalent of best man to her maid
of honor? They’d likely be paired up and have to fake it that they even wanted
to look at one another, pretend that they hadn’t almost cared about each other.
Because by then she wasn’t going to care. Not one whit. And if Darcy wanted
her, he was going to have to crawl to her on all fours. Better yet, slink. Like
one of those royal ermine. Skitter and slink right back into her heart, damn
him.
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"SOMETHING IN THE HEIR by Jenny Gardiner is a wonderful tale of love and self discovery, as two people who should have nothing in common, somehow are perfect for each other. The story flows at an enjoyable and natural pace, with plenty of funny moments, alongside the romantic scenes. I love the secondary storyline of Caro and Darcy, and I look forward to the next instalment, to see their relationship develop. SOMETHING IN THE THE HEIR by Jenny Gardiner is a fabulous short, modern day fairy tale, with interesting characters, and I highly recommend it."
--Linda Green for FRESH FICTION
"Jenny Gardiner tells a wonderful, feel good story about an American commoner and a European prince. If you're looking for a quick read that's sure to make you smile, Something in the Heir will do the trick!"
--Bethany Petty for CHICK LIT CENTRAL
and some time soon I'm going to reissue Anywhere but Here---I'll keep you posted.
