Spotlight: Gambling on Love by Nancy Fraser and Patti Shenberger (Excerpt + Giveaway)

Today, the spotlight is on Nancy Fraser and Pattie Shenberger and their latest book, Gambling on Love, which will be released by Entangled Publishing on May 20.

Blurb:

Mississippi after the Civil War isn't easy when you're a willful young lady nor if you're a slave, and Felicity is determined to make their lives better. She devises a plan to move her father's illegally indentured workers North. After conning Jake McCade, the owner of the gambling river boat known as the River Maiden, into helping her, she, disguised as a boy, accompanies her slaves. Everything is going according to plan until Jake gets a little too close and discovers her subterfuge.

While Jake and Felicity find themselves in agreement about helping the slaves, they are at odds over everything else, including their quickly escalating feelings for one another.

When her father catches up to them, it’s either marriage or jail for Jake, so they decide to chance the wedding –for propriety’s sake. Will gambling on love be a bust or reap a happily ever after?

Excerpt:

“Your honor, may I have five minutes to speak with Miss Beaumont alone?”

“I will allow it if her father has no objections. However, in order to guarantee you will not try to escape this courtroom, I’ll ask Deputy Peters to handcuff you to the chair in my chambers.”

Once they were alone in the confines of the judge’s private chambers, Jake asked, “What do you propose we do about this unfortunate turn of events?”

“I know this certainly isn’t an ideal situation but surely marriage to me, even a marriage in name only, would be preferable to prison, or worse, hanging. It’s not like it would be real. I mean…you’d be free…”

Jake raised his arm and rattled the shackles holding him to the sturdy chair. “Really? Free you say.”

“Jake, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“You could have told them the truth. You could have told them I’d never touched you.”

“I tried, I really tried. And, for what it’s worth, I think my father believes me. He’s only concerned for my reputation.”

“And for the Beaumont name, no doubt,” Jake said. “The McCade name is as important to me as the Beaumont name is to your father. I surely don’t want people believing I’ve taken advantage of an underage girl.”

“I can try again, if you’d like but if, and I mean if they believe me, it would only save you from hanging. However, they’ll still charge you with kidnapping and taking me across state lines and you’ll likely go to jail.”

He chuckled, but the throaty sound was anything but mirthful. “Either way, I’m caught in some sort of prison.”

Felicity felt her heart break just a little. “I’m truly sorry you see marriage to me as a prison, Jackson McCade. And, as uncomfortable as this is for you, believe me I had no intention of getting married when I left home. Once everything has died down, we can get out of this marriage, I can return to St. Francisville, and you can get on with your life.”

Book Links:
On Amazon
On Barnes & Noble
On Goodreads

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Author Links:

Patti Shenberger
http://www.pattishenberger.com/
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorPattiShenberger
https://twitter.com/PattiShenberger

Nancy Fraser
http://www.nancyfraser.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/NancyFraserAuthor
https://twitter.com/nfraserauthor

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Entangled Publishing is giving away one e-galley of GAMBLING ON LOVE, open internationally, to our readers

The giveaway is through Rafflecopter.
One entry per IP.
Open internationally.
Ends May 24.

a Rafflecopter giveaway