Skip to main content

Lady Wynwood’s Spies: Volume 8 Progress + Exclusive Excerpt: A Scene in a Regency Gentlemen’s Club

Are you looking for a new Christian Regency with intrigue, romance, and a splash of humor? I’m currently working on Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor, the latest installment in my Christian Regency romantic suspense series featuring lady spies, hidden secrets, and unexpected romance.

This past week, I made great progress—nearly 10,000 words written! My goal is to finish this historical spy romance by July, although if the story grows (as they often do), I’ll soon be shifting to my next project: Bento and Betrayal, a Christian contemporary romantic suspense novella set in Hawaii for the Don’t Blink anthology.

In the meantime, dictating while walking has helped me stay productive and inspired. If you love sneak peeks and work-in-progress excerpts, here’s a snippet from what I wrote:

***

Mr. Norton had been at his leisure during those three weeks, spending more time at his club. He was not a gamester, and The Runny Knees was not known for deep play. However, the members were all avid sportsmen and enjoyed hearty physical activity—as well as the inevitable betting that accompanied it. The betting book was larger than White’s but did not bear the unusual wagers that other establishments boasted. Instead, the stakes were placed upon races—horses and boats, mostly, but some footraces as well—games of cricket, and competitions such as shooting, fencing, or boxing.

Norton greeted some gentlemen sitting in chairs around the large front room, who were either reading the papers or arguing over some carriage race or another. They all returned his greeting with friendliness, and several motioned for him to join them, but he politely refused.

If these men knew Norton’s humble origins, none of them would speak to him. While toiling away as a shipping clerk, he would never have guessed that he would one day be a member of an establishment such as this, catering to the wealthy and to the nobility. These men had no need to know that Norton only possessed one of those.

He admitted to himself that it gave him something of a thrill to walk into this club, to chat with these men who had never known hardship in their lives. But it was his job to make himself agreeable and to listen to whatever idle talk they desired to bestow upon him, because it was in those unguarded words that he could understand a man’s true opinions and feelings. It was often surprising, the truths that lurked deep in a man’s soul, which he always strove to keep hidden. But Norton was a master at digging through the dirt and rock to uncover men’s secret thoughts and plans.

He had made his way around the front room of the club, speaking to all his acquaintances—and he had acquired many, by this point—and he was about to settle down to a delicious dinner and a bottle or two of wine when a man seemed to appear out of thin air.

“Norton,” the harsh voice said. The tall, spare man addressed him familiarly, but there was no warmth or cordiality in his grating tones.

Norton liked to play the reckless fool, for it caused men to underestimate him. In actuality, while his actions were usually very daring, most of the time he had already looked at the situation and conjured up a dozen different ways that everything could go wrong, and considered what he might do in response if any of those occurred. So he had accustomed himself to a certain level of preparedness no matter where he found himself, and he did not like being surprised.

But this man, being here and approaching Norton, was not only a surprise, but a nasty one.

“Mr. Antingham,” Norton said carefully. “I was unaware that you were a member of The Runny Knees.”

Mr. Antingham couldn’t quite suppress the curl of his upper lip as Norton mentioned the name of the club. But he attempted to paste a polite smile upon his face as he said, “Yes, I have been a member for many years, although I rarely spend time here.”

Norton gave terse nods to the two men behind Mr. Antingham. “Mr. Maghew, Mr. Golding.” They were both Antingham’s agents at the Ramparts, and Norton had worked with them a few times. However, Mr. Maghew was the same rank as Norton, and they had butted heads more often than not. Norton found the two men to be inflexible, perfectly willing to obey orders blindly instead of considering other consequences. He himself preferred to think more critically in different situations rather than reacting like a mindless slave.

But Mr. Maghew and Mr. Golding were not members of The Runny Knees, as far as he knew, which meant that all three of them were here for Norton.

“What can I do for you, sir?” he reluctantly asked Mr. Antingham.

“I’d like to have a word with you in private, Mr. Norton. Perhaps you would be so good as to come with me?” Mr. Antingham gave a close-lipped smile.

The senior officer had a wide jaw and a wide mouth, so even his stiffest smile often fooled people into thinking that he was more congenial than he actually was. But Norton knew to look at his cold blue eyes instead to gauge his true emotional state. And he didn’t like what he saw there.

Mr. Antingham looked triumphant, the victor collecting his spoils and trampling his enemies. Norton didn’t have to guess whom he considered his enemy.

He didn’t directly report to Mr. Antingham—in fact, he didn’t directly report to any senior officer at the moment, now that he had been removed from under Mr. Uppleby. Since he was currently working under Drydale in his team, Norton could be considered a direct subordinate of Sir Derrick.

But he didn’t fool himself into thinking that Mr. Antingham’s request was anything less than a direct order. And the fact that Mr. Antingham wanted to remove Norton from the very public venue of this club meant that he wasn’t going to like what followed.

But Norton couldn’t refuse, and Mr. Antingham knew that.

***

Haha, I enjoyed naming Norton’s gentlemen’s club, The Runny Knees. 😝

Read Volume 8: Traitor & get a free ebook copy before it goes up on Amazon by subscribing to my Patreon.

Start the series with Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 1: Archer.

Comments

Popular Posts

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures...

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And...

SUSHI FOR ONE: Original chapter 8

I found this yesterday and had completely forgotten about this. I had originally plotted a different set of dates for Lex in Sushi for One and one of them was Duane the Dweeb. He got combined with/switched to George in a later revision, and I rewrote their date scene, but I found the original scene tucked away in my computer. For those of you who haven’t read Sushi for One , don’t worry, this won’t ruin the book for you. For those of you who have read it, you’ll hopefully get a chuckle over some jokes I didn’t include in the chapter 8 that’s in the book. Back cover description: She’s searching for Mr. Perfect. God keeps sending Mr. Unexpected. Lex Sakai is completely unfazed by her family’s dreaded title, Oldest Single Female Cousin. As a competitive volleyball coach and athlete, she has bigger priorities. So when her iron-willed grandmother threatens to cut funding for Lex’s team unless Lex brings a date to her cousin’s wedding, Lex does what any competitor would do—she cre...

What Is a Brutus Cut? A Regency Hair Trend Inspired by Ancient Rome

Regency Haircuts and Disguises in Lady Wynwood’s Spies In this excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor , Phoebe prepares for a dangerous mission—one that requires her to disguise herself as a young man. The hairstyle she receives, called a Brutus cut, was actually quite fashionable during the Regency. Read on to find out more about this curious trend and why it suited her new identity so well. Excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor : By far, the absolute worst part of Uncle Sol’s plan was that Phoebe had to cut her hair. Of the four agents, Phoebe and Mr. Coulton-Jones would be the least likely to be recognized when they entered the Ramparts building—Mr. Coulton-Jones, because of his skill in altering his facial features and his posture, and Phoebe, because she could play a convincing young man, which no one would expect. A disreputable hat would hide her long hair to an extent, but it would not fool anyone who looked closely. Also, because she would lo...

Merry Christmas! Enjoy The Spinster's Christmas

As a Merry Christmas gift to all my blog readers, I’m going to be posting my Christian Regency romantic suspense, The Spinster’s Christmas , for free on my blog! I’ll be posting the book in 1000-1500 word segments every Tuesday and Friday. (When I do the calculations, it’ll finish around the end of May.) Why am I posting a Christmas story when it won’t be Christmas in a week? Because I can! :) The Spinster’s Christmas is the prequel volume to my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series . Right now I’m editing volume 1 of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, and it’s on track to release in 2020. (If you’re on my Camille Elliot newsletter , you’ll be sure to hear when it’s available for preorder.) I anticipate that the Lady Wynwood’s Spies series to be about ten volumes. I think the series story will be a lot of fun to tell, and I’m looking forward to writing up a storm! Below, I’ll be listing the links to the parts of The Spinster’s Christmas as I post them. (I created the html links by hand so please ...