Lena had never met a Mr. Thornwell. And none of their acquaintance should know the Neybridges were in Wittenden. Perhaps this was an agent going by another name, sent with a message for Mr. Neybridge. But if so, why hadn’t he gone by one of a dozen secret keywords given to Lena and Mr. Neybridge so that they would recognize any Ramparts agents sent with messages for them? Melinda looked confused and glanced at Lena with raised eyebrows. To Lady Faine, she said, “I am afraid I am not acquainted with him.” “Perhaps he is known to Mr. Neybridge,” Lena said. “We should greet him, if you would not mind, my lady.” Melinda turned to Lena with eyebrows raised. “Oh yes,” she said in a flat voice, “I so enjoy meeting complete strangers in the absence of my father.” Lena turned to her with a too-wide smile and an aggressive twitch of her eyebrow. “If he is indeed an acquaintance of Mr. Neybridge, would it not be better to see his face so that we may tell your father all about him later?” ...

In my book, Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 7: Spinster , my heroine Lena is recovering from sickness and uses her favorite shawl to keep warm. 🧵 Click here to download the FREE PDF of the pattern. Here’s the short excerpt from the book that mentions the shawl: 📖 Excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 7: Spinster Lena still felt a chill as she sat in the sunlight streaming through the window of the Viponds’ drawing room. She was swathed in her favorite lace shawl, a gift from Melinda, who had knit it in Lena’s favorite color, red, along with cream and pink stripes. Tabitha finished pouring the tea and handed her a cup. Lena tried to smile as she took it, but her face felt stiff, like hardened clay. She was an utter failure. Despite all her training as an agent, she’d been undone by a malicious woman and a locked balcony in the rain. Had she given up too quickly? She’d been deterred by the railing, believing it would have broken under her weight. She had also been shivering t...

Historical research behind the stealthy fashion of my lady spies What would you do if you were a woman in 1811 and needed to carry a weapon, but had no pockets and couldn’t very well strap a dagger to your thigh? That was the challenge I faced while writing my Christian Regency Romantic Suspense series, Lady Wynwood’s Spies , where my heroines don’t just attend balls and sip tea—they also sneak around carriages, spy on dangerous men, and fight off attackers when necessary. In Volume 7: Spinster and Volume 8: Traitor , two of my heroines—Lena and Phoebe—retrieve hidden knives from secret slits in their gowns. The sheaths are sewn directly onto their corsets. Naturally, you won’t find that kind of accessory in the pages of Ackermann’s Repository of Arts or La Belle Assemblée , the fashion magazines of the day. But I wanted my heroines to be both era-accurate and armed. So I dug into fashion history to find a creative (and plausible) solution. The Idea Behind the Hidden Knife Shea...

Miss Lena Penrose plays the part of a quiet lady's companion. Few would guess she's one of England's most capable spies, sent to the village of Wittenden to root out a traitor hiding amongst the local gentry. But her first days there bring an unwelcome reunion: a man from her past, carrying secrets as dangerous as her own. Spinster is Volume 7 of Lady Wynwood's Spies, a continuing Regency spy adventure best read from Volume 1. Enjoy the first five chapters of Spinster below. Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 7: Spinster A Christian Regency Romantic Adventure serial novel Camille Elliot Prologue Portsmouth, England Maxham was bored. It didn’t help that he hated Portsmouth and the surrounding area. The wind bit sharply, and the air smelled too strongly of fish. At the moment, he was simply waiting. He’d ridden several hours, only to discover the information he sought in less than an hour. He’d had an unexpected side errand, but that had been quickly taken care of,...