Welcome to The Hero Blog Hop. I hear voices fairly often. It’s a requirement of my job as a writer. My current hero, Tobias Randall, has been fairly insistent and encroaches on my down time quite a lot. A word of warning about Tobias. He’s newly returned to my fictional english estate, Romsey Abbey, and unfortunately spent the last ten years ship-bound on the far side of the world.
As such, he’s not as refined as Leopold Randall (seen recently in Engaging the Enemy) and he tends to say the first thing that pops into his head. I’m doing a lot of rewriting to avoid giving offense.
Tobias: If the readers don’t like me then so be it.
Tobias, it’s important to make a good impression. You’ll not impress anyone by leaving your hat and gloves behind. Not to mention your shoes. This is Regency England, sir! There are rules for proper behavior to be followed now.
T: Please don’t remind me. Unfortunately, I think holding the Duchess of Romsey at the end of my pistol has already sealed my reputation as a man of poor manners.
Given the circumstances, I’m sure all will be forgiven if you expend the effort to do the right thing.
T: The weather gauge has already turned against me. I don’t think that will change anytime soon.
You did make quite an impression, especially with Lady Venables. She’d be shocked to see you as you are. Are you behaving as a gentleman? Are you happy to be back at Romsey Abbey?
T: [mumbles something under his breath]
Sorry, would you care to repeat that.
T: You’d only edit me. As for my time at Romsey, the whiskey is plentiful, my bedchamber’s not bad, and there’s a nice window I can climb out of to sit up on the battlements when my brother’s lessons become too much. Acting the gentleman is no easy lark you know.
You’re still clinging to the walls like an ape? You’ll frighten Lady Venables out of her remaining wits. Do try to mind your manners. I’m sure that will make your brother happy.
T: I’ll do my best but I doubt I’ll ever be truly comfortable here. However, Leopold will remain here and so will I for the moment. The only thing missing here is Oliver and Rose.
That’s right, the search isn’t over, is it?
T: Not by a long shot.
And there he goes.Tobias enjoys his new freedom and comes and goes at will. I hope you’ve enjoyed our quick chat.
Tobias’ story is unpublished as yet but you can get to know the Randall family through Engaging the Enemy. [Leopold Randall also first appears in my novel Charity]
I’m giving away two PDF copies of Engaging the Enemy as part of the hop. Be sure to leave a comment to go into the draw. The question I want everyone to answer: What was the last book (print or digital) that you read??
Once you’ve left a comment, including your email address, please click this link to return to Carrie Ann Ryan’s blog hop post to find the names of other participating authors.
