I suppose that in the end I knew I’d write a Regency romance, and so I wrote 2, Lady Aurelia’s Adventure, and “Modish Marriage.” However I wasn’t influenced much by Heyer. Although I don’t like too many sex scenes in a novel, I enjoy writing and reading some and I was able to put some into the 2 stories. The trend is now for there to be quite a bit of sexual activity in historical romances but I try to keep the sex bits historically accurate. Basically in the Regency era, upper class girls mostly were almost certainly virgins when they married. So I don’t want to write sex scenes for an unmarried girl unless there were very special circumstances to excuse it.
But in Lady Aurelia, my heroine is a widow so provided she was careful not to produce any children, she would be allowed to indulge in discreet affairs. Mark Favell, the hero is from a middle class background, who has bought a commission in the Army, to make his fortune, but is suspicious of upper class women and their haughty ways... But he is attracted to the beautiful Aurelia.
A Modish Marriage is very loosely inspired by Jane Austen. My hero, Courtland, is a more sympathetic version of Willoughby. Like Willoughby, he is a young man with a lively nature and expensive tastes but only a small estate. He has affairs but is generally good natured and not exploitative, unlike Willoughby. But he too has a rich elderly cousin whom he hopes will leave him her fortune. She is fond of him and helps him out financially. Lady Fraser has a companion, Isabella, who is governess to her little great niece. Courtland begins to think that if he married a sensible young woman like the companion, his cousin would believe that he is settling down and be more helpful to him. He is unlike Willoughby, in that he is a kinder, nicer man and does want to have some work to do, so he hopes that with his cousin being more sympathetic, she might lend him money to enlarge his estate. And he is a bit tired of his lifestyle of courtesans and idleness and fear of scandal. So he makes a sensible marriage, but his wife isn’t used to London society, and the flirtations and extravagance. And Courtland is not sure if he can forsake his old ways and settle down to managing his estates, but his lovely wife gives him a motive to try.
