#SaturdaySpotlight is on Erica Vetsch & The Indebted Earl!

Good Morning Friends,

I pray your week has been blessed. Lot's of areas in SW LA and our neighboring states have experienced wide-spread flooding and it's not over yet. Many here, locally have either just finished repairs after the two hurricanes of 2020 OR haven't even finished and now have flood damage. 

Your prayers are greatly appreciated for ALL those affected.

Today's guest is brand new to our blog. Brought to us by Audra Jennings PR, please welcome Erica Vetsch as she shares with us, her new novel, The Indebted Earl....

Can Captain Wyvern keep his new marriage of convenience all business--or will it turn into something more?

Captain Charles Wyvern owes a great debt to the man who saved his life--especially since Major Richardson lost his own life in the process. The best way to honor that hero's dying wish is for Wyvern to escort the man's grieving fiance and mother safely to a new cottage home by the sea. But along the way, he learns of another obligation that has fallen on his shoulders: his uncle has died and the captain is now the Earl of Rothwell.

When he and the ladies arrive at his new manor house in Devon, they discover an estate in need of a leader and a gaggle of girls, all wards of the former earl. War the new earl knows; young ladies and properties he does not. Still wishing to provide for the bereaved Lady Sophia Haverly, Charles proposes a marriage of convenience.

Sophie is surprised to find she isn't opposed to the idea. It will help her care for her betrothed's elderly mother, and she's already fallen in love with the wayward girls on the Rothwell estate. This alliance is a chance to repay the captain who has done so much for her care, as well as divert her attention from her grief. When Wyvern returns to his sea commission, she'll stay behind to oversee his property and wards.

It sounds so simple. Until the stalwart captain is arrested on suspicion of smuggling, and Sophie realizes how much he's come to mean to her. Now she'll have to learn to fight, not only for his freedom but also for his love.

EXCERPT: 

Military Hospital

Oporto, Portugal

June 15, 1814

If it got any hotter, the Royal Navy would have to ship him home in a flask.

Captain Charles Wyvern dabbed the sweat from his temples with his already-soaked handkerchief as he entered the military hospital. What wouldn’t he give to be aboard his vessel, palms braced against the rail, taking the sea breeze full in the face?

Those days were still a fair bit off, but he would experience them again. He fisted his hand around the square of cloth, his mouth firming. It would take determination and patience, but those he had in abundance.

First he must recover fully from his wounds, get to London, and finally appeal to the Admiralty to give him another command. Formidable tasks, but he was making progress on the first one, at least. Charles entered the ward where he had so recently been a patient, and halfway down the crowded row of billets he found the bed he sought.

Guilt settled like a twelve-pounder in his gut as he inhaled the cloying scents of orange blossoms and dust, carbolic and sweat. Though he had been discharged nearly a week ago to complete his recuperation in the officers’ quarters in Oporto, Charles faithfully returned to the hospital every day to attend his friend Major Richardson. For weeks they had lain side by side, sharing the miseries and camaraderie of military hospital life. Major Richardson had led the Royal Marines aboard Charles’s last command.

But each had been tacking on a different course since arriving at the hospital. As Charles had improved, Richardson had declined. Again Charles felt the sinking weight of guilt. It was his fault Rich was here at all. If only he hadn’t been complacent, had followed through on protocols, most likely neither would have been injured and Rich wouldn’t now be dying.

He reached Richardson’s cot and pulled up a chair. The young officer’s hollow cheeks, his taut, yellowed skin, and the way his body seemed sunken into the bedding all spoke of his waning condition. The chair creaked as Charles sat, and Richardson stirred, his eyes fluttering open.

“How are you faring today, Rich?” Charles kept his voice quiet. The way his comrade looked, even a whisper might cause him pain.

“Still here, Captain.”

The rasp in his throat had Charles reaching for the water pitcher, and he dipped the corner of a towel into the water and let a few drops dribble into Rich’s mouth. Charles smiled that Rich, though given permission weeks ago, couldn’t quite bring himself to call his captain by his first name. It wouldn’t be proper, he’d said. He wouldn’t want anyone to think he was trading on their friendship and treating the captain cavalierly.

“Thank you.” A weak smile touched Rich’s cracked lips.

“What else can I do for you?” Charles didn’t wait for Rich to ask, easing him up in order to flip his pillow. Though the coolness wouldn’t last, it had to feel better for a while.

Rich grimaced as he lay flat again. “How are you, sir?” His voice was as thin as a frayed rope.

“I’m coming right.” Charles rolled his shoulders slightly, wincing as familiar pain—though much reduced—arced across his shoulders. He’d received a rather nasty slice from a cutlass during the capture of a French vessel, and the injury had taken far too long to heal.

Charles didn’t know how to tell Rich he’d received the all clear to head back to Britain. An anchor lodged in Charles’s chest every time he considered leaving the dying marine behind.

After all, Rich had saved Charles’s life at the expense of his own.

Charles had thought Rich would have passed on by now, and yet he lingered. Day after day his body fought to keep its tenuous grip on this world, retreating in protracted increments. Though he had fought valiantly, he would soon have to strike his colors and raise the white flag.

Charles shooed away the incessantly buzzing flies and touched Rich lightly on the shoulder. When they had first been transported together to the hospital in Oporto, the major had been hopeful. He’d taken a musket ball to the right side, and though in considerable pain, had remained cheerful and expectant of restoration to health. He’d maintained that hope, holding on to the thought of all he had to return home to in order to keep his spirits up.

“Sophie?” Rich asked.

“Of course.” Following their well-worn routine, Charles opened the sea chest under the table beside the cot and withdrew a packet of envelopes. “I’ll read the latest.”

He unfolded the letter dated two weeks before. One nice thing about being on the beach, the mail arrived regularly. Charles received no mail, not having anyone left to write to him. When he had first gone to sea, his mother had penned a note twice a year, but when she passed away, his mail had stopped. Any news from home was welcome aboard ship, and it was common to hand letters around the officers’ mess, or at least read aloud snippets of a less personal nature.

Clearing his throat, he read to the major:

Erica Vetsch is a New York Times best-selling and ACFW Carol Award–winning author. She is a transplanted Kansan now living in Minnesota with her husband, who she claims is both her total opposite and soul mate. 

Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks.

A self-described history geek, she has been planning her first research trip to England.

Learn more about Erica Vetsch and her books at www.ericavetsch.com. She can also be found on Facebook (@EricaVetschAuthor) and Instagram (@EricaVetsch).

Sounds like an intriguing story, Erica. THANK You for sharing! 

We wish you the best of luck and God's blessings.

Thanks for dropping by friends. I hope to see you next week for Wednesday Words with Friends and Saturday Spotlight.

Meanwhile, if you haven't left a comment on my birthday post, there is still time to get in the drawing for a copy of The Inheritance OR My Heart Weeps. Winners will be announced Wednesday the 26th. 

Also, check out NN Light's Book Heaven's "Bookaholics Unite" giveaway (in the sidebar) and watch for their upcoming "Salute Military" book event filled with books featuring Military heroes/heroines/families!

That's all for now, folks. Until next time, take care and God bless.

PamT