Turning a Bitch into a Heroine (and a Giveaway)

When I wrote Notorious Eliza several years ago, I had absolutely no plans for Miss Arabella Wilbanks, a secondary character who appeared only briefly in an early scene. She shrieked at her poor hapless maid, convincing Patrick, the hero of the story, NOT to propose to her. He went on to meet his heroine, Eliza. Exit Miss Wilbanks, stage left, never to be seen again.

Um… no. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I have a soft spot for most of my characters. I want them to be nice people, or at least for their actions to make some sort of sense. I try to see things from their point of view even if they’re truly villainous—because even villains have motivation, and they’re more convincing as characters if the author knows why they do what they do.

But Arabella wasn’t a villain, and I couldn’t bear to leave her as a senselessly cruel mistress. I kept asking myself, “Why was she so horrid to her maid?” Patrick liked her enough to consider marrying her, so she must have been reasonably likeable and intelligent, and not the sort of woman who would mistreat a servant.

I can’t resist a mystery. What if… what if that bitch I’d written wasn’t the real Arabella? What if Patrick’s first assessment was right, and she really was a heroine—just not the one for him? Then and there, I knew I had to make her one. All I had to figure out was her motivation…

 

Ta-da!! Arabella became the heroine of my latest novella from Harlequin Undone, To Rescue or Ravish?
Here’s the blurb:

When heiress Arabella Wilbanks flees a forced betrothal in the middle of the night, the last person she expects to find at the reins of her getaway hackney is Matthew Worcester. It’s been seven long years since they gave in to their mutual desires and shared the most incredible night of their lives, but Matthew still burns with regret for leaving her without a word. He should escort her to safety, but the chance to reclaim and ravish her once more proves impossible to resist!

And an excerpt:

London, January 1802

Arabella rapped hard on the roof of the coach. It lurched around a corner into darkness broken only by the glimmer of the hack’s carriage lamps and stopped.

She put down the window. “How far are we from Bunbury Place?”

The jarvey got down from the box and slouched against the coach, a nonchalant shape with an impertinent voice. “Not far, love. Changed your mind, have you?”

“I have not changed my mind. I am merely asking for information.” She put her hand through the window, proffering the guinea. “I trust this suffices. Kindly open the door and point me in the right direction. I shall walk the rest of the way.”

He didn’t take the coin. After a brief, horrid silence during which she concentrated on thinking of him as the jarvey and not her once-and-never-again lover, he said, “Can’t do that.”

“I beg your pardon?” She pushed on the door, but he had moved forward to block it.

“It’s not safe for a lady alone at night. This, er, Number Seventeen, Bunbury Place—it’s where you live, is it?”

How dare he? “Where I live is none of your business.” She shrank away from the door and kept her hood well over her face.

“So it’s not where you live. Who does live there, then?”

Why couldn’t she have just told him that yes, she lived there? Must every man in the entire country try to order her about? “Let me out at once.”

“Sorry, love. When I rescue a lady from deathly peril, I see her home safe and sound.”

Some shred of common sense deep inside her told her this was extraordinarily kind of him, but it made her want to slap his craggy, insolent face. Home wasn’t safe for her anymore. Nowhere was safe, and meanwhile Matthew Worcester was playing stupid games.

“Cat got your tongue?”

She exploded. “Damn you, Matthew! Stop playing at being a jarvey. It makes me positively ill.”

There was another ghastly silence. It stretched and stretched. Good God, what if he actually was a jarvey? Surely he hadn’t come down that far in the world. A different shame—a valid one—swelled inside her.

“You recognized me,” he said at last. “What a surprise.”

Do you like it when characters you thought weren't so great turn out to be heroic after all? Have you ever read about an unsympathetic character you wished you could turn into a hero/heroine? (There are a couple of male characters in Georgette Heyer's romances about whom I feel this way.) If you're a writer, have you ever transformed a villain into a good guy?

I have two free downloads of To Rescue or Ravish? from Harlequin.com to give away. Please leave a comment for a chance to win one!






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