Ever wonder, “What would that book be like if someone else was the hero?” Well, that’s what I’m doing in this post.  🙂

I’m taking one scene from His Reluctant Lady, His Abducted Bride, and Eye of the Beholder and I’m going to swap heroes.  I’ll be using their personalities to see how things would be different.  I’ll be doing this for a couple weeks.  During or after that time, I’ll give Dave Larson, Christopher Robinson, and Gavin Blackheart a chance to give their thoughts on this swap.  While the men wanted to keep their heroines, I decided to make it much more interesting.  The men will have to interact with the other guy’s heroine.

This week, we’re going to look at a scene from His Reluctant Lady.  I’ll use Dave in today’s post.  In the next post, I’ll let Gavin take Christopher’s place.  The scene I’m doing today is based off this one I posted on Sunday.  Ready to have some fun and see how Dave handles the Regency time period?

Let’s see how easy it is for him to be in Christopher’s shoes…

Without further ado, I give you…

His Reluctant Lady: Starring Dave Larson and Agatha Lyons

Seeing that Lady Richfield hadn’t moved from her spot, Dave Larson made his way over to her and was very disappointed that Ruth Ann Nordin hadn’t listened to him–once again.  Instead of allowing Mary, his perfect wife, to be the heroine in this scene, Ruth had fixed him up with a woman who should have had the decency to cover more of herself up in a public setting.  Looking around the ballroom, he decided that all the women should have used higher necklines with their dresses, especially since the only woman he wanted to see any cleavage on was Mary.

But he had to go through this dreadful scene, so he reluctantly poked Agatha in the arm.  She inclined her head in his direction but maintained eye contact with the gentleman talking to her and her sister.

Well, that’s rude.  Dave crossed his arms and wondered if Agatha was as shallow as Cassie who married Neil Craftsman.

“Oh yes,” Lord Thomas said, “I’ve been on an elephant and a camel.”

“But isn’t that dangerous?” Agatha’s sister asked, her eyes wide and excitement in her voice.

“Of course it is, but I don’t see the point in playing it safe all the time.  A person has to enjoy life to truly live it,” he replied.

“I suspect you’re not the only person who shares that philosophy,” Agatha said, glancing at Dave.

Dave shrugged.  “I have no use for a camel or elephant.  Horses are much more practical for the work I do.  As for enjoying life, it helps if you can surround yourself with people you care about.”

“Hear, hear!” Lord Thomas nodded in approval.  “Good company is ideal.  However, you ought to try riding an elephant or camel sometime.  They’re magnificent creatures.”

“That’s alright.  I’m quite happy on my farm.”

Agatha shot him a pointed look.  “You’re not a farmer in this story.”

“What am I?” Dave asked.

“The ward of an earl.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“Don’t I have a job?”

“No, you don’t,” Lord Thomas said.  “In fact, none of us do.”

“You don’t?” Dave tried not to show his horror at the thought but without a job, what purpose did he have?

“We are wealthy,” Agatha told him.  “We don’t need to work in the sense you’re thinking of work.”

“Then what do you do?” Dave asked.

“Go to balls, museums, dinner parties,” Agatha began.

“Circuses!” her sister added.  “I do so love a circus.  They have elephants there!”

Agatha shook her head at her sister then turned her attention back to Dave.  “You might think of it as one party after another.  We have servants to do everything for us.”

“Even your cooking?” Dave wondered, thinking that no one could fix meals as good as Mary did.  Even if he had to work from sunup to sundown, it was worth it to have her meals waiting for him when he came into the house.

“Of course,” Agatha replied.  “I don’t see why that’s so upsetting.  It’s the way things are.”

He grimaced.  All Christopher did was prance around from one ball to another?  No wonder he whined about actual labor.

“Care to dance?” Lord Thomas asked Agatha’s sister, successfully bringing the scene back to where it should be.

Despite the slight shake of Agatha’s head, her sister accepted and hurried off to dance with him.

Before Agatha could step away from him, Dave said, “I’m supposed to dance with you.”

She opened her mouth to speak but glanced at those who looked in their direction.  With a sigh, she placed her hand on his arm and let him escort her to the dancing area.  “The other day, it was Mister Robinson.  Today it’s you.  Then it’ll be King Blackheart,” she said, frowning at him.  “This whole contest of wills between you and them is hindering my time to write.”

“It would help if Christopher wasn’t such a blowhard.”

“You can’t refer to him as Christopher in a public setting.  We’re in the Regency time period.  You should address him as Mister Robinson.”

“Well, back where I come from, it’s Christopher, and that’s only because I’m being nice.  I could call him other things.”

“While I might agree with you on other names to call him, it’s still proper to refer to him as Mister Robinson.  We are very strict about such things.”

“And yet so many of you go around showing off parts of you that ought to stay covered,” he pointed out, struggling to keep up with her as they continued to dance.  It was ridiculous, but he couldn’t understand why no one could enjoy a simple waltz or square dance.  Those were much easier to do.

She released a loud sigh.  “This is proper attire for this time period.  You can’t restrict your thinking to the historical old west in America.  You need to be flexible and adapt.”

“I’m only here for one scene then I can move on to King Blackheart’s world and do one of his scenes.  I don’t know when I’m supposed to do that, but I suspect it won’t be as good as the historical old west.  You haven’t experienced real contentment until you’ve been out in the country and seen land as far as the eye can see.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.  I can go anywhere I want to by lifting my quill and writing a story down.  I don’t want to simply be content.  I want to live and enjoy the most life has to offer.  I want to embrace it and venture out there, taking risks that would make my loved ones faint.”

“I have no complaints about my life,” he replied.l

“And I don’t either.  In fact, I like my life exactly as it is, and the last thing I need is for a gentleman to come into my life to change it.”

“That’s fine with me because I’m not the kind who chases after a woman who doesn’t want to be caught.”

She seemed disappointed.  “Oh.”

“Oh what?”

With a shrug, she said, “I don’t know.  I suppose it’s nice to be pursued, especially if the gentleman in question possesses some charm and wit.”

“I don’t have the time or desire to play games.  I state it like it is and she can take it or leave it.”

“Then it seems Ruth was wise to pair you up with someone else.”

Dave nodded.  “I won’t argue that.  There’ll never be anyone for me but Mary.”

The music came to an end and she curtsied.  “At least you can return to her soon.” Then she headed off.

***

Dave picture credit: © Yuri Arcurs | Dreamstime.com