A scandalous mistake…or a wicked way to happiness?Hoping to compromise herself, Lady Amantha Easton sneaks into the bedroom of her would-be suitor only to find a total stranger there—a totally handsome, charming stranger to be sure—but not at all the man she plans to marry. She leaves his room with her reputation intact—barely—only to fall victim to the gentleman’s charms in a public place. Now Amantha must face the fate she’s tried to avoid—marriage to a man who will never love her.
All Rafael Beauregard wanted was a warm bed and a good night’s sleep…but what he got was an unexpected romp with a beautiful vixen and a fiery kiss that left him wanting more. An excellent trade, except now he’s got to marry Lady Amantha, one of the most willful women he’s ever met. So Rafe’s challenge is to persuade her that marriage to him might be the best thing for them both…once he convinces himself.
There are actually quite a few “fun facts” about As Long As You’re Mine! The first one is that the book was written originally in 2012, the second book I’d ever written. At that time I was trying to get an agent and sent out probably 40 queries and although there were some nibbles, they all came back a resounding “no thanks.” So I tucked it away and continued writing other books, but I never forgot it.
Then in 2023 I did a major revision of the book—focused on making the heroine more likeable—and sent it to my agent to send out to publishers. Again a lot of initial interest, but no bites. I put it away again. But this year, because of my broken shoulder, I hadn’t been able to write a thing, and I wanted to have at least one book published this year. So I sent ALAYM off to my editor and got a lot of feedback about what was actually wrong with the book. It took a solid week at a writers’ retreat but I finally got the book into a shape that should give readers a very satisfactory romantic experience. And As Long As You’re Mine is published at last!
Some other fun facts:
The hero’s house in Richmond, VA is based on the house of a friend of my husband’s. I was always fascinated by the house, which is as I describe it in the book, “as if the architect had built one house then set its mirror image right next to it.”
The house the hero is trying to get blueprints for, Ashcroft Hall, is an actual house that was originally in England until an American millionaire bought it, had it taken down piece by piece, and transported to Richmond, VA. It’s now a museum.
The heroine’s first name changed from Samantha to Amantha after I discovered that the name Samantha was only used beginning in the 1950s.
The name of the novel, As Long As You’re Mine, is taken from my favorite song in the musical Wicked.
I’m not yet sure if As Long As You’re Mine will be a series or not, although I’ve toyed with the idea quite a lot. If I do decide to go forward with a series, I’ve decided the name of it will be Surrender to Passion!
“Oh, Raif!” She could scarcely breathe now. “That…feels…so good.”
“I thought it might. You’re awful sweet.” His low, sleepy voice sounded odd under the covers. On the verge of asking if he was well, she lost the thought when he lifted his head from her breast and crushed his lips to hers.
All else forgotten, she wouldn’t have cared if the house burned down around them. His lips were hot, insistent. Then he plied the seam with his tongue, softly urged it to part for him. She had no desire to resist and soon he had buried his tongue deep in her mouth. A tentative stroke of her own brought a growl of encouragement, and she abandoned herself to explore his willing mouth. She did things she’d never dreamed she’d do, with Raif or anyone else. And she only wanted more. “Oh, Raif. I never thought it could be like this.”
He chuckled. “How soon you forget, Jenny.”
“Jenny?” Amantha froze, her blood turning to ice in her veins. “Who’s Jenny?” Sudden anger lit a fire in her, and she pushed him away. “How many women were you expecting in your bed tonight, Raif?”
“What?” The sleepiness had flown from his voice. “You’re not Jenny?”
“You expected me to be?” This was a nightmare. They weren’t even married and Raif was being unfaithful to her.
“I didn’t expect anyone in my bed.” He threw off the covers and fumbled at the bedside table.
“What do you mean you didn’t expect me? We had planned this, Raif.” What the devil was the man playing at?
“We?” A match flared as he lit the lamp, the sudden light after the darkness almost blinding her. She put her hand up to shield her eyes.
“What do you mean, we?” He sat up in the bed, rubbing his eyes. “Who are you, sweetheart?”
The voice, now unmuffled, certainly did not have the superior tone of Raiford Tolbert. Slowly Amantha lowered her hand to find a man with dark hair she’d never seen before peering at her.
Dear God, what had she done?
Jenna Jaxon is a best-selling author of historical romance, writing in a variety of time periods because she believes that passion is timeless. She has been reading and writing historical romance since she was a teenager. A romantic herself, Jenna has always loved a dark side to the genre, a twist, suspense, a surprise. She tries to incorporate all these elements into her own stories.She lives in Virginia with her family and a small menagerie of pets--including Olive, an almost silent cat, Earl Grey, a very curious bunny, and a Shar-pei mix dog named Frenchie.
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