February Fiesta *BlogTour&Giveaway*

Introducing… Hannah Fielding

Hannah Fielding is an incurable romantic. The seeds for her writing career were sown in early childhood, spent in Egypt, when she came to an agreement with her governess Zula: for each fairy story Zula told, Hannah would invent and relate one of her own. Years later – following a degree in French literature, several years of travelling in Europe, falling in love with an Englishman, the arrival of two beautiful children and a career in property development – Hannah decided after so many years of yearning to write that the time was now. Today, she lives the dream: writing full time at her homes in Kent, England, and the South of France, where she dreams up romances overlooking breath-taking views of the Mediterranean.

To date, Hannah has published four passionate, evocative novels: Burning Embers, a ‘romance like Hollywood used to make’, set in Kenya; the award-winning Echoes of Love, ‘an epic love story that is beautifully told’, set in Italy; and books 1 and 2 of the Andalusian Nights trilogy, set in sultry Spain, entitled Indiscretion and Masquerade. She is currently working on her fifth book, Legacy, which will publish this spring.

A glimpse of Masquerade

The beach was no longer deserted. As she cantered along the shore she passed a few joggers and a couple of lovers strolling hand in hand. A child and his mother were flying a bright-red kite; a bunch of gypsies loitered on one of the dunes by an upturned wreck of a rowing boat. She was used to seeing these vagabonds around; they did not bother her – on the contrary, she found them colourful and mysterious, stirring her imagination. Today the gentle agitation in her moved a step further and, for a second, Luz’s thoughts flashed back to the young gypsy who had so unnerved her. Her parents were wary of gitanos and Luz suspected that the reason she had been swept off to the protective cocoon of an English boarding school was to shield her from something. She had heard whispered snatches of gossip concerning the gitanos’ involvement with her family. She had often attempted to prise some answers from her parents, but they had merely brushed it off as servants’ tittle-tattle and malicious rumour. Not everyone approved of their marriage, they explained, and there were always narrow-minded and prejudiced people in the world. Every time Luz pushed, she found herself no further forward than before and although her inquisitive nature was dissatisfied by their explanations, she had given up asking questions and, for the time being, dismissed the whole thing from her mind.

As Luz approached the group, she noticed that the young gypsy was among them. She was nearly level with the gitanos when he turned, his eyes rising slowly to meet her gaze. For all their lazy manner they were sharp, green and sparkling, shadowed by thick, long dark lashes. Transfixed, Luz felt herself blushing under the watchful lion’s gaze. Her stomach gave a little flutter; her concentration wavered. Then it all happened very quickly.

From the corner of her eye she was aware of the red kite falling. Spooked, Zeyna shied suddenly. The young woman tried to control her, but it was too late: the mare swerved to the right. Luz put her weight on the stirrup to steady herself but the girth was not tight enough and the saddle slipped sideways. Slowly and inexorably, she came off her mount with a cry. As she hit the hard sandy ground with a sickening thud to her head the landscape swirled around her and she felt herself sinking into a deep black well. She fought to regain consciousness, hearing rushing footsteps, noises and voices all around her. Then two powerful arms lifted her; she felt her head fall back against a strong shoulder, then the shutters came down and she was plunged into oblivion.

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