December sees the publication of my latest Regency romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon. It is also the time of festive fun and pantomimes, so the Cinderella title is very apt, I think.
Cinderella and the Scarred Viscount
Once upon a time….
Philip James de Loutherbourg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The story is set in Regency England but its origins are much further afield. Spain in fact. The whole thing starts with the Spanish Armada!
Many Spanish ships from that ill-fated expedition came to grief around the British Isles, and the are many stories of survivors “leaving their mark” on the local population in the form of dark eyed, dark haired children. My heroine, Carenza, 
has this dark colouring, inherited from her mother.
Of course, she isn’t the first literary character to have such a heritage. The one that springs first to my mind is Jimmy Perez in Ann Cleeves’ Shetland series (not that the lovely Dougie Henshall, who plays Perez in the TV series is dark haired OR dark-eyed).
