#8Sunday #SundaySnippets: Dueling

I've begun writing the third novella of the Anton and Lenora series. It's still early days, but it seems to be coming along and I thought I might share a little bit of what I'm writing. The working title for this novella is "All Things Returned" and it's the next installment of an ongoing story set in 1852. In this snip, Anton( a ship captain) has sailed away on short journey and another captain named Jacob Lowell has tried to blackmail Lenora in Anton's absence. She's trying to decide whether or not to tell Anton about it:

Would he challenge Jacob to a duel?  Dueling was illegal, but there were plenty of gentlemen who were willing to meet in a deserted field at dawn. Here in California, our own ex-governor had dueled with the editor of Picayune. No one was harmed beyond a slight wound to the hand and the incident was put aside as a trifling matter. If Anton challenged Jacob, the outcome would not be so benign. One of them would end up dead and, either way, I would lose Anton.  I was stricken by the very thought of it. 

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The first part of this series, Sweet Lenora, is currently available as an e-book.

Lenora Brewer’s family owns the largest shipyard in Salem Massachusetts and Lenora, as her father’s only living child, is given free rein to learn the business. When Lenora’s father is killed in a carriage accident, her relatives arrange a marriage to a wealthy investor who is rumored to have beaten his first wife to death. Lenora devises a scheme to stowaway on The Sweet Lenora, a ship named for her.
The last thing Anton Boudreaux needs is a naïve young woman stowing away on his ship. The dark and daring captain has secrets of his own to protect.
When Sweet Lenora encounters a dangerous storm off the coast of Brazil, Lenora and Anton find in each other the courage and tenacity to brave the elements. As their love for one another grows it becomes a force to be reckoned with—and it will be sorely tested

Look for To The Wind, part two of the Anton and Lenora series, coming in October.