The Trials of Alaric

To wed her, he’d do anything. Even lose his heart!

When Alaric Redhaven is shipwrecked on the Isle of Claddach in the Irish Sea, he finds himself attending a most unusual house party. The Earl of Claddach is holding a set of trials to discover a worthy man to marry his daughter.

Lady Beatrice Collister, only child of the Earl of Claddach, is committed to choosing a husband who will be her consort when she is the island’s countess. But not one of the eligible gentlemen selected to enter the trials makes her heart race.

As Alaric strives to win the trials, and with them, everything he has ever wanted, he also faces a brother bent on revenge, a drunken villager, and a cousin with a mountain-sized sense of entitlement.

But only the man who uncovers the Heart of Claddach can win Bea as his bride.

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Meet Bea

Lady Beatrice Collister is the only child of the Earl of Claddach, an ancient earldom that comprises the Isle of Claddach in the Irish Sea (and several other smaller islands). Bea is heir to his title as well as his lands, and her father is ill. It is time for her to marry, yet she does not wish to leave the island, and she has met no one she might consider as husband and consort. Including (and especially) her horrid cousin, her mother’s nephew.
Her father proposes a series of trials in which would-be suitors can show their worth. Bea agrees, and her sense of honour and duty oblige her to keep her word. But once she meets Alaric, she wishes she was free to choose for herself.

Meet Aleric

Alaric Redhaven is a second son, and estranged from his family who exiled him to Brazil for something he didn’t do. On his way back to England, he is shipwrecked on the Isle of Claddach and taken to the earl’s castle to recover. There, the earl’s wife invites him to join the trials for the hand of her daughter.
At first, Alaric is simply obliging his hostess, but he soon falls in love with Bea, and undergoes the trials in earnest. Can he win the hand of the lovely heiress? Some of the tasks seem impossible and the arrival of his older brother complicates matters. But Alaric will do anything to win Bea’s heart and her hand.

Excerpt from The Trials of Alaric

Alaric Redhaven’s brief eighteen months as a diplomat had been a disaster. From his arrival in Rio de Janeiro, he had not distinguished himself in any desirable fashion, and the litany of his accidents and mistakes was far too depressing to think about. When he had inadvertently insulted the Spanish Ambassador at a reception in Rio de Janeiro, it had been the last straw. He, his uncle and sponsor, and the British envoy to the Portuguese court in exile had been in agreement for the first time since Alaric had arrived.

Alaric had been dismissed and found a berth on the first ship leaving Rio de Janeiro with England as its destination. Now that ship was stuck in a rising storm while the experienced crewmen ran around in a panic, arguing about which sails to reef and who was going to do it.

To make things worse, the captain was nowhere to be found—probably lying in a hidden corner in a drunken stupor. They were without the first mate, too. He came up on deck when the weather first turned foul, was struck by a flying belaying pin, and knocked out before he could take charge.

Which meant they were trying to stay afloat in an unexpected storm, with a minimal crew and the two most senior officers disabled.

Drowning in the Irish Sea was a more permanent disruption than the arrest of their captain in Fortaleza and the shortage of supplies that kept them for two extra weeks in Jamaica. Not to mention the desertion of a good third of their crew in Dublin.

Alaric felt he should do something, but what? He knew nothing about how to sail a ship. Telling the crew to stop bickering and do their jobs was likely to get him hurled over the side. And suddenly, it was too late. First one mast broke, then another, then the third.

And then it got worse.

“We’ve lost the rudder!” shouted the man on the wheel.

“Rocks!” screamed someone else.

Some of the sailors leapt into the sea. Others clung to the nearest solid object as the ship pitched and yawed with every wave and gust of wind. Alaric tossed a mental coin, shrugged out of his coat, and jumped overboard. He would take his chance with the sea.