Novel Excerpts by Stephie Smith

1st Place Winner, Heartland RWA's 2008 Show Me The Spark contest!!
2nd Place Winner, Connecticut RWA's 2008 CONNections contest!!
2nd Place Winner, RWA San Diego's 2008 Spring Into Romance contest!!
Top Quarter of RWA's 2008 Golden Heart Competition!!
Finalist, Magnolia State RWA's 2008 Dixie First contest!!

The HEROINE is a stubborn chit who isn't about to let anyone tell her what to do (hey, just like me :0) and who plans to thwart her wicked uncle's plans to marry her off to the highest bidder so she can keep her dowry and use it to restore the family manor. (I mean, there are so many tenants and servants and villagers depending on her, what's a girl to do? And besides, it was her dear Papa's dream—before he was gunned down by that nasty highwayman, that is.)

She thinks she's found the perfect pawn to use in her ruination scheme (you know, ruination...so no respectable man will have her or her humongous dowry). He's a rakish American privateer with his own fortune and no ties to English society, who surely can't be forced into marriage. Or so she thinks...

But, uh-oh. The HERO is really an English duke returned from his banishment to America where he finished his schooling, became a world-renowned shipbuilder, and oh yeah, caught his fiancee in bed with another man. Now he's trying to be the good son he never was by infiltrating the ton-based treasonous smuggling gang his father was investigating at the time of his suspicious death. Everything goes exactly as the hero plans. Always. Until he meets the heroine. But don't worry. He'll have no trouble managing her. Or so he thinks...

With her fear of love, his problem with jealousy, the masquerade they're both playing out and that dratted smuggling gang, who knows what will happen?

And naturally, this is the hero of my dreams.

Contemporary romance set in Florida

2nd Place, Missouri RWA's 2007 Gateway To The Best!!
3rd Place, Romance Writers Ink 2007 Where The Magic Begins!!
3rd Place, Georgia RWA's 2007 The Maggie!!

The HEROINE's got what some call a chick-lit voice, which basically means a self-deprecating wit that tends toward cynicism (hey, just like me :0).

She's trying to save her family manor. Wait a minute. Is this the historical romance? No, now I remember. She is trying to save her home but she's not scheming herself out of marriage, she's scheming herself into it. Or rather, she's looking for a husband. One who can do yard work. And he'd better be a fast worker, too, because if she doesn't get that lot cleaned up, the homeowner's association will fine her so much money that she'll have to foreclose. But it's gonna be a marriage in name only because what she really wants to marry is a duke. Huh? Yeah, that's right. She used to be a best-selling historical romance writer—before she got her heart trampled on and quit believing in love. And she'll be damned if she's gonna fall in love again. Or so she thinks...

The HERO is a world-renowned shipbuilder ...er, tennis player, who's decided to quit competitive sports and go back to the small Florida town where he grew up. I mean, surely there must be something more out there for him than the millions of dollars, the Texas ranch, the celebrity status and all that other junk, and he's determined to find out what that something is. Besides, the best friend he ever had is in trouble and she needs his help. Okay, so maybe they were 5 and 6 years old when they were best friends, but they made that spit pact to become "someone," and he's going to help her achieve her dreams if it kills them both. Or so he thinks...

And naturally, this is the hero of my dreams.