One of the things I have to do when writing a hero and heroine is to like them. If couldn’t like them as people then how will readers like them enough to root for as they go through their trials and tribulations as they fall in love?
Lady Abigail Houghall, the distinct ‘bad girl’ in Moonstone Obsession was not meant to be a likeable woman. She was deceitful, promiscuous, acid-tongued and duplicitous – a wonderful character, but you really wouldn’t want someone like her as a friend.
And yet, I couldn’t leave her like that.
There is a point in Moonstone Obsession where all Abigail’s schemes have all unravelled and she is left with nothing but the consequences.
We get a hint self-reflection and a glimmer of something beyond the stereotype.
In Moonstone Conspiracy, Abigail is forced to find her way front on, to acknowledge who she is and to deliberately make a choice — a Jezebel or a Rahab.
It’s not about dulling her edge or making her a ‘good girl’ — she’s far too willful for that — but rather for Abigail to better understand herself and to discover that she has a choice — good or evil, life or death, love or loneliness.
Abigail is no victim — of chance, of people, of circumstance, of past actions, of past transgressions — she has made her mistakes and she owns each and every one. They’re battle scars and they serve a purpose.
Abigail has begun to learn to put a value on herself as a human being, her worth being more than just her youth, her beauty, her cleverness – they are part of the sum of who she is, not the totality.
It will take someone very special to see beyond superficialities, to not allow his opinion to be swayed by convention and gossip to discover the real woman beneath.
The Honourable Daniel Ridgeway, a man Abigail’s equal in every way but societal status, will have to fight his own demons and be ready to stand in the breach to fight hers too if necessary. That will be the subject of another blog post — the conflicted hero.
Excerpt
Rachel strolled across to the chair by the window and picked up the discarded book from the chair.
“Daniel has never mentioned you by name, but I could tell there was someone when he was last here.
That was nearly two months ago and I wondered who it was,” she said, stroking the spine of the book tenderly as she moved again to the fireplace and placed the book on the mantle.
“But now we have met, I find you are more typical than I dared hope. The scandalous Lady Abigail Houghall, a woman who uses her…advantages to enrich herself and who thinks nothing of discarding those who have ceased to be of use to her.
“Daniel’s head may have been momentarily turned by a woman like you, but you will never hold a man like him. Men have their needs, of course, but you’re nothing more than a bit o’muslin no matter how well born you are.”
She was jealous! The revelation took the sting out of the insults, allowing Abigail to smile knowingly. “I shouldn’t play the high and mighty if I were you, Mrs. Sawyer. Does your husband know you still retain a fondness for a former beau, one who is his closest friend?”
Through the first floor window, she looked down into Soho Square at the street preacher.
“I’m prepared to own my sins,” said Abigail. “You cannot even acknowledge yours.”