Sunday - My Series - Interconnected Characters - A Savory Seduction

 One day, a family of four siblings caught my attention. Not sure what triggered them but I realized I wanted to tell the story of these siblings. The series grew to six by dragging in some of their friends. These are novellas and other than the characters and their friends, there is a magazine connection. Four of them are editors of magazines, the overall publisher being their father.

The first story in the series is A Savory Seduction- The heroine edits a magazine called Good Cookin' and she sets out to feature a restaurant across the river in a Hudson Valley town. The restaurant is called Five Cuisines. To complicate this is an old family feud between her father and his mother. The hero rejects her attempt to keep his mother happy but the heroine doesn't give up. Her first sight of him is when she is staying at a friend's apartment and she watches him exercising on the ground floor outside area of his apartment. The attraction heats up and they connect without knowing the connection.

The characters in these stories may or may not appear in the other stories in the series but the connection is family and the magazines. I had a lot of fun with this series originally thought of as just four stories but the publisher put the first three out as a set in paper and that left one hero alone. So friends were drafted for stories five and six.

A Savory Seduction allowed me to explore a love of food and a love of love.

Thursday"s Hero - Greg from A Savory Seduction by Janet Lane Walters

A Savory Seduction

BY

Janet Lane Walters

New Concepts Publishing

Chapter One

When his mother entered the office of Five Cuisines, Greg Ramsey pushed his chair back and smiled in welcome. “Your timing is perfect. Just finished creating the menus for the week.”

Stella Ramsey crossed the room and kissed his cheek. “And how is my handsome son?”

“Pleased with our success.” The restaurant had opened six months before and was on the way to becoming a profitable venture. For the past month, there’d been few empty tables at either seating. Even on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, they’d been nicely booked. The weekend lunches were gaining the attention of the people who came to browse in the antique shops and other unusual stores.

He reached for the letter that had arrived in the morning mail. The offer could make or break his dream. He knew very little about the magazine other than a spread was eagerly sought by restaurants. As a silent partner, his mother had a voice in whether they should chance a bad review.

“What was so important you interrupted my lunch date.” She stared at him. “You’ve found a weekend hostess.”

He shook his head. “That job’s yours until you say you’ve had enough.”

“Then what?” She sat on the captain’s chair beside the desk. “Have you met the woman of your dreams?”

He laughed. “When do I have time?”

“Several of the sous chefs are young attractive women.”

“They’re taken, and I don’t poach anything but eggs.”

“Then what did you want to tell me?”

He handed her the sheet of paper. “This letter came today, and the offer is a very sweet opportunity.” As she read, Greg studied her. The few strands of silver in her jet black hair just added to her attractiveness. She’d been a widow for fifteen years, and he often wondered why she hadn’t remarried. Did she still mourn for his father? Why? He remembered the many nights that he’d awakened late at night to hear their angry voices.

“You will not let them near Five Cuisines,” she said. “I won’t have it.”

He frowned. “Why not? A feature in Good Eatin’ will place us among the top restaurants in the country.”

“I won’t let him use his magazines to destroy you the way he ruined your father’s dreams.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Peter Blakefield, editor in chief of this magazine, deliberately used his wife’s magazines to destroy Le Provencal.”

Greg rose and went to his mother’s side. He’d been sixteen when the tragedy had occurred. His father’s suicide had brought his mother grief and had brought drastic changes in Greg’s life. “Why would this Blakefield do that?”

She stared at his hand. “Your father told me the families had been at odds since they arrived in this country during colonial days. Your father and Peter had become rivals in high school. Then I met Peter at college. We fell in love and were engaged but we had a fight. I broke the engagement. Peter wanted no part of my parents’ restaurant. Victor learned about the rift and comforted me. He went to work for my parents and we were married. Peter was furious. He said he would destroy Victor. He waited for years, but he succeeded.”

“How?”

“He wrote dreadful articles about the food, the service, and other things. The shame caused your father to take his own life. Victor wasn’t the most stable of men and when he was drinking became very depressed.”

“Do you have copies of these articles?”

“Your father wouldn’t let me read them. I watched him burn them. Promise you won’t let those people near Five Cuisines.”

Greg turned away. Her comments were disappointing, but, until he knew more about this feud, he’d hold off on sending a letter of regrets. “Are you sure this is the right decision?”

She looked away. “Yes.”

He nodded. “I’ll take care of this later.” He took the letter. “About this feud. Is there any real reason you and I should be involved in the mess?”

“Greg, drop the idea of being featured in Good Eatin’. Peter Blakefield doesn’t forgive or forget.” She rose and walked to the door.


There had to be more than she’d told him, but he had no idea how to discover just what had happened. Greg slipped the letter in a drawer. He didn’t want to slam the door on an opportunity. Maybe she would change her mind. He would hold off on answering for a time. He shook his head. An ancient feud. How medieval. 

Thursday's Opening Scene from A Savory Seduction by Janet Lane Walters

Chapter One

When his mother entered the office of Five Cuisines, Greg Ramsey pushed his chair back and smiled in welcome. “Your timing is perfect. Just finished creating the menus for the week.”

Stella Ramsey crossed the room and kissed his cheek. “And how is my handsome son?”

“Pleased with our success.” The restaurant had opened six months before and was on the way to becoming a profitable venture. For the past month, there’d been few empty tables at either seating. Even on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, they’d been nicely booked. The weekend lunches were gaining the attention of the people who came to browse in the antique shops and other unusual stores.

He reached for the letter that had arrived in the morning mail. The offer could make or break his dream. He knew very little about the magazine other than a spread was eagerly sought by restaurants. As a silent partner, his mother had a voice in whether they should chance a bad review.

“What was so important you interrupted my lunch date.” She stared at him. “You’ve found a weekend hostess.”

He shook his head. “That job’s yours until you say you’ve had enough.”

“Then what?” She sat on the captain’s chair beside the desk. “Have you met the woman of your dreams?”

He laughed. “When do I have time?”

“Several of the sous chefs are young attractive women.”

“They’re taken, and I don’t poach anything but eggs.”

“Then what did you want to tell me?”

He handed her the sheet of paper. “This letter came today, and the offer is a very sweet opportunity.” As she read, Greg studied her. The few strands of silver in her jet black hair just added to her attractiveness. She’d been a widow for fifteen years, and he often wondered why she hadn’t remarried. Did she still mourn for his father? Why? He remembered the many nights that he’d awakened late at night to hear their angry voices.

“You will not let them near Five Cuisines,” she said. “I won’t have it.”

He frowned. “Why not? A feature in Good Eatin’ will place us among the top restaurants in the country.”

“I won’t let him use his magazines to destroy you the way he ruined your father’s dreams.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Peter Blakefield, editor in chief of this magazine, deliberately used his wife’s magazines to destroy Le Provencal.”

Greg rose and went to his mother’s side. He’d been sixteen when the tragedy had occurred. His father’s suicide had brought his mother grief and had brought drastic changes in Greg’s life. “Why would this Blakefield do that?”

She stared at his hand. “Your father told me the families had been at odds since they arrived in this country during colonial days. Your father and Peter had become rivals in high school. Then I met Peter at college. We fell in love and were engaged but we had a fight. I broke the engagement. Peter wanted no part of my parents’ restaurant. Victor learned about the rift and comforted me. He went to work for my parents and we were married. Peter was furious. He said he would destroy Victor. He waited for years, but he succeeded.”

“How?”

“He wrote dreadful articles about the food, the service, and other things. The shame caused your father to take his own life. Victor wasn’t the most stable of men and when he was drinking became very depressed.”

“Do you have copies of these articles?”

“Your father wouldn’t let me read them. I watched him burn them. Promise you won’t let those people near Five Cuisines.”

Greg turned away. Her comments were disappointing, but, until he knew more about this feud, he’d hold off on sending a letter of regrets. “Are you sure this is the right decision?”

She looked away. “Yes.”

He nodded. “I’ll take care of this later.” He took the letter. “About this feud. Is there any real reason you and I should be involved in the mess?”

“Greg, drop the idea of being featured in Good Eatin’. Peter Blakefield doesn’t forgive or forget.” She rose and walked to the door.

There had to be more than she’d told him, but he had no idea how to discover just what had happened. Greg slipped the letter in a drawer. He didn’t want to slam the door on an opportunity. Maybe she would change her mind. He would hold off on answering for a time. He shook his head. An ancient feud. How medieval.

* * * *

How the Stories Began - Sweet Seductions

Sweet Seductions in the print version contains three stories of the Seduction Series. A Savory Seduction, A Second Seduction and A silken Seduction. An autographed copy will be given away to a commentor on the blog who gives me a way to reach her or him.

This series began with cookbooks. To be specific a series I purchased once a month, years ago from Time/Life. They have been used as research before since the text and the pictures inside are wonderful, as are the recipes. I'm not sure if it was the publishers call for some spicy novellas or that I had an idea for the series. What happened was I began the first story as a single to celebrate my enjoyment of good food. While writing A Savory Seduction, the magazine group was born and so were the four siblings each one running a different magazine of the Good Group. I was also challenging myself to write spicy when I began this series.

Good Eatin' was the first involving Greg who has a restaurant called Five Cuisines. Allie runs the magazine and decides to feature the restaurant. Of course her first sight of Greg brings lust on demand and they connect. Complicating their lives is the Blakefield curse. When a Blakefield meets the man or woman of their dreams no other will do. Added to the curse is the connection between Greg's mother and Allie's father in the past.

While writing this series, though second in the print version, A Second Seduction was the third book. Years ago, Mark fell in love and now he plays the field. He is unsaatisfied with his relationships. A victim of the Blakefield. Pictures taken by a magazine photograper for Good Travelin' sends Mark on a quest to find Christa, his college lover. The picture shows a boy who looks like his younger self and he sets off to seduce her for a secons and hopefully last time and to claim his son, A complication here is her greedy step-sisters.

A Silken Seduction brings Megan to find her live in the magazine world. Steve is a photographer and she has had a crush on him. She doesn't realize he lusts for her but Megan has rules for her life. Megan wants forever but Steve seems to have a short attention span. They have had words in the past. Megan thinks he betrayed a huge spread she had planned for Good Lookin' to a rival editor he was dating. Steve's accident on location brings they together. Seems she's the only one available to bring him to his apartment. Sparks fly between them.

There are three more stories in this series. One about the fourth brother. One about a friend and one involving the magazine's investigator. One is published electronically, A Sudden Seduction, one is under contract and the other is forming in my imagination.

I am not a good cook but I can follow recipes so thanks to the series of cookbooks I have these stories and bits and pieces in other stories using food and scenery from these books. One never knows where inspiration for a story can be found unti it jumps out and grabs.