Did you find your SOULMATE?  Do you know how to look for him? According to Plato, at one time, humans had two heads, four arms and four legs.  If that wasn’t scary enough these humans supposedly had great power. So great that Zeus and the other gods feared their strength.  The next thing everyone knew, those humans had a plan to climb to heaven so they could take over. That got everyone’s togas in a wad.  Zeus told his buddies not to worry, that he had everything under control, which was why he was Zeus after all.  He’d cut all the humans in half to weaken them and on top of that he’d just doubled the number of humans who could worship them.  The gods loved this and gave Zeus kudos for solving their dilemma, but the humans weren’t happy at all.  They felt empty and confused, wandering around trying to find their way.  In a moment of compassion, Zeus decided that every human could have sex with their other half, which would allow them a chance to feel one, and whole, again in that intimate moment. Since that day, we’ve all been hunting our other halves – our soulmates….

I’m always interested in how what we read changes how we think about things. Unfortunately for my hero in A DUKE FOR ALL SEASONS, he’s been reading the wrong sort of book. It’s called A Gentleman’s Guide to Keeping a Mistress and even though he has four different mistresses a year, Sebastian hasn’t found happiness following the guide’s precepts. At the beginning of every chapter of A DUKE FOR ALL SEASONS, I start with an excerpt from A Gentleman’s Guide. It gives you an idea of what’s been rolling around in Sebastian’s noggin. I warn you, each statement is more outrageously chauvinistic than the last. Chapter One “A woman, like a blooded hound or fine steed, has a finite period of usefulness. When that time has run its course, a prudent man divests himself of the asset without regret.” Chapter Two “Under no circumstances should a gentleman involve himself with a woman who has entanglements of a sort that might diminish his enjoyment of her.” Chapter Three “Selecting a mistress involves more than finding a pleasing bed companion. A gentleman must be sure the woman is an ornament to his arm and a credit to his reputation as a man…