Yes, I have four brothers between my sister and I. I wish I could have had an older brother like Darcy as I have drawn him. I also have three sons and a stepson that helped somewhat in the depiction of the rivalry and jabbing seen between Colonel Fitzwilliam and Viscount D’Arcy.
Where did you get the idea for the scandalous mystery that unfolds at Norwycke Castle?
Frankly, one thing led to another. I began with the premise of a house party hosted by an old “friend” of Darcy’s who is horribly in debt. I needed a group of eligible ladies to attract him and one who could truly tug at his senses and his heart. When I started out, I didn’t know who that would be. Then, Lady Sylvanie presented herself to me while I was listening to some traditional Celtic music. As I started asking myself questions about her life, her tragic story took shape. A process of “if so, then what?” led to forming her philosophy of life, and the logical path to the changing of her powerless circumstance seemed to lay in the revival of interest in the occult in England at that time. If anything, the second half of Duty and Desire deals not only with Darcy’s search for a replacement for Elizabeth in his heart but also the question of power and its use. Darcy, of course, is the example of the “good master” and he is searching for a woman who will be the “good mistress” at his side. All the others at Norwycke Castle are either examples of the misuse of power or are the objects of that misuse, all driven finally into irrationality and desperate measures.