Two weeks ago I featured my lovely new heroine, Gwyneth Fairchild. So this week, I figured it would be fun to do the same to her eventual heart-throb, Thaddeus (Thad) Lane.
Now, I haven’t yet found a perfect image for Thad, so feel free to help me out there! If you think of an actor or painting or something that just screams “There he is!” please pass along a link! I’ll post a few possibles, but I’m not sold on any of them yet.
Thaddeus Lane was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the third child but first son to the hero and heroine from Ring of Secrets. With a chemist/philosopher for a father and a former-spy for a mother, one may have expected that Thad would follow the rest of his family (including his sisters) into the world of intellectualism. But instead, Thad seized upon the intrigue and followed it into adventure.
In the years leading up to the War of 1812, there was opportunity aplenty for adventure on the high seas, and that’s where Thad went. I picture him tall and lanky. Handsome, but in a way that makes him pleasant to look at without making women swoon right and left. He’s a privateer, so picture him standing on the deck of a romantic-looking ship, ready to swash some buckles. (Or maybe buckle some swashes? LOL) 😉
But the real key to this guy is his personality. You’ve probably met someone like him–he’s the type that could make friends with a rock. With a wall. With men, with women, with old and young, with allies or enemies. He’s the type that makes his nieces and nephews squeal with delight just by walking into a room, the type that every other privateer in the Atlantic, Caribbean, or Gulf has met and liked.
He’s the kind that absolutely everyone, everyone trusts. Which of course makes him the perfect intelligencer. =)
Thad is a man with secrets abounding, but no one ever thinks it of him, because he seems so open and honest. But while all the American privateers happily send along to him any information they have on British movements on the seas, they have no idea that he’s using it all to compile false information to feed back to their enemies. Who, after all, would suspect that open, honest Thad is capable of such duplicity? They know he’s organizing them a bit–a born leader, that one–but no one ever suspects that he’s the linchpin to American intelligence work during the war.
Thad’s also a softie with a quick sense of humor (he’s going to have some oh-so-fun exchanges with his socially-bumbling father) and a sense of responsibility for way more than is actually his responsibility. The first glimpse we’ll get of that is the fact that he married his friend’s widow several years earlier just to provide for her and her son in her final year of life. Of course, said friend comes back from his supposed-death a year after that . . . on the surface, this friend will be grateful his family was cared for when they assumed him dead. But I’m guessing there’s going to be a spark or two that flames up because of it through the course of the book. =)
Now, when Gwyneth arrives on the scene, Thad’s going to be a bit torn. He’ll greet her with the same good humor with which he greets everything, but a daughter of a British general? Entrusted to the care of his family during the closing months of a war with England? Yeah . . . he’s none too sure about this pretty, conflicted little gentlewoman.
Which is going to make it tons of fun.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
Does that mean he gets your vote for Thad, Stephanie, or just that I need to model someone on him sometime? 😉 (You know, we've Nicolas and Wiley and Shade [in book 3] to ascribe handsome men to yet . . .)
James Marsden was one of my girl crushes back in middle and high school. He's on 30 Rock now – SWOON!
Naomi, you always make me grin. =)
Oh goodness, I'm ready to buy the book tomorrow, you make Thad sound so good! But as far as pictures go, I like the second Josh Pence. I think it's because his hair is a little mussed, like I imagine a privateer's being. 🙂
He's one of my favorite actors, just for his personality. =)
Yeah, I doubt all the readers will care, LOL. But if Harvest House asks for a description, this way I'll have one. =) Don't know if my heroes will make it onto the covers yet or not, but I'll be prepared. 😉
A young John Corbett would fit that character profile for me. 🙂
I am not big on pictures, Roseanna. Sometimes I think the reader just wants to imagine the hero the way they see him. It does help the writer, though, I think. Good luck with this!
Totally agree! =)
It's all about the kind eyes and big smile. Puts people at ease. 🙂
The ideas are coming along! My research is a bit slow–need some solid reading time–but I'm excited about this one. =)
Sooo wanna get to know this guy better. Book sounds AWESOME (and Thad, of course!).