Ever since Avon published KISS ME QUICK and KISS ME AGAIN, people have been asking me if I was going to be writing books about Drury and Buggy.

Now, happily, I can say, "YES!!"

Drury's story, A LOVER'S KISS, is being published by Harlequin Historical^®, in August 2008. Buggy's story, THE VISCOUNT'S KISS, should be out in the summer of 2009, also as a Harlequin Historical^®.

Why the delay? Here's the story of Margaret's Interrupted Regency Series:

When I was writing KISS ME QUICK and KISS ME AGAIN, I didn't realize readers were going to be so interested in the fates of Drury and Buggy. When I finished KISS ME AGAIN, it was time to make some serious decisions about my life and career.

You see, the final book in a contract is actually submitted months before it appears on the shelves, so I have to make career decisions based on what I know at that time. When I finished the final manuscript for KISS ME AGAIN, I was then out of contract with Avon Books, and also at Harlequin. I did write proposals for two books, one about Drury (a character I really liked) and one about Buggy, a character I also enjoyed (he seems to me to be a more intelligent version of Foz from my Restoration books). I also had proposals in at Harlequin.

However, I had been struggling with trying to write for two publishers for some time. I hadn't taken much time off in several years. I was suffering, and I thought my writing was, too. The time had come for me to write for just one publisher, so I had a big decision to make.

At the time, my decision seemed like a no-brainer: Harlequin bought my first book, and several more, so I had a considerable backlist there; they'd always been tremendously supportive of me and my career; and I could write medievals, my favorite time period. The thing that gave me the most pause about leaving Avon was "abandoning" Drury and Buggy, even though at the time, I had no idea how popular Drury and Buggy would be. Heck, I'd given Drury my grandmother's maiden name. But I had a decision to make, and I made it based on what I felt and what I knew at that time.

Nevertheless, my readers continued to write to me expressing their frustration and disappointment that I hadn't written about Drury and Buggy, and the hope that I could someday. To be honest, these bothered me. A lot. Not only because I hate disappointing my readers, but because I loved Drury and Buggy, too.

Then I got the chance to give Drury and Buggy their own happy endings through Harlequin, and I leapt at it. The rest, as they say, is history.