What next following a late supper à deux with that special someone in your life? After all, there must be more to a quiet evening at home than just dinner alone together.
At Ravenscroft Castle in centuries gone by, after the evening meal, the ladies would withdraw from the Dining Hall, leaving the gentlemen to their port and cigars. Today, however, this quaint custom is no longer followed here at the castle. Instead, Rebecca enjoys serving after-dinner drinks (try Amaretto, Armagnac, Benedictine, or Cognac) here in the Drawing Room.
Here are some more of her suggestions for romantic entertaining at home:
On a chilly night, be sure to light a fire in the hearth, since there is nothing quite like sitting cozily with a special someone before a crackling fire, especially if it's raining or snowing outside. Here, too, candles are delightful, as is incense (Rebecca likes cinnamon, frankincense & myrrh, jasmine, patchouli, and vanilla), and, of course, music for setting the mood is always a nice touch.
Since Rebecca thinks there is absolutely nothing at all romantic (or creative) about being permanently glued to a television set, she suggests you try some of the following diversions instead:
For guests who are gameplayers, Rebecca keeps board games like chess and backgammon on hand, as well as cards. While she frequently loses at backgammon, she has played chess since she was three years old, so she is not as easily defeated on a chessboard. She believes you can learn a great deal about someone over a chessboard, since chess is not a game with any element of luck (other than drawing an opponent who offers little or no challenge), but, rather, one of skill and strategy. Rebecca also likes many other board games and all kinds of card games.
With literarily inclined guests, Rebecca enjoys taking turns reading poetry aloud (Tennyson and Coleridge are particular favorites) or discussing historical, mythological, philosophical, and theological works, or the latest bestsellers, both fiction and nonfiction. Sometimes, she finds it very pleasant just to sit quietly side by side, each person lost in the pages of a book.
For guests with a questing, mystical bent, Rebecca likes casting both astrological charts and the rune stones (the latter a device she used in her novel Swan Road), crystal-ball gazing, Ouija-board inquiring, or reading palms or the Tarot cards --- just for fun, to pass the time away, although it's not out of the ordinary for her predictions actually to come true!
What qualities does Rebecca personally find attractive in men? Very much the same kinds of qualities she bestows upon the heroes of all her romantic novels: intelligence, ambition, drive, self-confidence, strength of character, a sense of romance, creativity, imagination, thoughtfulness, warmth, compassion, a wicked sense of humor, the ability to communicate, a willingness to meet someone halfway, and a wide variety of interests, including a love of art, books, dance, films, music, and/or the theater, as well as sports of all kinds.
Rebecca has always believed actions speak louder than words; and she is fond of saying that if you remember to bring to any dyadic relationship what she herself calls "the seven Cs of romance" (caring, commitment, communication, compromise, consideration, cooperation, and every now and then a chuckle), the big "C" (completeness) will take care of itself.
Romantic movie heroes Rebecca never tires of watching are Sean Connery's eccentric Dr. Robert Campbell in Medicine Man, Richard Harris's compassionate King Arthur in Camelot, Rutger Hauer's star-crossed knight in Ladyhawke, Christopher Lambert's faithful Connor MacLeod in Highlander, and Frank Langella's sensual Dracula in the film of the same name.
Of all the heroes Rebecca herself has ever created, Renzo Cassavettes, in her novel Dust Devil, is her own personal favorite --- the man she would most like to know in real life. The media and readers both frequently ask if any of Rebecca's heroes ever have been based on men she has actually known in real life --- and the answer is no. Sometimes, she will use a certain characteristic she has observed in someone, but all her heroes have sprung primarily from her own imagination (although she has more than once wished at least some of them were indeed real!).
If, like a romance-novel heroine, Rebecca could travel through time, the one man she would most want to meet is King Arthur. Because on the Otranto Mosaic, King Arthur is depicted riding a goat, it has often been suggested by scholars that he was born under the astrological sign of Capricorn.
Since, because of her deep interest in King Arthur and astrology, this is one of the signs with whose traits Rebecca is most familiar, she frequently uses it to develop the various attributes of her heroes (Capricorn men are notoriously saturnine and darkly brooding --- perfect for wild, isolated settings like deserts, mountains, high plains, jungles, and moors). Other astrological signs that have also contributed to Rebecca's heroes over the years are Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, and Scorpio.
She works most often with these five signs because she herself is usually --- but not always --- attracted to real-life men born under one of them. Numbered among the men she dated in the past are a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (a Sagittarian) and the drummer (a Taurean) for two well-known rock bands of the '70s - '80s era. Her husband, John, is a Cancerian.
   
   
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