Thursday Thirteen - 123 - 13 Reasons to Read the In David's House Collection by Jennifer Leeland

Recently in the RWR, or Romance Writers Report - a romance industry journal available to members of Romance Writers of America - an article by Courtney Milan cautioned bloggers to think twice when holding contests on their blogs. Something to do with legal woes, I believe. She did point out that when the prize's value is under $10.00, there's not such an urgency to investigate. And since most of the contests I've come across are for copies of the author's latest release, that pretty much covers the blog contests in which I've taken part.

And since today's e-book collection came to me through a contest, I just want to thank Jennifer Leeland for holding it and to all the authors whose books I've been so lucky to read after winning them. Please, writers - keep holding your contests! Heck, I've had two contests myself on behalf of my cousin. They're so much fun! I'm glad they can still be classified as promotional expense and most bloggers will never have to worry about the legalities of giving away prizes like a plasma TV.

1 - In David's House is a three-novella erotica collection from Wilder Rose Press. At this point the three stories must be purchased separately, but I won them as a collection, and read them as one connected story. The connecting thread is BDSM dom David, whose handpicked guests arrive to sort out their sexual and romantic lives within the safety of his home.

I would love to see this collection packaged as one volume.

2 - Part of Wild Rose Press's Scarlet Rose erotica imprint, Jennifer's story is contemporary adult erotica using frank language and BDSM situations.


3 - The first story is The Mask She Wears. We meet Catherine, a court reporter who meets a too-dreamy-for-her lawyer at a cafe she frequents. Too bad she needs a bondage mask in order to reach sexual release. The charming lawyer is exactly the kind of guy with whom she'd never share that side of her.

Justin could swear he recognizes Catherine from somewhere - and definitely not the court room. Could this shy, reserved woman have been at one of David's parties? He can't wait until the next one, to see if his instincts about her are correct.



4 - The second story is The Secret She Keeps. We meet Tessa, already involved with Zac and happy with nearly everything about him. If only he would be a little rougher when they had sex. She's never been at ease with her own longings, to which she self-refers as deviant. All of her former relationships had been doomed to failure when her boyfriends realized they could never bring her to orgasm. But she'd never been able to speak aloud the dark fantasies which gave her true release.

Zac breaks things off with Tessa when it's clear their sex life sucks. He'd tried hard to embrace a vanilla life for her, but he needs to dominate and she wasn't the sort at all to submit to that sort of sexual expression. She wore a Wonder Woman costume to a party, for heaven's sake. But a heart-to-heart with David convinces him that it's worth a second chance to see if this woman can take the real him.


5 - The third story is The Trust She Yields. We meet Lee, a medical secretary at a fast-paced office. But no matter how quickly the workday flies by, no matter that she moved to another state, the memories of her previous relationship haunt every moment of her day. She was once the submissive to a well-respected dom, but what no one knew was how the man who imposed rules for others in their lifestyle refused to abide by them in his own relationship with Lee.

David has helped countless others to realize their own sexual beings. As a dom who opens his home to others who need a safe haven, David's generosity and wisdom is legendary. The only thing missing in all of this - for all the couples he has helped to find one another, there's been no one for David himself. Until he spies Lee in a vanilla-world bar and they recognize that thing about each other.

6 - The recurring theme in this collection is learning to accept oneself. Fighting against or denying their sexual natures has led to disaster for everyone involved. Jennifer brings out the dark moment/inner confrontation within each character with great depth, considering she's writing in a short novella format.

7 - I really, really love the power plays between the characters in all three stories. All romantic partnerships have a power play to them. BDSM couples are more up-front with this aspect. The danger with erotica is setting the true allure of power aside with the freedom to write sex scenes with truly frank language. Jennifer keeps the power dynamic front and center at all times.

8 - The rise of erotica as a major player in romantic fiction is something I'm ecstatic to see. When you consider that only three generations ago, women could not present themselves as sexual beings unless they wanted to be labelled tramps and whores, the current erotica industry is nothing short of miraculous.

The subsequent splitting of erotica into subgenres such as BDSM and menage a trois corresponds with some of the most common female fantasies compiled by researcher Nancy Friday in her studies of female sexuality.

In today's world, it's not really PC to be female and admit a desire to be dominated. For women who have it all and do it all, sometimes the greatest relief is to lay down that control to a lover. Ironically, this same desire was traditionally the preserve of high-profile men such as political figures, professionals and CEO's.

Jennifer tackles these issues in this collection. For the men as well, especially Zac from The Secret She Keeps, the desire to be a sensitive and caring partner is at war with these character's inner drive to dominate. Through BDSM, they can have both.

9 - The movement within the stories towards David's own struggle in The Trust She Yields reminded me of one of my truly favorite historical romance series by Jo Beverley - the Malloren series. The eldest brother/patriarch of that noble family makes his delicious presence known in four books before he took center stage in his own. That's one of my favorite books - Devilish. It always makes its way onto my list of favorites, and The Trust She Yields had the same build-up/pay-off for me.

10 - Jennifer really knows how to end each chapter with a hook. Like this, for example, from The Mask She Wears:

"She wanted him to possess her. This lover was connecting with her through the mask, the restraints, through her self-imposed limits. He was shattering her barriers.

Instead of completing the act and ending the encounter, he slowed the pace again. His touch softened. The heat from his skin burned her nerve endings as she teetered on the edge of another orgasm. She arched, and the restraints bit into her wrists and ankles.

For the first time, she wanted the mask off. She wanted to know this man, connect with him.

Never before, in the few anonymous encounters she had allowed herself, had she felt this intense need to strip away the tools that protected her from emotional risk.

Then he eased away, and his warmth, his touch was gone, and a silent scream echoed in the dark corners of her mind."

11 - I'm keeping the truly sizzling aspects out of the excerpts here, but believe me - the exquisite hotness made my knees weak.

12 - Jennifer has all three couples return in The Trust She Yields, which is a very nice full-circle for the collection. The last novella is longer and has room for a few scenes where Catherine & Justin and Tessa & Zac come to bat for Lee & David.

David is a smoldering presence in all of their stories. Their esteem for him is touching when the man who has helped all of them with their sexual healing can use a friend.

13 - I leave you with an excerpt, from The Trust She Yields. Enjoy!

"A month ago he’d been here, just like tonight, alone and relaxed. She’d glanced his way several times and noted the way he stared at her, his expression hungry. She’d ignored him, put distance between them, but he only gave her a knowing smile. They never spoke, yet, they had communicated a wealth of information.

Every Friday night she berated herself for coming back to BC’s, the downtown bar where the clientele was a little older without being snooty. However, here she sat, drinking Crown Royal and Coke in small amounts as she enjoyed the music.

Lee caught her reflection in the bar mirror. Dark, curly black hair tumbled over her shoulders in an unruly mess. Her makeup was understated, almost boring, but it brought out the gold in her hazel eyes. Tonight she wore a burgundy blouse and a black mini skirt with her thigh-high leather boots. The boots added about three inches to her solid five-six frame, and she liked the appearance of control they gave her.

It was all a lie.

Deep down, Lee wanted to lose control, hand it over, be completely controlled by another. If only she could stamp out the need to submit to another person in the bedroom, her life would be simpler. Tears pricked her eyes. She couldn’t let them fall. Her makeup would run.

'May I buy you another drink?' Her gaze jerked to the man standing next to her. It was him. Stumbling off the bar stool, she backed away. 'I—no. Please, I—'

Fear closed Lee’s throat as she whirled toward the door. The room suffocated her. She had to get out. Had to get away. She burst through the door and sprinted for her car.

She couldn’t do it again. She couldn’t allow another dominant to control her. All that was over.

****

David Peters frowned as the woman careened out the door. Obviously, she was frightened. Not of men, but of him in particular. As a man who was known for his charm, David wasn’t used to terrifying women. Well, not unless they needed it.

The bartender picked up her glass. 'She wasn’t interested, huh?'

'It was much more than that,' David said, more to himself than the man behind the bar. 'She knew exactly what I was, and it scared her.'

'She’s new in town. From Las Vegas, so I understand.' Jack wiped the counter and smirked. 'It’s nice to see one who doesn’t fall in line for you.'

David glared at the bartender. 'So glad I could entertain you.'

'It’s not often I get to see you strike out, Peters. Let me enjoy it.'

'It’s not often I run into fear like that.' He threw some money on the bar. 'I’ll see her again. You’ll see. She needs me.'

The bartender shook his head. 'You’ve got the biggest ego I’ve ever seen.'

David snorted. 'I doubt that.' He sighed as he always did when trying to explain things to vanilla people. 'It’s not ego. She does need me or someone like me.' He stared at the door as if willing her to come back through it. He’d have to wait a whole week to see her again. That bothered him. Annoyed him.

Worried him.

He shoved the thought away. Of course, he wasn’t worried about a woman he didn’t even know. How could he be? She was just another soul who needed the one thing he offered. Sanctuary.

'Well, good luck.' The bartender’s smile grew faint. 'That lady has baggage.'

'Don’t we all,' David said softly. 'Don’t we all.' "

- Jennifer Leeland, 2009

Join me next week when I review The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber.

Jennifer Leeland says It's such a pleasure to see how you get to the heart of my writing. It's awesome to have a reader who "gets it".

Ella Drake says Definitely a wonderful way to respond to a contest win. I really should do the same with a few I've won! You're a great example!

Hootin' Anni says Let me get this straight...it's illegal to share a book through a blog contest? That's like saying you can't lend a book you bought to your neighbor? What legal woes would this entail you wonder?

Poetry Train Monday - 115 - Private Space

For my found poem today, I've taken part of a scene from Jennifer Leeland's BDSM story The Mask She Wears and turned it into a poem.

The Mask She Wears is one of a trilogy of short 50-page stories I won from Jennifer over at her blog, The Redneck Romance Writer. Her trilogy is known as the In David's House collection, as all three stories revolve around a private invitation-only BDSM club run by David, a wise and protective dom.

I'll be doing a book review for the trilogy in a few weeks. Until then, enjoy this poem taken from her prose text:



















Private Space


Anticipation sizzled
He approached her tiny apartment
No idea what he would find

Anticipation

He approached

She flung the door open
Waiting for him
Strung tight

Flung open

Sizzled

Her eyes flickered
Face to floor and back again
He took his time

Her eyes

Took his time

Observed her space
Allowed into her private life
Who she was without the mask

Private space

Allowed

No family pictures
Artwork on every wall
Dark themes with abstract tones

No pictures

No family

One of the oil paintings
Half man, half wolf
Mask superimposed over wolf face

One painting

Mask

Benign human mask
Covered the animal snarl
Beneath

Benign

Snarl

Apartment neat
No flowers
No doilies

No

No

Bookcases filled
Filled with books
Lifestyle to dark fantasy

Fantasy

Filled

- Jennifer Leeland

Firefox mask by Merimask

For other poems, Ride the Poetry Train!

Jennifer Leeland says Wow!!! That captures that scene so well for Justin.

Michelle Johnson says Nice found poem for Poetry Train.

Stan Ski says Nothing is ever how it first appears.

The Writing Meme

I was tagged for this meme way back in May by Leah Braemel. For anyone who tags me and thinks 'That Julia is never going to get around to my meme' - I love memes! Keep those tags coming.

Because of the way my blog schedule has evolved, I save memes to do on Fridays. Believe it or not, I actually have a file of Memes-to-Do in my Documents. If a migraine plagues me all week, by Friday I've definitely run out of juice, so I save the meme until I can concentrate properly. Especially for a meme like The Writing Meme.


1. List one of your writing goals for the upcoming month and how likely you are to accomplish it.

I'm deep into my current WIP, a dark fantasy romance with my lovely Scorpius, the Chamberlain of a medieval-style Keep. I'm absolutely head-over-heels in love with this character. Thinking about him and about his love, Lady Elinor, is a joy at this point. My goal for September is to get to the half-way point in my word count, which would be around 45,000 words.

The likelihood this will be accomplished is a massive Green for Go.

2. What genre or subject would you like to write about that you aren't currently?

Getting back into screenwriting would be heavenly. Keep in mind that the only scripts I've written have been for my own student films, fifteen years ago.

I did write narration for a TV documentary that aired on Vision TV in Canada a few years ago. That was my very first paid writing gig - Tales of a Psychic Medium.

3. What is your writing lifestyle, habits? How do you manage the interruptions with your writing? How do you stay positive? Believe in your writing success?

a) Writing lifestyle - I've really been writing consistently since I was a kid. I carry a notebook and pens with me everywhere I go. I'm not a techie in any way, and I really do my best writing longhand on paper. I have to retype it into the computer, which acts as a first clean-up. But I don't have as much rewriting to do with handwritten material as I do with the pages I type directly into the computer. I write on the bus, while waiting for the ferry, and sometimes while I'm covering reception at work. After I transfer the handwritten stuff onto the computer, I plow ahead on the keyboard.

I was a diary-keeper as a girl, teenager and young adult. Blogging today in my 40's is simply a continuation of that daily habit of chronicling my thoughts and feelings. I've found blogging has helped discipline me towards writing directly onto the computer. I'm so much happier writing with my pen, but that's not going to get my stories published, is it?

b) Interruptions - I don't get bothered by interruptions at all. The truth is I have a continuous, multi-channel broadcast of all my stories in my head that has accompanied me through life for as long as I can remember. I have grown accustomed to muting this channel so I can function in the non-writing world. Everything that is not my story is an interruption, so I roll with those punches and grab ten minutes to write here, an hour there, three hours over there.

c) How do I stay positive - Anyone who knows me can't help but pick up some of my super-positive vibe. I was born in the year of the Dragon, and I'm a very typical Dragon. Arrows of negativity bounce off my scales. I may even pick my teeth with one. My self-confidence is a given, and I'm a natural coach that encourages and buoys others as easily as breathing.

It's not completely impossible for me to get down about things. With my writing, though, I'm happy with my work and I love moving forward on the various stories I've got churning along. It's the revisions that make me want to tear my hair out. It's taken the past year - yes, an entire year - of torturously forcing myself to keep at it, in order to reach my current level of (dis)comfort with it.

d) Believe in my writing success - Posting excerpts here on my blog really helps me keep at it, sometimes. The revisions, that is. It's never hard to write new material. That's always a joy, even deliriously wonderful. It's when I'm bashing my head against the wall with revisions that sharing some of my stuff gives me the dust-off and back-on-my-feet thing.

4. Are you a pantser or plotter? - I'm a total and complete pantser. I just can't create to a pre-plotted structure. I know I have a nebulous gauge inside my head which watches over my story, and I have complete faith in that gauge.

5. Who are two of your favorite current authors and why? - Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Jo Beverley are two of my favorite authors.

Yarbro's vampire, Le Comte de Saint-Germain, is one of the best characters I've ever come across. He's so charismatic, so smart, so charming, so caring, so handsome, so melancholy - oh, I can't resist him, that's just how it is. Yarbro's focus on the pratical problems that go with being an immortal, having to move along after awhile, set up a new household, not stir up suspicion in the local populace never fails to intrigue me.

Beverley's Beowulf Malloren, the Marquess of Rothgar is quite simply the sexiest, coolest hero ever written as far as my tastes are concerned. His sphere is the late 1700's in England, and his outward life is very Scarlet Pimpernel without the foppish cover, with secret-agent machinations in the name of the king. His inner life is very James Bond, where he keeps an iron-clad distance between himself and his heart.

6. How does your family feel about your writing? - My husband has every confidence that someday he will be a kept man. As for the rest of my family, I come from an artistic bunch and we are each other's biggest fans. My dad kept the Father's Day poem I wrote for him when I was in my 20's close at hand for years, reading and rereading it. To know my writing touched him so deeply is one of the best things in my whole life.

Now, a-tagging I will go, a-tagging I will go...

Claudia
Jennifer
Jill
Lisa

Thursday Thirteen - 59 - 13 Reasons to Read Resisting Command by Jennifer Leeland

I took one look at this cover and knew I had to read this new release by Jennifer Leeland.

I can't resist a man on his knees.

It's one of the big reasons I love historicals, paranormal and fantasy. And ballet, too - the men are often kneeling. Gorgeously.

Not too much call for kneeling in the contemporary world. But in societies of yore, there was lots of it. And if you didn't show the proper deference, you could pay for it. Dearly. I get all shivery when a hulking warrior bows and kneels to a superior. So of course Jennifer's cover was a siren call I could not resist.

1 - Before we get to Resisting Command, let's set the tone for the world where Jennifer is about to take us. Her cover boldly states BDSM. For those who may be unfamiliar with that, it stands for Bondage and Discipline, Domination and Submission, Sadism and Masochism.

You may have heard me mention lately how much I love the BBC series Robin Hood. There's a delicious undercurrent of BDSM throughout the series. It takes place at the close of the 12th century, which guarantees master-servant themes, captives in bondage, power struggles between male rivals and between romantic partners. For me, what's not to love? It's all my favorite fictional scenarios.

If you'd like to dip your feet in these waters, have a look at the Domination and Submission relationship between the Sheriff of Nottingham and his lieutenant, Sir Guy of Gisborne.



The Sheriff is clearly sadistic, and Sir Guy shows a masochistic tendency as he remains loyal to the sheriff, subjecting himself to the treatment he knows will continue as long as he's in the sheriff's service.

Sir Guy is involved in another intense relationship with these overtones, this time with Lady Marian. They trade Domination and Submission aspects that seesaw between the two of them, each handing the power position back and forth.




2 - Now, let's make the jump from 12th century England to a 23rd century world, seething with chemical compounds that push humans' sexual natures into overdrive.

Like Robin Hood, the culture and technology of Jennifer's planetary colony lends itself to BDSM elements as a natural extension of its time and place. That's what I want in a BDSM story. It has to flow directly from the dynamics of the setting, as well as from the natures of the main characters. Historicals, fantasy and science fiction offer worlds where the symbolic power struggles and surrender of BDSM are played out not as a game, but as reality for the characters involved.

3 - Jennifer's novel is part of Liquid Silver's Science Fiction category. We meet the heroine, a scientist suddenly at the mercy of her own libido. The Synthetic Endorphin Xstacy found on the colony planet reduces even brilliant minds like hers to a seething mass of sexual fantasies. The hero is a Space Elite Tribunal soldier assigned to track down a Rogue agent - and the focus of her dark fantasies.

4 - Jenia Carstairs' domineering parents drilled their aspirations into their daughter to follow in their scientific footsteps. Her current job focuses on identifying the sex-hormone-inflaming substance on Asberek, a planet that Earth is keen to colonize. If she could keep her mind off her fantasies about Space Elite agent Paul Lestrano, that is.

5 - Paul Lestrano spent his childhood with fists flying, duking it out with anyone who gave him grief over his father, who died leading colonists to a new planet. Harnessing his violence into army service, Paul is now a soldier for the Tribunal, dealer of pain, keeper of secrets. Dr. Carstairs is part of his latest mission - and a hot button in her psych evaluation is Paul himself, object of her sexual craving in her Virtual Fantasy Room sessions.

6 - Jenia and Paul follow widely different career paths. She works tirelessly to uncover the secrets which the universe encrypts. He doggedly ensures that political secrets remain hidden - no matter what that requires of him. Yet Jenia and Paul both keep their personas under rigid control. Paul's decision to infiltrate her Virtual Fantasy Room session, hoping to gain access to Dr. Carstair's unguarded self, serves to introduce Paul to a secret of his own - his buried desire to submit.

7 - A strong suspense element runs through the novel, as Jenia and Paul work with a team of agents and scientists to unravel the cause of a mass killing spree among earlier colonists. Paul has his sights set on the Rogue agent, yet there may be more to it than one homicidal killing machine and his alien sympathizers.

8 - Jennifer has already set one story in this world, Taking Command. I love losing myself in a fictional world big enough to hold as many stories as the writer can explore. She has a third one in the works, Regaining Command.

9 - I really, really love Jennifer's relationship dynamic between Jenia and Paul in their sexual encounters, as well as their regular-life scenes. These characters have double-sided natures, yet both versions of Jenia complement each other, as do Paul's. His desire to be pushed past his implacable Space Elite exterior reaches through the page to touch the reader. Yet his Tribunal soldier skills snap into action as they travel deep into the Asberek jungle interior.

10 - Jennifer really knows how to end each chapter with a hook. Like this, for example:

" Once she got to her quarters, however, she wasn’t tired. Restless, she accessed some of the computer security. One of the advantages of having seniority on Asberek was being able to find anyone, any time.

For some reason, she wanted to know what Paul was doing. But she wasn’t obsessed.

Of course not.

The screen clicked through several corridors and found him in front of a Virtual Fantasy Room console. Well, well, well. And he hadn’t been careful either. She tsked and shook her head as she noted the Tribunal hadn’t put on his security codes for his VFR use.

She had easy access to his input.

Her eyes widened as she discovered what the man wanted to do. He wanted to do her. Specifically. Just as she requested him, he had demanded a holographic version of her. A smirk lifted her lips.

Well, we’ll see if two can play your game.

She clicked and tweaked his fantasy and headed for a VFR access door. This was going to be fun."

11 - This is a very steamy novel, dealing with BDSM subject matter. Sweet romance seekers need not apply!

12 - Jennifer also writes and blogs under the name Jennifer McKenzie. Visit her at The Redneck Romance Writer, where she often goes on hilarious rants known as Just Sayin'.

13 - I leave you with an excerpt. Enjoy!

" 'I’ll have to monitor her VFR use and I’ll keep you updated.' Paul manipulated a few buttons on his hand-held computer which gave him unlimited access to Asberek’s VFR system.

'Have you felt the effects of S.E.X. yet?' His boss’s tone was amused.

'I’ve been staying on the Zenith. I’ll be transferring to the planet tomorrow.'

'I hope you’re prepared.'

'I hope so, too.' Paul rang off. He wondered how he was going to handle the chemical from the planet. More than likely, he’d be like Dr. Carstairs. He didn’t seem to be affected by the space tension as others were, and women were primarily for information.

***

Repeat previous program, Dr. Carstairs?

The cursor blinked. Yes or no?

She cursed under her breath as she pressed 'yes' and the doors whooshed open. But as she entered the dark, opulent room, her nerves calmed and her muscles relaxed.

It was imperative that everything be in place. She checked the different toys on the rich cherry wood table. The rest of the room was dimly lit by candles. No bed, only a bench and soft carpet. She nodded. Everything was in place. Everything except the man she intended to control.

Her sexual energy grew as she waited. She liked having this short time before he appeared. The energy swirled around her and she gathered it to her like the wind gathered leaves. Her eyes were closed and she allowed her senses to sharpen. The smell of leather, a musk scent from the candles, and the tang of her sweat combined with the force she gathered.

Yes, she needed this. A sound made her open her eyes. In front of her, Paul Lestrano knelt before her in perfect submission.

* * *

It was risky. The alarm had gone off to notify Paul that Dr. Carstairs had accessed the VFR. He’d timed his entrance and now knelt before her as he knew she expected.

A feeling he didn’t want or need grew in his chest. This was what would fill his emptiness. To kneel. To give. To serve.

His gaze remained riveted on her black leather boots. She was in control here. The atmosphere in the room was electric, heavy. His heart thudded in his body. How was that possible? He, who knew no fear, could not control his fear and excitement in this moment.

He peeked from beneath his lashes and noted the tools she used and the dim lighting. The carpet beneath his knees caressed his skin. Even the clothing she’d chosen for him to wear seemed destined to push him to the edge and over it.

Finally, she crossed the room, the heels of her boots making no sound. He did not dare glance up. This was her fantasy and he could only be the submissive she expected or he’d never get the answers he needed.

But when she bent down and her hand gripped his chin to force him to meet her gaze, he forgot which answers he sought.

In real life, Jenia Carstairs had long, golden brown hair with unruly curls that she ruthlessly clipped back from her face. Her eyes were violet blue and usually cold and assessing.

In the VFR, Jenia Carstairs let that glorious hair free and her eyes were so hot they turned black. The tight leather corset and thigh high boots made his mouth water.

He closed his eyes as her scent wrapped around him, seduced him. When he opened them again, she stared at him with a curious expression on her face. 'Tonight, I will make you beg for me.'

Excitement and fear zinged through his blood. Her pert nose and high cheekbones were set in a determined face. She meant it. He was going to have to beg. His mind clouded. He needed to focus on the job.

Then, she stood up and bent over to whisper in his ear which gave him a clear view of her beautiful breasts. Her voice was deep and low as it rumbled through his body. 'You will writhe with need.'

He clenched his jaw. This was going to be difficult.

She went to the table and found a strange contraption he’d never seen before. It resembled handcuffs, but it had long chains and four locks. She gripped one of his wrists and jerked it behind his back. She brought his other wrist behind him and clicked them together with the cuffs. Then, she ran the chain down his spine and clicked his ankles together. The effect was complete helplessness.

His hands were immobilized and so were his feet. All he could do was stay on his knees and watch.

As she stepped in front of him, he glared at her. 'How will I writhe with need if I’m bound like this?'

Her eyes flared and she grabbed a handful of his hair to hold his gaze. 'You will be helpless, unable to do what I know you do best.' There was a tinge of bitterness in her tone.

'Let me show you what I can do,' he rumbled deep in his throat. God, he wanted to please her.

She slapped him with her other hand. The sting didn’t diminish his need one bit.

'You’ll do what I want you to do.' She released her grip on his hair and caressed his cheek.

'Why?' It slipped out before he could stop it.

She stared at him, her violet eyes shone in the candlelight. 'Full of questions tonight, aren’t we?' For a moment, he thought she knew he was no hologram. Then she smiled. 'But that’s nothing new.'

She untied her corset and it dropped to the floor. He swallowed as his throat was suddenly very dry. If desire was beautiful then she was its goddess."

- Jennifer Leeland, 2008


Join me next week when I review Amy Ruttan's Fox's Bride.