Golden Angel's Blog, page 19
May 1, 2016
Happy Release Day! - Undisciplined
Hooray!!! So for everyone who wanted to know what was going on between Gabrielle and Felix during
Philip's Rules
, here is Undisciplined! You do not need to read the former to enjoy the latter, or to enjoy Gabrielle's Discipline when it comes out. This is definitely just a bonus book. But I think it's a fun bonus book and a good one =) My beta readers enjoyed getting to know Gabrielle better and, seeing things from her side, they all said they felt more sympathetic towards her bad behavior in Philip's Rules. I had a lot of fun writing it. I really enjoy Gabrielle and Felix and I'm having a good time writing their story now... I think this little bonus novella adds a lot even if it isn't a necessary read.
I hope everyone enjoys!!! Remember, the nicest thing you can do for an author is to let me know if you enjoyed it by leaving a review! =)
It's currently up on Amazon and Smashwords, and I will let you all know when Barnes & Noble releases as well =)
Gabrielle Astley is quite used to being an afterthought, a burden, a nuisance. As the only child - and a useless female one at that - to a Baron, she was both spoiled materially and neglected emotionally. After her father's death, his third wife and her stepmother is remarried, to the stern and cold Marquess of Dunbury. Since the new Baron wants nothing to do with Gabrielle, the Marquess is her new guardian and Gabrielle finds herself in London, receiving her debut. Despite this turn of events, she can't quite shake her spite of her stepmother, and her attitude lands her into hot water and her first spanking at the hand of her guardian.
The Marquess seems eager to marry her off, and Gabrielle has no objection to that goal. London has everything she ever wanted - glamour, excitement, and, for some reason, quite a few people actually seem to like and take an interest in her. When the Marquess' best friend, the rakish Felix Hood becomes one of those people, Gabrielle finds herself hoping for more than just a standard ton marriage... until she begins to realize that he's not interested in her for herself, and his interest may actually be in someone close to her.
Felix Hood had no thoughts of settling down in marriage - as the youngest of three brothers, he should be the last to wed. However, when he meets his best friend Philip's new ward and is tasked with the duty of helping guard her against any unsavory suitors (as well as guarding Philip's new wife from Miss Astley's waspish tongue), he can't help but be entranced by her. She's not the usual milk and water miss that is served up to the gentlemen of the tongue; she's prickly, funny, and has a touch of sadness in her eyes that he longs to discover the cause of so that he may vanquish it. But he's not convinced he's ready for marriage, and his hesitation over formally courting her leads Miss Astley to turn to her other suitors, making him wonder if she's really worth the chase.
This novella was written at the request of readers who wanted to know what was happening between Felix and Gabrielle during Book 1 of the Bridal Discipline series, however it is not necessary to read Philip's Rules in order to enjoy this novella, nor is it necessary to read this novella in order to enjoy the upcoming Gabrielle's Discipline. It's just a bonus novella for enjoyment and to fulfill reader's curiosity.
Undisciplined is approximately 30k words and contains hot alpha males, domestic discipline, and steamy sexual situations.
I hope everyone enjoys!!! Remember, the nicest thing you can do for an author is to let me know if you enjoyed it by leaving a review! =)
It's currently up on Amazon and Smashwords, and I will let you all know when Barnes & Noble releases as well =)
Gabrielle Astley is quite used to being an afterthought, a burden, a nuisance. As the only child - and a useless female one at that - to a Baron, she was both spoiled materially and neglected emotionally. After her father's death, his third wife and her stepmother is remarried, to the stern and cold Marquess of Dunbury. Since the new Baron wants nothing to do with Gabrielle, the Marquess is her new guardian and Gabrielle finds herself in London, receiving her debut. Despite this turn of events, she can't quite shake her spite of her stepmother, and her attitude lands her into hot water and her first spanking at the hand of her guardian.
The Marquess seems eager to marry her off, and Gabrielle has no objection to that goal. London has everything she ever wanted - glamour, excitement, and, for some reason, quite a few people actually seem to like and take an interest in her. When the Marquess' best friend, the rakish Felix Hood becomes one of those people, Gabrielle finds herself hoping for more than just a standard ton marriage... until she begins to realize that he's not interested in her for herself, and his interest may actually be in someone close to her.
Felix Hood had no thoughts of settling down in marriage - as the youngest of three brothers, he should be the last to wed. However, when he meets his best friend Philip's new ward and is tasked with the duty of helping guard her against any unsavory suitors (as well as guarding Philip's new wife from Miss Astley's waspish tongue), he can't help but be entranced by her. She's not the usual milk and water miss that is served up to the gentlemen of the tongue; she's prickly, funny, and has a touch of sadness in her eyes that he longs to discover the cause of so that he may vanquish it. But he's not convinced he's ready for marriage, and his hesitation over formally courting her leads Miss Astley to turn to her other suitors, making him wonder if she's really worth the chase.
This novella was written at the request of readers who wanted to know what was happening between Felix and Gabrielle during Book 1 of the Bridal Discipline series, however it is not necessary to read Philip's Rules in order to enjoy this novella, nor is it necessary to read this novella in order to enjoy the upcoming Gabrielle's Discipline. It's just a bonus novella for enjoyment and to fulfill reader's curiosity.
Undisciplined is approximately 30k words and contains hot alpha males, domestic discipline, and steamy sexual situations.
April 21, 2016
Undisciplined Teaser
Can't wait to share Undisciplined with everyone!!! Only 10 more days till it's out =) If you haven't gotten the special pre-order price, now's the time! It's first few days up on Barnes & Noble and Smashwords it will only be 99 cents on those platforms for long-time Angel fans before the price goes up there too =)
In the meantime, here's a little teaser from it...
Her first kiss left Gabrielle breathless.In part, because she thought she'd never have one. It was clear that the Marquess wanted her to marry, but at the same time, he'd made it nearly impossible for her to truly be courted. Gabrielle's every movement was tracked, by him, his cousins, and - of course - Mr. Hood. Whom she still determinedly thought of as Mr. Hood, now that she’d realized his attempt at closeness by giving her leave to use his Christian name had meant nothing. She'd almost been taken in by his apology and his charm until she'd discovered that he was one of her 'guards.' Of course the Marquess had asked his best friend to keep an eye on her for the Season. It had hurt a great deal, because for a very short time, she'd actually thought that Mr. Hood had been interested in her for her. When she'd realized he wasn't, it had also made clear to her what a little fool she'd been. So she'd thrown herself into the attentions of her suitors, and she'd been quite taken with Mr. Pressen.He was blonde and tall, slim instead of muscular, and wrote her the most romantic letters. They’d been corresponding for two weeks now and he sent her bouquets daily. He wasn’t the only one whom she received daily bouquets from, but off all her suitors he was also the boldest. When they danced, he whispered how he longed to kiss her, to touch her. He excited her with little caresses that no one noticed. It was wrong of them, she knew, but also terribly exciting. Mostly, his obvious interest helped to balm the wound her childish hopes had suffered in regards to Mr. Hood.So, with the help of Arabella, who was thrilled by the romantic adventure, Gabrielle had snuck away to meet Mr. Pressen alone, away from the ballroom. They’d been writing back and forth for a while, although he only occasionally approached her in the ballrooms since her guards were ever alert, and she was both flattered and excited by his attentions. Going into a dark room with him seemed like an utterly romantic adventure. While she could still hear the sounds of merriment, the library was utterly deserted but for her and Mr. Pressen.His lips were firm and gentle, his hands cupping her face, one of them sliding to the back of her neck and making her gasp as his fingers trailed over her collarbone. As she did so, his tongue slid into her mouth, shocking her. He tasted of brandy and chocolate, and she felt her curiosity grow as his tongue stroked hers. This was an entirely new world for her. It wasn’t unpleasant, although she didn’t quite feel the same excitement that she’d expected to. Since it was her first, of course it wasn’t exciting, but it seemed to be missing a certain… spark. Perhaps her imagination had gotten away with her. It was a very nice kiss after all.The kiss deepened and she moved closer to him, her lips clinging to his as they explored each other's mouths.When the door slammed open, she nearly bit his tongue."Gabrielle!""Fe- Mr. Hood!" She gasped out, her heart pounding with the knowledge that she'd just been caught... and also fury at who had interrupted her first, magical kiss. The bounder was standing in the doorway, brow furrowed in fury, eyes ablaze, and with an expression she’d never seen before on his face."Ah, Hood," Mr. Pressen rumbled, releasing Gabrielle from his hold and giving him a kind of companionable grin. "Room's taken, as you can see, if you're-"With a dull roar, Mr. Hood bounded forward, slamming the door shut behind him, looking like the very devil with his black eyes afire. He slammed his fist into Mr. Pressen's jaw, knocking him down with one blow, and Gabrielle clapped her hands over her mouth to smother her scream. She was completely shell shocked as Mr. Hood grabbed her arm and dragged her out to the hallway.“Mr. Hood-“Not. One. Word.” It sounded like he was forcing the words out through his teeth.“Please… Felix-” “Don’t you dare call me that right now!”Gabrielle’s lips clamped shut. Damn him, damn him to hell and back for ruining her night. Her kiss. Even worse, she couldn’t help but examine him for signs that perhaps he was jealous… that maybe his anger stemmed from something more than duty… but then he just handed her off to the Marquess with a succinct account of “what he’d found,” which made her roll her eyes, and then he’d followed them to the carriage, but hadn’t gotten in with them. He didn’t even said goodbye to her, just to the Marquess and Cordelia. And on top of all that, she already knew she was going to be ending her evening with a spanking.
Bloody hell.
In the meantime, here's a little teaser from it...
Her first kiss left Gabrielle breathless.In part, because she thought she'd never have one. It was clear that the Marquess wanted her to marry, but at the same time, he'd made it nearly impossible for her to truly be courted. Gabrielle's every movement was tracked, by him, his cousins, and - of course - Mr. Hood. Whom she still determinedly thought of as Mr. Hood, now that she’d realized his attempt at closeness by giving her leave to use his Christian name had meant nothing. She'd almost been taken in by his apology and his charm until she'd discovered that he was one of her 'guards.' Of course the Marquess had asked his best friend to keep an eye on her for the Season. It had hurt a great deal, because for a very short time, she'd actually thought that Mr. Hood had been interested in her for her. When she'd realized he wasn't, it had also made clear to her what a little fool she'd been. So she'd thrown herself into the attentions of her suitors, and she'd been quite taken with Mr. Pressen.He was blonde and tall, slim instead of muscular, and wrote her the most romantic letters. They’d been corresponding for two weeks now and he sent her bouquets daily. He wasn’t the only one whom she received daily bouquets from, but off all her suitors he was also the boldest. When they danced, he whispered how he longed to kiss her, to touch her. He excited her with little caresses that no one noticed. It was wrong of them, she knew, but also terribly exciting. Mostly, his obvious interest helped to balm the wound her childish hopes had suffered in regards to Mr. Hood.So, with the help of Arabella, who was thrilled by the romantic adventure, Gabrielle had snuck away to meet Mr. Pressen alone, away from the ballroom. They’d been writing back and forth for a while, although he only occasionally approached her in the ballrooms since her guards were ever alert, and she was both flattered and excited by his attentions. Going into a dark room with him seemed like an utterly romantic adventure. While she could still hear the sounds of merriment, the library was utterly deserted but for her and Mr. Pressen.His lips were firm and gentle, his hands cupping her face, one of them sliding to the back of her neck and making her gasp as his fingers trailed over her collarbone. As she did so, his tongue slid into her mouth, shocking her. He tasted of brandy and chocolate, and she felt her curiosity grow as his tongue stroked hers. This was an entirely new world for her. It wasn’t unpleasant, although she didn’t quite feel the same excitement that she’d expected to. Since it was her first, of course it wasn’t exciting, but it seemed to be missing a certain… spark. Perhaps her imagination had gotten away with her. It was a very nice kiss after all.The kiss deepened and she moved closer to him, her lips clinging to his as they explored each other's mouths.When the door slammed open, she nearly bit his tongue."Gabrielle!""Fe- Mr. Hood!" She gasped out, her heart pounding with the knowledge that she'd just been caught... and also fury at who had interrupted her first, magical kiss. The bounder was standing in the doorway, brow furrowed in fury, eyes ablaze, and with an expression she’d never seen before on his face."Ah, Hood," Mr. Pressen rumbled, releasing Gabrielle from his hold and giving him a kind of companionable grin. "Room's taken, as you can see, if you're-"With a dull roar, Mr. Hood bounded forward, slamming the door shut behind him, looking like the very devil with his black eyes afire. He slammed his fist into Mr. Pressen's jaw, knocking him down with one blow, and Gabrielle clapped her hands over her mouth to smother her scream. She was completely shell shocked as Mr. Hood grabbed her arm and dragged her out to the hallway.“Mr. Hood-“Not. One. Word.” It sounded like he was forcing the words out through his teeth.“Please… Felix-” “Don’t you dare call me that right now!”Gabrielle’s lips clamped shut. Damn him, damn him to hell and back for ruining her night. Her kiss. Even worse, she couldn’t help but examine him for signs that perhaps he was jealous… that maybe his anger stemmed from something more than duty… but then he just handed her off to the Marquess with a succinct account of “what he’d found,” which made her roll her eyes, and then he’d followed them to the carriage, but hadn’t gotten in with them. He didn’t even said goodbye to her, just to the Marquess and Cordelia. And on top of all that, she already knew she was going to be ending her evening with a spanking.
Bloody hell.
April 13, 2016
Bunnies Everywhere!!!
Chasing His Bunny is now available on Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, AND Amazon =) WOOT! It's got a couple reviews up (Thank you SO MUCH reviewers!) and people seem to be enjoying it which makes me happy! It's def a bit different from my usual, but I really had a blast writing it and I'm looking forward to working on the next installment. If I had to say HOW they're different... I'd say they're a bit lighter and fluffier - like a bunny!
I've been a bit behind with updates about it, I know. The busy work season has been kicking my butt, and even though it's slowing down now, my brain is still recovering.
In the meantime, I've been doing some edits to Undisciplined , taking lots of suggestions that my super helpful beta readers threw at me to make it more interesting =) There's only one real spanking scene in it, since it's pre-Gabrielle & Felix's wedding, but it was still fun to write it from Gabrielle's POV. I've just got one more scene to write before it's totally finished and I can submit it =D I'm SO excited to share it with everyone... even though it's kind of a shorter re-write of Philip's Rules , I'm hoping everyone will enjoy it anyway. I've tried to include a LOT of new stuff, even though some scenes will be familiar and the dialogue is the same for those scenes. There's all sorts of completely new scenes from both Gabrielle & Felix's point of views, and a lot of insight into both of them.
My cover artist, RaineyCloud9, is hard at work on the cover for Gabrielle's Discipline, which I'm hoping to have up for pre-order in early May for a June release date =) Watch the blog for an Undisciplined teaser sometime next week!
I've been a bit behind with updates about it, I know. The busy work season has been kicking my butt, and even though it's slowing down now, my brain is still recovering.
In the meantime, I've been doing some edits to Undisciplined , taking lots of suggestions that my super helpful beta readers threw at me to make it more interesting =) There's only one real spanking scene in it, since it's pre-Gabrielle & Felix's wedding, but it was still fun to write it from Gabrielle's POV. I've just got one more scene to write before it's totally finished and I can submit it =D I'm SO excited to share it with everyone... even though it's kind of a shorter re-write of Philip's Rules , I'm hoping everyone will enjoy it anyway. I've tried to include a LOT of new stuff, even though some scenes will be familiar and the dialogue is the same for those scenes. There's all sorts of completely new scenes from both Gabrielle & Felix's point of views, and a lot of insight into both of them.
My cover artist, RaineyCloud9, is hard at work on the cover for Gabrielle's Discipline, which I'm hoping to have up for pre-order in early May for a June release date =) Watch the blog for an Undisciplined teaser sometime next week!
April 1, 2016
Happy Release Day! - Chasing His Bunny
So, as always, no release day is perfect (yay Indie publishing!) the Smashwords pre-order was a nightmare and the release date has been pushed back to April 8 because of their crazy rules. I'm never doing pre-order through them again. Barnes & Noble, which didn't have a pre-order option, is (as usual) lagging behind.
HOWEVER, Amazon is being amazing and working perfectly. I think? If anyone has any trouble, please let me know since this is my first time doing the whole pre-order thing =)
I'm dying to know what everyone thinks, so if you have a minute or two to write a review or send some feedback, that'd be amazing!
If you didn't pre-order, no worries, you can now read a sample before purchasing!
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BOABMPGThe bunnies are coming...Bethany Bunson, her brothers, and her sister have been prisoners for seven long years. They've been experimented on, tested, and changed - all of them can turn into monsters. So when a band of shifter soldiers show up and save them, it's kind of a mixed blessing, especially when the leader of the shifters claims he's her mate. Yeah... she's a 23 year old virgin whose never had a real boyfriend. The whole "one guy forever" thing is just something that she's not ready for, no matter how good he smells. However, Mr. Not-Gonna-Take-No-For-An-Answer doesn't seem like he's going to give up that easily.When the government hired Steele Raymond and his soldiers to recover stolen research from a compound, they had not been expecting to find prisoners there, and he definitely hadn't been expecting Bethany. The alpha of a motley pack of mixed shifters had given up on ever finding a mate. The kind of independent, strong women he was attracted to always found him too bossy, too alpha, too protective, and preferred to not deal with him at all. Lucky for him, Bethany is exactly the kind of female he's always wanted, and isn't just someone he's dating and hoping to bond with, she's his fated mate. Most shifters give up on ever finding their fated mates, but it's his lucky day... even though she's clearly going to require some convincing. But he's got the biological urge of the mate bond and some serious tenacity on his side. Bethany's going to be his - and he's going to protect her and her family from the evil bastards who have been keeping them prisoner and experimenting on them.Chasing His Bunny is a full-length novel, approximately 43k words long, with a HEA, and has an alpha male and a seriously sassy female who spend some time heating up the sheets in vivid detail.
HOWEVER, Amazon is being amazing and working perfectly. I think? If anyone has any trouble, please let me know since this is my first time doing the whole pre-order thing =)
I'm dying to know what everyone thinks, so if you have a minute or two to write a review or send some feedback, that'd be amazing!
If you didn't pre-order, no worries, you can now read a sample before purchasing!
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BOABMPGThe bunnies are coming...Bethany Bunson, her brothers, and her sister have been prisoners for seven long years. They've been experimented on, tested, and changed - all of them can turn into monsters. So when a band of shifter soldiers show up and save them, it's kind of a mixed blessing, especially when the leader of the shifters claims he's her mate. Yeah... she's a 23 year old virgin whose never had a real boyfriend. The whole "one guy forever" thing is just something that she's not ready for, no matter how good he smells. However, Mr. Not-Gonna-Take-No-For-An-Answer doesn't seem like he's going to give up that easily.When the government hired Steele Raymond and his soldiers to recover stolen research from a compound, they had not been expecting to find prisoners there, and he definitely hadn't been expecting Bethany. The alpha of a motley pack of mixed shifters had given up on ever finding a mate. The kind of independent, strong women he was attracted to always found him too bossy, too alpha, too protective, and preferred to not deal with him at all. Lucky for him, Bethany is exactly the kind of female he's always wanted, and isn't just someone he's dating and hoping to bond with, she's his fated mate. Most shifters give up on ever finding their fated mates, but it's his lucky day... even though she's clearly going to require some convincing. But he's got the biological urge of the mate bond and some serious tenacity on his side. Bethany's going to be his - and he's going to protect her and her family from the evil bastards who have been keeping them prisoner and experimenting on them.Chasing His Bunny is a full-length novel, approximately 43k words long, with a HEA, and has an alpha male and a seriously sassy female who spend some time heating up the sheets in vivid detail.
March 28, 2016
200 Likes = Chasing His Bunny Teaser!
I hit 200 likes today on Facebook!
Kind of a big deal for me. I'm honestly thrilled that 200 people enjoy my writing enough to follow me on Facebook and check out what I have to say there... I'm honestly not sure it's often all that worthwhile although I at least try to keep it entertaining!
I know with 100 likes I did giveaways, etc. but my brain has been dead and I've had no time to prepare, but this still deserves something special! I'll do a giveaway when I get to 250 =D Today, I'm going to do what I said I wouldn't and post a teaser for Chasing His Bunny, which releases in just a few more days!!!!
Thank you all SO MUCH for reading, following, commenting, and just in general being wonderful fans. I hope you enjoy the teaser and that it gets you even more excited about the upcoming book!
"Mine."
"What?" Bethany barely had time to jerk in surprise before her brothers had created a fortress of flesh between her and Mr. Suddenly-Acquisitive.
"Excuse you?" Brice growled, and she didn't have to see his face to know that he was glaring at the other man. "What did you just say to my sister?"
Ugh. It sucked being so much shorter than her brothers. They were like mountains.
"I said-"
Big, unmovable mountains. Whose ticklish spots she was well versed with. The big guys squealed as her fingers stuck into their sides, shocking their audience as they jumped out of her way. More than one soldier brought their weapon up again, obviously nervous, until Alpha Asshat turned and snarled at them. The weapons were hurriedly lowered.
"What did you just say to me?" Bethany demanded as she shoved her way past her brothers. Brady put his hand on her arm, trying to tug her back behind him. Without even looking, she bent his finger back while simultaneously stomping on his foot.
"Son of a bitch!" He muttered, shaking out his hand. Beside her, Brock and Brice were shifting into place, making themselves honor guards since it was obvious that she wasn't going to let them be a barrier. The injured Brady had moved back a step, but Bethany was willing to bet he'd just put himself into position to protect the less combative Bailey. Totally acceptable.
Mr. Still-Needs-To-Answer-The-Question looked at them with something akin to amusement. So glad she could provide entertainment. She glared at him, ignoring how utterly delicious he looked with that tiny little smile on his mobile lips.
"I said, what did you just say to me?"
That smug smile faded as his eyes moved away from her brothers and back to her. How flattering. "You're mine. You're my mate."
Bethany snorted. "I most certainly am not."
While she’d been born a human, everyone knew exactly what shifters thought about mates. She didn’t remember much, but she knew that mates were a forever deal. Yeah, not happening. She wasn't ready for a mate. Hell, she wasn't ready for any kind of committed relationship much less one that couldn’t be ended. She was a needy, lustful, and eager young virgin who had been cooped up in a cage for far too long. There was no way she was just going to hop into bed with the first guy that wanted to claim her and stay there. Although, she had no objections to the hopping into bed part. That was the good part.
"Yes, you are," the man growled, looking even less patient. He thrust out an arm. "Smell me."
The scent of man, pine, and something wild, like a cold night’s frost filled her nose. Her nipples got even harder and her pussy creamed. She was totally on board with the sexual reaction - if he wanted to play hide the salami she knew a few good hiding spots – but the rest of it? Nope. Yummy smells or not, tempting or not, monster inside her insisting “mine” or not, she was going to be a free-wheeling, commitment free (at least for a few years), little sex machine. That was the sum of her current relationship goals.
"Whoop-de-do," Bethany said in a bored voice. She’d gotten pretty good at controlling her reactions while she was in captivity; the bland face was the easiest to maintain. Don’t react so that they don’t know they’re getting to you. "You smell good. You can't be the only man on the planet with that particular attribute."
Something beeped and one of the soldiers looked down at a device they were holding and then back up. "Steele, we need to move."
"Shit. Fine, let's get going, we'll sort this out later," he said grimly. His gaze caught Bethany's. "And we will be sorting this out later. Now come on."
Stepping forward he reached out to take her arm, and of course, got himself a bloody nose for his trouble.
Kind of a big deal for me. I'm honestly thrilled that 200 people enjoy my writing enough to follow me on Facebook and check out what I have to say there... I'm honestly not sure it's often all that worthwhile although I at least try to keep it entertaining!
I know with 100 likes I did giveaways, etc. but my brain has been dead and I've had no time to prepare, but this still deserves something special! I'll do a giveaway when I get to 250 =D Today, I'm going to do what I said I wouldn't and post a teaser for Chasing His Bunny, which releases in just a few more days!!!!
Thank you all SO MUCH for reading, following, commenting, and just in general being wonderful fans. I hope you enjoy the teaser and that it gets you even more excited about the upcoming book!
"Mine."
"What?" Bethany barely had time to jerk in surprise before her brothers had created a fortress of flesh between her and Mr. Suddenly-Acquisitive.
"Excuse you?" Brice growled, and she didn't have to see his face to know that he was glaring at the other man. "What did you just say to my sister?"
Ugh. It sucked being so much shorter than her brothers. They were like mountains.
"I said-"
Big, unmovable mountains. Whose ticklish spots she was well versed with. The big guys squealed as her fingers stuck into their sides, shocking their audience as they jumped out of her way. More than one soldier brought their weapon up again, obviously nervous, until Alpha Asshat turned and snarled at them. The weapons were hurriedly lowered.
"What did you just say to me?" Bethany demanded as she shoved her way past her brothers. Brady put his hand on her arm, trying to tug her back behind him. Without even looking, she bent his finger back while simultaneously stomping on his foot.
"Son of a bitch!" He muttered, shaking out his hand. Beside her, Brock and Brice were shifting into place, making themselves honor guards since it was obvious that she wasn't going to let them be a barrier. The injured Brady had moved back a step, but Bethany was willing to bet he'd just put himself into position to protect the less combative Bailey. Totally acceptable.
Mr. Still-Needs-To-Answer-The-Question looked at them with something akin to amusement. So glad she could provide entertainment. She glared at him, ignoring how utterly delicious he looked with that tiny little smile on his mobile lips.
"I said, what did you just say to me?"
That smug smile faded as his eyes moved away from her brothers and back to her. How flattering. "You're mine. You're my mate."
Bethany snorted. "I most certainly am not."
While she’d been born a human, everyone knew exactly what shifters thought about mates. She didn’t remember much, but she knew that mates were a forever deal. Yeah, not happening. She wasn't ready for a mate. Hell, she wasn't ready for any kind of committed relationship much less one that couldn’t be ended. She was a needy, lustful, and eager young virgin who had been cooped up in a cage for far too long. There was no way she was just going to hop into bed with the first guy that wanted to claim her and stay there. Although, she had no objections to the hopping into bed part. That was the good part.
"Yes, you are," the man growled, looking even less patient. He thrust out an arm. "Smell me."
The scent of man, pine, and something wild, like a cold night’s frost filled her nose. Her nipples got even harder and her pussy creamed. She was totally on board with the sexual reaction - if he wanted to play hide the salami she knew a few good hiding spots – but the rest of it? Nope. Yummy smells or not, tempting or not, monster inside her insisting “mine” or not, she was going to be a free-wheeling, commitment free (at least for a few years), little sex machine. That was the sum of her current relationship goals.
"Whoop-de-do," Bethany said in a bored voice. She’d gotten pretty good at controlling her reactions while she was in captivity; the bland face was the easiest to maintain. Don’t react so that they don’t know they’re getting to you. "You smell good. You can't be the only man on the planet with that particular attribute."
Something beeped and one of the soldiers looked down at a device they were holding and then back up. "Steele, we need to move."
"Shit. Fine, let's get going, we'll sort this out later," he said grimly. His gaze caught Bethany's. "And we will be sorting this out later. Now come on."
Stepping forward he reached out to take her arm, and of course, got himself a bloody nose for his trouble.
March 25, 2016
One More Week!
Only a week away from the release date for Chasing His Bunny! Pre-order now for the special 99 cent price if you're a Kindle reader =) (other platforms will get three days of the 99 cent price upon release, before changing to the $2.99 regular price)
I'm SO excited to share this story... it's one of the most fun ones I've ever done writing-wise, in large part because I think Bethany (the heroine) is the most sassy character I've ever written. And I feel like that's really saying something. lol. I do love the sassy characters and the growly alpha males, what can I say. It was also fun and a challenge to write my first shifter novel, since it means that each main character has a secondary consciousness that also has to be considered.
A huge thank you, as always, to my faithful and incredibly helpful beta readers and my talented cover artist RaineyCloud9. Can I just say how much I fucking LOVE this cover? Like seriously! Look at the bunny sitting on the Y! And the Wolf C! How did she even do that?! It's so amazing!
While you're waiting for that, I have a new story up on Literotica, Maid for Trouble. First chapter in a short serial that I'll be doing for the website =) Spank-y, BDSM-y, coercion-y, Victorian era stuff. Writing stuff for Lit always helps my brain relax from writing the more plot / character driven stuff that I do for the novellas / books. Sometimes it's really nice to just write straight-up sex scenes without having to delve TOO deeply into the other stuff.
I am struggling through the last few weeks of my day-job's busy season. UGH. I cannot wait to be back to five day work weeks. My brain is completely melting down lately. There's not much more to go, but at the same time, the days that are left are going to be the craziest as everyone sprints towards the finish line. BAH. My writing has trickled down to a much slower pace, but that's okay because I still have two books coming out in the next two months so I feel like there's a bit of a buffer, which is WONDERFUL. I'm really enjoying doing the pre-order thing. I didn't think I would, but it's actually super helpful. One of my beta readers caught an inconsistency between Undisciplined and the work I've done on Gabrielle's Discipline and I was like SWEET, I can actually go back and change what I've done in Undisicplined, since I haven't finished editing it anyway, instead of having to entirely rework GDs!
GD is really coming along nicely. I've still got some work I'm doing on Undisciplined (editing and adding in some scenes that the beta readers requested / suggested), and I can't wait to share both. I think that Undisciplined really helps make Gabrielle more of a sympathetic character (I swear, she really is) and I'm having a lot of fun with her and Felix butting heads in GD. In some small ways they remind me a liiiiiittle bit of Edwin and Eleanor, but with some pretty key differences. Too much fun!
Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend. I'm off to see Batman vs. Superman. So far I've heard very mixed reviews but hey... I saw Batman & Robin in theaters, this can't be any worse! Plus... WONDER WOMAN!
I'm SO excited to share this story... it's one of the most fun ones I've ever done writing-wise, in large part because I think Bethany (the heroine) is the most sassy character I've ever written. And I feel like that's really saying something. lol. I do love the sassy characters and the growly alpha males, what can I say. It was also fun and a challenge to write my first shifter novel, since it means that each main character has a secondary consciousness that also has to be considered.
A huge thank you, as always, to my faithful and incredibly helpful beta readers and my talented cover artist RaineyCloud9. Can I just say how much I fucking LOVE this cover? Like seriously! Look at the bunny sitting on the Y! And the Wolf C! How did she even do that?! It's so amazing!
While you're waiting for that, I have a new story up on Literotica, Maid for Trouble. First chapter in a short serial that I'll be doing for the website =) Spank-y, BDSM-y, coercion-y, Victorian era stuff. Writing stuff for Lit always helps my brain relax from writing the more plot / character driven stuff that I do for the novellas / books. Sometimes it's really nice to just write straight-up sex scenes without having to delve TOO deeply into the other stuff.
I am struggling through the last few weeks of my day-job's busy season. UGH. I cannot wait to be back to five day work weeks. My brain is completely melting down lately. There's not much more to go, but at the same time, the days that are left are going to be the craziest as everyone sprints towards the finish line. BAH. My writing has trickled down to a much slower pace, but that's okay because I still have two books coming out in the next two months so I feel like there's a bit of a buffer, which is WONDERFUL. I'm really enjoying doing the pre-order thing. I didn't think I would, but it's actually super helpful. One of my beta readers caught an inconsistency between Undisciplined and the work I've done on Gabrielle's Discipline and I was like SWEET, I can actually go back and change what I've done in Undisicplined, since I haven't finished editing it anyway, instead of having to entirely rework GDs!
GD is really coming along nicely. I've still got some work I'm doing on Undisciplined (editing and adding in some scenes that the beta readers requested / suggested), and I can't wait to share both. I think that Undisciplined really helps make Gabrielle more of a sympathetic character (I swear, she really is) and I'm having a lot of fun with her and Felix butting heads in GD. In some small ways they remind me a liiiiiittle bit of Edwin and Eleanor, but with some pretty key differences. Too much fun!
Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend. I'm off to see Batman vs. Superman. So far I've heard very mixed reviews but hey... I saw Batman & Robin in theaters, this can't be any worse! Plus... WONDER WOMAN!
March 2, 2016
Now Available for Pre-order: Undisciplined
Amazon was a little bit slow, but
Undisciplined
is now up and available for pre-order!!!
You can thank all the readers who requested more information about what was happening between Gabrielle & Felix during Philip's Rules for this little novella =) It will be released on May 1st. I had a lot of fun writing it and getting into the nitty gritty of what was going down between these two, which has been very helpful in getting into their characters as I begin working on their book! I'm about three chapters in to Gabrielle's Discipline and really happy with how it's going so far. I'm aiming for a June / July release date for that one, and then I'll be back working on Stronghold.
Gabrielle Astley is quite used to being an afterthought, a burden, a nuisance. As the only child - and a useless female one at that - to a Baron, she was both spoiled materially and neglected emotionally. After her father's death, his third wife and her stepmother is remarried, to the stern and cold Marquess of Dunbury. Since the new Baron wants nothing to do with Gabrielle, the Marquess is her new guardian and Gabrielle finds herself in London, receiving her debut. Despite this turn of events, she can't quite shake her spite of her stepmother, and her attitude lands her into hot water and her first spanking at the hand of her guardian.
The Marquess seems eager to marry her off, and Gabrielle has no objection to that goal. London has everything she ever wanted - glamor, excitement, and, for some reason, quite a few people actually seem to like and take an interest in her. When the Marquess' best friend, the rakish Felix Hood becomes one of those people, Gabrielle finds herself hoping for more than just a standard ton marriage... until she begins to realize that he's not interested in her for herself, and his interest may actually be in someone close to her.
Felix Hood had no thoughts of settling down in marriage - as the youngest of three brothers, he should be the last to wed. However, when he meets his best friend Philip's new ward and is tasked with the duty of helping guard her against any unsavory suitors (as well as guarding Philip's new wife from Miss Astley's waspish tongue), he can't help but be entranced by her. She's not the usual milk and water miss that is served up to the gentlemen of the tongue; she's prickly, funny, and has a touch of sadness in her eyes that he longs to discover the cause of so that he may vanquish it. But he's not convinced he's ready for marriage, and his hesitation over formally courting her leads Miss Astley to turn to her other suitors, making him wonder if she's really worth the chase.
This novella was written at the request of readers who wanted to know what was happening between Felix and Gabrielle during Book 1 of the Bridal Discipline Series, however it is not necessary to read Philip's Rules in order to enjoy this novella.
Undisciplined is approximately 30k words and contains steamy sexual situations, hot alpha males, and just a bit of discipline.
In other news, I submitted a story to Literotica last night, so hopefully that will be up within the next couple of days =) Also, newsletter receivers got the one and only teaser for Chasing His Bunny yesterday... I am so excited for April 1st this year! (and I swear, even though it's coming out on April Fool's Day, it's a real book!).
I'm really excited to be able to start doing pre-orders... I'll admit, I didn't initially feel like it was that great a thing, since I was all about getting my books out as fast as possible, but it's really giving me the opportunity to do more editing / clarifying of the story that might not otherwise get done. I think it's going to make for better books overall and hopefully everyone will be happy with the end product.
Also, as always, a HUGE thank you to RaineyCloud9 for the gorgeous cover!
You can thank all the readers who requested more information about what was happening between Gabrielle & Felix during Philip's Rules for this little novella =) It will be released on May 1st. I had a lot of fun writing it and getting into the nitty gritty of what was going down between these two, which has been very helpful in getting into their characters as I begin working on their book! I'm about three chapters in to Gabrielle's Discipline and really happy with how it's going so far. I'm aiming for a June / July release date for that one, and then I'll be back working on Stronghold.
Gabrielle Astley is quite used to being an afterthought, a burden, a nuisance. As the only child - and a useless female one at that - to a Baron, she was both spoiled materially and neglected emotionally. After her father's death, his third wife and her stepmother is remarried, to the stern and cold Marquess of Dunbury. Since the new Baron wants nothing to do with Gabrielle, the Marquess is her new guardian and Gabrielle finds herself in London, receiving her debut. Despite this turn of events, she can't quite shake her spite of her stepmother, and her attitude lands her into hot water and her first spanking at the hand of her guardian. The Marquess seems eager to marry her off, and Gabrielle has no objection to that goal. London has everything she ever wanted - glamor, excitement, and, for some reason, quite a few people actually seem to like and take an interest in her. When the Marquess' best friend, the rakish Felix Hood becomes one of those people, Gabrielle finds herself hoping for more than just a standard ton marriage... until she begins to realize that he's not interested in her for herself, and his interest may actually be in someone close to her.
Felix Hood had no thoughts of settling down in marriage - as the youngest of three brothers, he should be the last to wed. However, when he meets his best friend Philip's new ward and is tasked with the duty of helping guard her against any unsavory suitors (as well as guarding Philip's new wife from Miss Astley's waspish tongue), he can't help but be entranced by her. She's not the usual milk and water miss that is served up to the gentlemen of the tongue; she's prickly, funny, and has a touch of sadness in her eyes that he longs to discover the cause of so that he may vanquish it. But he's not convinced he's ready for marriage, and his hesitation over formally courting her leads Miss Astley to turn to her other suitors, making him wonder if she's really worth the chase.
This novella was written at the request of readers who wanted to know what was happening between Felix and Gabrielle during Book 1 of the Bridal Discipline Series, however it is not necessary to read Philip's Rules in order to enjoy this novella.
Undisciplined is approximately 30k words and contains steamy sexual situations, hot alpha males, and just a bit of discipline.
In other news, I submitted a story to Literotica last night, so hopefully that will be up within the next couple of days =) Also, newsletter receivers got the one and only teaser for Chasing His Bunny yesterday... I am so excited for April 1st this year! (and I swear, even though it's coming out on April Fool's Day, it's a real book!).
I'm really excited to be able to start doing pre-orders... I'll admit, I didn't initially feel like it was that great a thing, since I was all about getting my books out as fast as possible, but it's really giving me the opportunity to do more editing / clarifying of the story that might not otherwise get done. I think it's going to make for better books overall and hopefully everyone will be happy with the end product.
Also, as always, a HUGE thank you to RaineyCloud9 for the gorgeous cover!
February 22, 2016
Newsy News
This is my third blog entry this month! whoo-hoo!
I'm trying to be better about keeping things updated.
So! News! So much news!!!
First of all, if you haven't pre-ordered Chasing His Bunny because you want to know what it's about before you buy... there's only one way to find out and that's to sign up for my newsletter. Sign-up is found on my website =) On March 1st, newsletter subscribers will be treated to the ONLY teaser I will be doing for the bunnies. My beta readers really seemed to have gotten a kick out of this book, which makes me happy. I had a lot of fun writing it. Editing is still ongoing, but the overall book is finished. It's only 99 cents if pre-ordered, once it's released the price will go up to $2.99. It's a regular book length (not like the super novels that I often write) coming in around 60k words.
Also on March 1st (and this will be announced in the newsletter, on this blog, the website, Facebook, and Twitter), Undisciplined will be available for pre-order. No mysteries here - Undisciplined is going to be a novella linking Philip's Rules and Gabrielle's Discipline. I got a lot of requests for more of Gabrielle & Felix's story during the timeline of the first book and I was going to make it into a prologue, but then I realized it would actually work better as a novella. The first draft has already gone through some major changes thanks to one of my beta readers, and the second draft is now working its way through their capable hands. Undisciplined will be 99 cents (it's a novella at around 30k words), available for pre-order on March 1st and actually releasing on May 1st.
I've already started work on Gabrielle's Discipline and am rather enjoying the drama after all the light-heartededness from the bunnies. Gabrielle is fascinating to me, in large part because she needs to redeem herself from the way she behaved throughout Philip's Rules. I'm also enjoying giving her a happy ending because I find her to be a very sad character. Funny enough, as much as I liked Felix as Philip's best friend, I'm kind of giving him the side eye now. Finding a way for the two of them to get along is going to be interesting!
Writing the books has also given me a new order for them. I'm switching titles around! The new series order is going to be:
1. Philip's Rules
-->1.5 Undisciplined
2. Gabrielle's Discipline (est. June release date)
3. Lydia's Penance
4. Benedict's Commands
5. Arabella's Taming
And we'll see if any more books follow that. They might. It all depends on the characters and on reader responses. So if you see any side characters that you yearn to know the story of, def speak up in reviews or comments. Even if they were from the Domestic Discipline Quartet, since this is a spin-off, they can now have their own book. That's part of why I decided to make this a series, even though I originally thought about doing another quartet =) I wanted to leave it open!
On the Stronghold front - Andrew and Kate are percolating in my head.
Marriage Training - I've stagnated a bit. I'm having trouble getting it to where I want to go. *sigh*
Dark Angel titles - still working on book 2 for Planets Apart. I will get it out this year, I'm just not entirely sure when. It's about 1/3 of the way complete.
Literotica - I'm working on another standalone short story, a reader request. My goal is to get it finished by the end of this month - aka next week. We'll see if that actually happens =) If not, I'll finish it up for March!
So that is everything that's going on with the writing this month! It's actually quite a lot more than I thought would be, since I'm incredibly busy at my day job, but I'm just feeling really motivated about Felix and Gabrielle. I can't wait to share a bit of bunnies with you - don't forget to sign up for the newsletter - and I'm also super stoked about finally getting pre-orders up and running! I won't lie, it takes away a lot of the stress from getting things edited really quickly and allows me a little bit of breathing room, which is great =)
I hope everyone is having a wonderful February!
I'm trying to be better about keeping things updated.
So! News! So much news!!!
First of all, if you haven't pre-ordered Chasing His Bunny because you want to know what it's about before you buy... there's only one way to find out and that's to sign up for my newsletter. Sign-up is found on my website =) On March 1st, newsletter subscribers will be treated to the ONLY teaser I will be doing for the bunnies. My beta readers really seemed to have gotten a kick out of this book, which makes me happy. I had a lot of fun writing it. Editing is still ongoing, but the overall book is finished. It's only 99 cents if pre-ordered, once it's released the price will go up to $2.99. It's a regular book length (not like the super novels that I often write) coming in around 60k words.
Also on March 1st (and this will be announced in the newsletter, on this blog, the website, Facebook, and Twitter), Undisciplined will be available for pre-order. No mysteries here - Undisciplined is going to be a novella linking Philip's Rules and Gabrielle's Discipline. I got a lot of requests for more of Gabrielle & Felix's story during the timeline of the first book and I was going to make it into a prologue, but then I realized it would actually work better as a novella. The first draft has already gone through some major changes thanks to one of my beta readers, and the second draft is now working its way through their capable hands. Undisciplined will be 99 cents (it's a novella at around 30k words), available for pre-order on March 1st and actually releasing on May 1st.
I've already started work on Gabrielle's Discipline and am rather enjoying the drama after all the light-heartededness from the bunnies. Gabrielle is fascinating to me, in large part because she needs to redeem herself from the way she behaved throughout Philip's Rules. I'm also enjoying giving her a happy ending because I find her to be a very sad character. Funny enough, as much as I liked Felix as Philip's best friend, I'm kind of giving him the side eye now. Finding a way for the two of them to get along is going to be interesting!
Writing the books has also given me a new order for them. I'm switching titles around! The new series order is going to be:
1. Philip's Rules
-->1.5 Undisciplined
2. Gabrielle's Discipline (est. June release date)
3. Lydia's Penance
4. Benedict's Commands
5. Arabella's Taming
And we'll see if any more books follow that. They might. It all depends on the characters and on reader responses. So if you see any side characters that you yearn to know the story of, def speak up in reviews or comments. Even if they were from the Domestic Discipline Quartet, since this is a spin-off, they can now have their own book. That's part of why I decided to make this a series, even though I originally thought about doing another quartet =) I wanted to leave it open!
On the Stronghold front - Andrew and Kate are percolating in my head.
Marriage Training - I've stagnated a bit. I'm having trouble getting it to where I want to go. *sigh*
Dark Angel titles - still working on book 2 for Planets Apart. I will get it out this year, I'm just not entirely sure when. It's about 1/3 of the way complete.
Literotica - I'm working on another standalone short story, a reader request. My goal is to get it finished by the end of this month - aka next week. We'll see if that actually happens =) If not, I'll finish it up for March!
So that is everything that's going on with the writing this month! It's actually quite a lot more than I thought would be, since I'm incredibly busy at my day job, but I'm just feeling really motivated about Felix and Gabrielle. I can't wait to share a bit of bunnies with you - don't forget to sign up for the newsletter - and I'm also super stoked about finally getting pre-orders up and running! I won't lie, it takes away a lot of the stress from getting things edited really quickly and allows me a little bit of breathing room, which is great =)
I hope everyone is having a wonderful February!
February 14, 2016
Pre-order: The Bunnies Are Coming
Now available for pre-order: Chasing His Bunny - first book in the Big Bad Bunnies series
Release Date: April 1, 2016
Only 99 cents if you pre-order! Price goes up to $2.99 once it's released!
February 4, 2016
A Little Look at Gabrielle & Felix
The Bunnies will be available for pre-order on Valentine's Day
After that, I'm going to be focusing on Gabrielle's Discipline, the second book in the Bridal Discipline series. A lot of people have requested to know more about what happens between Felix and Gabrielle during the timeline of Philip's Rules, so the very first part of the book is going to be a prologue with their interactions. =) Since it's February, and I haven't written a blog post in a while, I thought I'd share the very beginning of the prologue, which happens on Philip & Cordelia's wedding day.
Enjoy the tease! -
"I now pronounce you, man and wife."A sense of utter hopelessness rose in Gabrielle at the words. Her stepmother was now married to a man that Gabrielle barely knew, but was now responsible for her. A cold man, who looked at Gabrielle in a distant, almost disdainful manner that reminded her harshly of her own father before he'd passed. Her fingers clutched the bouquet she was holding tighter as she kept her smile pasted onto her face. She hadn't liked the Marquess of Dunbury when she'd met him and, truthfully, she liked him even less now. Not only did he seem dismissive of Gabrielle, since meeting him, Cordelia had barely had a moment for Gabrielle. There were times when Gabrielle couldn't stand Cordelia, but she hadn't wanted to give up her stepmother's attention either. Logically, she knew it hadn't been Cordelia's fault that Gabrielle's father had no love for his daughter. He hadn't before he'd married Cordelia either.But Cordelia was young and beautiful, and she'd taken all the Baron's attention once she'd become his wife. Then he'd died, and Gabrielle had had Cordelia all to herself. She'd chased off several of Cordelia's suitors, but then Cordelia had gone away to a house party on her own and come back engaged. The Marquess didn't care for Gabrielle, but that didn't stop him from marrying Cordelia.It felt like the worst sort of betrayal by her stepmother. She told herself she didn't care. She told herself she hated Cordelia anyway. And she certainly hated her new guardian. The only joy she'd had in the past months had been pointing out all the little things that would make Cordelia as miserable as she'd made Gabrielle. Why should Cordelia get everything? It wasn't fair. But then, life as never fair, especially Gabrielle's life.Following the Marquess and Marchesse down the aisle, Gabrielle didn't even glance at the man escorting her. She was too busy trying to keep from bursting into tears, wondering what was going to become of her now that Cordelia was married to such a cold man.******Felix was not used to being ignored. Especially not by a member of the fairer sex. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time it had happened. Before the wedding, Philip had asked him to keep an eye on Miss Gabrielle Astley, Philip's bride's stepdaughter. Apparently she had a shrewish disposition. Philip had described her as attractive, but he truly hadn't done her justice.The young woman was resplendent in her cream dress, which matched the lovely's brides. She had masses of light brown hair piled on top of her head and decorated with pearl combs, setting off her creamy complexion, and thickly-lashed green eyes. Slim figured, she was still blessed with delightful feminine curves, even if they weren't overly abundant. There were two high spots of color on her cheeks, and her eyes were shiny and bright, and entirely focused on Cordelia and Philip.Philip had mentioned that Gabrielle had flirted with him, even after knowing that he was engaged to Cordelia. Could it be that she truly was attracted to her new stepfather? But no, that didn't quite fit with the way she was looking at them. Before the receiving line, Philip had introduced them so that he could properly carry on a conversation with Miss Astley, but she'd barely given him a second glance. Between well wishers, Felix leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Congratulations on your new family, Miss Astley. As Philip's best friend, I'm sure we'll be seeing quite a bit of each other.""How thrilling," Gabrielle said. Her voice was as lovely as she was, but her tone was utterly flat. Felix narrowed his eyes at her. Perhaps Philip had not over exaggerated her shrewishness.The lack of a true response left him floundering. He cleared his throat, smiling and greeting another well wisher that Philip passed off to him. Turning back to Gabrielle, he kept the smile on his face as he studied her closely. She didn't return his gaze. "Your stepmother is a lovely woman, you must feel very blessed to have her." He paused, waiting for some kind of response, but none was forthcoming. "The Marquess will take good care of you both.""I'm sure he'll take very good care of his wife," Gabrielle responded, loudly enough to be heard by the people around him. "After all, he does need his heir."Bristling, Felix decided his best course of action was to stop attempting to engage the little viper in conversation. No matter how beautiful she was.******Being seated next to the most handsome man she'd ever met was doing absolutely nothing for Gabrielle's temperament. It was like today had been thought up by the Devil as a special kind of hell for her to endure. Not only was Cordelia being married to her second husband, when Gabrielle had never even had a suitor, but the man dancing attendance on Gabrielle was already quite taken with Cordelia and obviously already disliked Gabrielle.Probably because every time he said something complimentary about Cordelia, she couldn't help herself from interjecting.It was bad enough she was here, did she have to listen to the endless list of Cordelia's virtues for the rest of the day? She'd heard them plenty from her father as he went over all the reasons he'd married Cordelia and how it would benefit his heir - once Cordelia bore him. But Cordelia had failed, there was no heir... not that it had stopped her father from focusing all his attention on Cordelia in hopes that the happy event might still occur. Right up until the moment of his death - he'd called Cordelia into the room to ask if she might be with child. He'd never called for Gabrielle, and he'd passed from the world without seeing her for one last time.Despite that failure, Cordelia was still having her second, perfect wedding, with her cold, perfectly handsome husband, while the man's perfect best friend, Mr. Felix Hood, was watching over Gabrielle. And she knew perfectly well that's what he was doing. Why else would he be dancing attendance on her? He was incredibly handsome, with thick black hair and black eyes that made him look dangerous and exciting, broad shoulders and a trim waist, and his legs filled out his breeches quite nicely. More than one lady had come to flirt with him, yet he hadn't left Gabrielle's side and had exchanged more than once glance with the Marquess.The first time in her life that she had a man dancing attendance on her, and it was all so precious Cordelia wouldn't have to pay any attention to her.Gabrielle was so bitter, she wished she could spit on the floor to rid her mouth of the taste."Dunbury is such a lovely estate," said a lady sitting across from Mr. Hood, smiling encouragingly at Gabrielle. "Have you been to see it yet?""No, I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to admire it when Cordelia is with child," Gabrielle said in a bored tone. "I'm sure that's where we'll be shuttled off once the Marquess has done his duty."The woman gasped quietly and several of the other diners looked at Gabrielle askance, but she didn't care anymore. Why should she? Cordelia shouldn't expect anything less from her new husband, and Gabrielle wasn't going to pretend. Nor was she going to hope.Fingers grasped her arm in a gentle but unyielding grip as Mr. Hood leaned in, his breath hot on her ear. A strange shimmer of excitement went through her body at his nearness... and then he ruined it."Not one more word out of you. I'm warning you now. If you can't keep your mouth shut or be polite, you will find yourself over my knee before the sun goes down and we'll see if I can't spank the nastiness out of you. Philip told me to keep you in line, and I will not fail him in that."Any retort she might have made choked in her throat, as indignation, fear, and the urge to cry all collided inside her chest. The Marquess had told Mr. Hood that he could beat her? For a few words? Even Gabrielle's father hadn't tried to completely silence her; she'd always been allowed the verbal outlet to vent her frustrations and unhappiness. But she didn't want to be beaten either. The one time her father had slapped her across her face, it had split her lip and made her cheek swell, making it hard for her to eat for days.Grimly, Gabrielle clenched her hands in her lap as the laughter and merriment picked up around her. She was more alone and ignored than she'd ever been her life, under threat of violence, and all so Cordelia could be happy.
After that, I'm going to be focusing on Gabrielle's Discipline, the second book in the Bridal Discipline series. A lot of people have requested to know more about what happens between Felix and Gabrielle during the timeline of Philip's Rules, so the very first part of the book is going to be a prologue with their interactions. =) Since it's February, and I haven't written a blog post in a while, I thought I'd share the very beginning of the prologue, which happens on Philip & Cordelia's wedding day.
Enjoy the tease! -
"I now pronounce you, man and wife."A sense of utter hopelessness rose in Gabrielle at the words. Her stepmother was now married to a man that Gabrielle barely knew, but was now responsible for her. A cold man, who looked at Gabrielle in a distant, almost disdainful manner that reminded her harshly of her own father before he'd passed. Her fingers clutched the bouquet she was holding tighter as she kept her smile pasted onto her face. She hadn't liked the Marquess of Dunbury when she'd met him and, truthfully, she liked him even less now. Not only did he seem dismissive of Gabrielle, since meeting him, Cordelia had barely had a moment for Gabrielle. There were times when Gabrielle couldn't stand Cordelia, but she hadn't wanted to give up her stepmother's attention either. Logically, she knew it hadn't been Cordelia's fault that Gabrielle's father had no love for his daughter. He hadn't before he'd married Cordelia either.But Cordelia was young and beautiful, and she'd taken all the Baron's attention once she'd become his wife. Then he'd died, and Gabrielle had had Cordelia all to herself. She'd chased off several of Cordelia's suitors, but then Cordelia had gone away to a house party on her own and come back engaged. The Marquess didn't care for Gabrielle, but that didn't stop him from marrying Cordelia.It felt like the worst sort of betrayal by her stepmother. She told herself she didn't care. She told herself she hated Cordelia anyway. And she certainly hated her new guardian. The only joy she'd had in the past months had been pointing out all the little things that would make Cordelia as miserable as she'd made Gabrielle. Why should Cordelia get everything? It wasn't fair. But then, life as never fair, especially Gabrielle's life.Following the Marquess and Marchesse down the aisle, Gabrielle didn't even glance at the man escorting her. She was too busy trying to keep from bursting into tears, wondering what was going to become of her now that Cordelia was married to such a cold man.******Felix was not used to being ignored. Especially not by a member of the fairer sex. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time it had happened. Before the wedding, Philip had asked him to keep an eye on Miss Gabrielle Astley, Philip's bride's stepdaughter. Apparently she had a shrewish disposition. Philip had described her as attractive, but he truly hadn't done her justice.The young woman was resplendent in her cream dress, which matched the lovely's brides. She had masses of light brown hair piled on top of her head and decorated with pearl combs, setting off her creamy complexion, and thickly-lashed green eyes. Slim figured, she was still blessed with delightful feminine curves, even if they weren't overly abundant. There were two high spots of color on her cheeks, and her eyes were shiny and bright, and entirely focused on Cordelia and Philip.Philip had mentioned that Gabrielle had flirted with him, even after knowing that he was engaged to Cordelia. Could it be that she truly was attracted to her new stepfather? But no, that didn't quite fit with the way she was looking at them. Before the receiving line, Philip had introduced them so that he could properly carry on a conversation with Miss Astley, but she'd barely given him a second glance. Between well wishers, Felix leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Congratulations on your new family, Miss Astley. As Philip's best friend, I'm sure we'll be seeing quite a bit of each other.""How thrilling," Gabrielle said. Her voice was as lovely as she was, but her tone was utterly flat. Felix narrowed his eyes at her. Perhaps Philip had not over exaggerated her shrewishness.The lack of a true response left him floundering. He cleared his throat, smiling and greeting another well wisher that Philip passed off to him. Turning back to Gabrielle, he kept the smile on his face as he studied her closely. She didn't return his gaze. "Your stepmother is a lovely woman, you must feel very blessed to have her." He paused, waiting for some kind of response, but none was forthcoming. "The Marquess will take good care of you both.""I'm sure he'll take very good care of his wife," Gabrielle responded, loudly enough to be heard by the people around him. "After all, he does need his heir."Bristling, Felix decided his best course of action was to stop attempting to engage the little viper in conversation. No matter how beautiful she was.******Being seated next to the most handsome man she'd ever met was doing absolutely nothing for Gabrielle's temperament. It was like today had been thought up by the Devil as a special kind of hell for her to endure. Not only was Cordelia being married to her second husband, when Gabrielle had never even had a suitor, but the man dancing attendance on Gabrielle was already quite taken with Cordelia and obviously already disliked Gabrielle.Probably because every time he said something complimentary about Cordelia, she couldn't help herself from interjecting.It was bad enough she was here, did she have to listen to the endless list of Cordelia's virtues for the rest of the day? She'd heard them plenty from her father as he went over all the reasons he'd married Cordelia and how it would benefit his heir - once Cordelia bore him. But Cordelia had failed, there was no heir... not that it had stopped her father from focusing all his attention on Cordelia in hopes that the happy event might still occur. Right up until the moment of his death - he'd called Cordelia into the room to ask if she might be with child. He'd never called for Gabrielle, and he'd passed from the world without seeing her for one last time.Despite that failure, Cordelia was still having her second, perfect wedding, with her cold, perfectly handsome husband, while the man's perfect best friend, Mr. Felix Hood, was watching over Gabrielle. And she knew perfectly well that's what he was doing. Why else would he be dancing attendance on her? He was incredibly handsome, with thick black hair and black eyes that made him look dangerous and exciting, broad shoulders and a trim waist, and his legs filled out his breeches quite nicely. More than one lady had come to flirt with him, yet he hadn't left Gabrielle's side and had exchanged more than once glance with the Marquess.The first time in her life that she had a man dancing attendance on her, and it was all so precious Cordelia wouldn't have to pay any attention to her.Gabrielle was so bitter, she wished she could spit on the floor to rid her mouth of the taste."Dunbury is such a lovely estate," said a lady sitting across from Mr. Hood, smiling encouragingly at Gabrielle. "Have you been to see it yet?""No, I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to admire it when Cordelia is with child," Gabrielle said in a bored tone. "I'm sure that's where we'll be shuttled off once the Marquess has done his duty."The woman gasped quietly and several of the other diners looked at Gabrielle askance, but she didn't care anymore. Why should she? Cordelia shouldn't expect anything less from her new husband, and Gabrielle wasn't going to pretend. Nor was she going to hope.Fingers grasped her arm in a gentle but unyielding grip as Mr. Hood leaned in, his breath hot on her ear. A strange shimmer of excitement went through her body at his nearness... and then he ruined it."Not one more word out of you. I'm warning you now. If you can't keep your mouth shut or be polite, you will find yourself over my knee before the sun goes down and we'll see if I can't spank the nastiness out of you. Philip told me to keep you in line, and I will not fail him in that."Any retort she might have made choked in her throat, as indignation, fear, and the urge to cry all collided inside her chest. The Marquess had told Mr. Hood that he could beat her? For a few words? Even Gabrielle's father hadn't tried to completely silence her; she'd always been allowed the verbal outlet to vent her frustrations and unhappiness. But she didn't want to be beaten either. The one time her father had slapped her across her face, it had split her lip and made her cheek swell, making it hard for her to eat for days.Grimly, Gabrielle clenched her hands in her lap as the laughter and merriment picked up around her. She was more alone and ignored than she'd ever been her life, under threat of violence, and all so Cordelia could be happy.
