Memorial Day

Thank you to all veterans, all current-serving military, and all their families.

Edit my photo

I'm doing something wrong but can't for the life of me figure out what that is! I wanted to wait until I got the cover for Once Upon a Threesome to make that my photo. So I waited and I did and yet even though I uploaded it an clicked all the appropiate boxes, it's not showing up AS my photo.

What am I doing wrong????? Anyone?

Menages

Or more for that matter- 3, 4, 5. It does get a little complicated with this but still sexy fun! So what's the draw? Why do you read them? Why are they so popular?

I read them because, yes, they're fun but there's also (usually) a deeper meaning. Love between 2 women or 2 men then, separately, the man and woman (in any mix) is sexy. And often the love has different degrees, with m/f/f maybe the women are really in love with strong, deep affection for the man. They don't want to lose him.

What do you think? Why are menages so popular?

Once Upon a Threesome, available now!

Historicals and sex

With the release (yesterday) of my first short story, I wondered why I drifted to the historical menage. OK, there was no drifting, I did it on purpose because historical menages are few and far between. At least in my limited experience so don't shoot me for not knowing about X, Y, or Z-tell me about them instead! I need to read them. :)

All that aside, it's not like menages are new. I mean look at Ancient Rome and Greece. The movie Troy notwithstanding, Achilles had both a male and female lover though, granted, probably not at the same time. Patroclus (portrayed as his cousin in that god-awful movie) and Briseis whom he refers to as his wife/bride:

Are the Atreidae of all mortal men
the only ones who love their wives? I think not.
Every sane decent fellow loves his own
as in my heart I loved
Briseis though I won her by the spear.

Hmm, not a great example of a true menage but my point is that sleeping with both a woman and man is not new. And often, after the fall of Rome, considered an affront punishable by death. No wonder all this was done in such secrecy! I would, too, if it meant death-or even scandal, prison, and outing as some kind of freak.

It's all well and good to say it doesn't matter, but I live in today's society with 21st century morals and outlooks. If I lived in, say, 1770 France...no not France everything went on there. How about 1770 so many other places. Yes, better. So, I'm living in 1770 America or Spain or China (and wasn't the emperor) and want two lovers at the same time. I'd keep it a secret, too!

Once Upon a Threesome, available now!

Once Upon a Threesome

My first story, Inamorata, is out today in the anthology Once Upon a Threesome! I'm so excited! (Ha, can you tell?)

Explicit excerpt: 

He was selfish and knew it—he wanted only Elisabeta, not this prim slip of a wife. However, with too many bad years in trading, and the wars with the Ottoman Empire, this marriage was the only saving grace of his family.

“You are a beautiful woman,” Antonio allowed, “but we are in a unique position. Unlike many others, with simply a word we could dispense with the agreement between our families.”

“Do you not mean with a word from me?” she asked, her reserved manner slipping. “Since it is my family who holds the advantage over yours.”

Where had this come from? Taking a moment, he wondered at the sudden change in her behavior. Before he could comment, Bianca continued.

“Why would I care to dispense with our marriage contract?” Bianca stepped closer, unclasping her hands and squaring her shoulders. “There are certain freedoms afforded a married woman.”

“You will have no freedom as my wife,” he snapped, making sure she understood. He gripped her chin, forcing her to look up at him. Her dark eyes acknowledged that, but continued to hold a hint of delight. “I’ll keep you cloistered in a room where your only task will be to produce an heir for me. Should,” he sneered, “I choose to visit you. You’ll not find this marriage between us a pleasant one.”

Bianca’s fingers skimmed down his chest, cupping his cock. He remained flaccid in her hand. “Pleasure,” she purred, “is exactly what I desire.” She stroked him, dark eyes gazing up with interest.

“I don’t want to join our families in war, I’d rather we create something different. Your threats are hollow, Conte di Brindisi. My family will not allow you to imprison me like a nun in a cloister. A single word from me will ruin all you have and all you know.”

Antonio admired her manipulation of the situation, but that was all. Once married, interference from her family would be negligible. And, too, she could always die in childbirth.

“I do not react well,” he said, removing her hand and flinging it from him, “to such threats.”

“There is no threat,” she said, amusement in her voice, “simply fact. I don’t want contention between us. But I don’t want to be tortured by a neglectful husband.”

Gripping her shoulders, he picked her up and pushed her several steps until her back hit the wall. Holding her there, Antonio once more forced her head up, ensuring her complete attention.

“I’ll be whatever kind of husband I choose. As my wife,” he continued, unsurprised to see the stirrings of desire in her eyes, “you will obey and keep silent.”

The back of her fingers grazed his cheek, slid down to rest over his heart. “There’s only one reason for such ardor in a man, for I am comely and willing.” Her hand slipped lower, but didn’t take his cock again. “There is another desire in your life. Either another man…or another woman.”

Antonio released her chin, stepping back. He didn’t care that she knew he had a mistress, only what she would do to Elisabeta should she ever learn her name. The d’Artusio’s were powerful, and if Bianca made true with her threat on him, that anger easily could transfer to Elisabeta should she desire.

“Ah.” There was satisfaction in that one word, but she didn’t move. “As I’d hoped.”

Jerking his head back to look at her, he saw lust mixing with triumph in her dark eyes. Shock stiffened him, but only for a moment. Arousal and intrigue came hard on its heels, hardening his cock with interest.

“And why,” he asked, lazily crossing the space between them, “is that a hope of yours? Most wives detest the mistresses their husbands keep.”

“I shall not be most wives,” Bianca whispered, standing still as he circled her. “I would be happy if you would share her.”

He could admit to being stunned, but not repulsed by the idea. “She is mine.”

“I will also be yours,” she reminded him. “Think of it, Antonio. The three of us enjoying each other’s flesh. But, if that thought—the thought of seeing your wife enjoying the most intimate parts of your mistress—does not tantalize, then I would hope you allow me my own mistress.”

The thought tantalized. And Antonio was tempted. Loath as he was to share Elisabeta with anyone—man or woman—this suggestion captivated him. Elisabeta’s beautiful long limbs wrapped around Bianca’s…

“My wife and my lover?” He’d never before given this thought, but hardened at her proposal.

“We would all be lovers,” Bianca said, and he saw she’d given this considerable thought. “We would be there to please you…and you can watch as we please each other.”

“What do you want with her?” he demanded, eyes narrowed.

“I want to kiss and suck her supple breasts.” This bold statement further aroused him. “I want to lay my soft body atop hers. I want to feel her rapture moisten my face.”

Available now from Ravenous Romance.

What a long week!

I don't know where the time went but I can guarantee it wasn't spent writing! I don't really know what happened, I had all sorts of good intents, but alas...

Sometimes you just need to recharge your batteries, let stories sit while you rest, veg, or even clean (my carpets are very happy with my week of no writing.) Also trying to steer clear of news, it's more depressing by the day! I've started reading The Hungarian by Stephanie Burkhart. She was kind enough to draw my name for a free copy! I'm loving it. :)

Also waiting for my first short story to come out, Inamorata in the Once Upon a Threesome anthology from Ravenous Romance.

Review: Champagne

When I got my contract with Ravenous Romance for my short story, Inamorata, I thought Hey! I want to do more of this! I enjoyed writing the story and really putting emotion into a forbidden historical threesome. But then I thought Well, a short 5000 word story is a far cry from a full-length one!

No pun intended.

So I bought the other 2 books I could find on Ravenous's website, Threesome an Anthology and Champagne by Inara LaVey. I skimmed though the anthology pretty fast, the stories were mostly good ones, but it really is hard to imbued your characters with loads of emotion when the story really is about the sex. Plus, they weren't historical and the forbidden pleasures of making an unorthodox relationship work in historical times is really what I wanted to explore.

Hence, Champagne. No, it's not an historical but it did give me a sense of the feelings behind a ménage, all fleshed out (pun, yes whatever) in a few hundred pages.

First, it was funny. I hadn't expected that but damn if she isn't funny! And full of information about France's wine country. I sense a love here, but won't go into it. Written in first person, we see and feel everythign from Jeanette's view, from her frustration with her soon-to-be ex boyfriend to the desire of her French hosts. Very sexy all round, too.

Blurb:

Jeanette Wilson is an American girl on the trip of a lifetime to the wine regions of France. Unfortunately, she’s trapped with her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend Daryl, a self-absorbed, self-aggrandizing, self-styled wine expert bent on swirling, sniffing, sipping, swishing, chewing, swallowing and occasionally spitting his way through the wineries. Between his endless lectures and insufferable putdowns, her insignificant other is quickly turning her dream vacation into a nightmare. But things change for Jeanette once they come to the zenith of their French road trip, the Champagne house of Chateau Roux-Dubois.

Their hosts, Amaury and Marie-Elise Roux-Dubois, turn out to be both charming and attractive, and go out of their way to extend a warm welcome to her. And they make it very clear that it is she, not Daryl, who is their special guest, particularly when the striking Marie-Elise takes Jeanette down to the wine cellar for a very personal tour, followed by an unusual French lesson from Amaury.

When she and Daryl are invited to stay and participate in the harvest festival, Jeanette finds herself caught up in a ménage a trois with the Roux-Dubois, both intent on teaching her many things…and not just about wine.

New book

I'm so excited to have won Book One of the Budapest Moon, The Hungarian by Stephanie Burkhart! I haven't started it, I really want to be able to have enough time to read and enjoy it. (As opposed to stops and starts.)

Katherine Archibald is in search of a grand adventure. A young woman in late Victorian England, she wants to open up a book store in London and travel Europe hunting down rare books. Love isn't on her map.


Enter Matthias Duma. The Hungarian count captures Katherine's attention like no other man before him with his unusual gold-malachite eyes, his exotic features, and his command of the night sky.

After a night of intrigue during Katherine's birthday, she discovers the map does include love in the legend, but will the map lead her to Budapest and the dark, brooding Hungarian she's just met?

Plot, an actual plot!

I spent most of my writing time yesterday thinking of ways to add plot to this story. Then I realized I was spending my time on external plots-a mystery, a theft, a spy, what have you. Nope. No good. This is a purely character driven story, with lots and lots of sex :) But its the character's problems that drive this plot.

It's the stigma of being different in Regency England, of wanting something but knowing you would not only be ostracized but imprisoned if you took it.

Ha! I plan on bulldozing right on through those sigmas and embracing the scandal. Okay, secretly embracing the scandal, but it's an embrace all the same.

Nifty gadget

I was reading the Live Journal Mandelo at Work and noticed the word count at the top. I wanted one. I don't know why, I mean sure I can see my own progress at the bottom of my 2007 Word where it helpfully (or not so helpfully) shows how many words I have in this particular work. But for some reason, I really waned this gadget on my blog.


Maybe so I can show everyone else how little this story has progressed this weekend? Don't know, but it's so cool I had to have it. Thanks to NaNoWriMo Word Meter, now that I know what NaNoWriMo is! Pretty cool, I may give it a try this November!

I do wonder how to update the word meter without going to NaNoWriMo, but it's a minor quibble.

Hmm, now that I look at that, why is my blue progress bar sack in the middle? That's not right. Nope, tried again, from scratch. Same thing. Damn. Ah, well, it's still cool.