Lord Regret's Price: A Jane Austen Space Opera, Book 3 (33 page)

Look for these titles by Joely Sue Burkhart

Now Available:

A Jane Austen Space Opera

Lady Doctor Wyre

Her Grace’s Stable

The Connaghers

Dear Sir, I’m Yours

Hurt Me So Good

Yours to Take

All fire and gunpowder need is a stray spark…

Yours to Take

© 2012 Joely Sue Burkhart

The Connaghers, Book 3

The day one of her old clients gunned down a cop, former defense attorney Vicki Connagher lost everything—her passion for justice, and her lover, Detective
Elias Reyes. The dead cop’s partner.

Even though she’s following her dream to start her own fashion line, it’s tough with heartache as her only companion. Until she brings Jesse, a wandering street artist, in from a freak Texas snowstorm. His submissive flirting brings out dominant tendencies she never knew she possessed, yet she hesitates to let him take her as far and as hard as she wants to go.

Some homeless junkie in Vicki’s house? Not on Elias’s watch. Pride kept him away, but as long as Jesse is staying in Vicki’s downstairs shop, he’s staying with Vicki. On the couch, but it’s a start.

As the days go by, the three work out an uneasy alliance. But Vicki’s joy at having Elias back in her life is tempered with a growing desire to have it all. Elias in her bed, and Jesse under her command. The only question remaining is if her tough alpha cop is willing to embrace
all
that she is…

Warning:
Explicit sex, BDSM, a tough alpha cop, a reluctant Domme, and a smoldering submissive street artist willing to do anything to belong to her.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Yours to Take:

“You make me quiver every time I see you. You’re one hell of a woman, Vicki Connagher. I’m glad you and your brother beat that punk up. I’m glad you’re a strong, powerful woman who’s willing to go up against anyone and anything to make sure the law is followed. You were one hell of an attorney, and if I were ever on the wrong side of the law, there’s no one else in the world I’d want defending me.”

Cupping her cheek, Elias kissed her so tenderly her eyes burned again. Tenderness from him—or her—was as rare as her phone calls to Mama in the last few years.

Jesse sat up, a sheepish look on his face. He scooted away and began to stand up, but she turned and reached for his hand. “Where are you going?”

“It’s late. I ought to leave you two alone.”

“Not without a kiss goodnight.” Elias’s voice sounded normal, but when she searched his face, she noted that his jaw was tight. “I might be a mean son of a bitch, but I’m not cruel. We did a lot of tormenting and play today. He’s going to need a little more from you than a peck on the cheek.”

“Are you sure?”

“I need to see how I’m going to feel when I see you touching him.” He ran his hand through his hair and ground his teeth. “I’ll be honest, Vik. It’s going to be damned hard for me to watch. But we need to start somewhere.”

Jesse slipped off the couch and moved over to kneel in front of her. The sight of him waiting on his knees made her heart thud heavy and hard. Her pulse jumped, her blood hot and sweet, rushing through her veins. The light in his eyes was intoxicating. Touching him, even her fingers stroking his cheeks, increased that feeling of rising desire.

She kissed him, trying to keep it fairly clean for Elias’s sake. She didn’t want him to see her gobbling up another man, but the way Jesse melted against her made her crazy. Boneless, he sank into her embrace, soft, open and willing for anything she needed. All too quickly, she found herself gripping his bottom lip in her teeth. She dug her fingers into his buttocks, pressing him as close to her as possible.

Breaking the kiss, she dropped her head to his shoulder and concentrated on breathing. Damn it, what had happened to her control? Her desire to protect Elias as much as possible? Another few minutes and she would have shoved her hands down Jesse’s jeans.

“Are you okay?” She didn’t dare lift her head to seek Elias’s reaction. Jesse didn’t answer—he knew who she was asking.

“Yeah,” Elias replied in a graveled voice that made her shiver. “I’ve never seen anyone go so limp and eager like that. It’s like he’s giving you every single thing he’s got. His breath. His will. God, no wonder he makes you so hot, Vik. He’s begging you to ravish him.” He must have leaned close because his hot breath moistened her ear. “Show me some more.”

Elias had never thought of himself as a Peeping Tom, but he couldn’t deny that he was rock-hard and throbbing at the sight of his woman kissing another man. It wasn’t any man, though. If it were anyone but Jesse in her arms, he’d probably be dead. The kid wasn’t a threat to him. Vicki wanted him, but she gave Elias no doubts about how much she wanted him too.

She released Jesse’s ass to jerk his T-shirt over his head. Using the soft cotton, she tied his hands together in the small of his back. She’d been feeding him well, because he wasn’t as painfully thin as when she’d first taken him in. “What do you want?”

“Rough me up a little,” he gasped. “Pull my hair or bite me. God, I’d love it if you’d bite me hard enough to bruise.”

She wound her fingers in his hair and gave his head an experimental jerk. “Like that?”

“Harder. Force me to bend to your will.”

Elias made himself hold his breath for a count of ten and then let it out slowly. Damned if he was going to embarrass himself by hyperventilating…or coming in his pants like a pimply-faced teenager.

She pulled Jesse’s head back, forcing him to arch his neck and upper body away from her. She had strong hands, so Elias knew she was pulling hard, giving him what he’d asked for. With her other hand, she began unbuttoning Jesse’s jeans. His breathing was loud, rasping through his strained throat.

“Make me wait,” he ground out. “Don’t let me come without your permission.”

“Okay.” She twisted her fingers tighter in his hair and pressed her mouth to his neck.
 

By the way he jerked and groaned, she wasn’t kissing him. There was a reason Elias joked that she was like a shark or a crocodile—she’d always loved biting, and the neck and shoulder were her favorite targets. She ran her mouth down Jesse’s neck to his shoulder, leaving bites as she went, harder, really working the underlying muscle. He moaned louder, his breath panting, his skin a sheen of sweat.
 

Finally, she got his jeans unbuttoned. His shoulders bunched, tendons standing out in his neck.

“Not yet.” She let out a husky laugh, tracing his ear with her tongue. “You said to make you wait.”

“I’m going to die.”

“Good,” she purred. “Elias loves it when I do this to him.”

“The hell I do.” He did, though, and she loved it too, because he gave as good as he got. “Why don’t you dig those claws into him? He’ll really like that.”

She cupped Jesse’s balls, using her nails to grip that fragile skin. His eyes fluttered shut. Completely surrendered to her, his body hummed and vibrated like a delicate instrument in her hands. It was all Elias could do not to jerk open his own pants. Then she could have a cock in each hand. Maybe even have a contest over who could last the longest when she started using her mouth.

Christ, all the blood must have leaked out of my skull for me to even think about such a thing.

Shifting around to Jesse’s side so he was between them, Vicki stared over his shoulder at Elias. Her eyes were dark, gleaming pools of need. She tightened her hands, drawing a louder cry from Jesse. Defenseless, eager, softly pained male, it was a sound that Elias never thought he’d hear, let alone one that would turn him on. But it did. Because the woman he loved had drawn out that sound from the other man’s throat.

Still holding his gaze, she bit Jesse’s left shoulder, gripping the top muscle in her teeth firmly like a pit bull. He arched in a trembling, straining bow, his cock rising hard and desperate to rub against her, but she only bit him harder. “Please!”

She released him enough to speak. “Say my name.”

He shuddered, as though she’d told him to stick his finger in a light socket. “I can’t. I’ll come, I swear it.”

“Then come.” She jerked his head to the side and sank her teeth into his straining neck.

His greatest creation could be the death of them both.

The Iron Heart

© 2012 Leslie Dicken

One woman swears to avenge the savagery of a ruthless killer loose on the streets of Lundun; if only she can stay one step ahead of an inventor who fears that his greatest work, a labor of love, has turned on humanity.

Grieving the loss of her beloved cousin, Ella Wilder is determined to catch the murderer. Infuriated by the fumblings of the constable, she seeks the assistance of a handsome noble who seems to be looking for his own answers, and whose reluctance tells her he has something to hide. Over time, hesitant intimacy grows into fiery passion but brings them no closer to finding the madman.

As the killer reveals darker inventions that blur the boundary between man and machine, Ella fights the fear he may be after her next. Can Ella trust her heart to the man who refuses to share his secrets yet swears to protect her? Will Bennett be able to choose between keeping terrifying family secrets…or losing Ella to the iron-hearted killer who stalks the night?

Warning: This book contains a dirigible, flying machines, automatons, a sexy but secretive hero, a stubborn heroine, and a very determined killer.
 

Enjoy the following excerpt for
The Iron Heart:

“I found the candle!” She held it aloft. Her fingers enclosed the diameter as if it were the rigid shaft of his flesh. Her thumb caressed the length in slow, lazy circles.

The vixen! She was torturing him on purpose, pushing him beyond any sense of restraint. He crossed the room in long strides. “What schemes have you planned, Ella?”

Her eyes widened but he could hear her breathy gasps. “What-what are you talking about?”

Bennett snatched the candle from her hand. “This. Do you know the game you play?”

Her cheeks bloomed to a charming pink. “I found the object required of us. Why does that vex you?”

“You feign innocence. But all night you have batted your eyelashes at me, given me wicked grins, and fondled candles.”

“Fondled candles?”

Bennett arched his gaze over her in a long, deliberate stroke. He began at her bright lips, slipped over her silken shoulders, and then lingered on her generous breasts. His mouth watered, lips parted.

His voice lowered to a hoarse whisper. “Whatever your agenda, you have won. I cannot stand the torment any longer. Give me what I ask of you and you may have whatever you want of me in return.”

Ella’s tongue swept across her lower lip. “A…a fair bargain.”

Bennett snatched her against him. His hands plunged into her upswept hair, his mouth crushed on hers. She relaxed his embrace, enfolded her arms around his neck. Her hot, eager mouth opened to him.

He thrust his tongue inside her warmth and shivered when she matched his caress. She tasted of sweet wine and keen desire.

Devour.

Bennett could consume every cell of Ella and still not be satisfied. Once free of its confines, his hunger now roared. Blood surged, blazing and delirious.

He explored the warm margins of her mouth then demanded she discover his. She responded without hesitation, gave to him just as he’d asked. Her tongue delved between his lips and sought a most basic truth.

A truth he could not give.

Bennett brushed from her mouth to her neck. He nibbled the silken skin, listened to her throaty whimpers. Large earrings blocked his path, so he gently slipped them off and tucked them in a pocket.

“Ella…” The word rolled off his tongue and into her earlobe. She quaked against him and then gave a reckless sigh.

Her hands slid down his arms, squeezing as they went. She thrust her body against him. “Touch me.”
 

Bennett smoothed his hands down her shoulders then across her crushed mounds. His erection jerked as he fully encircled her breasts. It did not matter why she invited him, whether her wishes were real or motivated. This need was so primal, so selfish, it was a wonder he’d not yet stripped her bare.

“Yes.” Her sigh washed over in an urgent wave. Her hips rubbed his groin. Raw lust consumed each fiber, every nerve.

Bennett nuzzled her ear, squeezed her luscious flesh. “This is dangerous, Ella. This need haunts me.”

She whimpered. “I have a hollow ache. I…I don’t know what to do.”

His lip curled. He knew what to do. He could take care of her ache. With his fingers, his mouth, his pulsing arousal.

Her lips found the hollow of his neck. She pressed them to his skin in small, wicked nibbles. Bennett moaned, gripped Ella tighter when her tongue licked circles at his jugular.