Ashe Barker’s ‘The Highwayman’s Lady’ (release date 5.3.16)
Click on the rafflecode below for a chance to win a $10 GC for Amazon. Deadline is March 14!!
Hello, Ashe, nice to have you on my blog today. I see you have a new release in the works.
Hi Mary, and thank you so much for inviting me over to your blog to give a shout out about The Highwayman’s Lady. I’m really excited about this story, Gray is a hero I’ve been hatching for a while now, and it just reached the point where he had to emerge. He’s a rogue and no one could mistake him for a gentleman, but I hope you’ll love him as much as I do.
I probably will by the looks of him 😉 ❤ ❤
Here’s the blurb…
After the death of her mother, twenty-year-old Imogen Bennett faces the prospect of being coerced into marriage by a scheming relative, but fate intervenes when a masked highwayman accosts her on the road. Desperate to escape the unwanted wedding, Imogen pleads with the mysterious, handsome rogue to rescue her.
Alistair Graham is a proud Scotsman who rebelled against British rule, and since the defeat of the highlanders at Culloden he has taken to robbing rich Englishmen travelling through Scottish lands. He is no gentleman, but he is certainly not a man who would ignore a young woman’s pleas for help, and he agrees to do what he can to assist the beautiful girl he has waylaid.
Imogen finds herself drawn to Alistair, and though he warns her that he expects a woman’s complete obedience both in bed and out of it, she cannot resist offering her virgin body to him. He takes her hard and thoroughly, leaving her utterly spent yet still aching for more, and when her shock at her own wantonness leads her to speak disrespectfully to him he bares her bottom and punishes her soundly.
A highwayman is no suitable match for a lady, however, and Alistair fears that her association with him can only put them both in danger, so he makes her promise that she’ll tell no one about what took place between them and then ensures that she is delivered safely to the home of her honourable cousin in Kirkleven. Yet despite her best efforts to put Alistair out of her mind forever, in her heart Imogen knows she will always belong to the man who rescued her, mastered her, and made her his. But will her highwayman ever return to lay claim to his lady?
Publisher’s Note: The Highwayman’s Lady is an erotic romance novel that includes spankings, sexual scenes, anal play, elements of BDSM, and more. If such material offends you, please don’t buy this book.
And an excerpt…
“Please, wait.” I blurt out my words without thinking. He pauses, turns his head to regard me over his shoulder.
“Madam?”
“Take me with you. Please.”
He appears to consider my request, though just briefly. Then he shakes his head. “As I explained to your companion when he suggested a similar course of action, I do not abduct females and would object most strenuously to being hanged for such a crime. I have my faults, as must be evident, but I am no abuser of women.”
“It would not be abduction; it would be… a rescue. I will tell them that, if we are caught.” I reach for him, grasp his sleeve.
He makes a point of looking at my fingers as I clutch at his arm but does not shake me off. His gaze is level as he regards my no doubt frantic features. “I do not believe the distinction would be appreciated. I am sorry, I cannot help you other than to afford you the means to gain your freedom as I have already explained.”
“But, he will catch me. Sidney, I mean. I just need to get to my family in Scotland. They will help me.”
He shakes his head. “This is a secluded spot. It is likely to be several hours at least before anyone comes by to release him. Sidney, did you say? You will have good start on him.”
I nod. “I know, but how far will I get on foot? I do not even have a cloak.”
“We could always liberate that fine garment worn by Sidney. I would be delighted to assist you in that endeavour.”
I bow my head, disheartened. Sidney’s cloak will help, but I would still be facing a journey of over two hundred miles with no money, no food, no change of clothing, on foot and battered as I am. Even if I am able to reach Lady Beatrice in Stirling, what sort of a sight would I present by the time I arrive? She is as likely to slam her door and set the dogs on me thinking me to be an itinerant beggar as she would be to welcome me as her long-lost cousin. I try one last tack.
“I could pay you.”
He furrows his brow, his head tilted to one side. “Could you? I thought we had established that you have no money, nothing of value.”
“I do not, not yet. But I stand to inherit twenty thousand pounds on my twenty-first birthday, just eight months from now. If Sidney succeeds in forcing me to wed him, he will gain control of my inheritance. If you aid me in eluding him and thwarting his plans, I will pay you one thousand pounds. You will have to wait for eight months, but I swear to you I will redeem my debt.”
“I do believe you would, miss. However, even the promise of a small fortune for my trouble will not induce me to court the hangman’s noose for such an offence. What is more, if I were the chivalrous knight in shining armour you clearly mistake me for, I would not take payment from you in any case.”
I face the highwayman again and contemplate further pleading. I opt for a more direct and immediate reward.
“Sir, I would be prepared to do anything, anything at all you may desire, in exchange for your assistance.” I trust he will take my meaning and from the wicked glint that I perceive in his eyes, I can tell it is not lost on him. Despite my bold offer, a burning flush rises from below my neckline and creeps up my face. I am oddly calm at the prospect of sleeping with this outlaw. Indeed, the idea awakens some rather peculiar sensations deep in my belly. He may be ugly as the devil himself behind that mask, but I find him to be strangely attractive and he has treated me with the utmost respect thus far. Even so, the act of offering my body to him is not one which comes easily.
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Mary Wehr 