Changing into a lion isn’t all fur and games.
2022 Maggie Award of Excellence FinalistChanging into a lion isn’t all fur and games.
A Regency lord battles his inner beast while helping an innocent miss, never dreaming how he’ll come to care for the chit—nor how being near his world will deliver danger right to her doorstep.
If Darcy possessed a roaring libido and grappled with feline curses…
Lady Francine Montfort may have led a sheltered life till her parents’ untimely demise but that doesn’t mean she’s ignorant. Neither is she blind to the conniving ways of her persistent aunt, who’s determined to marry Francine off for her own selfish gain. Forced to drastic measures to avoid the wretched woman’s scheming, Francine concocts her own masterful plan.
She might need to beg a favor from Lord Blakely—the sinfully alluring marquis who inspires all manner of illicit thoughts—but she’s determined to help him as well. To ease those mysterious, haunting secrets that torment him so…
When Lady Francine, the epitome of innocence, requests he pose as her betrothed, Blakely knows he should handily refuse. He’s baffled when unfamiliar, protective urges make themselves known, tempting him to agree while danger stalks ever closer.
Alas, it’s fast approaching the season when Blakely loses all control. Either Francine satisfies his sexual appetites or he’ll be forced to reveal his beastly side. And that will never do. Not now that he’s come to care for the intrepid miss.
Standalone ~ HEA ~ 80,000 word Novel
Note to Readers: This love story between two people contains a lot of sizzle, including one partial ménage scene that gets rather…growly.
A much shorter version of Ensnared by Innocence was previously published; this second edition is three times as long and freshly rewritten.
Chapter One
The Preposterous Proposition
I leave this recordation for my beloved sons. Erasmus and Nash. My heirs. Who will one day, pray God, live to manhood and conduct themselves in a manner more gracious, more fitting to their station and responsibilities than I have managed.
My dear offspring who I cannot believe I condemned to such a fate, however unknowingly.
A fate I share but one that was not known to me until after you were both conceived. (And which also no doubt explains the sparsity of children in our family, and siblings for you both.)
The urges for The Change first came upon me in the summer of the year I turned five and twenty. It was not yet the middle of July and yet I sensed the stirrings of what I would eventually learn was my animal blood. My feline side, if you boys will only set aside skepticism and believe. Please, sons, heed my warnings, for you do not want to be caught unaware as I—and irreparably harm the woman you love.
To see the fear in her eyes when she looks upon you and beholds a monster. A beast. Your inner beast. The lion, untamable. Unstoppable.
Deadly?
I pray not. ’Tis why I locked myself away, in this, my 28th year, the third of the curse. Why I place armed guards at the door for the entirety of the month.
As I battle the inner demon once again, my only consolation is knowing that you both are still too young to remark upon my absence.,
Too young to question why Papa turns into an ogre toward the end of the hot, sultry summer months.
Too young to recall how severely I injured your mother…
The Preposterous Proposition
I leave this recordation for my beloved sons. Erasmus and Nash. My heirs. Who will one day, pray God, live to manhood and conduct themselves in a manner more gracious, more fitting to their station and responsibilities than I have managed.
My dear offspring who I cannot believe I condemned to such a fate, however unknowingly.
A fate I share but one that was not known to me until after you were both conceived. (And which also no doubt explains the sparsity of children in our family, and siblings for you both.)
The urges for The Change first came upon me in the summer of the year I turned five and twenty. It was not yet the middle of July and yet I sensed the stirrings of what I would eventually learn was my animal blood. My feline side, if you boys will only set aside skepticism and believe. Please, sons, heed my warnings, for you do not want to be caught unaware as I—and irreparably harm the woman you love.
To see the fear in her eyes when she looks upon you and beholds a monster. A beast. Your inner beast. The lion, untamable. Unstoppable.
Deadly?
I pray not. ’Tis why I locked myself away, in this, my 28th year, the third of the curse. Why I place armed guards at the door for the entirety of the month.
As I battle the inner demon once again, my only consolation is knowing that you both are still too young to remark upon my absence.,
Too young to question why Papa turns into an ogre toward the end of the hot, sultry summer months.
Too young to recall how severely I injured your mother…
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Meet a Shakespeare-quoting shapeshifter who wants nothing to do with love…Cursed into the form of a lion without nightly sex, Lord Nash Hammond wants only two things—his liquor strong and smooth, and his wenches wild and willing. What he doesn’t need is a virgin!
Nash senses the man across from him in the cramped stagecoach is trouble, a danger to the veiled woman accompanying her lofty “protector”. Nash knows he’s no hero, yet she keeps asking for his help. And how is it the vexing female knows so much about his secrets? Ones that could rip her apart if she only knew it…
And the spunky “lady” from the streets who masquerades as another man’s mistress…
Blessed with the second-sight—or cursed, depending upon which relative she believes—Laney sees her two possible futures: bleak and a soon-deceased victim (ack!) or frolicking with her fellow stagecoach passenger: a golden-eyed, tawny-haired gentleman—who’s anything but.
The miserable rip who’s already stepped on her dress, who keeps staring…
Nash is surly and rude and resistant to her every effort to speak with him. When they stop for the night and she overhears him order a “strumpet” to bed, Laney takes the doxy’s place, convinced she can pretend well enough. After all, she’s pretended to be a mistress for years. She’ll satisfy his needs, but refuse his money—demand he listen and help her instead. Then she’ll be safe.
Until, along with her body, Nash starts to claim her heart as well.
Reader Advisory: While Deceived by Desire is laugh-out-loud funny in places, it contains a short *vision* of violence and brief references to past abuse. Beyond that, expect a fun and sexy good time because…
Changing into a lion is all fun and growls--until it isn’t.
HEA ~ Book 2 - Roaring Rogues Regency Shifters ~ 97,000 words
A shorter version of Deceived by Desire was previously published; this second edition contains several new chapters characters, and is freshly rewritten.
Book 1 - Ensnared by Innocence, FINALIST - Maggie Award of Excellence 2022
A lifelong Texan, Larissa writes steamy regencies and sexy contemporaries, blending heartfelt emotion with doses of laugh-out-loud humor. Her heroes are strong men with a weakness for the right woman.
Avoiding housework one word at a time ;-), Larissa adores brownies, James Bond, and all things feline. She’s been a clown, a tax analyst, and a pig castrator (!) but nothing satisfies quite like seeing the entertaining voices in her head come to life on the page.
Writing around some health challenges and computer limitations, it’s a while between releases, but stick with her…she’s working on the next one.
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What an interesting book! Great cover and excerpt. I'd love to read more.
ReplyDeleteinteresting
ReplyDeletethis is really intriguing.
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