The Lord of Summer is my first, and to date
only, novella. But given how much I loved writing it, I can’t imagine it’ll be
my last. In lots of ways, it’s the perfect length for erotic romance. Long
enough to explore a full story, but short enough to still pack a really sexy
punch!
Actually, when I first wrote the story, it
was 5,000 words shorter. But when Xcite asked me to expand it to fit in with
the Secret Library series, it was easy to find the missing story. I just had to
look to the characters.
The extra space in a novella allowed me to
dig deeper into who my characters are… and what they really, really want. The
deep desires they haven’t even admitted to themselves, that they don’t think
they can ever admit to each other.
I found it especially fun to write about a
married couple. Two people with a shared history, a shared love. They already
know each others’ bodies, wants and needs – and take great joy in fulfilling
them. But an unexpected visitor is about to change everything they thought they
knew about each other – and themselves.
BLURB
Banished to the back
of beyond, in the middle of a long, hot summer, Gem and Dan Parker find
their marriage filling up with secrets. As they work to reopen the Green Man
pub, tensions and unacknowledged desires come between them. From
their first night, when Gem sees someone watching them make love from the edge
of the woods, her fantasies of having two men at once start to grow and consume
her.
As the temperature
rises, she becomes fixated by her imaginings of an impossible, gorgeous,
otherworldly man in the forest. A man who could make her dreams come true – and
maybe save her marriage.
EXCERPT
Gem
couldn’t explain it. She’d been keyed up, feeling as if her skin were too
sensitive, too eager for touch, ever since they’d arrived at the Green Man. But
she could honestly say that right then, with Dan’s question – accusation, maybe
– ringing in her ears, sex was the last thing on her mind. Fear, perhaps.
Anger; with him for not trusting her, with Mark for putting her in this
position in the first place. Even with herself, because she’d known this would
happen, eventually. She hadn’t married a stupid man.
She’d
been ready to fight back, ready to yell, to distract, to accuse – whatever it
took to lead Dan away from the truth. But then …
A carving
on the wall; smooth, dark wood, had caught her eye. She’d stared, just for a
moment or two, taking in the curve of the face, the laughing eyes surrounded by
leaves and stems and flowers. Just like
the pub sign.
And when
she’d turned back to Dan, the comeback she’d prepared died on her lips and
suddenly her blood was beating with want.
She
stepped closer, her body swaying with her desire, watching as his eyes
darkened. Reaching out, she ran her fingers up his arm, the feel of his skin
under hers enough to make her heart race. And her words, when they came,
weren’t angry, or defensive, or anything but seductive.
‘You
don’t really want to waste time fighting, do you? Not when we’ve got a
tradition to uphold.’
That was
all it took.
Dan’s arm
snaked around her waist, pulling her tight against him, crushing her breasts to
his chest. He lowered his mouth to hers, and she felt her nipples tightening as
his other hand ran up her middle, popping open the buttons of her shirt. ‘I
suppose there are some more important things we could be doing,’ he said, and
the rasp in his voice made her shiver.
She loved
this, loved him. Lived for the feel of his hands on her body, his lips on her
neck. How could he think anyone else would ever measure up?
‘Far more
important,’ she murmured, leaning her head back to allow him better access to
her throat. His kisses burned a line down from her jaw to her breasts, nuzzling
her bra out of the way. She gasped as his lips surrounded a nipple, licking and
sucking and tugging as she felt herself growing wet and desperate.
Time to
regain some control, Gem decided.
Reaching
down, she ran her nails up Dan’s thighs, knowing the pressure through the thick
denim of his jeans always drove him wild. As she reached the top of his legs,
Dan broke away from her breasts and spun her round so her back hit wood. ‘Not
yet,’ he said, wrapping his hands over her hips to lift her up onto the
polished surface of the bar. ‘I’ve got plans for you.’
Without
giving her time to wonder what plans, Dan slid his palms down her thighs, only
to push her skirt up around her waist, out of the way. Gem leant back on her
hands, eyes half closed in anticipation. She knew what came next, could almost
feel his mouth on her already. Even without everything else that was wonderful
about him, the things his tongue could do were more than enough to make
marriage to Dan blissful.
Head
tipped back, Gem’s eyelids fluttered down as Dan ran his tongue along the line
of her already soaked underwear. His fingers moved in closer, tugging them down
her legs, and she kicked them away. His mouth was instantly back between her
thighs, and she felt the hum of his appreciative moan buzz through her. Why had
they been fighting again? What could possibly matter except this? Her ponytail
hung down along her back, tickling her skin where her shirt had fallen away.
Dan had unhooked her bra, she realised, and it hung loose from her arms. She
shrugged the rest of the fabric aside, swallowing hard as Dan licked into her.
No distractions. She wanted to focus on what her husband was doing to her body.
The tip
of his tongue circled around her clit and Gem let out a moan, her head rolling
to the side as her body shivered with need. For a moment, she caught a glimpse
of her reflection in the window at the end of the bar; her breasts, freed from
her bra, thrust out into the humid air, and Dan, bent between her legs, her
skirt pushed up between them. Gem smiled. She looked … wanton.
Then the
light changed, or the air moved, or something else that Gem couldn’t begin to
explain. Because she wasn’t looking at herself, any more. She was watching a
man, outside the pub, on the bridge, just beyond the window. Watching her.
ABOUT JENNA
Jenna
Bright writes erotic fiction at her tiny desk in her home near London
Born with an
over-active imagination, Jenna learnt early to channel her flights of fancy
into stories. Later, she discovered a talent for creating sensual worlds filled
with sexy scenarios, libidinous lovers and very arousing outcomes. She hopes
that you enjoy reading them as much as she enjoys writing them.
Twitter: @Jenna_Bright
Email:
jennabright@virginmedia.com
The Secret Library is a new range
from Xcite Books which will appeal to the female romance reader market. Each
book contains three specially commissioned novellas guaranteeing a satisfying
and varied selection.
The story content is relationship led with
a strong alpha male hero, a level of conflict and a climactic, explicit ending.
The covers are deliberately designed
without visual imagery to be discreet. These books could be comfortably read in
public, given as gifts and left on a bedside table.
The Secret Library contains six books with
three erotic romance novellas in each:
Traded Innocence – Toni Sands,
Elizabeth Coldwell and K D Grace
Silk Stockings – Constance Munday,
Jenna Bright and Lucy Felthouse
One Long Hot Summer – Elizabeth
Coldwell, Penelope Friday and Shanna Germain
The Thousand and One Nights – Kitti
Bernetti, Primula Bond and Sommer Marsden
The Game – Jeff Cott, Antonia Adams
and Sommer Marsden
Hungarian Rhapsody – Justine Elyot,
Charlotte Stein and Kay Jaybee
1 comment:
Sounds great! I would love to read it.
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