Character Spotlight/Interview with author Charlie Cochrane

Please give a warm welcome to Ben Edwards from Tumble Turn by Charlie Cochrane today as we sit down and see what makes him tick.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not saving (the world, clients, your mate)?

I don’t often save the world – in fact I don’t ever save it. But I still hold a Paralympic world record in the swimming pool. When I’m not swimming or training I watch a lot of sport and enjoy playing games on the computer. I guess it’s no surprise to find out that the games I like best are sports based. I’m a dab hand at FIFA  2019: much better than Nick is.

What is it about your love interest Nick that makes you crazy in a good way?

How sad is it if I say that it’s just about everything? He’s drop dead gorgeous for a start, he’s into computer games like I am (how romantic!) and he likes winter sports, so he’s been teaching me to snowboard. You’ve realized by now how much I’m into physical activity – and not just the sort that takes place in bed – so being able to do a sport together is brilliant. I’m a better swimmer than he is, as well as being better at gaming and both of those nark him in a good way.

Do you sometimes want to strangle your writer? Thrash her/him to within an inch of their life? Make them do the stupid crap they make you do?

Um, only once or twice. Or maybe more. Thing is she got me into a situation where my love life was impacting on my sport and with the London Olympics on the horizon that was a bit below the belt. Still, I had to forgive her when she gave me and Nick a happy ending. Even if it took a while getting there.

Favorite food?

Pizza, although I have to watch how often I have that when I’m in training. And no, I don’t have pineapple on it, but I won’t judge those who do. 😊

  

Describe yourself in four words.

Dedicated. Determined. Faithful. Funny. (Nick would say I’m infuriating, swimming-mad and fit in both senses of the word but I can’t say that about myself, can I?)

What do you do for a living?

I’m a professional Paralympic swimmer but I’m getting into sports presentation and commentary now. It must have been my appearance on the British cult TV programme ‘A Question of Sport’. I even appeared as guest captain for a couple of weeks. I don’t know who was prouder, Nick or my parents. I reckon Dad thought it was better than any of my medals.

What do you fear the most?

That I’ll wake up one day and the last 14 years have just been a glorious dream and that I’ll have to do it all again and maybe this time there’ll be no happy ending. ☹

Blurb: Four seasons, four stories, one connection – finding love. For the first time these four re-issued tales are in a single collection, with a story for each season.
Two men who hate Valentine’s Day discover they might have been wrong.
A Paralympic swimmer gets an unusual incentive to win gold.
Love and lust flourish under desert skies, but nature’s cruel.
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night gets a new twist.

                                                                                     

Buy link (July 22^nd release): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SFYTPZ9?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420

Excerpt:

Fate’s a cruel mistress. Or master. Or something. I got to my seat—eventually, after battling through crowds and then signing autographs for some real swimming fanatics—and I was settling in when something slapped the back of my head.

“Ben!” It was Matty, of course, looking pleased as punch and plonking his backside in the seat behind mine and two to the left. “That’s a stroke of luck. I’d forgotten I hadn’t got your number on my new phone.”

That made me even more angry. Matty pulling the “long lost friend” thing on me when he hadn’t bothered to keep my number. I scowled at him, and at the weaselly looking bloke sitting to the left of him, who was evidently the ghastly Nick and every bit as horrible as I’d imagined him. There was another bump to my head and I spun round one hundred and eighty degrees, about to give some clumsy sod a mouthful. There was gorgeous-guy-with-the-coffees smiling at me and being terribly apologetic.

“Sorry, did I thump you?” He smiled, revealing the sort of lovely teeth that would have been all the better to eat me with, if I’d been lucky. “My fault. I’ve always been clumsy. I think it’s dyspraxia but Jenny just says I’m a prat. With dyspratsia.” He grinned.

This horrible hot flush—remember my habit of blushing?—started to clamber up the back of my neck, which is hardly my best look given that there’s more than a trace of ginger in my hair. I managed to stammer something like, “No worries,” although I could have been spouting gibberish, for all that I was aware. All I could think of was that I’d nearly gone and cocked everything up with my I won’t answer the phone ruse. At least fate had saved me and redeemed itself at the same time. Unless I was buggering things up again by making an assumption too many, this must have been Jenny’s brother, and he wasn’t the spotty nerd I’d expected.

“I’m Nick.” This gorgeous vision of tall, dark handsomeness stuck out his hand. “You must be Ben.”

“Yeah, that’s right.” I managed to shake his hand without shaking too much myself. Sometimes I get a bit clumsy if I’m overexcited.

“We saw you on the telly—Paralympic World Cup, earlier this year. You won.”

“You don’t half state the bleeding obvious,” Matty chipped in, grinning. “I suspect Ben remembers that for himself.”

“Just a little.” I was hoping the red flush was starting to subside.

“Matty was so proud of you. Kept pointing at the screen and saying that was his best mate from school days. He started to cry when you won.” Nick rolled his eyes. “Great Jessy.”

I was starting to well up, too. Maybe Matty had redeemed himself a bit. “We said we’d be here, being a part of it. Even back when we were horrible, spotty schoolboys, we knew we’d have to make London 2012 happen.”

Welcome Charlie Cochrane today

Welcome to Dawn’s Reading Nook, Charlie. Please let my cabana boys/girls get you a drink and make yourself at home. Comfortable? Great…now let’s get down to business.

Q: For the readers out there who might not know about you or your work, can you please tell them a little about yourself.

I write gay fiction, usually romantic, often historical and sometimes with a mystery element. My work tends to have a humorous (and slightly eccentric) thread running through it, which reflects the author’s slightly eccentric, humorous tendencies.

As for me, I’m a happily married mother of three lovely girls (I have to say that or they’ll bash me) who’s mad about books, sport, animals and history and passionate about the Christian faith. (By which I mean what Jesus taught but don’t get me started on that!)

Q: Are you a by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of writer, or do you have to use an outline to put your collective thoughts into some semblance of common sense?

I’m a pantser all the way. My average plot outline is no more than a sentence and a setting; I start to work and see what emerges. Quite often I write in a jigsaw way, creating scenes throughout the story then pasting them together. The only notes I keep are those I produce as I go along and quite often they’re just a list of questions that I have to go back over and clarify.

Q: Tell us all about your latest or upcoming release. What inspired it?

Home Fires Burning was inspired by two things. The second story of the pair, a light hearted romp featuring two professional actors who get dragged into solving a crime, comes from the serial crime programmes I used to listen to on the radio as a child.

The first story (the one the excerpt comes from) is much darker and sprang out of my love for WWI poetry and poets. The heartbreaking story of Wilfred Owen and his stunning verses have made me want to write so much set around that war and the men who fought in it.

Q: What is one thing readers might be surprised to know about you?

That I’m highly respectable, really. I do freelance work training school governors, am in the early stages or recruiting a new Head teacher for the place where I’m Chair of governors and have recently been asked to join the Executive board for a school in difficulties. I very occasionally sign e-mails as Charlie which always confuses people.

Oh, and the readers might be surprised to know that I like rugby, as I keep that fact very quiet. J

Q: If we asked your muse to describe you in three words, what do you think they might say?

Batty, scatty, occasionally ratty. (Sorry, that’s 33% over word count!)

Q: What authors can be found in your library of books (print, audio or e-books)?

I’m strictly a print girl, with a smattering of audio. You’ll find Patrick O’Brian, classic murder mysteries, Jerome K Jerome, lots of books about rugby and cricket and quite a smattering of history. And funny stuff, like Dilbert, beachcomber or James Thurber. Eclectic, I’d say.

Q: Have any guilty pleasures you want to share with us?

Scalding hot baths, lots of bubbles, a nice book to read. Having my Sky box on the interactive setting and flicking between three rugby matches, much to Mr C’s consternation.

Q: Is there anything you’re currently working on that you can give us a taste of?

I always have various works in progress, in any state from half a page of ideas to 24000 words of plotless pandemonium. Here’s a snippet from something which is hopefully going to end up as a solve old mystery/ghost story thing. (See? I’m a pantser to the last!)

Morgan turned the letter in his hands. Pointless exercise, really; whichever way up it was it would still read the same.

“It isn’t you, it’s me.”

Trust James to have ended it all with a cliché. Maybe he’d typed “Dear John letters” into the search engine, cut and pasted them, changed the John for Morgan and copied it out longhand. At least he’d had the grace to write the thing by hand even if that seemed to be the only effort at personalising things.

“It’s been great, all of it, but people change. We’ve grown, and not in the same direction.”

The James he’d known wouldn’t have been able to draft such eloquent thoughts, not without his secretary taking his notes and making them into something impressive. Please God she hadn’t been allowed anywhere near this. The simple but expressive, “I’m bored with you so I’m buggering off,” would have been more in his line, or, “You’re no longer the spring chicken who caught my eye. I couldn’t be seen going out with a thirty year old. No good for the image, dear.”

Morgan had always suspected that James always had half an eye on whether there was anything better about. Like a pet, loving and seemingly grateful to its owner, but ready to push off and relocate if a better household could be found. Morgan’s family had once had a cat like that; he didn’t think he’d have ended up with a boyfriend who’d show the same proclivities.

“I won’t insult you by asking if we can remain friends although I hope some day we can be civil enough to share a pint. For old times sake.”

So that you can tell me all about your latest bloke? Like you used to tell me about Jonny and how he’d only been some sort of practice run for the real thing? No thank you. Morgan sighed. He wasn’t ready to be civil. Especially after three years of James hinting that the real thing might just be him. That was a load of crap, wasn’t it? Like all the other crap James had been spouting these last few months. Why had it taken Morgan so long to realize he’d been strung along?

Q: When creating your characters, do you have models in mind or are they totally fictional? (You can attach a picture of one of your character inspirations if you like)

Jamie Bamber has been the inspiration for many of my characters, both in terms of looks (Jonty is a dead ringer for the younger JB) and also for his intellect. I like clever, sexy men. I’ve also been inspired by Francisco Bosch, the dancer, and Tommy Bowe the rugby player. I also have characters who I see quite clearly in my mind, but I’ve no idea where or who the appearance has come from.

However, once we get into the matter of personality traits, my characters soon diverge from their “models”.

Q: Are you in control of your characters or do they control you?

Hm. We have a relationship of mutual respect. I let them have as much free rein as they want, so long as they don’t go beyond the boundaries (of taste, morality or my patience!) In return they have to promise to be interesting and never act out of character (unless there’s a good reason). It usually works...

Q: If you came with a warning label, what would it say?

Liable to see the funny side of anything – watch out for explosions of giggling.

Q: Please tell us where we can find you on the web.

My website is here, www.charliecochrane.co.uk and my blog’s over at Live journal.
http://charliecochrane.livejournal.com

Thanks for popping by and I wish you continued success in your writing career.

Thanks, Dawn. It’s always a pleasure to be part of your online life. To quote the mother of one of my favorite sit-com characters, Miranda, “Such fun!”

 

Title: Excerpt (PG15) Home Fires Burning (m/m historical)

Buy links:

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Fires-Burning-ebook/dp/B005JER3K2, http://www.amazon.com/dp/098282677X and all the usual sources.

Blurb:

Two stories, two couples, two eras, timeless emotions.

Excerpt from 'This Ground Which was Secured at Great Expense', a bittersweet story set against the backdrop of WWI:

“You have to go home. You must be mad to want to stay here.” Phillip smoothed his chin, easing fingers over the parts the razor had left raw.

“There’s no one at home to go to. You know I’ve no close family.” Nicholas stared at the letter from Colonel Johnstone, the one which virtually ordered him to get home and take a rest. There was little point in staying if Phillip had gone, anyway; better to go back to Hampshire and try to keep his hands to himself when he met Paul.

Phillip had been given leave, too and he seemed alight with some private, inner glow. “How about you? What have you planned?” Nicholas asked the question for formality’s sake; the thought of Phillip enjoying a passionate reunion with some chit of a thing burned into his dreams, torturing his sleeping self.

“I’ll be seeing family, of course, and…” Phillip considered his face in the mirror once more. Nicholas suddenly realised he was playing for time, weighing up his options. He’d seen that expression before—it spoke of utter candour. “And I have someone waiting for me, someone I’m very close to.”

Nicholas had to fill the silence that clung to the coattails of that bald statement. “Not like you not to have mentioned her before.” The strain in his voice seemed amplified by the tension which had descended between them.

“I didn’t feel entirely sure I could, not up until now.” Phillip finished his toilet and rolled down his sleeves. He turned, fixing the full piercing glare of his green eyes on his fellow officer. “You’re a good man in a tight corner. Reliable. Can I rely on you now?”

“Of course.” Nicholas awaited the revelation, the great secret he was to be entrusted with. Was Phillip laying siege to some other officer’s wife, sapping her resolve and providing comfort while her man was miles away? If so, it was little wonder he wanted to get home.

“It’s not a girl, at home. It’s a man. Yes, I know I’m a bloody idiot telling you, but I trust you with my life, Nicholas. Have done every day since I got posted here. You’re not going to shop me, are you?” Phillip ran his hands through his dark hair. “Not sure it wouldn’t be worse if you told my parents than if you told the Colonel. He’d probably be more sympathetic so long as I’m not buggering Miller.” 

The unaccustomed coarseness made Nicholas wince, although he was sure its origin was nothing but Phillip’s nerves masquerading as bravado. “I had no idea.” Weak words, stupid sounding once they hit the air, yet it was all he could manage. If only he’d known, he might have said something. Sooner.

“I’m hardly likely to advertise it, am I? Fergal’s a good sort—he’s an engineer, working on ships’ engines for Vospers. Wants to get to sea himself, the idiot.” The deep affection apparent in Phillip’s voice cut into Nicholas’s heart. He’d never heard him speak this way, even about his family.

Getting to know Lee Rowan

Like a lot of writers, I go blank when faced with “Tell us a little about yourself.”  So I enlisted two of my favorite colleagues to give me the third degree—Alex Beecroft, who writes like Patrick O’Brian might have if he’d been doing gay Age of Sail novels, (Captain’s Surrender, False Colors), and Charlie Cochrane, who’s had plenty of experience questioning suspects via her handsome sleuths in her smash Cambridge Dons series that begins with Lessons in Love.

Okay, ladies, I’m in the hot seat:

ALEX:

How long have you been writing? What made you start?

I wanted to write those books based on TV shows... the original-novel sort, “pro fanfic.”  But I was only in junior high and though my queries were turned down gently... they were turned down.

What was your first book and what was it about?

It was a Man from UNCLE fanfiction, and it was about twenty pages--before I gave up because I was only around 12 or 13 and didn’t know enough about the world.  Frustrating!  My first published book was Ransom, about two young Naval officers who decide love is worth risking death for.

If you could be one of your characters, who would it be and why?

I’m not sure I would want to be one of my characters—not permanently, anyway.   Maybe Lord Robert Scoville... he’s got a lovely man to keep house for him, and he gets to travel the Victorian world in first class accommodations

What are you looking for in a hero?

A person who, when things are really bad, would put himself (or herself) between danger and the one s/he loves.  Someone who knows the easy way out, but does the right thing.  Sounds corny, but that’s what a hero is.

What are you enjoying reading at the moment?

Mysteries by Rex Stout and Georges Simenon—two masters at creating a unique and specific world—New York City for Nero Wolfe, Paris for Inspector Maigret.

What do you do when you're not writing?

Lately, haul my animals back and forth to the vet, or pour water on the garden, or engage in hand-to-hand combat with an apparently endless string of home improvement projects.

What do you like better to write - series or stand alone novels?

Series, apparently.  When I get a set of characters who really work for me, they seem to take up residence in my subconscious and keep tossing out ‘oh, and by the way, did you know what we’re doing now...?’ sort of teasers.

What automatically puts you off a book?

Graphic depictions of physical cruelty, especially to animals.  And if it’s committed by someone who’s supposed to be a ‘good guy,’ that’s it for the book.   In fact, if there is no one character I can even like, I won’t finish the book.  Twenty years ago I would have, but there are enough unpleasant people in the real world—I refuse to spend my time to fictional jerks.

Tell us about the books you have out at the moment?

Home is the Sailor – AT LAST!  The fourth novel in the Royal Navy series.  It’s interesting how the series has worked out—Ransom was mostly about Davy, Winds of Change and Eye of the Storm were more about Will, and Home brings us back to Davy and sets the course for the rest of their lives together.   There may be other books, but if the series ended here, I’d feel I brought them safe to harbor.

CHARLIE:

If you had twenty four words to describe what you write, what would you say?

Ordinary people who find themselves in situations where they also find, within themselves, the ability to ‘give and hazard all’ for the sake of love.

That’s one word over your limit, but I could hardly leave out the love!

Why do you write the genre you do, as opposed to something that people might call more mainstream?

I write the stories I want to read, and there’s not much of it in the mainstream! 

Where would you like to see m/m romance in five years time? What do you think it would take to get it there?

Right on the shelf beside other romances.  It’ll take time.  It always does.

Can you tell us one thing about yourself that would surprise your readers?

I’ve walked on fire.  And no, the next stop was not the hospital!   I was trying to get up the nerve to quit a full-time office job and go half-time to open my massage therapy practice, with the idea that, one day, I could do massage and write in my free time.   It’s very interesting:  once you have put your bare feet on red-hot coals and crossed without being burned, your mind kind of redefines the word “impossible.”

Can you tell me about one book/story that is your style to a T - the sort of 'If you like this you'll love the rest of it' story?

I think Ransom or Gentleman’s Gentleman fit that bill...  one is my writing at its most serious, the other is a little lighter. 

And…. one of these days, I’ve got a few questions of my own!

Getting to know author Charlie Cochrane

Can you tell us a little about how you started writing; was it something you have always wanted to do?

Not at all. Like many teenagers I dabbled with writing ‘slash’ (only it wouldn’t have been called slash then) but it was pretty awful. It was only as I hit my late forties I got into writing again (fanfic) and sort of took it from there.

Your work is very popular with readers and reviewers; how does it feel to have such positive recognition for your work?

Gobsmacking. Mind boggling. Seriously, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to getting a good review or receiving one of those lovely e-mails from a stranger saying “I really loved your story, because…” To open the inbox and find one of those waiting is the highlight of my day.

Of course I get negative reviews/comments as well, but that’s part of the game. The only proper public reply to a naff review is, “Thank you”, then you can go and swear and gnash your teeth in private. As my writing hero E M Forster said, “Some reviews give pain. This is regrettable, but no author has the right to whine. He was not obliged to be an author, He invited publicity and he must take the publicity that comes along.”

What do you consider to be the key elements of a great story?

It’s as simple (and as hard) as making the reader want to turn the page and find out what happens next. Maybe that boils down to having characters you care about or maybe it’s just a cracking plot. Or the book’s hilariously funny, like ‘Three Men in a Boat’.

Tell us a bit about your latest book, and what inspired you to write such a story.

Lessons in Desire is the second of the Cambridge Fellows series of historical gay romantic mysteries and it’s in print on 6^th July. I was inspired by all the wonderful holidays we’ve had on the island of Jersey. It really is a magical place, where you feel the weather’s always good, the food’s magnificent and you’ve almost stepped back in time. All those elements found their way into the book.

Which of your characters do you love/hate/fear/pity the most and why?

I love Jonty most because he’s gone through awful times and emerged whole and honourable. And he’s gorgeous. I pity one of his tormentors (his old House Master) because the man simply doesn’t understand what’s right and what’s wrong.

Do you get along with your muse? What do you do to placate her when she refuses to inspire you?

It’s a him, my muse. He can be placated with good music, sport, jelly babies and just writing about anything. Also, if I start scribbling/typing something not necessarily related to what I should be doing then he gets jealous and makes me focus again.

Do you have another book in the works? Would you like to tell readers about your current or future projects.

I have a Cambridge Fellows story set in 1919 that I’ve just finished and submitted. Otherwise, I have a short story coming out in an anthology and several projects I’m working on as the muse allows. 

 What is the most ridiculous thing that you have thought about doing to any of your characters but never did?

If I think of something ridiculous I usually do it (Jonty and Orlando rolling down a hill and thinking they’re going to die in Lessons in Desire springs to mind).

How do you keep track of your world building?

With difficulty. I do keep notes (to which I have to refer often) but my mind finds that uncomfortable. I like to keep as much as I can stored in my brain, partly because if I can’t keep tabs with who’s who and what’s where, how can the reader? (And does any of that make sense?)

 

Which author(s) is your favorite? And who has most influenced you work?

Patrick O’Brian probably heads the list. Talk about characterisation, world building and all the rest of it, because he had it in spades. And humour, too. I suspect consciously or subconsciously, he’s influenced my writing hugely, as have writers like Jerome K Jerome (for the right tone for my historical fiction) and Alan Bennett (for sheer invention and an appreciation of what it is to be English).

I also like ‘classic’ cosy mystery writers like Simon Brett and Ngaio Marsh – and for non-fiction, you can’t beat the thinking woman’s crumpet, Michael Wood.

 Do you feel your writing is character driven or plot driven? How do you balance these two elements?

Character, always. I only work from the vaguest plot outlines—getting from A to Z with no particular details about how we get there. I like to find out where my characters want to take me and if that means having to go back and rewrite earlier bits to keep a unity within the whole, so be it.

 What is your favorite movie of all time? The one where you can watch it and still get affected at the same spots each and every time?

Master and Commander. I’ve watched it a bajillion times and still get choked up when the young acting lieutenant gets killed. The best viewing has been on a big screen, under the stars in a park on the island of Jersey, with bats flitting around and shooting stars in the sky. Perfect.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what 5 things would you have with you?

Can I have a laptop with internet access and unlimited power? Or a satellite TV? (I have to be able to keep in touch with sport!) otherwise I’d like: the sweatshirt Sophia Deri-Bowen gave me, the one that’s absolutely wonderful to snuggle up in; paper, pens and pencils for writing and sketching; my black haematite necklace; and a huge supply of jelly babies. 

What is your favorite way to relax after a hard day working and writing?

Anyone who vaguely knows me could probably guess that it would be watching sport on TV. Rugby, cricket, golf, we don’t mind. And it’s great camaraderie, sitting as a family cheering on your team, especially on cold winter nights.

If someone hasn't read any of your work, what book would you recommend that they start with and why?

That’s really hard to answer. I suspect Lessons in Trust or Lessons in Power are my best books, but as they’re books 7 and 4 respectively in the Cambridge series, that might not be logical. Lessons in Love is the first in the series, so you could start there.

Where can readers find out what's new and how can they contact you?

My website is www.charliecochrane.co.uk, but I tend to update my blog http://charliecochrane.livejournal.com/ or facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000878813798 a bit quicker. If you want to e-mail me, cochrane.charlie2@googlemail.com usually gets through!

*~*

Sneak peek into Lessons in Desire now available in print and e-book from Samhain Publishing

Jonty drew his hand down his lover’s face, across his lips. It was the first time they’d touched with any degree of intimacy since they’d left St. Bride’s. The caress made Orlando shudder afresh, as if they were touching for the first time. “We may have two bedrooms, but do we really need to use them both? It’d be easy enough to slip across before the early morning tea arrives, if we set your alarm clock.”

Orlando looked up, determined to refuse. He was still feeling skittish about staying in a suite of rooms with his lover. Sharing a bed was beyond any imagining although, ironically, the item in question was a glorious double bed such as he’d dreamed, on many an occasion, of sleeping in with Jonty. “I’m not sure I feel sufficiently recovered from the journey to want to do anything except sleep.” He studied his hands, the shirt he was trying to hang up, anything but his lover.

“That would be fine. I’m as happy to simply slumber next to you as anything else. There are plenty of other days for romance—we could just be fond friends tonight, or pretend to be that old couple we played cards with. Still very much in love yet beyond the thralls of passion.” Jonty gently touched his friend’s hand.

Orlando felt as if a spider was crawling down the back of his neck, and his discomfiture must have been plain. “What if we slept apart, just for tonight?”

They had reached the crux of why he’d been so keen not to come on holiday. He was frightened of taking their relationship outside the college walls, displaying it to the world. Within the ivy-clad, male-dominated locality of St. Bride’s, it had been easy to maintain a friendship which was more than close without raising a suspicious eyebrow. He’d spent little time with Jonty out of Cambridge, apart from a visit or two to London, where they’d stayed in the relatively safe environs of the Stewart family home. To be with the man in a strange place was to put himself at risk of making a demonstration of his affection by an unguarded look or touch.

Any footman could walk through the streets of town in his bowler-hatted Sunday best, hand in hand with a parlour maid. A pair of dons could never be allowed such freedom; not in Cambridge and certainly not on Jersey. If they ever were mad enough to be tempted, all they had to do was remember the law—two years of hard labour and public disgrace would be no holiday.

Jonty slammed down the toothbrush he’d been unpacking. “Oh, go and sleep in the bath if you want to! I haven’t the heart to put up with this nonsense. I’m going to sleep in my own bed, in my own soft pyjamas, with my own book. If you change your mind and decide to join me, make sure you knock, because I might just have found other company.” He spun on his heels, entering his bedroom with a slam of the door which caused the windows to shake.

http://samhainpublishing.com/coming/lessons-in-desire-print