I’ve parachuted into this blog spot specialising in hot romance with a paranormal twist and I need some street cred! Well, I created a sexy ghost for Dead Gorgeous, a story written for Xcite Books. Rory comes from wherever he resides to make life sizzle for a young woman missing a male in her life. My website contains details of a couple of other stories, one in the Xcite Spirit Lovers collection and the latest one, Valkyrie’s Queen, in the collection, Seducing the Myth, edited by Lucy Felthouse.
So, how about Adelaide Beauchamp, my latest heroine? She’s haunted all right, but by her own desires and hang ups and any bumps in the night occurring in her Victorian household are down to lusts of the flesh, not of the spirit. But, Adelaide, like many people of that era, is fascinated by the occult and particularly interested in knowing her fortune. She sets off to consult a soothsayer who reads Tarot cards and crystal gazes. Description is an important part of my writing and I hope this extract gives a flavour of the house where the medium holds sittings.
Excerpt:
…. Inside, a well-corseted, rather formidable figure dressed in a black gown, a violet wool shawl draped over her shoulders, stood behind a table swathed with dark green baize. Velvet curtains, the colour of claret, were already drawn, eliminating the dismal winter afternoon. Two gas lamps on wall brackets glowed, hissing gently. The fire here was bigger and brighter. I began unbuttoning my heavy overcoat. My gloves were already in my handbag.‘Please sit down,’ said Evangeline Proudlove in a voice reminiscent of treacle seeping through gravel. ‘Min will look after your things if you wish.’
I thanked Min as she took my belongings and seated myself, placing my bag on the floor beside me.
‘I like it when ladies keep their wedding rings on,’ said the soothsayer. ‘No point in hiding things. Not here.’ She scooped up a pile of cards and shuffled them, beringed fingers and wrists banded by silver bracelets which clinked and jingled as she worked. Then she handed over the pack. ‘Please shuffle them.’
I let my fingers riffle through the cards, as though I was set to play a game of Solitaire instead of dealing my destiny. Madam held her hand out to take back the pack. Fanned out the pasteboard rectangles in a wide arc on the cloth. I marvelled at the smoothness of her jet black hair, shiny liquorice under a mantilla-like head covering.
Adelaide’s love life is easily summed up. She loves the one she’s with. But if her appetites overcome her, she’ll do something about it. As in the following scene…
That night I undressed, fantasising Daisy’s fingers loosening my buttons and stays. My nipples hardened under this imaginary touch. I refused to acknowledge the danger of employing someone so capable of melting my willpower. I’d conducted my personal life with discretion, avoiding tittle-tattle, but now my longing for tenderness and laughter swamped my common sense like a deluge from a watering can. She was inexperienced for the post of lady’s maid but I could coach her, talk to her of books and society scandals. Show her pretty things. Even if I didn’t hang around front rooms and foyers, I read plenty of newspapers and periodicals.
I turned back sheet and coverlet and climbed into bed. Daisy had invaded my senses and I was too alert for sleep. In my bedside drawer was something to help, something to which I tried not to resort too often. My very first lover had tried to teach me to applaud my body’s needs. But my upbringing was a tight corset and though Ruth Carroll had loosened the stays, I still felt I was beguiled by the devil’s violin.
I dipped the dildo between my thighs, working it gradually inside me and closing my eyes to the ruffled ruby-redness of my bedroom. I needed to shoo away that shadow of prudishness.
This is a heroine who switches between f/f and m/f. If you wonder where her affections will finally lie, I hope you’ll enjoy finding out. The book’s written in first person so you really get inside Adelaide’s head as well as her bed and you don’t miss any of the goings on.
Thanks for letting me share some of my writing with you.
Blurb:
Demure Adelaide hides a passionate nature beneath her elegant gowns. After hiring a delicious new maid, Daisy, she can’t wait to initiate her into the delights of the orchid house. Though resenting paternal pressure to marry businessman Thomas, Adelaide finds excitement in his touch and his erotic whisperings. Yet, when he reveals his sinister side, she seeks solace elsewhere. Christmas brings snowflakes, also a vivid reminder of a heart-wrenching past. Intrigue and obsession rock this Victorian household as Adelaide’s poignant search for love leads her into storms. Will she ever bask in the sunshine?
Orchid Pink is available from Amazon UK, Amazon US and All Romance eBooks, as well as other good eBook retailers.
About the Author:
Toni Sands lives near the Black Mountains in Wales. Many of her ideas arrive while she’s walking by the river or travelling by train and she also finds inspiration when visiting London. This is where she enjoys roaming galleries and gazing at colourful window displays. She drinks too much coffee and often talks to strangers. Her erotic romances feature in collections by Virgin Black Lace and Accent Xcite, both paperbacks and e-books. She writes to entertain, sometimes finding, as in the case of her new heroine, a character will pop into her head, demanding to have her story told. Toni enjoys networking and belongs to the Romantic Novelists’ Association. She’d like to keep on writing as long as her readers keep on reading.
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