Title: Wolf Bride
Author: Elizabeth Moss
Release Date: May 5, 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Historical Erotic Romance
Series: Lust in the Tutor Court
Book #1
Summary
Bound to him against her will…
Lord Wolf, hardened soldier and
expert lover, has come to King Henry VIII's court to claim his new bride: a
girl who has intrigued him since he first saw her riding across the Yorkshire
moors.
Eloise Tyrell, now lady-in-waiting
to Queen Anne Boleyn, has other ideas. She has no desire to submit to a man she
barely knows and who-though she is loath to admit it-frightens her more than a
little.
Their first kiss awakens in both a
fierce desire that bares them to the soul. But as the court erupts into scandal
around the ill-fated Queen, Eloise sees firsthand what happens when powerful
men tire of their wives...
Author Biography
Born into a literary family,
Elizabeth Moss lives with her husband and five children in South-West England,
and is a keen countryside walker. She writes fun and sexy historical romances.
She also writes award-winning fiction as Victoria Lamb. For more information,
please visit her website: www.elizabethmossfiction.com.
An Excerpt:
“Eloise! Wait!”
She turned, hearing the shout, and her lips tightened
when she saw who it was.
Simon came hurrying down the steps into the courtyard
where her covered litter stood waiting, a rolled-up paper in his hand. Much to
her relief, Lord Wolf had not yet emerged from the palace, and her father
seemed too busy speaking to the driver to have noticed her former suitor.
“My love,” Simon said, embracing her. His lips touched
hers, though he did not seem aware of how still she held herself beneath his
touch. “I’m so glad I caught you, Eloise. I could not stand the thought of you
leaving court without so much as a farewell.”
“It would be best if we did not speak to each other
again,” she told him frankly. “I am to be married soon, remember.”
“I told you, we need not let your marriage to Lord Wolf
stand in the way of our desire.” Simon smiled, holding out the rolled-up paper.
“Take it, and let my words warm you on your journey north. Only do not show it
to your betrothed.”
“I cannot take it, Simon.”
He seized her hand, stroking her palm intimately with his
thumb, and pressed the letter into it. “Don’t break my heart with this
coldness. At least read what I have written to you, my love.”
“You must not call me that. You know that you do not love
me.” Frowning, she shook her head at his hurried protest. “You only love
yourself.”
“So cruel?”
“So honest,” she said drily.
“My dearest love,” Simon replied, his look pitying, “you
will find honesty a worthless enough commodity in a marriage. No wife and
husband were ever true to each other, whatever promises they may have made at
the altar. And you do not love Lord Wolf,” he added pointedly. “You are only
marrying him because your father wills it. Why be faithful to a man who will be
your jailor for the rest of your days?”
She looked into his eyes. How deeply she had thought
herself in love with Simon once. He still seemed so handsome and charming, it
was hard to remember the careless nature of his deceit. Now she knew him for a
young man who would think nothing of lying in order to dishonor a maid, or even
of stealing a woman from her husband’s bed, so long as their night together
brought him satisfaction.
“Because it is my duty,” she told him, and felt a chill
of despair creep through her heart at those awful words.
“What’s this?” a voice asked coldly behind Simon,
interrupting them. “Fond farewells from your lover?”
Lord Wolf!
Horrified, Eloise realized she was still holding Simon’s
letter. She could only imagine what it contained, intimate words of love that
could earn her a whipping for wanton behavior if her father or his lordship
discovered it about her person. She thrust the rolled-up letter down into her
bodice, and drew her shawl about her shoulders to hide it.
Simon had flushed. He bowed to them both, stammered
something about archery practice, and disappeared back up the steps into the
palace.
“How gallant of him to stay and defend your honor,” Lord
Wolf drawled. “Come, the morning is already half gone. It is time for us to
depart. I have arranged for some of my men to accompany us back to Yorkshire
for your protection. Some of the roads in the north can be dangerous for unwary
travelers.”
He saw her worried glance at the litter, which would
barely house more than two persons, and smiled. “Your father and I will ride
alongside, so you will be undisturbed.”
He handed her up into the covered litter where young Mary
was huddled in the corner, looking very nervous at the prospect of her first
long journey. Eloise settled back against the cushions, her face averted.
To her dismay, Lord Wolf leaned forward. “Just one more
thing,” he murmured, and pressed a kiss on her lips.
She sat still beneath his kiss, her heart beating
violently. She could not help remembering how he had touched her in the garden,
and the powerful surge of desire she had felt. Even now it was difficult not to
respond, to keep her lips closed beneath his and not lean into his masculine
scent.
Then his hand slipped to her bodice, and he withdrew the
letter she had hidden there.
“Now what could this be, I wonder?” he commented,
straightening.
He unrolled the letter, reading though it with a hard
face. Then he tore the letter into a dozen pieces and scattered them across her
lap.
“Whatever Simon was to you once,” he told her coldly, “I
advise you to forget him. You are mine now; do you understand?”
Lord Wolf did not wait for an answer, but jumped down
from the covered litter and strode to his waiting horse.
Eloise dropped the curtain down so she could no longer
see him, and sat in silence, her maid staring at her in horror. She wondered
what had been in that letter. Had Simon repeated his suggestion that they
should meet behind her husband’s back and make love?
If only she had thrown that damned letter in Simon’s
face!
The horse pulling the litter began to move. The whole
litter jerked, curtains swaying. Mary gave a little cry and clung onto her
seat.
Outside, Eloise heard the jingle of harness and reins,
Wolf shouting orders to his men in a curt voice, then the clatter of hooves
beside the litter as the cavalcade made its slow, lurching way out of the
courtyard and through the palace gates.
She brushed the torn pieces of letter from her lap and
sat in an angr
y silence for the first few miles of their journey, eyes closed
as though trying to sleep, but frowning. She could not help touching her lips
from time to time, still tingling from his mouth. How could he arouse such
pleasure in her body with just one kiss?
Whichever way she looked at it, there was no avoiding the
truth of her situation. Wolf was to be her lord and master, and it seemed there
was little she could do to escape him.
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Connect with Elizabeth!
Website: www.elizabethmossfiction.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElizabethMoss1
Loved the excerpt - sounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteWow, Simon sounds like quite a jerk! Hopefully, he'll get his just desserts at some point. Thanks for sharing and congrats on the upcoming release!
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