Wild West Succubus
Lila Shaw
Erotic Romance
with a Splash of Humor
Blurb:
A
woman damned…
Priscilla Goodnight, a widow in the harsh Kansas frontier, has a
cattle ranch to run. She can’t afford to reveal any cracks in her tough
exterior or indulge in sexual liaisons with her ranch hands. But a hungry
succubus can only exercise so much self-restraint, making discretion, disguise
and memory-wiping her top managerial skills.
The
mysterious stranger who knows her darkest secret…
Priscilla doesn't remember hiring the man with the wily smile and
the flannel voice. At all. Men as physically appealing as Hugo Desmond rarely
escape her bed, let alone her memory. And how is he able to move so fast, yet
nobody notices but her?
Is
she his target, his mission or his bait?
Hugo is a gargoyle—a specially-trained executioner—sent to purge
the west of evil. With succubi falling squarely in demon territory, Priscilla
has every reason to fear him … yet she can't stay away. Hugo says he needs her
help and wants to save her soul. But is redemption possible for a woman as
wicked as Priscilla, or will love thaw her heart just enough for Hugo to crush
it?
Buy Links:
Excerpt:
A few of the men are laughing and
eating breakfast, but as soon as I walk in, they grow silent … mostly.
“Morning, Miss Priscilla. Did you
sleep well?” Fred asks, his last words ending with a snicker.
Most of the other men snicker too, all
but Hugo, that is. He probably doesn’t know the rest well enough to be privy to
their secrets.
Jesse slaps Gray on the back and Gray
grins. Speaking through a mouth full of half-chewed biscuits, Gray says, “I
slept like a titty baby myself.”
The others snort back their laughter.
Hugo’s forehead furrows as he glances around the table.
I sigh. I don’t know why I expected
better from Gray. But little boys must be taught their lessons, and the first
one is don’t fuck with a succubus who holds your soul in hock.
After giving each man a smile in turn,
I close my eyes and yank on Gray’s tether. He keels over and falls face first
into the puddle of gravy on his plate.
“What the … Gray?” Jesse lifts Gray’s
face from the plate and shoves him back against his chair, wide-eyed but
unseeing. Mr. Yao’s savory sauce drips in long slimy strings from Gray’s nose.
“Gray?” Jesse slaps Gray on the face a few times.
Gray isn’t home anymore. I slurp the
last bits of his soul’s life-force in and breathe deeply as it spreads
throughout every inch of my body. I am energized, immortal, powerful, and
pissed off.
Hugo skewers me with his gaze, cold
and hard. “Are you sure you want to do that? May raise more questions than it
solves.”
What the hell is he talking about? Fuck him! Fuck all of them!
One by one, starting with Jesse, I
lock gazes with each man around the table. As I ransack their recent memories,
their expressions transform from mirth to horror to incoherent. The two newer
hands I’ve never had to mind-wipe before—Winston and Jasper—fall asleep. The
older hands will slowly regain their wits with what have been called devilishly
hideous headaches. If any of them think they can take to their beds sick today,
they’re dead wrong.
Hugo watches the entire proceedings,
and when I get to him, my last target, he presses his lips into a thin line and
resists my trespass into his mind. Those glacial blue eyes of his frost over
and then seal shut, expelling me and slamming the door in my face.
How the hell is he able to do that?
With a snap of Hugo’s fingers, all
motion, except his and mine, ceases. The clock stops ticking. A napkin casually
tossed hovers an inch above the table’s surface. Mouths are frozen mid-word.
Arms float rigidly in the air, and eyes stare blankly.
“Think, Pris,” Hugo repeats. His jaw
is rigid, and his hands are curled into fists.
I stop trying to force my way inside Hugo’s
mind. “Wh-what’s going on?” I wave a hand in front of Fred’s face, nearly
threatening to put his eye out, but he doesn’t flinch, doesn’t even blink. I
shove my chair away from the table and jump to my feet. “What kind of sorcery
is this?”
Hugo slowly raises his eyes to mine.
In measured words he says, “Give Gray back his soul.”
“I need it.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “You don’t.”
“He deserved what he got!”
“No. He didn’t. All you needed to do
was mind-wipe him, just like the others. Sucking him dry is excessive. You
don’t have to go that far. Besides that, we’re kinda short-handed. Do you
really want to fall behind this time of year? Think about how hard it will be
to find a replacement.”
The horror of this man’s cognizance of
what I am grips me. “Who are you? What
are you?” I take a few steps back, wondering if I should flee.
He lifts his eyes to mine. “I’m
someone you should be very afraid of.”
“Afraid? Of you?” I throw my head back and
laugh dramatically, just like those ladies on the stage. “Oh, little big man.
I’m not afraid of any man.” But I am afraid of this one.
Authors Bio:
Lila Shaw is the
pen name for a wee hours author of erotica and erotic romance. She adores
writing about strong-willed women and the clever, charming (and well-endowed)
men who love them. She believes if you can’t occasionally laugh at human
foibles, and especially the physical aspects of love, you’re taking life far
too seriously … unless the condom breaks, then you have every right to fret.
Lila lives in the Portland, OR area with her family. www.lilashaw.com
WebsiteTwitter Facebook Goodreads
Ten Facts I
Learned Researching Wild West Succubus:
One of the reasons I don't often write historicals is because I'm lazy.
There. I said it, confessed my sin.
You're probably slapping your head thinking, "This doesn't seem like
a good way to convince me to give your book a shot." I would be thinking
that too.
But the reason I share my terrible confession is because I believe if
you're going to write a historical, make sure you do your homework.
Be mindful of what you can and can't use or reference in your story--figures
of speech, clothing worn, density of the population and distances, flora and
fauna indigenous to your setting, events in the world around the characters at
that time and what their history books would have said.
That's tough to do, but necessary for anyone attempting a historical. I
really wanted to write a western, however, so I rolled up my sleeves and dug in
and learned a few facts it the process.
Here are my top ten:
1.
Kansas is indeed flat and open, but there are
also parts that are forested and have rock outcroppings and rivers. Mostly in
the north and northeast.
2.
Mountain lions are extremely rare in modern day
Kansas but in the 1800's there were a lot more. Farmers and ranchers decimated
the large cat population in the late 1800's, early 1900's.
3.
No boxers or briefs in 1869 Kansas. Men most
likely wore no underwear at all or wore union suits, patented in NY in 1868.
4.
For women, the tiny waist was in style during
the 1860's, but I seriously doubt my heroine, Priscilla, ever wore a corset. If
she did, she would not have laced it tightly.
5.
Kansas became the 34th state in 1861.
6.
Abilene, Kansas was a popular cattle market and
the end point for the Chisholm Trail, which began in Texas and was used between
1867 and 1884.
7.
Priscilla's last name by marriage is Goodnight,
taken from the famous Charles Goodnight of the Goodnight-Loving Trail fame.
8.
Popular slang during that period included terms
like, "Get a wiggle on" for hurry up, and "flannel mouth"
for a smooth-talker.
9.
Bram Stoker's Dracula wasn't written until 1897
so Priscilla would not have heard of the gent, though vampire legends are much
older.
10.
Meals on cattle droves most likely consisted of beans
seasoned with meat prepared by the cook who rode ahead with the chuck wagon. Vitamin
C deficiencies were common and popcorn was a popular treat.
While I would never claim to be an expert on 1869 Kansas, far from it, I
hope I added a little authenticity to Wild
West Succubus.
Here's more about Wild West
Succubus, my paranormal western historical romance with touches of urban
fantasy in an anything but urban setting:
***
Review coming soon!
Win one of five copies of Wild West
Succubus.
