Sassenach Bride
By Ashe Barker
● Approximately 74,000 words
● HEA ending
Sassenach Bride is a stand-alone sequel to The Laird and the Sassenach.
.
Tag Line - An unwanted bride, a vengeful
monarch and a formidable northern lord
Blurb
James McGregor would never have imagined himself taking an Englishwoman
as a wife, let alone a disgraced lady-in-waiting, but when he is ordered by the
king to marry twenty-two-year-old Eleanor Falconer he is left with little
choice. His reluctance is quickly overcome by his bride's beauty and grace, but
he soon realizes that she will still require firm-handed correction.
Even with her cheeks blushing and her well-punished bottom burning, Eleanor cannot hide her body's response to James' stern dominance, and their wedding night leaves her sore, spent, and shamefully satisfied. But when the king seeks to use her as a pawn in his scheming against her new husband, can Eleanor trust James with the truth even with everything she loves in jeopardy?
Publisher's Note: Sassenach Bride includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.
Even with her cheeks blushing and her well-punished bottom burning, Eleanor cannot hide her body's response to James' stern dominance, and their wedding night leaves her sore, spent, and shamefully satisfied. But when the king seeks to use her as a pawn in his scheming against her new husband, can Eleanor trust James with the truth even with everything she loves in jeopardy?
Publisher's Note: Sassenach Bride includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.
Sassenach Bride : Author Synopsis
Forced to wed by a vengeful monarch intent on
ruining both their lives, Jamie MacGregor, Earl of Etal and Eleanor of
Ashingburn have nothing in common. He is
the son of a Highland laird, and she a gentle born lady from Dorset in England.
Shy and lacking in confidence, Eleanor’s past
is laced with tragedy. She is an unwanted bride but resolves to face her
humiliation with quiet dignity and as much courage as she can muster when faced
with her formidable new husband.
Jamie can see no option but to do as his king
demands and marry the disgraced lady from the other end of England. He doesn’t
have to like it, or her, but he will do what needs to be done to save his
earldom.
Against all the odds, mutual attraction flares
between the mismatched couple. Jamie and Eleanor find they actually like each
other. Could they, against all the odds, be happy together?
But Henry VIII of England has a long reach and
he will have his way. Eleanor must obey his demands that she destroy her new
husband’s property and plot against the lives of his friends or the king’s
vengeance on her fragile family will be even more terrible.
When her surreptitious acts of sabotage and
attempted murder are discovered, what penalty will Jamie exact?
Will Eleanor die for her crimes?
Can the wrongs of the past ever be righted?
(Still safe for work)
Sir James turned
to glance at her again. “How old are you, my lady?”
“I am
twenty-two.”
“And not yet
wed. Why is that?”
“You know why
not, my lord.”
He shook his
head. “I am not referring to your recent… misadventures. You were twenty-one
and still unmarried when you went to court to serve the queen. And, if I have
understood the course of events accurately, you were still a virgin then.”
Eleanor cast a
quick look to either side and realised that the rest of the party had dropped
back. She and Sir James were out of earshot.
“I… that is
true, my lord.”
“No proposals of
marriage? No suitors sniffing around your dowry? I assume you did have a
dowry.”
She glanced
sharply at him. “I expect the details of my dowry are well known to you, my
lord.”
He shook his
head. “I do not recall that any mention was made of it in the missive I
received from His Majesty. My instructions were clear, with or without the
compensation offered by any settlement.”
Compensation?
She could not
have felt more mortified had he asked her to make the payment to him from her
own funds. Eleanor sniffed and tipped up her chin in an attempt to maintain
some semblance of dignity. “My father is a wealthy man, and he will be generous
enough. I suggest you take the matter up with him.”
Now he smiled,
and she wondered if his amusement might even be genuine. Did he enjoy
humiliating her? “Aye, well, we shall see. You did not answer my question
regarding previous suitors.”
“There were
none, and I was glad of it. I had no wish to marry.”
“That is not
your choice to make, as I am quite convinced you will appreciate by now.”
“That is true.
Perhaps I was just lucky.”
His expression
was sardonic. Sir James let out a mirthless chuckle. “Are you trying to tell me
that your good fortune ran out?”
Eleanor could
have bitten her stupid tongue off. What in the name of all that was holy had
possessed her to say such a thing? Had she not resolved to make herself
agreeable, to win him over, not antagonise her future husband?
“My apologies,
sir. I did not mean any offence. I simply meant to say—”
James laughed,
and this time he did seem genuinely amused. “Eleanor, if you and I are to have
any hope at all of a decent life together, we must be honest with each other.
You can say what you like to me without fearing that I will take offence over
an unintended slur. I do not blame you for not wishing to marry, and I am under
no illusion that you may have changed your view. Neither of us chose this, but
we will make the best of it, shall we not? I intend to do so, if only to
irritate His Majesty.”
More about Ashe Barker
USA Today best-selling author Ashe Barker has
been an avid reader of fiction for many years, erotic and other genres. She
still loves reading, the hotter the better. But now she has a good excuse for
her guilty pleasure – research.
Ashe tends to draw on her own experience to
lend colour, detail and realism to her plots and characters. An incident here,
a chance remark there, a bizarre event or quirky character, any of these can
spark a story idea.
Ashe lives in the North of England, on the
edge of the Brontë moors and enjoys the occasional flirtation with pole dancing
and drinking Earl Grey tea. When not writing – which is not very often these
days - her time is spent caring for a menagerie of dogs, tortoises. And a very grumpy cockatiel.
At the last count Ashe had over sixty titles
on general release with publishers on both sides of the Atlantic, and several
more in the pipeline. She writes M/f, M/M, and occasionally rings the changes
with a little M/M/f. Ashe’s books invariably feature BDSM. She writes explicit
stories, always hot, but offering far more than just sizzling sex. Ashe likes
to read about complex characters, and to lose herself in compelling plots, so
that’s what she writes too.
Ashe has a pile of story ideas still to work
through, and keeps thinking of new ones at the most unlikely moments, so you
can expect to see a lot more from her.
Ashe loves to hear from readers. Here are her social media links:
