I am tickled pink to announce that The Education of Madeline is now available from Loose Id!
Genre: BDSM; Erotic Historical; Full-figured Heroines
Length: Novel
Setting: Colorado 1872
ISBN: 1-59632-257-8
http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=244
Madeline Brewster is a lonely spinster. A lonely rich spinster that could also lay claim to the title of virgin. When Madeline runs across a man about to be hung by the incompetent sheriff and the drunk judge, she steps in as any good Samaritan would. She convinces the town to put the man into to her custody for one month until they could further investigate his claims of innocence. Reluctantly, they agree to her bullying. Madeline has a man. With some soap and water, and a bit of persuasion, she knows he could be the one to teach her. She is a willing and eager pupil. Madeline is going to be a virgin no more.
Teague O’Neal thinks Madeline is crazy, but he reluctantly agrees to save his own neck. And so began the education of Madeline. What Madeline doesn’t know is that the judge and the sheriff are setting her up to fall. Hard. While Teague teaches Madeline the physical pleasures to be found together, they both discover that they had a lot to learn about love and lovemaking.
Oblivious to the world’s scrutiny, Madeline is systematically destroyed by her enemies. When she discovers that Teague was hired to distract her so her ruin could be complete, she is heartbroken. She finds strength and courage she never knew she had to confront the men who hate her, the man who holds her heart yet betrayed her, and the town that never knew her.
Excerpt:
When they settled at the table, the lamplight threw a cozy glow over the room. Madeline watched Teague’s hands, fascinated by how quickly he shuffled the cards. His fingers were lithe and strong at the same time. She wondered how those fingers would feel on her skin, making her temperature rise degree by degree.
Teague explained a game called five-card stud. The rules were a bit complex, but Madeline understood most of them. He let her play a couple of practice hands, and then they started to play in earnest.
Madeline lost five hands in a row before she started to really enjoy playing the game. She won the next hand. Teague actually looked surprised.
“Very good, Maddie. You’re getting the hang of it.”
Madeline smiled. “I think I understand why gamblers like to play this so much. Can we gamble, too?”
Teague threw back his head and laughed. It was the first time she’d heard him laugh and the rough, raspy sound of it did something strange to her equilibrium.
“Don’t you think gambling is the root of all evil?”
“No, I don’t. I’ve seen the root of evil, and it’s definitely not poker.”
He looked like he wanted to respond, but he didn’t. He shrugged. “I don’t have money to play for.”
Madeline watched his hands as he shuffled the cards again.
“How about we play for truths?” he said without looking up.
“Truths?”
“Yes, each time one of us wins a hand, we get to ask the other a question, and the loser must tell the truth.”
His hands shuffled faster. By the time the cards started flying off the deck, his fingers were a blur of motion. In a few seconds, five cards lay in front of her.
“I’ll play for truths. There isn’t much I’ve got to hide anyway.”
Madeline lost the first truth hand.
“Are you ready for the first question?” he asked with a small grin.
“Yes, I’m ready.”
“Why did you paint your house blue?”
It was her turn to laugh. “I thought you were going to ask me what color my bloomers were.”
His eyebrows rose. “Now you’ve spoiled it. That was my next question.”
“I painted it blue because it was my favorite color, and I wasn’t allowed to wear anything that bright. After my father died, I indulged myself.”
He nodded. “That answers why it’s so damn bright.”
She laughed and waved her hands at the cards.
“Deal again, Teague. I’m itching to ask you a truth question.”
This time, Madeline won. She pondered her question for several minutes, earning a sigh and rolling eyes from the sore loser.
“Why didn’t you say ‘no’ to my proposition to bed me?”
He clearly hadn’t been expecting a personal question like that. The cards he’d been shuffling fell out of his hand like an explosion, raining down all over the table and floor.
“I had to stop myself from saying yes too quickly.”
Heat pooled low and insistent in her belly, and a throbbing began between her legs.
“Does this mean you’re saying yes to my… proposal?” she asked. Her mouth felt as dry as cotton. “I mean, it sounds as if you’re going to say yes.”
He stood abruptly, and she could see the outline of his penis clearly in his pants. My, oh, my! That certainly was a large looking organ. Much larger than ones in the drawings in the book.
Teague let the rest of the cards fall from his hands and came around the side of the table. The primal way he walked was enough to make her nipples pucker. He clearly wanted her. Her. Madeline Brewster!
When he reached her side, he knelt down on the floor next to her and cupped her face in his big hands.
“Why me?”
She shrugged, somehow. “I need a big man. I’m not… petite or feminine like most women. I didn’t want my teacher to feel embarrassed by the size difference if I was bigger. You… you’re bigger than me. And…”
“And?”
“Just looking at you makes my body hum.”
His pupils widened, and he licked his lips.
He’s going to kiss me!
Madeline closed her eyes. She expected his lips on hers. What she didn’t expect was feather light kisses along her brow, down her nose, across her cheekbones, to her chin. Small, jittery kisses that made her ache that much more.
“Hurry up and kiss me,” she demanded.
He chuckled against the corner of her mouth. “If you want me to be your teacher, you’re going to have to be the student. Can you hand over the reins, Maddie girl?”
Madeline thought long and hard about that question. It wasn’t a matter of being under his thumb like her father. It was trusting that he would teach her what she wanted to know without doubting or interfering in his methods.
“Yes,” she breathed.
She felt him smile. “Good. Now just close your eyes and feel. This is lesson number one.”
“Wait! Does this mean yes?”
“Yes,” he said, then he pressed his finger against her lips. She had the absurd notion to lick it and almost giggled.
She felt his hands in her hair and suddenly it was tumbling down around her shoulders. She wanted to stop him, to say no, but didn’t. Lesson number one.
Teague ran his fingers through her hair, gently massaging her scalp with incredible tenderness. She leaned into him, letting the languid motion lull her.
“Your hair is magnificent. Whenever we’re having a lesson, you will have it free like this, understood?”
Madeline nodded.
“Good girl.”
His fingers traced the outline of her ears, then down her neck. His lips brushed across her cheekbone until he reached her lips. His tongue traced the seam of her lips ever so lightly until she shivered.
He nibbled the corners of her mouth. She wanted so badly to kiss him. This waiting was torture! But it was sweet torture… oh, so sweet. The anticipation was heightening her arousal. She could feel it.
Suddenly his lips were on hers, a slow, moist kiss that felt like a decadent dessert. She leaned into him and a mewling sound erupted from her throat. His thumbs rubbed her neck as his lips captured hers again and again.
Teague’s tongue lapped at her lips again.
“Open for me, Maddie.”
She opened her mouth, and his tongue plunged in like a conqueror. The twining serpent taught her how to dance with it even as her thighs grew wet with moisture. The roughness of his tongue scraped deliciously around her teeth. He sucked her lower lip into his mouth and gently bit it.
With sweet, slow kisses, he taught her about the inside of her mouth. How sensual the roof of it was, how tingly her teeth could feel, how fast her heart could beat without bursting from her chest.
He kissed her hard then pulled back.
“Look at me, Maddie.”
She opened her eyes, and it took her a moment to focus on his face. His eyes were heavy-lidded.
“That was lesson one. How to kiss. You did very well.”
He stood, and she was suddenly at eye level with his erection. Her hand itched to feel it, test the length and breadth of him.
“Is that all?”
“For today.”
“When is lesson number two?” she asked, anxious to continue.
“Tomorrow, after dinner.”
“Can we do them every day after dinner?”
He chuckled and pulled her to her feet. He kissed her again, this time, pressing his body fully against hers.
Holy Mary! He was as hard as an oak tree from top to bottom. She was positively sizzling from the heat between them. He pulled away and turned to leave.
“I’ll see you in the morning, Maddie.”
With that, he was gone. Madeline was left standing there pulsing, pounding, throbbing without her teacher. She was frustrated and hoped lessons would move along more quickly so she didn’t have to go to bed so… unfulfilled.
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Copyright 2006 Beth Williamson
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