Today’s tidbit from Sand and Amanda’s story is not as exciting as I would have liked it to be. This is a section where I want the reader to get to know a little bit more about Amanda. What sort of family does she come from? What does she think of her life working in Sky’s house? This is the sort section that I will spent extra time on during my self-edits because it rambles more than I want it to.

Speaking of edits, I just finished edits on Wolf’s Vengeance. I’ll be sending out the first couple of chapters in the newsletter later this week, along with news of a blog hop where you can win tons of prizes, including gift cards and a kindle paperwhite.

Amanda woke the next morning feeling oddly happy. She hadn’t felt this sort of fragile hope since her early childhood, before she learned lavish Christmas presents only came to rich little girls. A set of pretty clothes that were brand new instead of hand me downs had been at the top of her wish list for years, until she realized a sanitary worker couldn’t afford them, even one who cherished his daughter above anything else.

Sand wasn’t her Christmas present, but he could be. She lay on her back between cool sheets and cast her mind back over the events of last night. A giggle escaped when she remembered Paul’s misunderstanding. The giggle died. Sand’s violence had been controlled, but was there any doubt he could have killed Paul? No, not in her mind. What would it be like being married to him? The sex part would be fine, no matter what sort of lover he was. In seven years she had plenty of experience. Some men were good at it, others weren’t. She shrugged, her shoulders moving against the pillow. As long as he wasn’t cruel she could accept his lovemaking. Sex was only one slice of the marriage pie. There were other things that outweighed sex. She had a month to decide if Sand could give her what she wanted from a husband.

She got up and threw on a robe. Unlike her sexy working robes, this one was bulky and comfortable. Summer was winding down, and the morning air was a bit chilly. Was it always this cold in the morning? Since she normally slept until noon, Amanda wasn’t sure.

She opened her door to go downstairs to breakfast and nearly tripped over a foot. Sand jumped up to steady her.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She tightened the sash of her robe. “I’m going to use the bathroom and then have breakfast. Have you eaten yet? I’ll meet you in the dining room in a couple of minutes.”

 Sand was still at the head of the stairs when she finished in the bathroom. He walked beside her down the stairs, through the kitchen to the dining room. There she found a half a dozen women seated at the long table. They were what Amanda considered day staff. Ginny, Sally, Carey, and Rebecca were laundresses, and Jennifer and Denise worked in the kitchen.

Sand said a quiet good morning and headed over to the buffet under the window and loaded his plate with enough eggs and sausage to feed an entire family. Amanda filled a plate more modestly.

Sand wasn’t one for chatting while he ate. Amanda watched him empty his plate one forkful at a time. He ate neatly, she noticed, but steadily. When he got up to fill his plate again, Amanda met Carey’s wide eyes with wide eyes of her own and a little shrug.

He finished his second plate before she finished her first. He leaned an elbow on the table and put his chin in his hand to watch her. “What would you like to do today?” he asked. “Are there chores you need to finish first?”

Ginny snorted, a sound loaded with bitter sarcasm. Amanda put all her attention on finishing the last of her raspberries. “Let’s go for a walk,” she suggested when she put her fork down. “Give me five minutes to dress, and I’ll meet you by the front door.”

Without looking at Ginny, Amanda went back upstairs. She put on ankle boots, jeans, and a loose blouse of pale green cotton. Because it was a little cool, she added her mother’s shawl. It seemed right to wear the shawl her mother had knit before her death.

 Sand stood in the foyer, deftly braiding his long black hair into a single braid that dangled between shoulders blades. Amanda’s fingers itched to do it for him. He had gorgeous hair.

“If I decide to marry you, you’ll have to agree to let me play with your hair whenever I want.”

Surprise lit his face before melting into a smile. He ducked his head almost bashfully. “It’s just hair. You can play with it anytime you want.”

She laughed and went past him through the door he held open for her. “You’re making it too easy for me. You should hold your hair hostage. Tell me I can’t touch it until I agree to marry you.”

Sand stopped her by touching his fingertips to her shoulder. “No.” His face was very earnest. “I want you to accept me. I want that so bad it’s all I can think of. But I won’t use blackmail to get you. I want you to be my mate because you want it too.”

She swallowed a quick stab of emotion. What exactly the emotion was she wasn’t sure, but it brought tears crowding the back of her eyes. She hurried past him to the steps. He fell in beside her.

“Let’s go down to the city gardens,” she said quickly. “I like to walk there.”

“Sure.” They walked in companionable silence for a few blocks before he spoke again. “Why doesn’t Virginia like you?”

Amanda sighed. “Ginny is an unhappy person. Her family paid nearly all they had for her to marry. They belong to a church that believes all women should be married. They don’t approve of my profession.”

“Hm.” Sand’s face looked interested. “Where is her husband?”

“He died a year ago. Ginny is twenty-nine. The city ordinance requires all women from eighteen to forty to pay a tax to remain single, or go to work in one of the brothels.”

“Even widows?”

“Even widows. Sky’s house might be a brothel, but he doesn’t force anyone to accept clients. It’s a good place for Ginny. Her sons live with her parents, but she has two days off a week to visit them.”

“So why does she not like you?”

“Well, I’m a whore.” She laughed lightly. “Which according to her church, means I’m evil and going to hell. Besides that, I make more money than she does, and I don’t have to do any of the labor she does. Other people wash my clothes, cook my food and clean my house.”

Sand’s brow was furrowed as he tried to understand. “Is she jealous?”

Amanda shrugged. “That might be part of it.”

The entrance to the gardens came in sight. She grabbed his hand. “I don’t want to talk about that anymore. I want to show you my favorite spot in the gardens.”

Here we are, another Tuesday. That means another snip from Sand and Amanda’s story! I apologize for this being on the short side. A good friend passed away this weekend after a long battle with cancer. I haven’t had the time or the heart to write much the past few days. I also received and completed the first round of edits on Wolf’s Vengeance.  I think the editor has shown me things to fix that will improve the story. 🙂

Enjoy!

Sand all but leaped to his mate’s side. “Bed?”

Sky caught his arm. “To sleep,” he said sternly. “Right, Mandy?”

Sand saw a twitch disturb Amanda’s face, almost a wince. “Yeah,” she agreed.

There were so many scents in the room that Sand couldn’t identify her emotions. Dare he hope she was disappointed by the idea of merely sleeping with him without more? He walked close behind her as she went up the stairs, blowing laughing kisses to her admirers below. She kept that breezy smile on her lips until the door of her room closed behind them.

Sand watched from the door while she sat down in front of her dainty vanity. He wanted nothing more than to pull her up against him and feel every lush curve of her body pressed to his.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She glanced over at him, surprise plain on her face. “Nothing. Why?”

“You frowned. Downstairs, when Sky spoke.”

She dipped a square of fabric in the wash basin on the vanity to wipe away the paint on her face. He was glad to see it go, but his focus was on her words. “I didn’t frown.”

He shook his head, forcing himself to stay by the door. “You did. Something Sky said bothered you.”

“Oh, that.” She put the cloth back in the washbowl and shrugged. “Sometimes he calls me Mandy.”

Sand raised a brow. “And?”

“And that’s not my name. Mandy makes me sound like I’m five years old. I’m Amanda.”

“No, you sure aren’t five.” His voice came out husky when he surveyed his mate, her black leather costume showing off the most gorgeous, alluringly tempting body he’d ever seen in his life.

She laughed, a burst of surprise and pleasure. The sound poured happiness through him. “Thank you. I think. Looks like I’m going to have an early night for once. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Sand straightened from his lean on her door. “Wait. Aren’t we sleeping together tonight?”

“No.” The disappointment that slammed through him lightened when she went on with a crooked smile. “If we’re in the same bed together I’m not sure I could keep my hands to myself. I’m only human, you know.”

“Me too,” he admitted huskily.

Amanda rose from the fragile chair and came to lay her hands over his hair where it lay over his shoulders. “Give me a kiss good night, and then you need to leave.”

Her scent reminded him of a cool breeze brushing over a field of prairie grass, clean lightly touched by flowers. He drew a deep intoxicating breath at the tender spot behind her ear. “How many kisses?”

“One!” she laughed, clenching her hands in his hair.

“Okay.”

He wanted it to be a kiss she would remember. He touched his lips lightly to hers, intending a gentle tease before he tasted the inside of her mouth, but she surprised him by taking control. Her tongue played with his, at first lazy, then turning hot and demanding. The feel of her hands sliding through his hair made him hum his pleasure. When her hand slid around his waist to squeeze his ass he shuddered.

It really wasn’t fair that one moment he was drowning in her kiss and the next he was standing in the hall, blinking down at her smiling face. “Good night, Sand,” she whispered. “I’m looking forward to being courted by you.”

He blinked passion-dazed eyes at her closed door for long moments while he tried to get his breathing back under control. Courting. Yeah. He swallowed and went to find Sky. His cousin would know how to court a woman. He stopped dead on the step, remembering Sky’s spectacular failure with Rose. Sand shook it off, continuing down the stairs. That was a long time ago. Surely Sky had learned what women liked by now.

Time for the next bit in Sand and Amanda’s story! I’m not doing any self-editing like I usually do, so as always please excuse my typos and other boo-boos. I’m enjoying writing this story. I hope you’re enjoying reading it!

Amanda licked her painted lips while she stared at him. He could count her breaths sliding in and out of her lungs. “I want Sand to court me.”

Sand threw his head back and screamed a howl of victory.

*

Amanda shivered at that feral howl. When Sand tilted his fiercely smiling face back down toward her, she jabbed a finger at him. “Okay, I’m giving you a chance. For tonight, let’s just keep this cool. I want to go downstairs and visit with people. You just keep your distance.”

“Okay,” he said softly, which really contrasted with his expression.

Sky nodded. “And don’t bite anybody,” he said deadpan.

Amanda wasn’t sure he was joking. She went out of her room and down the stairs. When she was spotted by the twenty or so men in the reception rooms a cheer rose. She tilted her head at its usual jaunty angle and gave them a wave. She strode across the room to an empty armchair, Sand looming like grim death behind her. Even without the spiked collar, wearing his worn jeans and rumpled blue chambray shirt instead of black leather, he intimidated the visitors. He stood a step behind her chair and glared with arms folded over his chest. Most of the men learned right away to not flirt with her. The almost sub-vocal growl Sand let out each time one of them tried to touch her clued them in. Only Paul, her second appointment of the night, hadn’t caught on right away.

“Miss Amanda,” he called when he first entered the reception room. “You look gorgeous!”

He hurried through the knots of people, tall and broad in his well fitted tan suit, his thinning brown hair impeccably groomed, his pale face flushed and sweating from the heat in the room. She knew for a dozen previous encounters that his body was fit for a man of forty who spent hours at a desk. He looked for a moment as if he wanted to try to squeeze into the chair beside her, but a glance at Sand apparently changed his mind.

He knelt on the carpet before her. “I had expected to meet you upstairs in your room.”

Habit made her put on an imperious sneer. “If I choose to allow you in my room—”

Sand came around the chair in a blur of blue cotton and black hair to grab Paul by the collar and jerk him up to his feet. “You will never see the inside of her room again,” he said in a chillingly conversational tone.

She could see that instead of frightening Paul, Sand’s domineering warning excited him. His pale blue eyes rolled to Amanda, his face shining with delight. “Are we having a threesome tonight?” he asked breathlessly.

She wondered if Sand even knew what Paul was talking about. “Paul,” she began, but Sand cut her off.

“Amanda is mine,” he snarled.

“Yes, Master,” Paul said in that same breathless voice. “Of course. I’ll be grateful for whatever crumbs you allow me to have.”

Amanda had to laugh at Sand’s confusion. “Paul,” she said kindly, “I’m afraid there’s been a change in my schedule. This is Sand Wolfe. I’ll be spending my time with him exclusively for the next month.”

Paul looked from her to Sand. “But … I am very good at fellatio,” he offered.

“At what?” Sand said, still holding Paul’s collar twisted in his fist.

“Fellatio.” Now Paul’s voice turned slightly condescending. “Giving head. I can suck your cock all the way down my throat while you finger fuck Amanda. Or you can ass fuck me while I fuck Ama—”

Sand’s fist jerked Paul off the floor. The man clawed desperately at his strangling collar. Amanda jumped up but wasn’t sure what to do.

Sand dragged Paul’s ear close to his mouth. “If you ever speak her name again I will kill you.  If I ever see you near her again, I will kill you. You understand me?”

“Yes,” Paul croaked.

“Good.” Sand lowered the other man down to his feet with frighteningly gentle care. “Now get out and don’t come back.”

Paul stumbled when Sand dropped him and hastily pushed his way through the whispering people who were staring at them. Amanda sat back down in the armchair, aware that her fingers were trembling. She drew a calming breath and looked up at Sand. There was a faint flush in his lean cheeks when he turned to look down at her.

“Do you do that?” he asked. “Have two men in bed at the same time?”

For no reason that she could think of, she felt heat rise to her face. “A few times,” she said quietly, stroking the nap of the upholstery.

“Do you like it?”

She paused to consider it. “No, not really. I don’t dislike it either. Really, it doesn’t matter to me one way or another. It’s just part of the job.”

“I can never do that.” Sand dropped to one knee in front of her chair. “My wolf would never accept sharing you with anyone that way.”

“I know.” Maybe she shouldn’t have, but she cupped his face in her hands and leaned forward to kiss him. “I would never share you either.”

He kissed her back, his lips more gentle than she’d expected. He pulled away after only a few moments, though, and stood up to meet Sky, who was approaching with that smooth, unhurried gait of his that ate up the distance far more quickly than it seemed to.

“Sand, you have to stop throwing our guests out.”

Before Sand could snarl a reply Amanda stood quickly. “Considering what Paul said, Sand behaved himself very well.”

One of Sky’s elegant brows rose. “And what did Mr. Harper say?”

“Paul thought a threesome was a good idea, and described who would be doing what to whom.”

Sky’s other brow shot up. Amanda wondered how he did that. “I see,” he said smoothly. “I think you’re right, Mandy. No blood was spilled, no furniture broken. All’s well that ends well. But I believe I will need to send notes out to your usual appointments to inform them you will be unavailable for some time.”

“Forever,” Sand snapped.

“Perhaps. Good night,” Sky said pointedly.

Amanda sighed. “Alright.” She sashayed past Sand. “Coming?”

“Where?” he asked suspiciously.

“To bed, of course.”

This is almost late! But better late than never, right? As always, this is unedited, not proof read, and new! I hope you enjoy it!

     “He’s a —“ She looked at Sky, then turned to stare at Sand. A trickle of fear soured her scent. “You’re a werewolf?”

     “No!”

     Sky shook his head. “Just go with it,” he advised Sand. “It’s easier.”

     His mate’s acrid scent of fear hurt. “I have a wolf, but he wouldn’t hurt you.”

     The fear scent faded into something confused but cautiously curious. “That’s kinda cool. Kinda.”

     “Whether or not you decide to be his mate is your choice. If you don’t want him, I’ll send him back to Kearney.”

     Amanda was staring at him. “I don’t know. I don’t even know him. I just met him an hour ago.”

     Sand’s breath was hot in his chest, hot with urgency and yearning. “We can take time to get to know one another. We can talk, or do whatever you like.”

     “The thing is,” Sky said, leaning forward on the small chair to take her hands, “our wolves are very jealous. If they see another man too close to our mates, they don’t like it.” Corner of his mouth puckered sourly and Sand wondered if he was remembering the man who sat far too close to his mate, Rose, back in Kearney. “So while you decide whether or not you want to accept Sand, you can’t make appointments.”

     “You’re touching me,” she pointed out.

     Sky waved that away. “I’m Pack. His cousin. Pack doesn’t count. So what do you say? Will you give Sand a month to court you? To try to persuade you to be his mate?”

     Sand felt his mate’s gaze burn over him as she examined him carefully. For the first time in his life he wondered if his clothes were good enough. His jeans and blue cotton shirt were clean but rumpled from days in a saddlebag, his moccasins worn. His gaze went to Sky’s stylish suit and shorn hair before he straightened his shoulders proudly. His mate would be accepting or rejecting him, not his clothes or hair.

     Amanda stared at him wordlessly for long minutes. Sand forced himself to not twitch, determined to let her make up her own mind, but it took so long that he finally blurted, “Do you want me to cut my hair? Get other clothes?”

“Don’t you dare cut your hair!” she answered immediately, looking genuinely horrified. “I like your hair. As for clothes…” She trailed off to look him up and down again. “I’d love to see what you look like without them. And,” she added hesitantly. “What does the wolf side of you look like?”

     Relief at being able to keep his hair loosened his shoulders. “I hate wearing these tight clothes,” he said with a smile, reaching to undo the buttons on the shirt.

     “Wait a minute!” Sky said quickly. “There are still two more things for Mandy to know. One, we can’t let our wolves out where anyone can see them. No one can know. You have to promise to never tell anyone.”

     Amanda smelled of confusion. “Okay, I promise. What’s the other thing?”

     “If you have sex with him, you’ve accepted his claim. You’ll be his wife.”

     Her face fell almost ludicrously. “I can’t sleep with him?”

     Sky laughed softly. “Sure you can sleep with him. You just can’t have sex with him.”

     Her face still looked unhappy. “But what if I want to have sex, but don’t want to be his mate?”

     Sand’s heart twisted violently in a knot of such pain that his knees almost hit the floor. Having her would be bliss. Losing her after he’d known the delight of her body would leave him a useless shell around a broken heart.

     “No,” Sky denied. “For wolves, it’s all or nothing. It’s your choice. Do you want to allow him to court you, or should I send him back to Kearney?”

    Amanda licked her painted lips while she stared at him. He could count her breaths sliding in and out of her lungs. “I want Sand to court me.”

    Sand threw his head back and screamed a howl of victory.