Margins
The Hardest Word book cover 1
The Hardest Word book cover 2
The Hardest Word book cover 3
The Hardest Word
Series · 3 books · 2014

Books in series

A Hard Bargain book cover
#1

A Hard Bargain

2014

Over forty-million pounds in the bank, but the one thing she wants to buy is not for sale. Freya Stone is a Lottery winner. A Euromillions Lottery winner to be exact. The week she won, hers was the only winning ticket. And it was a rollover, seeing her almost forty-five million pounds richer. But with no taste at all for a wealthy lifestyle, Freya bought herself a flashy car and a fancy apartment, then ran out of ideas and stuck the rest in the bank to be carefully invested by her own private wealth consultant. One passion her wealth will enable her to indulge, however, is her appetite for submission. Or so she thinks. Following a childhood illness, Freya is unable to speak. She gets by pretty well with a combination of British Sign Language and a notepad, but her lack of speech makes negotiating difficult. She can’t tell a Dom what she needs, and she can’t use safe words. None of the Doms she’s played with so far have been especially interested in training a novice sub who doesn’t even squeal. So Freya decides to buy tuition from a Master who comes highly recommended. Why not? She has the funds at her disposal, and nothing better she’d like to purchase. Twenty-five thousand pounds for a month with the Dom she’s fantasised about for ages seems like a bargain to her. But experienced and harsh Dom Nick Hardisty has other ideas. Infuriated at Freya’s attempt to buy his services, he turns her down flat, while also demanding that she pay for her temerity by submitting to a punishment which he will administer personally. Can Freya accept his discipline? Can she convince him to reconsider and provide the help she needs? And Nick Hardisty drives a hard bargain. If he won’t accept her money, what will his price be? Reader Advisory: This book contains references to age regression scenes and uncomfortable BDSM encounters. It also includes pain play, spanking, restraints, anal play and nipple clamps. Publisher's Note: This book is best read in sequence as part of a serial.
Hard Lessons book cover
#2

Hard Lessons

2014

Once her body and her emotions have been laid bare, what other secrets is she keeping? Freya’s chosen Master has agreed to train her, but only on his terms. He demands that she spend one month alone with him, at his home, her body his to control. He demands total obedience and absolute honesty from her. He is hard, demanding and committed to training Freya in every aspect of submission. Nick is a tough and uncompromising Dom, but he’s also a master of his craft. From the very beginning he is able to get beyond Freya’s inability to speak to him, to release her innermost submissive instincts. She feels safe with Nick, she trusts him to take care of her, and as she willingly submits to his hard lessons, and slowly unfurls in his hands, he is more and more captivated by his silent pupil. But although her body and her emotions are an open book, Freya has not revealed to him the full extent of her wealth. And as their relationship deepens it becomes more and more difficult for her to confess her deception. How will Nick react to the news that his exquisite submissive is rich enough to buy anything she wants? Except him. And will just a month with Nick be enough? Freya knows the Dom she wants. Can she convince the Master she adores to claim her? Reader Advisory: This book contains anal play. Publisher's Note: This book is best read in sequence as part of a serial.
Hard Choices book cover
#3

Hard Choices

2014

The Hardest Word: The Hardest Word charts the sensual journey of Freya North and Nick Hardisty. Unable to speak since early childhood Freya’s fortunes change dramatically when she finds herself holding the winning Euromillions Lottery ticket. Over forty million pounds richer, she still can’t buy the one thing she really wants—a skilled Master to train her in the fine art of submission. Her first ill-fated approach to Nick Hardisty, a Dom who comes highly recommended, earns her a punishment spanking at his BDSM club. From the outset Nick is able to find ways around and beyond Freya’s communication issues to release her innermost submissive instincts. Fascinated, intrigued, and hopelessly attracted to Freya, Nick does agree to train her, but on his terms not hers. Freya moves into his home for one month. The deal is total obedience, and absolute submission. But while her body, and her emotions, are an open book, she doesn’t reveal to him the true extent of her wealth. As their relationship develops and deepens, how long can Freya keep her secret from the powerful Dom who insists on total honesty from her in every respect? As her two separate lives threaten to collide, Freya is torn between the stern Master she has come to adore, and the opportunities her wealth provides, to grow into the strong, independent woman she longs to become. Hard Choices by Ashe Barker Book Three in the The Hardest Word serial Is true submission the one thing money can’t buy? A month with the Dom of her dreams. Just one month to learn all that he can teach her, as well as to convince him that he’s the Master she wants. The Master she needs. Forever. But her training ended in disaster when Nick asked her to do the one thing she could not willingly accept—hand her body over to another Dom. Alone again, confused and heartbroken, Freya tries to rebuild her shattered life. However, soon she has no choice but to appeal to Nick for help once more. How will he respond? Despite his insistence that their relationship is temporary, Nick has missed his silent pupil, and when she returns to his home he’s determined to keep her there this time. But when his family responsibilities intrude on their fragile truce they turn to an unlikely source for help. Nick’s friend Dan introduces them to his friend Tom Shore, whose West Yorkshire moorland farm offers the perfect solution to Nick’s problem. Freya enjoys the company of Tom’s new bride, Ashley, and that of Dan’s enigmatic brother Nathan Darke and his brilliant submissive, Eva Byrne. And the surprise return of someone from Freya’s past further enriches her growing circle of friends. But when personal tragedy strikes, will her Master be able to set aside his bitterness at her betrayal or was their fragile relationship doomed from the beginning. When everything is at stake, both Freya and Nick face the hardest choice of all. Do opposites attract, or are some differences just too wide to bridge? And is true submission the one thing money can’t buy?

Author

Ashe Barker
Ashe Barker
Author · 71 books

Until 2010, Ashe was a director of a regeneration company before deciding there had to be more to life and leaving to pursue a lifetime goal of self-employment. Ashe has been an avid reader of women’s fiction for many years—erotic, historical, contemporary, fantasy, romance—you name it. Now, at last in control of her own time and working from her home in rural West Yorkshire, she has been able to realise her dream of writing erotic romance herself. She draws on settings and anecdotes from her previous and current experience to lend colour, detail and realism to her plots and characters, but her stories of love, challenge, resilience and compassion are the conjurings of her own imagination. She loves to craft strong, enigmatic men and bright, sassy women to give them a hard time—in every sense of the word. When she’s not writing, Ashe’s time is divided between her role as resident taxi driver for her teenage daughter, and caring for a menagerie of dogs, rabbits, tortoises and a grumpy cockatiel. * From http://www.total-e-bound.com/authorde...

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