Weaving apprentice Jennia Wick and traveling mage Antony Onyx strike a bargain. She needs to escape an arranged marriage, and he needs an assistant to demonstrate his enchanted sex toys. In the sizzling exhibitions inside Antony's show tent, the toys pleasure them but they never touch one another. After all, Jennia is marrying her childhood sweetheart, if she can find him. A fiancée's betrayal has robbed Antony of all his money and half his magic. Jennia's determined to find her old love; Antony's determined never to love again. No romance, no sex, just business - and a near-uncontrollable desire for one another. Jennia yearns for his rock-hard body, and her sweet curves drive Antony crazy. More, they're falling in love. But they keep on searching for Jennia's betrothed, and Antony keeps pretending he doesn't care - until he finds the missing sweetheart in the worst way possible. He has to make a choice that could lead to happiness for her - and catastrophe for himself.
Author
MeiLin Miranda is the pen name of Lynn Siprelle. As MeiLin Miranda, she wrote literary fantasy and science fiction set in Victorian worlds. Her love of all things 19th century (except for the pesky parts like cholera, child labor, slavery and no rights for women) consumed her since childhood, when she fell in a stack of Louisa May Alcott books and never got up. MeiLin wrote nonfiction for thirty years, in radio, television, print, and the web. She always wanted to write fiction, but figured she had time. She discovered she didn't when a series of unfortunate events resulted in a cardiac arrest complete with a near-death experience. In December, 2014, MeiLin suffered a massive stroke; she was expected to die, as more than 90% of those struck by similar strokes do. Instead, thanks to an experimental treatment (the CLEAR-III study), she survived, though dramatically altered. Her recovery has been nothing short of spectacular, and still continues. She hopes to return to writing at some point, though it will be under her real name. MeiLin lives in a 130-year-old house in Portland, Oregon with a husband, two daughters, a black cat, a little dog, and far, far too much yarn.
