The Book
The Tease
She laid her hand against the bathroom door, then knocked softly. “Hunter? It’s me.”
The sound of pacing footsteps gave way to harsh breaths, each one a seeming effort. “Ophelia?”
She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the wood. “Open the door, honey.”
Something thumped against the wall to her right. A fist, maybe, or Hunter’s body. His snarl was low and rough. “I don’t want her. I won’t take her.”
“She’s gone. It’s just us now.”
Hesitation. She could almost taste his suspicion in the heavy silence between them. Then the lock clicked and the door edged open, revealing a glimpse of his bare chest and wild hair hanging over stormy blue eyes. “Just us?”
She could give him words, gentle and reassuring. Instead, she reached through the open door and trailed her hand down the center of his chest. “Come out, Hunter.”
The door vanished, thrown open with such force it bounced against the inside wall. But he was already there, falling on her like a bird streaking from the sky. He gripped the back of her neck, his fingers digging into her hair as he forced her body over his other arm in a vulnerable arc.
For an endless moment he only stared at her, breath whistling through his teeth as the heat of him wrapped around her. “Say yes.” Not a command. A shaking plea.
It didn’t matter that she already had. All that mattered was this moment, and him knowing he wasn’t demanding something she didn’t want to give. “Yes.”
He swallowed the word with a rough kiss that laid claim to more than her body, and for more than the new moon. His teeth closed on her lip with a growl, only to be replaced by his tongue, stroking in an imperious demand for entry.
She opened her mouth with a shudder, her head spinning. It was only a kiss, full of more hunger than skill, but her body responded with a shaky need she hadn’t anticipated.
That was when she knew. Hunter had been lying to himself, but so had she.
Her ready obedience seemed to soothe some of his madness. The fist in her hair relaxed enough to cradle the back of her head, and he eased her closer, until her body was pressed tight to his chest.
But the kiss went on and on, the kiss of a starving man grasping at sustenance he’d denied himself too long. She smoothed her fingers through his hair and down to his shoulders, testing the strength beneath his heated skin.
Tension hardened the muscles, and a warning growl vibrated against her lips.
Still fighting for control, even now, when no such thing existed for either of them. Ophelia worked her hands between them and tugged at the buttons securing her bodice.
This time he drew back and nipped at her jaw as he released her hair and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “I won’t be managed. Don’t say yes if you want to manage me.”
“I’m not. I don’t want to.” She twisted far enough to lick his earlobe. “I need you.”
He shook. “Put your hands behind your back.”
She closed her eyes and obeyed. “Am I not allowed to touch you?”
“Not yet.” The arm around her waist moved to trap her wrists, and he smiled against her cheek. “Give your body to me, pretty Ophelia. I’ll do wonderful things to you.”
She didn’t want to lie passively as he pleasured her. She wanted to share it with him, give him back the same pleasure in turn—but only one thing was really important right now. “What do you need from me?”
“Open your eyes.”
His voice had turned to a growl, more untamed beast than man. Ophelia looked up, met his gaze.
Dark, dark blue, like a frozen pond, except there was nothing cold about him. His mouth burned as he brushed his lips over hers. “Come to bed with me.”
He still had her hands trapped behind her back. She stretched up, chasing his mouth, and shivered when her tongue touched his. “Anything, Hunter.”
His teeth caught the tip of her tongue in a playful nip, only to release as he laughed, dark and hungry, and swept her off the floor. “Anything?”
She’d never made such a promise before, and wouldn’t have done it lightly. “Anything.”
Instead of tumbling her to the bed, he sank to the edge and let her body slide to the floor between his knees. “Undress.”
Her hands shook on the buttons of her dress. She’d never been so clumsy, so undone by the heat in a man’s gaze that she’d fumbled this badly. The world faded as Hunter watched her, leaving her starving and impatient.
She shrugged out of the sleeves and her dress fell to her hips, baring the skimpy French silk basque she wore beneath.
He touched her. Gently enough, though the roughened tips of his fingers abraded her skin as he traced the swell of her breast. “You’re beautiful on your knees.”
“Thank you.” Ophelia pushed off her shoes and rose, letting the dress drop to the floor. She brushed the pile of linen and leather aside and knelt before him again.
“Beautiful,” he echoed, and for a moment, he almost sounded like himself. Calmer, at least, for all the heat in his roving gaze. Then he stood. “Undress me.”
His chest was already bare, so she licked her lips and reached for his trousers. “Just undress you?”
He stroked her hair, ran his fingers through the loose strands before sinking deep to wrap the length around one fist. “For now.”
Ophelia rubbed her head against his hand, relishing the firm tug of his fingers in her hair as she left his trousers hanging open and pulled off his boots, one after the other. Then she returned to his pants, easing them down, drawing her fingertips slowly over hot skin and hard muscle.
Arousal threatened to cut off her breath. “I don’t know how long I can do this.”
He pulled her head back until her eyes met his. “Which game do you wish to play, Ophelia? Sweet submission, or wild domination?”
The Blurb
Ophelia retired from life as a prostitute, but her new position is even more complicated. Managing the bloodhound manor in Iron Creek is difficult and time-consuming, a job she enjoys less with each passing day. Then there’s her inconvenient attraction to Hunter. The newly turned hound seems eager to enjoy her company, but wary of anything more intimate.
Having survived the violence of his first full moon out of a cage, Hunter isn’t looking forward to his first new moon. Ophelia offers to be the woman who sates his needs during the three long days of sexual fury, but he can’t abide the thought of hurting her in a state of mindless lust. Especially since she longs to settle into a respectable life, and his needs are anything but respectable.
Their mutual goal is simple: avoid entanglements. It’s a solid plan, at least until a vampire drug lord and a couple of nosy Guild representatives force them to work together to defend their friends and everything they hold dear–including each other.
Warning: Contains a mostly feral, vampire-hunting hero and a tough survivor of a heroine whose retired-hooker heart is more steel than gold. Also included: dangerous frontier intrigue, fancy brothels, mad-scientist weapons and a good dose of wicked loving in an alternate Wild West.
Available March 6, 2012
moirarogers.com
Honorary Mention of Book Sluts 'R' Us Blogger Awards by 
RR@H Novel Thoughts & Book Talk 