Each story in this series is a stand-alone romance. Some characters were introduced briefly in other books, but you don't have to read those to enjoy these tales. If a character was introduced or appeared somewhere else, it will be noted here on the info page, Valladora Tales, and on my website.
If you're a fan of the Valladora trilogies (the Year of ... books), Desire and Duty is about Gwynn and Orman, whom we met in His Insatiable Bear (Year of Suns 1). It takes place during the week between that book and the next one, Bound and Bitten, which will be coming out Fall 2016.
Lots of readers, and my editor, have asked for MF stories set in Valladora, and there will be many in this series. There will also be MM, MMF, and MMM storylines as well.
Excerpt:
Gwynn really liked
the terms the merchant offered, and his price was reasonable. She sat at
Orman’s desk and drafted a reply, as she felt Orman would agree with her. Her
handwriting wasn’t very feminine, so Orman often sent off letters she’d drafted
with his signature affixed. It saved all of them time. She set the draft in the
middle of the desk pad and patted it with a sheet of blotting paper. She tossed
the used sheet into the little basket by the desk and stood up, surveying the
mess on the polished surface. She put the unopened letters in the wooden box on
the corner and began sorting things out. Vane’s illness had Orman worried and
flustered, so his study was even messier than usual.
As she sorted the
papers and put the ledgers in their proper places, she considered what to do.
If Orman liked her, why wasn’t he saying anything? Doing anything? He talked to
her a dozen times a day. She wasn’t being courted by anyone, and she wasn’t a
flirt like so many of the other maids. She did her duty and focused on that,
just as Orman did. Now she thought on it, that seemed to make them very
compatible. As she put the last paper into place, she wondered how red he might
turn if she pushed everything off his desk and stretched across it to wait for
him in a seductive pose.
He’d probably
faint.
She giggled at
that, and at just that moment the door opened. Orman walked in and stopped
short. He looked around with a puzzled expression on his face. “Someone else
here?”
She cleared her
throat. “No, just me.”
He glanced at his
desk. “Something amusing you then?” He closed the door and came closer. “I see
you’ve cleaned my desk.”
“Aye, it was a bit
messy. I know you’ve been under a lot of pressure with Lord Vane sick and all.”
“Yes, I have.” He
met her gaze. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.
Anything you need, you can always ask me.” Gwynn decided to test the waters.
She walked around the desk and stood right in front of him. Taking a deep
breath to make her breasts strain against her bodice, she said, “Anything at
all.”
Orman didn’t take
his eyes off her face. “Then there is something. Lord Vane wants us to have
dinner together tonight.”
“Really? Isn’t he
sick to death of us?” she asked, wondering why Vane would want them to have
dinner with him.
“No, you
misunderstand. He wants you and me to have dinner. Together. Just the two of
us.”
“He said that?”
Orman nodded,
looking as if he was hiding something.
“Why?”
He seemed to
search the air above her head for words before he said, “So we can just relax.
Have some time to ourselves.”
She took a step
closer and noted how his breathing shallowed. “Liar,” she said in a low voice.
“Excuse me?” he said,
shock registering on his face as his eyes widened.
“Lord Vane is
bored stuck in that room, and now he’s playing matchmaker. He says you like me,
so out with it. Is he right?”
Orman looked
uncertain as he searched her face, and Gwynn realized she’d never seen him look
that way before. She swallowed and said, “I’m not teasing you.” She bit her lip
and shrugged one shoulder. “All right, I am a little, but why are you looking
at me like that? It’s just me.”
“Just you? I can’t
think of it that way. Not at all.”
His brown eyes
looked softer now, and his dark hair fell into his face as he gazed down at
her. “Oh?” she said.
“That all you have
to say?” he asked.
“Vane really said
he wants us to have dinner?”
“Yes. He commanded
me to have dinner with you, in fact.”
Gwynn almost
laughed. “Did he, now? He wasted no time. He was working on me when you came in
just a bit ago.”
“Working on you?”
“Aye, he was
saying all kinds of things. How you smile more around me. How you’re happier
when I’m in the room.”
“He may be right
about those things. I do think I’m happier when you’re in the room.”
See where your teasing has gotten you?
She pushed the thought away. “Are you?” She’d only meant to test the waters,
not jump right in.
“Yes.” He came
much closer to her. “I have to obey my lord and have dinner with you, but it’s
something I want as well. It’ll be my pleasure.”
“Don’t I have a
say in the matter?”
“Of course, but if
you say no, you have to go and tell Vane that you turned me down. I’m not going
back up there today. He’s threatened to turn his mother loose on us.”
“Turn her loose on
us? What do you mean?”
He smiled. “You’ve
never been to their castle, have you?”
“Vane’s parents?
No, I’ve never been there.”
“Lady Evane is the
real matchmaker in that family, so we need to be careful.”
“Be careful? What
would she do?”
Orman laughed and
walked around his desk. “She once locked two people in the wine cellar to get
them to admit their true feelings for each other.”
“Oh, there’s no
way that happened.”
“Ask her. She
considers it a triumph. They were married within a month.”
Gwynn let her gaze
wander over the desk. “Hmmm.”
“Well, can I have
an answer?”
Gwynn put a hand
on her right hip. “Not until you ask me properly. I don’t care what Vane said.
I’m not having dinner with anyone because someone told me to.”
“All right then. I
want to have dinner with you because I do like you. I have for a very long
time. Will you?”
She plumped up the
pillow in the chair in front of Orman’s desk before saying, “I suppose so. Not
very flattering, though, that you had to be forced to ask me.”
Orman walked
around the desk and came up to her again. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but you
should be very flattered. I didn’t ask before now because I don’t think I’m
good enough for you.”
“You’re the lord’s
steward. What are you talking about?” If she’d set her sights on him, people
would’ve said she was doing it to raise her station and earn more favor. What
he said made no sense at all.
Orman laughed.
“You’re a strong woman and beautiful in the bargain. I’m more than ten years
older than you and not much to look at. I see the way men your age look at you.
Handsome, strong men that other girls fawn over.”
“Well, you don’t
see me fawning over them. Good looks are just luck, and muscles come from
working hard.” She gave him a quick once over. “There’s nothing wrong with the
way you look, and who cares how old you are.”
Orman came even
closer, tilting his head and looking as if he was about to kiss her.
Gwynn stepped back
and dusted her skirts off. “Well, if we’re having dinner, I need to finish a
few things before then. Where do you want me?” She cringed at how that had come
out, but she couldn’t help it. She’d kissed plenty of men, but she wasn’t ready
to kiss this one.
Not yet anyway.
Orman seemed to
take the hint well enough. She couldn’t even be sure he’d been trying to kiss
her. He was so much taller than she was he might’ve just been trying to hold
her gaze from that angle. “Yes, I need to see to a few things, too. I’ll come
to your room for you about seven? We could take a picnic basket outside, just
in time for the sunset. That way we won’t be in anyone’s way or need anyone to
serve us or set up. That all right?”
“Sounds like a
good idea.” Was he truly being considerate of others or trying to ensure some
privacy? Now she wished she hadn’t teased him and practically shoved her
breasts in his face. “I’ll be ready.” She turned to go, but then she looked
back and pointed. “There’s a reply for the merchant. I liked what he had to
say. Change anything you like.”
Orman smiled at
her. “I’m sure it’s fine.” He looked into her eyes. “We make a great team, you
know?”
“Aye, we do pretty
well. Think alike, I guess.”
“And you look
ready to bolt.” He took up the letter to read it. “Go on. I’ve wasted enough of
your time.”
She wanted to
argue with him, a bit insulted at the implication she was scared or anything,
but instead she grabbed the doorknob and twisted it to make her escape.
And it came off in
her hand.
Oh, fuck me. Has Lady Evane somehow found
out? Did she come down here and loosen the knob from the other side? Gwynn
wondered what Evane would be expecting of them if she had.
“Damn, I thought
I’d fixed that.” Orman came over and took the knob from her, oblivious to her
distress and wayward thoughts. He fit the knob back in and twisted it very
gently. “I’m just going to have the entire thing replaced. It’s getting
ridiculous.”
“Aye, best see to
that,” she said, not quite bolting but definitely quickening her pace as she
moved around him. She went straight to the kitchen and grabbed a basket to
gather some herbs. She wasn’t fit to be around anyone right now, and she needed
time to think.
