It’s my pleasure to welcome friend and author, Lyndi Lamont, to the blog. Lyndi’s new book, Deception, sounds so wonderful and intriguing. It’s going in my TBR pile post haste. What a fascinating time she has written about. You won’t resist! Now Lyndi is going to tell you about her Beautiful Boys! And she’ll be giving away a copy of Deception so don’t miss the chance. Comment! : )
When Tara invited me to visit her blog, I said I’d do a post about the Beautiful Boys of the Gay Nineties. The 1890’s, that is. Like Oscar Wilde’s very intimate friend, Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, a young man renowned for his youthful beauty, as you can see in this photograph. It was his relathionship with Bosie that landed Oscar in prison, convicted of “gross indecency”. The price of “the love that dare not speak its name”, as Bosie put it in his poem, Two Loves. 
My new release, Deception, is set in 1895, a time of great excess and great poverty, of sexual repression and joyous romanticism, of great restraint and lavish excess. In this world of extremes, two very different men meet and form a bond, but one based partly on half-truths and deception.
Leander Frampton, a struggling artist who makes ends meet by waiting tables at a cafe, is astonished to receive an invitation of a masked ball along with the costume of a Medieval fool. He has no idea who sent it to him, but it’s an offer he can’t resist. That night, he meets a man in a gorgeous costume of black and gold. When the masks come off, he realizes it is Rupert, a man he met and bedded two months earlier. The man he has dreamt of ever since.
Nor has Rupert forgotten Leander. But Rupert has more to lose and more to hide. At home in Liverpool, he lives the circumspect life of a respectable art importer. But in London, he’s at liberty to indulge his passion for handsome young men. He has a preference for artistic young men like Leander, and a lot of emotional baggage.
Leander thinks he has found a lover, a patron and his muse, but Rupert is maddeningly elusive, appearing and disappearing in Leander’s life with little explanation. Rupert arranges for a private showing of Leander’s work, but that doesn’t mean he trusts Leander with all of his secrets, especially after risky public sex that could have landed them in jail.
Two very different men – one, a businessman, with a great deal to lose and a taste for secret liaisons with beautiful young men; the other a young, gifted artist who will give his all to the right man. Will deception destroy any possibility for a once-in-a-lifetime passion for these two lovers?
In this excerpt, Leander and Rupert are on an excursion to Brighton on a cool but sunny March day:
“Let’s walk on the pier,” Rupert suggested when Leander had finished his sketch. “At least it’s sheltered.”
“All right. We were lucky to have such fine weather today. It seems like it always rains on Sundays.”
Rupert laughed as Leander closed his sketchbook and slipped his pencil into his pocket. He followed Rupert to the entrance of the pier, where he paid their toll. It was warmer on the pier, thanks to the windscreen. He moved closer and brushed his arm against Rupert’s, just for a second. He envied the men and women who strolled arm-in-arm along the pier, exchanging fond glances, unaware of how it felt to be unable to do so.
“We should run away,” he said.
Rupert chuckled. “Where do you propose we go?”
Leander frowned. “I don’t know. A tropical island far from civilization?”
Rupert’s brows angled upward. “And do what? Live on fish and coconuts?”
“Why not? What’s stopping us?”
Rupert shook his head. “You spin a nice fantasy, but truth is, we’d both be bored out of our minds in a week. No theater, no books, no culture.”
“Of course,” Leander agreed, though he doubted he’d grow bored so fast. Not as long as he had Rupert and his sketchbook. He turned away and fought down his disappointment. He was in danger of falling in love with Rupert, but the feeling didn’t appear to be reciprocated.
* * *
Just before sunset, they wandered along the beach toward the old chain pier. Rupert shivered from the cold wind off the ocean. They had stopped earlier to book a hotel room, and he was ready to return, but Leander seemed reluctant to leave the beach. Still, Rupert was glad they’d come. The excursion had meant a lot to his young companion. He’d filled several pages in his sketchbook and talked of ideas for new paintings. Nature might be uncomfortable at times, but it was beautiful and inspiring.
By the time they reached the old pier, they were the only ones left on this part of the beach. The sunset had turned the sky shades of red and orange, and the timbers of the decrepit structure were silhouetted in black against the brilliant colors. “What a painting that would make.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Leander said. “I’ll get to work on it when we return to London.”
“Too bad you left your sketchbook at the hotel.”
Leander turned to face him. “It doesn’t matter. I won’t forget.”
“How can you be sure?”
Leander smiled. “I have an excellent memory. Once I’ve seen something, I can draw it down to the smallest detail.”
“Really? I had no idea.”
Leander shrugged modestly. “I’ve always been able to do that.”
“No wonder you’re such a talented artist.”
Leander grabbed his arm and steered him into the shadows under the pier. “That’s not all I’m talented at,” he whispered before grabbing Rupert’s head and pressing a kiss on his lips.
Rupert opened his mouth to protest, and Leander slid his tongue inside, tasting and exploring. Rupert groaned and kissed him back. This was madness, dangerous madness, but he was unable to resist. He wrapped his arms around Leander’s waist and pulled him closer.
“We need to stop,” Rupert gasped between kisses.
“Shut up,” Leander said before taking his mouth again.
He let one hand slide down Rupert’s torso to his waist. Before Rupert knew it, Leander was expertly unbuttoning his trousers. He tried to pull back, but Leander tightened his grip on Rupert’s neck.
Rupert’s protests were silenced by Leander’s tongue in his mouth. Rupert knew all he had to do was push the smaller man away, but his mouth and hands felt too good. For the next few minutes, he forgot how to think, how to talk, as Leander’s hand stroked and teased his prick.
“Are you going to come?”
“Yes,” Rupert groaned.
Leander fell to his knees, took Rupert’s cock in his hands and drew the tip into his mouth…
My thanks to Tara for having me here. I met her recently at our local RWA chapter, and I can tell you, she’s a real dynamo. I have a hard time keeping up with her!
You can find more pictures of handsome 19th century men at My Daguerrotype Boyfriend including (on page 6) a picture of Bosie with his older brother Francis , also rumored to be gay.
Currently Deception is available only from Amber Allure, but it should be available at third-party sites in a few weeks.
Happy reading!
Lyndi Lamont
website: http://www.lyndilamont.com/
Lyndi’s Love Notes: http://www.lyndilamont.com/blog
And if you leave a comment, Lyndi will be giving away a copy of this delicious book! Don’t miss it. And thank you for visiting the blog. : )