Hi everyone–

I’m so happy to have my pal, Kay Berrisford, back on the blog. I think of Kay as one of my best author friends — even though we’ve never met! LOL. Kay lives across the pond — so one of these days. Meanwhile, can you think of anything more fun as a summer escpe than The Merman and the Barabarian Pirate? Seriously. And Kay has a Rafflecopter for you down below so be sure to enter! Take it away, Kay. —

Love is Never as Easy as the Stories Say! Kay Berrisford introduces her summer getaway read – The Merman and the Barbarian Pirate.

What type of guy is your dream man? A sizzling fireman hero? A buff supermodel? Maybe you go for the sexy intellectual types—a genius scientist perhaps?

At the start of my m/m fantasy adventure, “The Merman and the Barbarian Pirate,” Raef the merman thinks he knows exactly the sort of lover he wants.  He’s been raised on stories of merfolk falling in love at first sight then living happily ever after with rich, beautiful princes. He’s determined his own destiny should follow this path.

When Raef spots Lord Haverford, a smoothly handsome lord living in a fairytale castle by the sea, he believes his dreams are about to come true.  But … love is never as easy as the stories say.  I must be a very cruel writer, because I had great fun dashing Raef’s hopes and dreams and teaching him a little lesson about life. Because it turns out handsome princes are not Raef’s “type” after all.  He eventually loses his heart to a rough-looking tattooed pirate, who transpires to be the noblest hero Raef will ever meet.

Of course, we all know it’s what is inside a person that counts, especially when it comes to happy-ever-afters.  We’re told this from an early age, but it’s amazing how long it takes many of us to believe it.  Raef’s coming-of-age experience reflects a process that so many of us go through, from pining after unattainable idols like pop and TV stars, to remembering the true value of friends and family and those people close to us. None of us, I hope, have had quite such a steep learning curve as Raef. Still, I hope you’ll join him on his quest for love—a tale of kidnap, murder, forgery, high seas adventure, and above all, romance. It’s quite a rollercoaster ride!

Blurb: Raef, a lonely merman, spends his days watching the dashing Lord Haverford from afar and dreaming of love. When Haverford is robbed by a pirate, Raef vows to reclaim the stolen goods, hoping his victory will buy him the happiness he yearns for with Haverford.

But Jon Kemp does not match what Raef knows about pirates, and the simple quest Raef anticipated turns out to be an epic journey. For while Jon might be a nobler man than Raef believed, he’s still a pirate. Love and loyalty are not on Jon’s agenda, and he certainly has no plans to love someone not entirely human …

Buy it now: http://www.lessthanthreepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_bookx_info&products_id=636

Excerpt

Note: In this scene, Raef has shifted into human form.

“W-we need to talk.” What was it about Kemp that made Raef stammer? He couldn’t gauge it.

“That’s a sound plan.” Kemp placed the book on the table and came closer. “I can’t work you out at all, my lad. You’ve still not told me what it is you do for Lord Haverford. You’re clearly neither a servant nor a so-called gentleman, and you’re no Navy man, that’s for sure. So what are you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Flustered by the unanswerable question, Raef fell to his knees.

Kemp jumped, clutching the handle of a cutlass at his side. Raef prayed Kemp wouldn’t strike, and gazed up at him, imploring. “I want to apologize for being unfriendly earlier. You, er, you’ve been good to me, at least good for a pirate, and…”

Raef’s attention slammed onto the formidable package at the front of Kemp’s breeches, and a ravenous hunger overtook him. He moistened his dry lips. Now he understood exactly why those young mer threw themselves at lords and princes. These cravings swamped even those he’d harbored for Haverford. He was so desperate to see what lay beneath Kemp’s clothing, he’d all but lay down his life for a peek.

“And?” Kemp eased his grip about the pommel.

Raef’s voice sounded weak and distant. “I, uh, wondered if you and I could get to know each other a bit better.”

“Did you indeed? And why exactly are you kneeling before me?”

“Um, because…” With shaking hands, Raef reached for the silver buckle on Kemp’s belt. He didn’t know what he was doing, but some uncontrollable urge within him shouted this was right. Perhaps it was because he was unused to folk being dressed, because he needed Kemp naked.

“Poseidon’s teeth.” Kemp seized his wrists and pushed him away so hard he tumbled backward. “I don’t think you really want this.”

Raef couldn’t answer; desire quaked through him, though the rational shouts in the back of his mind grew louder. Stripping Kemp’s breeches was more than friendship required.

Kemp eased his glower, then took Raef’s hands and drew him up before leading him over to the bunk. He sat Raef down and settled close by. Their thighs almost brushed. “Is this what Lord Haverford makes you do for him? Is that how you’ve earned your crust?”

On gathering what he could of his fractured wits, Raef neither understood nor liked the melancholy in Kemp’s tone. After all, if Lord Haverford allowed him to give pleasure and be cherished, that would be a glorious thing. He shook his head, and a silky lock drooped across his brow. “No, he doesn’t make me. Nobody has ever made me do anything like that, in all my twenty-one years. Nobody has ever even asked.” He puffed his hair from where it tickled his nose, and the final confession slipped out before he could stop it. “I wish someone would.”

Kemp emitted a noise caught between a sigh and groan, and a roguish glimmer lit his eyes. That shoal of fish in Raef’s belly took flight once more, manic, as if a predator were in their midst.

“Well, my callow colt, we’d better start at the beginning.” Kemp leaned in, obliterating the gap between them, and pressed his lush lips to Raef’s.

Raef’s heartbeat seemed to stop, then it surged forward like rolling thunder. All he could feel was the gentle brush of Kemp’s mouth against his, kindling a wondrous and flourishing heat. Kemp lingered there a moment, offering a kiss of snowflake-light caresses. Then Raef felt Kemp’s tongue, hard and wet and tracing the seam of his lips.

Raef parted them, inviting Kemp inside. Kemp thrust forward, plundering toward Raef’s depths, and pushed his hand up Raef’s thigh toward his achingly-hard loins. He hoped Kemp knew exactly what to do about that, though for now, the kiss incited rapture enough. Coarse beard scraped Raef’s smooth chin, grazing the skin, but he didn’t care. He hugged Kemp tight, gratefully enveloped in Kemp’s embrace. He scrubbed his tongue against Kemp’s, tasting spice, rum, and something uniquely, wonderfully him.

Buy it now: http://www.lessthanthreepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_bookx_info&products_id=636

Kay’s books on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Kay-Berrisford/e/B006JLQ4L8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Kay’s books on All Romance: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Kay+Berrisford

Kay’s books on Barnes and Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/kay-berrisford

Kay’s website:

http://kayberrisford.com/
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for coming by! The Sexcapades Blog Hop is coming Friday. Watch for it. : )