Gideon Maybury enjoys a life of wealth and privilege, not to mention the advantages his position offers him in his career as a merchant banker and his less public life as a high-class, skilled, and very well-paid assassin for Her Majesty’s government. When his brother dies unexpectedly, he becomes the Duke of Westmoreland.
Michael Mathison has hated Gideon since they were at university together. He’s convinced Gideon had a hand in the death of Michael’s college lover, Christopher, and that he had something to do with the death of his own brother. So he gets a job as Gideon’s driver, enabling him to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the elder Maybury sibling. At first his suspicions seem to be confirmed, but clues emerge that suggest all is not as it appears at Maybury Hall.
As the mystery deepens, so does the attraction between the two implacable enemies, as does the feeling that they have met before—under dark and terrible circumstances. Each has reasons not to trust the other, but neither is averse to a bit of kinky play. Gideon and Michael end up owing each other their lives, and it results in consequences neither could have imagined.
Title: Gideon
Series: Order of the Black Knights
Author: Ashe Barker
Release Date: October 5, 2016
Category: Mystery/Suspense, Erotic Romance
Pages: 200
Gideon went on general release on 5 October and marks the start of The Order of the Black Knights series from Dreamspinner Press. Readers can expect to see a new full length story every month, each featuring a different Knight as he grapples his demons, past and present.
Although Gideon is very much a contemporary novel, all the Black Knights have their roots in the past. We first encounter Gideon as a military commander in the trenches of World War One, where he demonstrates his ruthless nature with brutal efficiency. That scene is built around a piece of historical folklore – the Christmas Eve truce of 1914. I chose this as it was such a well-known event, and whenever I write about a historical setting I like to underpin the story with some real facts which readers will recognize.
Gideon shows his true colors on that battlefield, so when we meet him again a hundred years later it’s no surprise to discover that the most recent incarnation of the man might be sexy as hell but he’s every bit as dangerous as he ever was. Gideon is a cold-hearted killer, but murdering his own brother? Would even Gideon Maybury go to such lengths to remove an obstacle? At least one man believes he would and Gideon’s nemesis makes it his business to prove it.
The attraction which flares between the two from the moment they meet complicates matters, but the outcome will be the same. Or will it?
And a bit more about The Order of the Black Knights series:
Every century has seen its knights, but they are not always seen. Some of them do what must be done—getting their hands dirty when no one else is willing. Assassins and antiheroes who work from the shadows, they are called the Black Knights. From the time of the society’s creation in the 1100s, these men are cursed to repeat their lives of bloodshed. But for each knight, there is one who can bring out the man that waits inside and break the cycle. The question is whether or not the knight will kill his true love before he figures it out.
The door to suite seven zero one was ajar as Michael reached it. He entered without knocking.
Gideon had also taken off his jacket, and it dangled over the back of a chair. He removed his starched cuffs and dropped the gold cuff links onto the dressing table as Michael walked into the bedroom. Gideon smiled and crossed the room to greet him, which he did with a kiss.
The kiss was wet, warm, and open-mouthed. Gideon plunged his tongue between Michael’s lips to play and tease. Michael responded in kind, tangled his tongue around Gideon’s, and used it to explore the moist cavern of his mouth. It was Gideon who broke the kiss.
“That shirt’s worth a fucking fortune. Take it off before I rip it.”
“You too.” Michael was already pulling the soft cotton from his shoulders. He folded the shirt loosely and dropped it onto a chair. Then he remembered to extract the cuff links, which soon joined Gideon’s on the dressing table. He sat on the bed to remove his shiny patent shoes—also supplied by the formal wear hire company—along with his socks. As he stood to unbutton his trousers, Gideon’s leer was wicked. Naked already, Gideon had his fist wrapped around his cock and was already pumping the shaft into swollen, granite-hard readiness.
Michael dropped his trousers but didn’t just kick them aside. He picked them up and folded those too, and then laid them on top of his shirt. He sat on the bed and propped himself against the pillows to watch Gideon’s solo performance.
The duke was well hung—bloody magnificent, in fact. Michael licked his lips and remembered the taste of that slick, wide head in his mouth. Gideon’s juices were salty, and the tang was still memorable. He wanted more.
“Come here,” he ordered.
Gideon shook his head. “My turn this time. You got to swallow my jizz yesterday. Tonight I get yours.”
Michael wasn’t about to argue. He lay back and gestured with the fingertips of both his hands—a come-hither signal. At last Gideon obeyed.
Gideon crawled up the length of the bed until his shoulders were between Michael’s thighs. He grasped Michael’s cock, dipped his head to flick the shiny head with the tip of his tongue, and then lapped at the juices that wept from the slit. Michael groaned and raised himself on his elbows. His head dropped back between his shoulder blades.
“Christ,” he moaned. “This is going to be quick.”
“Maybe,” agreed Gideon. “Maybe not.” He trailed his tongue around the ridge and then along the delicate underside of Michael’s rock-solid erection. As Michael groaned and writhed, Gideon tightened his grip and took the entire head into his mouth. He sucked on it, and scraped lightly with his teeth as Michael arched his back and thrust his hips upward in a vigorous, desperate rhythm.
“Keep still,” Gideon growled. “My show now.”
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Ashe whiles away her time in the wilds of West Yorkshire, in the north of England, writing smutty books and drinking Earl Grey tea. At the last count she had over thirty titles on general release, many featuring BDSM, always hot, with complex characters and compelling plots. Ashe writes MM and Mf, contemporary and historical, with the occasional threesome thrown in.
When not writing Ashe enjoys messing around with digital photography, reading erotic stories, pole dancing (though not especially well), walking her dogs, and listening to Bon Jovi. Loud.
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