Art of Cunning by Steffanie Holmes
Alexandra Kline has landed her dream job – curating her first art exhibition at the prestigious Halt Institute in the small English village of Crookshollow. But the dream quickly turns into a nightmare when she’s forced to work with Ryan Raynard – the arrogant, reclusive artist who refuses to co-operate with her. When Ryan’s paintings don’t show up at the gallery on time, Alex heads out to his crumbling, gothic manor to give him a piece of her mind.
Billionaire artist Ryan Raynard hides a dark secret. He is a fox shifter, who shuns the company of humans and hunts alone at night in the forest surrounding his home. But the moment he laid eyes on Alex, he can’t help but be drawn to her. He can sense that she’s the descendent of a powerful shifter clan, and she is destined to become his mate. If only he was ready to fall in love again …
As Ryan and Alex are drawn together, they realise they are facing bigger problems than Ryan’s stone-cold heart. Crookshollow is being overrun with a different kind of shifter – ruthless and deadly, these shifters are killing humans indiscriminately for no apparent reason. And they are hot on Alex’s scent. Can Ryan keep Alex safe from harm, or will his need for her endanger them both?
Reader Warning: Art of Cunning is the first book in the 3-part Crookshollow Foxes serial. This book contains scorching sex, adult language, and a cliffhanger ending. If you like dirty, raunchy sex with a hot fox and one clever, sarcastic heroine, then this book will have you howling for more. Enjoy!
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Here is a short sample from the book:
I pulled away from him. “You can’t do this to me.”
“Do what?”
“Before, you were…and then, suddenly, you’re prowling around like something is going to attack you.” I folded my arms across the chest, keeping my eyes glued on the shadowy forest so that I didn’t have to look at him, so that he couldn’t see the tears pooling in my eyes. When I spoke, my voice was hard. “What’s wrong with me? I told you I wanted to be your mate. So why do you push me away?”
He grabbed my arm and spun me around. “Something startled me,” he whispered, his eyes boring into mine. His robe had come undone, revealing the outline of his naked chest beneath it. “The thread of a memory. I am sorry.”
“That’s not it. It seems as if you’re holding back. I see all the wild desire in your eyes, and yet, when you kiss me, it is tame.”
“I’m trying to be gentle,” he said. His grip on my arm tightened, the pain sending a shiver of desire through me. I knew that’s what he was trying to do, but I wanted him to stop. I didn’t want to sleep with Ryan the sensitive artist; I wanted Ryan the wild, powerful fox man. I wanted the raw, primal lust I saw in his eyes, for that same desire burned below my skin.
“Ryan, you can’t pretend to be something you’re not. If I am to be…your mate, then you treat me like one. I am to have all of you, or I am to have nothing.”
His eyes flickered. “Alex, you don’t know what you’re asking. The relationship between a fox and his mate is very…complex. It’s an exchange of power, of vital, elemental magic. It’s a test of the vixen’s strength to endure what her mate desires of her. I wanted to ease you into it. I wanted to give you pleasure you’d never known before, before I tried to break you.”
“You can’t break me, Ryan Raynard.” I said, staring back at him with the fiercest expression I could muster. “Just you try.”
As I delivered this, I yanked my arm away. But he was too quick. He stepped in and grabbed my other arm, twisting it around so that I no choice but to follow it. He pinned my arm behind my back, pressing his naked chest against me, so I could feel the warmth of him through the thin layer, feel his hardness pressing against my ass cheeks. I was just where I wanted to be, trapped and completely under his power.
This is more like it.
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