On his first trip out West, Zane Grey became friends with Buffalo Jones, the "last of the plainsmen" as he called him. Jones had been witness to the great herds of buffalo that had once ranged on the Great Plains, and he had been a participant in the hunts that led to their destruction. In early 1923, Grey decided that he would write the epic story of the thundering herds of buffalo, the great hunt that decimated them, and the battle between the Plains Indians and the buffalo hunters.When he completed his manuscript he sent it to the editors of Ladies' Home Journal, who had agreed to buy it. Grey was asked to make extensive changes in the structure and tone of the story, and once these changes were made, the story was as decimated as the great buffalo herds. Fortunately, the original manuscript survived and is presented here in Buffalo Stampede as Grey intended it to be.At last, Zane Grey's magnificent panorama of the war for and against the... Views: 15
Ben Contini, a disenchanted painter of considerable talent, has just buried his mother. Rifling through the attic of her Kilkenny house he stumbles across a Modigliani nude, worth millions. Determined to learn the provenance of the painting, he and Elsa, a disturbed and secretive woman who accosts him at the funeral, become embroiled in the sinister world of Nazi art theft. But they are not the only one with an interest in the painting... Together they set off on a frantic journey that leads them from Dublin to France via the Cotswolds, down the Canal du Midi into Italy. The intrigue surrounding the shadowy half-truths about their exotic families becomes increasingly sinister as Ben and Elsa are forced to confront their pasts and their buried demons. Set in the 1980s, this is a fantastic new book from established thriller writer Joseph Hone, who weaves a breathless, galloping intrigue packed with narrative twists and sumptuous evocations of Europe’s forgotten past. Views: 15
Veronica Halstead, Amazon’s princess of perversion when it comes to gangbangs, presents five of her signature rough gangbangs with plenty of overwhelming and reluctant sex. Inside, you’ll find a stewardess overcome by her passengers, a woman surrounded in an abandoned building, a hotel staff eager to get a taste of a young heiress, and even a party where two girls get unexpected attention. Since it’s Veronica, one thing is certain—no hole is off limits, so if you’re looking for rough and reluctant gangbang sex that includes first anal sex and double penetration, this is your collection! Bent: A Very Rough and Reluctant Gangbang erotica story Olivia’s brother has a problem, a gambling addiction that’s always getting him into trouble, and this time it’s getting Liv into trouble, too. This time, he’s gambled with money he didn’t have, and it’s Liv’s body he’s put up as a marker for his debt. Olivia agrees, reluctantly, but she had no way of knowing that it would result in a rough and hard gangbang complete with her first deep throat, double team sex, and a very rough and painful first anal sex! DOUBLE TROUBLE: A Rough and Reluctant Two Girl Gangbang Short Theresa was excited. Right at her office, Hannah, the young receptionist who had enthralled her, was giving her the very first lesbian experience she’d ever had, and it was so sweet and perfect! It stopped being sweet, though, when the six men who also worked at the office came back because of a cancelled flight. The sight of two women licking each other is too much for them, and before they’re finished, Theresa will experience a whole lot more than her first lesbian sex! TAKEN BY THE HELP: A Reluctant Gangbang Erotic Short Holly has spied on room 234 in the posh hotel where she works for years, but she’s never come across a more alluring and beautiful guest than the heiress Emilie Perenee. She’s lovely, elegant, and graceful. She’s also in trouble. Her father has cut off her allowance and she’s faced with a hotel bill greater than most people make in six months. Holly watches in hiding as Emilie uses her incredible skills with her mouth to convince the front desk attendant she should be allowed to stay, but the real convincing starts when the hotel manager shows up with two muscular men. To stay, Emilie will have to endure a very rough and reluctant gangbang. MIDNIGHT PLAYTHING: A Very Rough and Reluctant Gangbang Short A girl like Penny should know better than to walk the streets late at night, and if she has no choice, she should certainly know better than to walk through an abandoned building. There are eyes watching her, and before the night is through, she’ll be a plaything in her first gangbang, a rough and reluctant sex encounter complete with rough deep throat, her first anal sex, and a double penetration. TURBULANCE: A Very Rough and Reluctant Stewardess Gangbang It’s Charlotte’s final day with her airline before changing jobs to work on a corporate jet, and she’s stuck on a transpacific flight handling the first class cabin. All nine of the passengers are from the same internet startup company, and all of them are difficult customers. Still, it’s Charlotte’s job to please them. Of course, she didn’t know that all nine of them want to join the mile high club, and they’ve decided that she’s the perfect one to initiate them…all. She’ll have a vicious gangbang over the Pacific Ocean, and the men won’t be finished until she’s had every hole filled and satisfied every cock! Warning: This ebook contains very graphic descriptions of sexual activity during various rough and reluctant gangbang sex encounters. It includes rough sex, spanking, humiliation, pinching, slapping, forced deepthroat, first anal sex, double team sex, double penetration, reluctant sex, and forced semen swallowing. It is intended for mature readers who will not be offended by explicit depictions of sex acts between consenting adults. Views: 15
Eleanor has worked hard to transform herself from the lonely girl she once was. Switching braces for a breathtaking smile, dowdy clothes for fabulous dresses, and heartbreak for flirty, fun-only dates, she's now "Ella." But one man can see the real woman beneath.Fiercely private billionaire Jake Donner has never forgotten Eleanor, and he's shocked to see how she's changed. Sparks begin to fly as old memories haunt them—for the innocent attraction they once resisted is all grown up and won't be denied again.…About the AuthorLeah Ashton has been a lifelong reader of romance. Writing came a bit later—although in hindsight she’s been dreaming up stories for as long as she can remember. Now she lives in Perth, Western Australia, with her own real-life hero. By day she works in IT; by night she considers herself incredibly lucky to be writing the type of books she loves to read. You can visit Leah at www.leah-ashton.com Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Sydney, New South Wales TodayIt was an ambush. Plain and simple.Jake Donner knew it. Every one of the board members who currently watched him with matching unreadable expressions knew it, too.How long had this been planned? Hours? Days? weeks? 'No.'Jake figured that was pretty much all that needed to be said.'There's no other option, Jake.' This came from Cynthia George, a silver-haired, retired chief executive of one of Australia's major banks who now spent her spare time on a handful of corporate boards across Sydney. As she studied him with what could only be described as a steely expression, Jake was reminded why he was so keen to appoint her to this board.Intimidating just began to cover it. Pretty damn scary was closer.But still, he shrugged. 'Find another one.'Jake forced his body to fall back into the soft leather of his high-backed chair, attempting a fair facsimile of casual nonchalance. But his muscles were tense, and he found himself fighting the instinct to leap up and pace around the edge of the Armada Software boardroom.This was not representative of his usual board meeting experience. Usually, the time was spent paying careful attention during the topics that interested him, zoning out during those that didn't, and occasionally congratulating himself on his decision a few years back to extract himself from this excruciatingly boring world of the business he'd founded. Now he had a twenty-eight per cent share of the company, an up-and-coming CEO—also currently studying him across the streaky marri surface of the boardroom table—and a board made up of Sydney's corporate elite—nearly all financially invested in Armada. All this added up to the perfect excuse to pay as minimal attention as possible to the day-to-day operations of the company and instead let the experts worry about it while he did what he was actually good at: coding software.Up until about a minute ago, this arrangement had been operating flawlessly.Across the table, the chief financial officer pushed a paper-clipped sheaf of papers in his direction, the pages fanning out slightly as they slowed to a stop.'Here's an option, Jake. We reduce our FTE by twenty per cent.'Full-time employees. In an organisation of over two thousand in this skyscraper alone, that was a heck of a lot of people. 'Cutting staff is a last resort.'The CFO nodded. 'Agreed.' He gestured at the LCD screen at the head of the table and the final presentation slide it still displayed. 'Hence the board's proposal.'Jake didn't even bother to look at the figures and multicoloured graphs before him. He was familiar with them all. He might slouch about in his chair and say very little at these meetings, but he read every single board document in detail.Sales were down. Costs were up. Australia might have weathered the Global Financial Crisis better than most of the world, but Armada had not emerged unscathed.The facts were inarguable.But the proposed solution?Definitely worth arguing about.'I'm confident that the release of Armada's first smart phone will significantly increase revenue,' Jake said, and he was. Just not as confident as he'd been last night when he'd absorbed the surprising financial report. He'd expected the board to have a typically brilliant solution to what he'd been sure was a temporary problem. But their unease was unsettling. Their solution impossible.Jake Donner—as the new face of Armada? Nope. Wasn't going to happen.'There's no need for something so drastic,' he said.Cynthia smiled without humour. 'A few TV and radio appearances, a conference keynote address and a couple of interviews is hardly drastic, Jake. Armada needs a public face, and you're it.'He shook his head. 'For a decade the quality of our products has spoken for itself. I seriously doubt wheeling out some computer geek is going to help anything.'She snorted, an incongruous sound in the perfectly silent room. 'Computer geek? Try infamous multimillionaire recluse. Number two in Headline magazine's list of Australia's most intriguing people. Number one in Lipstick's most eligible bachelors. The increased publicity for the new phone will be immeasurable should you be the face of the product.'Jake sank even further into his chair, stretching his long jean-clad legs out beneath the table. He didn't ask to be featured in those stupid glossy magazines. Didn't ask to forever be annoying his long-suffering local constabulary in order to despatch the more than occasional misguided journalist or photographer who trespassed onto his Blue Mountains acreage home.It was all nonsense. Absolute rubbish. There was no story to be found. No scoop.Was it really that unusual to despise Sydney's concrete jungle? To equate wearing a suit, unending meetings and patently false schmoozing to something only a few degrees south of selling his soul?Apparently so.Who cared that he'd rather work remotely from the comfy couch in his lounge room? Who cared that he'd rather stick pins in his eyes than attend some society function chockfull of Sydney's self-satisfied, Botoxed elite? Who cared that he truly believed his private life was private and that a flat no-interview policy made his life significantly easier?Well, according to the ten sets of eyes focused on him right this second, and the substantial business acumen behind them—a lot of people cared. A hell of a lot of people.Jake gave up pretending to be all casual and dispassionate. He flattened his sneakers to the parquet floor and shoved his chair backwards, leaping to his feet in a sharp movement. The chair continued its journey until it thumped gently against the wall, but by then Jake had already completed half a lap of the room's wall of windows.'In a saturated marketplace, Jake, just having a great product isn't enough.' This came from the Vice President, Marketing & Communications, an elegant, spindly woman with jet-black hair. 'Unfortunately, early indications from our market research are that the Armada phone is generating little interest from consumers. Our US and Japanese competitors have the market cornered—people want the familiar brand, regardless of our superior phone.'Jake paused. 'And what, exactly, do you think I could do about that? How is my mug on a magazine cover going to sell phones?'The VP smiled. 'The results of our copy-testing focus groups are compelling. An advertisement including your name and photo scored significantly higher in brand linkage and consumer motivation. We're talking quadrupling of interest in the product.'Jake didn't even bother being surprised that focus groups had been run. Of course they had. He was the only one late to this party.He rubbed his forehead, a futile effort to erase the newly created furrows. His jaw was clamped shut and his teeth ground together.'The board's recommendation is that we proceed with the Jake Donner campaign.' It was Cynthia again.'If you decline, we'll be forced to reconvene to begin implementation of the company restructure,' added the CFO. Restructure, of course, being code for mass redundancies.Now the VP chimed in. 'We're planning a short campaign, Jake. One month of inconvenience to you for tens of millions in potential increased revenue.'The whole board murmured in enthusiastic agreement. Yes, this was definitely an ambush. He half expected them all to start lobbing their pens at him next—in a perfectly coordinated fashion, of course.One month of inconvenience.Could he do it? One month of shoehorning himself into whatever shiny package Marketing chose to squish him into? One month of posing and saying all the right things in aid of dragging Armada out of this financial hole?One month for thousands of saved jobs and millions of dollars?It didn't sound like much of a sacrifice when put like that. He might be far from the sole owner any more, but deep down inside he still considered Armada his. His responsibility. His employees.Really, the decision was a no brainer.Reluctantly, Jake grunted something that Cynthia correctly interpreted as acquiescence.Well, he wasn't about to jump up and down in excitement, was he?Something totally random occurred to him: Lord. He'dbetter not have to wear a suit.Ella Cartwright waited patiently outside the boardroom's double doors, seated neatly on a low leather couch. Her black patent heels did not click nervously on the floorboards. Her fingers did not twist and tie themselves in knots on her lap. And she certainly didn't ask the CEO's personal assistant, who'd escorted her all the way to the twenty-sixth floor, any of the myriad questions about Jake Donner that sat on the tip of her tongue.Not doing all those things was possible, of course, because those things she could control.The butterflies currently tap-dancing in her tummy? Well, not so much.But that was okay.No one needed to know about them.Finally, the doors were pushed open, and a parade of exquisitely suited executives slowly made their way out. Ella was on her feet well before she caught a flash of Cynthia George's distinctive red blazer amongst the mass of wintry black, grey and navy.Ella allowed herself a fleeting moment of pride as she recognised the jacket she'd personally selected for Cynthia's revamped wardrobe. With her sharp haircut, flawlessly applied make-up and flattering outfit, Cynthia was a walking advertisement for Picture Perfect, Ella's five-year-old image consultancy firm.But, while Cynthia's 'look' had needed a review, her communication—and negotiation—skills definitely hadn't. This had been demonstrated most effectively to Ella when she'd attempted to say no w... Views: 15
During her freshman year in college, Jerrika Rand is infected with VAM, the Bloodfeeding Disease. Seven years later, she accepts a job as Director of a VAM orphanage in a small town where fear of the disease abounds. When the orphanage burns to the ground, Jerrika begins to learn of the secrets of the small town. Two women have disappeared in recent years, and Jerrika wonders if she's next... Views: 15
It was a time of legend, when the last shadows of the mighty Roman conqueror faded from the captured Isle of Britain. While across a vast sea, bloody war shattered a peace that had flourished for two thousand years in the doomed kingdom of Atlantis.Taliesin is the remarkable adventure of Charis, the Atlantean princess who escaped the terrible devastation of her homeland, and of the fabled seer and druid prince Taliesin, singer at the dawn of the age. It is the story of an incomparable love that joined two worlds amid the fires of chaos, and spawned the miracles of Merlin...and Arthur the king. Views: 15
The animals of Mistmantle have enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity since the violent Raven War. Their tranquility is disrupted when tidal waves threaten to destroy the island. Mossberry, a squirrel with delusions of grandeur, sees the impending disaster as an opportunity to rise to power...and his reckless decisions will put many citizens in harm's way. Urchin of the Riding Stars must stop Mossberry and usher everyone to safety before it is too late. Along the way, the ultimate sacrifice must be made for the survival of all. Deeply moving and packed with adventure, this is a fitting conclusion to the beloved Mistmantle Chronicles.About the AuthorM. I. McAllister has written several previous novels, published by Oxford University Press in the United Kingdom, includingThe Secret Miceand most recentlyThe Octave of Angels. She is married to a minister and has three nearly grown-up children. She lives with her family in Yorkshire, England. Views: 15
One look at the baby girl, and there was no
question Kade Ryland was the father. For three months, Kade had posed as
Bree Winston's husband at the Fulbright Fertility Clinic, while the two
FBI agents investigated a trail of illegal adoptions and surrogates.
Nine months later, a baby was dropped at his feet—and Bree was nowhere
to be found. Now Kade had to reopen a case that had gotten way too
personal and find Bree—fast. But if the two of them had never been a
real couple, were they ready to be parents? Whatever the answer, Kade
now had more than one reason to close this case once and for all. Views: 15
For sixteen years the red line sliced through the heart of Nora's city. The young doctor had grown up knowing that the virtual line cut Beirut into a Christian east side and a Muslim west side. She took it for granted that no one on either side in this civil war could cross the red line, the boundary of tradition, morality, and even identity. Then the Muslim patient appeared in the psychiatric ward who would convince her to do the unthinkable. Nora's passion for this man would draw her into enemy territory where she would have to weave words around her friends, relatives, and even a powerful and dangerous family, but one misstep and she would be caught in her own web. Nora is the grown-up child of war, and her story—which is based on a real one—is the story of Beirut itself, a city divided, a city driven to self-destruction in a frenzy of passion, a city that got addicted to the bitter taste war left on its tongue. Views: 15
The end of the world, December 23. Nuclear war has come and gone, but planet Earth is now a radioactive graveyard, where the laws of physics no longer apply; the dead walk, and angels, demons and ghosts apparently populate the planet. A survivor to this backdrop of horror is a scientist and medical doctor, Jack Calisto, whose wife had foreseen Armageddon shortly before she died two years earlier. He constructed a facility to take care of survivors and to ensure a small community of human beings survived. Plagued by mutants called Maddogs,Jack and his people are also faced with irradiated horrors called Stiffers - zombie-like monstrosities that kill without reason. Jack is assisted by a mysterious entity that will not reveal itself to him - called the Guardian Angel. The Angel is actually the reincarnation of his dead wife who has come back to help him battle the forces of evil now unleashed on Earth. She is a bird by day, and turns human by night when Jack is asleep. She can only communicate to him in the written word, and informs him of a young woman he must save, Laura, who may be the new Eve to mankind. Jack Calisto is both scientist and warrior, up against impossible odds, in a world that now defies every known law of nature. Views: 15
