The Lover: A Dark Romance of Desire and Death (Carnal Angels)
“I would never have guessed that I could come to love a man with [Michael’s] past...Schone has written a tour de force.” -All About Romance DESIRE ... “One month. Of pleasure.” Michael pushed his champagne glass across the table. It connected with the base of the heavy silver candleholder with a crystal ring of finality. “I will do anything you wish. However many times you wish it.” She wet her lips, a quick flick of a pink tongue. “That is what I am paying you for, Monsieur des Anges.” Anne Aimes had newly come to her wealth. She had yet to realize that money did not control men. Sex controlled men. Vengeance controlled men. Money merely made it possible to act upon the two disparate needs. A smile twisted his lips. “I assure you, chérie, I will not forget what it is you are paying for.” DEATH ... Anne Aimes is a lonely spinster who has spent her entire life caring for ailing parents. She is not beautiful, but she is wealthy. With no one left to love and nothing left to lose, she hires Michel des Anges—a beautiful man she briefly glimpsed 18 years earlier during her disastrous coming out—to give her one month of passion, memories to warm a cold, barren future. Michel des Anges—Michael of the Angels—is a beautiful prostitute renown for his expertise at bringing women pleasure. But a killing fire destroyed his beauty five years earlier. Now whores cringe at his touch. Yet one woman still desires him ... He accepts her offer: one month of pleasure for ten thousand pounds. But the price of pleasure is not paid in sterling pounds; it is paid in blood and flesh. Because everyone Michael has ever loved has been murdered. By using Anne as bait, he will draw out the killer. She doesn’t deserve her fate. But neither had the ones before her ... Author's Notes: The Angels Series portrays male prostitution in Victorian England. Expect morally gray characters, explicit sexual situations, unusual torture, and memories/re-enactments of abuse and rape. This series is recommended for mature readers who like their romances blended with twisted suspense, fallen angels of the carnal variety and feisty heroines who fight for their men.