Length: Novel
Ridgeville #7
Genre(s): Paranormal Romance
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Going to Georgia in order to watch over a handful of women is not Harding’s idea of a good time. With the death of Alistair McCain—ex-leader of Freedom—there’s a lot of clean up going on. That includes helping Freedom’s released captives recover in a safe environment. Hence, Harding having to make the trip down south. Really…how hard could it be to keep five women safe? Harder than he thinks.
Because there are two women who hardly speak, another who hardly has an inch of control, and then another who feels the last woman rounding out the group should die. It’s that last woman—curvaceous, lush, and gorgeous—that intrigues him the most. Tess is beautiful, alluring, and…his.
Tess knows pain, hatred, and hopelessness. What she doesn’t know is hope or love. Harding Grange is tempting her to discover both…with him. The massive lion shifter entices her with his strength, torments her with his body, and lures her with his tortured memories. They have a painful past in common, but while he’s ready to jump into mating, she’s trying to figure out the easiest way for him to kill her if she goes crazy after she’s Changed. Because she is, after all, Alistair McCain’s daughter.
**Special thanks goes out to Lisa J for naming Maya's twins. They'd still be nameless terrors without her!**
Read an Excerpt
“I’m more than willing to fight for what I believe in. I believe in ice cream, and I happen to know kung-fu. So, step away from the freezer before I bust out an ass kicking.” — Maya O’Connell, Prima of the Ridgeville Pride and woman who has a degree in ice cream flavors.
Nothing good ever happened when Maya was giddy. Harding knew that happy meant ice cream. Then again, sad meant ice cream, too. Angry meant yells followed by very loud make up sex with her mate, Alex…and ice cream.
But giddy? He shuddered. Giddy was bad. It accompanied…awesomesauce ideas.
Harding sighed. Unfortunately, it was his day to guard Maya. Since she was the pride’s Prima and mated to their leader, the
Prime, he had to follow her around. He had to keep her safe, of course, but he couldn’t rein her in like Alex did.
“Haaarrrdddiiinnnggg!” She yelled his name in a mixture of a scream and a whine.
Great.
Pushing out of the club chair, he rose to his six-foot five-inch height, and followed her voice through the pride house. His boots thumped against the tile in the hallway, his shoulders slumping further with every step. Couldn’t it have been Neal’s day? Or Brute’s? Nah, those two were newly mated and needed to be home with their families. The only two of Maya’s guards unmated were him and Wyatt, and even Wyatt had a human woman for the moment.
It was only Harding who didn’t have much of a life.
Standing out of sight outside the kitchen, he took a deep breath and fought for patience. No telling what was about to happen.
Dreading the coming conversation, he stepped into the room—or home-o-frozen-goodness—and found Maya sitting at the table, a carton of ice cream before her and Alex at her side.
God, things just got worse.
Giddy with ice cream and the potential for wild make-up sex. Why did they need him?
“There you are!” A large smile curved Maya’s lips.
“Prima.” Maybe deference would get a little sympathy from Alex. A glance at the Prime revealed that the lion wasn’t about to help him.
Damn it.
Even his inner-lion whimpered at what was to come. Was she rounding up a cavalry again to save someone who didn’t need saving? That had been a fun trip. By the time the guards (including their mates), and Maya and Alex (including their twins, Easton and Weston) had appeared, the fun had been over. Deuce had been saved by his squirrel mate, and Alistair McCain, ex-leader of Freedom, was dead. At the squirrel’s hand, er, gun. Maya had pouted.
Before that, she’d secretly rescued a sweet fox and also given birth. At the same time. On the side of the highway.
And before that…
“Are you even listening?” A glob of ice cream smacked Harding in the face, cold and wet.
He gave Maya his attention while snaring a napkin and wiping his cheek. “No, but I will now.”
Alex snorted.
Maya narrowed her eyes, glaring at him and then her mate. Now, Harding could just get yelled at and sent on home, but Alex…
“Did you just laugh at the Keeper of the Vagina? Queen of Vaginaville and Ruler of all Things Pink Bits Related?” Maya’s lips formed a thin, white line.
The Prime gulped. “Now, Maya…”
The Prima harrumphed and turned back to Harding. “So, the thing about it is…”
Nothing good ever came out of one of her sentences when she started it like that.
“I love you, Maya—” When Alex growled, Harding was quick to amend his statement. “As much as a single lion is allowed to. But can’t you ‘thing about it is’ someone else? Maybe Wyatt?”
Harding enjoyed his nice, boring life. It didn’t involve many others, but that meant there were fewer people who could turn on him. Because everyone did eventually. Maybe not today, but there was always tomorrow. His last pride had taught him all about tomorrow.
Maya gestured at him with her dripping spoon. “Sit and listen before you get too whiny.”
He did as ordered, but grumbled just the same.
“Now, Neal, Brute, and Deuce have mated. That leaves you and Wyatt unattached. But he’s got a human woman he’s been ‘dating.’” She made air quotes, chocolate dripping to the kitchen table. “That leaves you.”
“Okay.” He nodded. It was the same thought he’d had before he walked in.
“Yay!” She clapped and turned to Alex. “See how easy that was? I told you I could get him to agree!” Maya turned back to him. “Now, you need to pack. Probably for at least two weeks since that’s how long it’ll take the movers to get you your stuff. We’ll box up what you need and send it along. If you leave Maddy a list she’ll—”
She kept babbling on and on, his eyes growing wider by the word, until he’d finally had enough. He put two fingers into his mouth and whistled high and long, snaring Maya’s attention and stilling her words.
With her now silent, he looked to Alex. “What is she talking about?”
The Prime’s grin made him want to punch the lion in the face. He resisted the urge. Barely.
“The Council contacted me this morning—”
“Us.” Maya licked her spoon.
Alex rolled his eyes. “Us. And asked for one of our guards to go down to Georgia and relieve Stone. He’s being promoted to Council Liaison, and they need someone trustworthy, someone not too aggressive, but able to protect himself and his territory.”
Based on the Prime’s and Prima’s stares, he’d been elected.
“Define territory.” Stone, a gorilla shifter and Council tracker, had been in Georgia cleaning up a few messes left over by
Freedom. Harding hadn’t envied the man.
“A small compound in the mountains. It’s built into the mountain, actually.”
There was more. “Uh-huh. And?”
Maya slipped the spoon from her mouth. “And a few-ish women.”
**Special thanks goes out to Lisa J for naming Maya's twins. They'd still be nameless terrors without her!**