Thank you, lovely K D Grace, for hosting me. It’s wonderful to be here with a licence to thrill, I hope! Knight and Trask: Secrets and Spies is my latest Xcite novella and I had fun writing about this pair.
But my secret agent, Trask, doesn’t pack a revolver and his oppo, Katie Knight, doesn’t whip a pistol from her knickers when she’s in a tight corner. They’re both elite operators and their main task is to gain the confidence of people operating outside the law. So Trask might get the gig where he makes a big fuss of a gangster’s mistress, flattering (literally) the pants off her so she reveals information for the UK special service to pursue. Katie works under cover, maybe infiltrating a government department or attending a function with the purpose of getting cosy with an international businessman or drug dealer.
So the story has some similarities to the original James Bond movies, because of its old school flavour. I wanted to set it at the end of the twentieth century so as not to be bogged down by political correctness. Also, there’s no gadgetry involved apart from ‘bugging’ to overhear conversations. But didn’t we all love those inventions by ‘Q’ and James Bond’s maverick approach to them?
Knight and Trask are used to the good things of life. They have to be equally at ease with people who own stately homes and people who flip burgers for a living. They need to fit whatever role they’re portraying so, you’ll see Trask playing a waiter while Katie’s the Sloane Ranger with the velvet headband.
But where the original Bond girls often looked pretty in a scanty bikini before ending up on a mortuary slab, Katie’s no airhead. She might simper in the line of duty but she has a degree and a stint as an army officer behind her. She’s six foot tall and stacked but Trask makes her feel like a rosebud.
I hope you’ll buy the book and love the story.
Excerpt:
‘There are two kinds of rich people, Senor Sol. Some like to flaunt their wealth. Others prefer to avoid the spotlight.’
‘Very astute, my beautiful English Rose. For sure, I’m already falling under your spell.’
She put down her fork and leaned one elbow on the table. Propped her chin in her hand. ‘You’re an attractive man, Javier. How come you arrived tonight without a partner?’
He shrugged. ‘How come you arrive tonight with an old school chum, as you call him? Are you his, how do they call it, his beard?’
‘Touché,’ said Katie. ‘Sometimes I become bored. I like Henry’s sense of humour and he’s unthreatening, so I can relax, without worrying whether a man’s trying to get me into bed or not.’ She resumed her supper.
Javier laughed. ‘You are refreshing like a spring breeze. Should I now be worrying whether you are trying to get me into bed or not?’
‘That would depend.’
‘Upon what?’
‘Whether we both want it or not.’
‘Oh, I think we both know the answer to that.’
Katie placed her cutlery neatly on her plate so he could reach for her hand, which he did without delay.
Blurb:
Set in the 1990s, this is a swift-moving sexy story of two spies who dare to break the rules and risk disgrace, all for the sake of love.
Author Bio and Links:
Toni Sands lives in Wales and writes as much as she can when she’s not watching tennis, walking by the river or cooking. She writes erotic romance for Xcite Books.
You can find her on Facebook http://tiny.cc/7lcfix
Her Amazon author page link is http://tiny.cc/8jcfix