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
Thank you, K D, for inviting me along today to chat about my latest project. Forgive me if I loosen my lacings and settle my skirts around me. This huge scarlet cushion you’ve thrown me is the perfect match for my gown. And the delicious gooseberry wine you’ve poured must surely be down to your hard work in the vegetable garden?
magic forces at work within it too. Our hero, Sir Gavin, hits the ground running in Book One as he and his stallion, Sarum, gallop towards a crystal cleft, the portal to another world. Magic allows a writer quite a lot of licence when suspending the reader’s disbelief but hero Sir Gavin’s own strength of character and the power and determination brought about by bonding and of course love ensures the enchantress doesn’t quite get it all her own way.
Before I leave your roaring log fire, I’d like to follow the popular trend and talk a little about writing sex scenes, something which tests writers in many ways. Decisions … decisions. If my hero let his eyes do the touching, should my heroine take the initiative or not? Does she want to open the box of chocolates NOW? Or wait until later? The mind often provides the foreplay. Can a character’s fantasy have a greater impact on the reader than an explicit description of the actual encounter? I do hope so because this is an approach I use within my writing! If two lovers (or would be lovers) are kept apart for story reasons, the author can bring them together upon the page by giving one of them a chance to fantasise. All of us have dreams, don’t we?
