He doesn’t want a woman, let alone a wife... Valentine Sean Butler, the sixteenth Viscount Mountgarret, is cursed to spend half his life as a merman. Though he doesn’t mind his beastly side, he takes exception to warring for the cause of the mers. They hate humans and require his fighting skills, but all Valentine wants is to sail his ship and be left alone in peace… then one chance meeting with a lady in Hyde Park bends his plans.
She has no use for men, but needs a convenient marriage... Lady Phoebe Winthrop, used, ruined, and disowned is ready to steer her own fate. Not content with the horrible birthmark or the life given her, she wants adventure, and the only way to gain that is to ask the viscount to marry her. Wedding will give them both a measure of respectability, and beyond that, perhaps the friendship she sorely craves.
A union based on freedom... As Valentine and Phoebe sail from London following their wedding, they both have to come to grips with what they’re running from. Old insecurities dog their steps, but as the days go by, their unlikely friendship grows into much more. As love blooms and deepens, they must stay one step ahead of danger in the depths, and when a horrible contract comes due, one—or both of them—must make the ultimate, and most personal of sacrifices in order to chase a happily ever after.
It was a bestseller when released in 2019. Then the publisher closed. I reissued the series in 2021.
A few inches of snow clung to the grounds. It also stuck to the bare branches of the trees making them appear as eerie skeletons. London hadn’t seen much of the white stuff, but there was enough to make the world around him enchanting and mysterious. He would miss this aspect of life on land once he left. The darkness of midnight would hide him from any curious eyes, but at this hour, there was no immediate danger of being seen, and he had spent too much time away from his first home to worry about that now. As gooseflesh popped over his exposed skin and prickled his hairs from the icy air, he dove into the frigid winter water that resembled spilled ink.
Cold immediately enclosed him. The temperature beneath the water was not much better than the air, but it couldn’t be helped, for the Serpentine was closer than the London Docks. He refused to wait one more moment to feel the water around him, and now that it surrounded him, he called forth the shift that would transform his human body into that of a merman.
His legs, ankles, and feet fused together in the crunch and crush of bone, nerves, and skin. A thick tail formed in their place, and he whipped it up and down as the agony of shifting pushed through him. Scales, bluish-green in color and as hard as armor, covered the lower half of his body. The fin—or fluke—at the tip of his tail acted as a rudder and a guide and was comprised of a filmy keratin-like substance. It also regulated his body temperature in the water. His was twenty inches long and had a notch torn out of it from the last battle he’d fought. A pair of smaller fins protruded from the tail just above the tip, all the same color as the tail. Another set of fins—pectoral—rested at his hips and helped with navigation through the water and waves. Ventral, dorsal, and anal fins also assisted with swimming and maneuvering.
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German
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Already translated.
Translated by Jenny Riemer
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Adele Contenti
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