Monday, September 3, 2007

Templar Prize

by
Deanna Ashford

I think I am having a few Ridley Scott moments at present. On Friday we had the amazing excerpt from Janine’s wonderful book, Divine Torment, which was described by the publisher as ‘Like Gladiator set in a mythical realm.’ Now I’m posting an excerpt from my new book Templar Prize. The story is set during the time of the Third Crusades, just three years after the events portrayed in the Ridley Scott movie Kingdom of Heaven.

Much like most women of her time the heroine, Edwina, has been forced into an unhappy loveless marriage. Her husband is in the service of King Richard the Lionheart and they accompany him on his on his quest to retake Jerusalem from the Saracens. Edwina’s husband dies unexpectedly and she is reunited with her former lover Stephen the Comte de Chalais. However the path before them is shrouded in danger and betrayal.

Storms at sea, cruel emperors, tyrant kings, renegade Knights Templar and Saracen noblemen all make their desperate situation even more perilous until even Saladin himself has a part to play in their destiny.


Comment on this post and you’ll be entered into a draw to WIN A COPY of TEMPLAR PRIZE. (Don’t forget to identify yourself somehow in your Comment.) The winner will be announced on Thursday.


To set the scene for the excerpt: Edwina, dressed as a squire, has accompanied Stephen to the Templar fortress of Sarak which is commanded by Master Bernard le Motte a fanatical man who believes any kinds of sexual contact is a perversity. Stephen and Edwina share a room and it comes to Bernard’s attention that the new arrival has an unnatural relationship with his squire. Determined to witness this for himself Bernard uses the secret tunnels in the citadel to spy on Stephen and Edwina.

‘Master,’ Gerard whispered anxiously.

‘Silence,’ Bernard hissed, his excitement rising to fever pitch. He felt his penis grow harder but studiously he tried to ignore it, concentrating on his need to bear witness to this appalling incident.

The squire was lying on his belly, his body covered by his long shirt, with only his small pert buttocks bare. Bernard watched in fascination as Stephen thrust his cock deep inside the young lad and heard him give a loud groan of pleasure. To be honest Bernard was unable to see this as clearly as he would have wished, because in the process of impaling the squire, the comte had moved and all he could see was Stephen’s muscular buttocks thrusting lewdly back and forth. Even so he was captivated by the sight of the erotic movements, finding the vision so compelling that his own shaft grew even harder until it felt as if it might explode. There was almost an animalistic air about these two people enjoying such forbidden pleasures and Bernard was so very tempted to slide his hand under his surplice and press it against his aching cock.

Soon his breathing became as laboured as that of Stephen’s, who was still energetically pumping into the willing squire. Bernard’s heart missed a beat and his fingers curled, his ragged nails digging into the stone wall as Stephen withdrew and flipped the squire over. The boy’s long shirt concealed his sex for a moment and then the comte ripped it off, revealing the surprising sight of two round firm breasts tipped by erect cherry coloured nipples. Bernard’s gaze slid down to the squire’s groin hardly able to believe it was a woman. What had possessed this knight to bring a woman, disguised as a boy, to this sacred place he thought indignantly.

Yet he could not fail to be moved by her nakedness. In truth he might have envisaged it in his youth but he had never seen a woman unclothed before and it was a magnificently inspiring sight. He began to understand how such a sinful creature might have tempted Adam in the Garden of Eden. Her long golden hair confined in a fat plait flopped across one pert breast. As she lay there smiling seductively at the comte she parted her thighs to reveal all of herself to the onlookers. Bernard swallowed and gave a soft sigh as he watched the line of wicked pink flesh opening up between her pale thighs. He so wanted to be there naked on the bed with them and he watched enthralled as Stephen eased his rigid cock back inside the woman again.

As the thrusting started, she wrapped her legs around Stephen’s lean hips and Bernard could not resist the temptation a moment longer. His hand surreptitiously reached beneath his surplice and he grabbed hold of his penis, rubbing it through the rough fabric of his breeches, while he watched the two of them rutting together.

Their pleasure appeared to rise as swiftly as his. He saw Stephen’s muscles go rigid and he emitted a loud grunt as he climaxed. That noise was followed by a sharp scream from the woman as she too came. Confusion erupted inside Bernard’s body as he felt a quite indescribable pleasure consume him. Then his own muscles tensed and his cock pulsed with a wild pumping pressure. The strange sensation was followed by a wonderful warmth and a powerful sense of release.

Unable to comprehend what had happened to him, he leant back against the far wall, shivering slightly as he became aware of a strange damp stickiness in his breeches and he realised in disgust that he had allowed himself to climax, something he had never allowed himself to do before, because self-gratification was a mortal sin in his eyes.

Yet none of this was truly his fault he told himself, it had come about because of the Comte de Chalais’s strange shameful behaviour. Bernard vowed that he would be punished for this as well as his other crimes. Turning he leant towards Gilbert. ‘Go find the strongest sleeping potion we have, put it in a jug of our finest wine and send it to the comte.’


Deanna Ashford
www.deannaashford.com

36 comments:

Janine Ashbless said...

More warrior men masturbating!
Is it my birthday?

Thank you Deanna - Now that's how I want to face a Monday morning.

Portia Da Costa said...

Phwooaargh! That is hot stuff, Deanna! I love it... :)

Makes me want to write a historical now.

Deanna said...

Thanks for that Janine.

Loved the sidebar picture by the way!

Deanna said...

Portia,

You captivated me with your prologue to Gothic Blue. I think if you wrote one it would be great.

Anonymous said...

I have to have to have to win this!! I am all about the Templars so I would love to add this to my collection. It would be a naughty naughty gift for me :)

Crystal
www.bookreviewsbycrystal.blogspot.com

Megan Kerr said...

Sigh... So unfair the Lustbiters are excluded from winning, even with the right ancestry... ;-)
Great stuff, Deanna.

Megan Kerr said...

P.S. it's pronounced "ker-niggit"

Deanna said...

Crystal,

Not surprisingly I find the Knights Templar fascinating and I really enjoyed the research I did on them.

Got some more stuff in the planning stage re the Templars so watch this space.

Liz said...

Wow! I'm sold! (Found this via your post on EAA's group.) I love anything to do with the Crusades, and the snippet is awesome!

~Mychael Black

Madeline Moore said...

Nice! Sexy stuff, Deanna. Congrats on the new book.

tetewa said...

Enjoyed the excerpt today, looking forward to reading more.

Karl Friedrich Gauss said...

Once again, lust (or in this case, is it love) triumphs most satisfyingly when it has to overcome great obstacles, in this case of social convention or official prohibitions. This is really a kind of "bondage" of the soul, just like Tilly's handicapped characters endure and exploit their built-in bondage of the body.

Very enjoyable writing. Hope I win the book. Congratulations, Deanna.

Janine Ashbless said...

The Crusades is just a great era for writing erotica in. You've got the warriors, the heat, the clash of cultures, the military/religious cults and restrictions ... Of course you've got to skirt the massacres etc. But that's history for you.

I've bought the director's cut of "Kingdom of Heaven", which is supposed to be much superior to the theatrical version, but haven't watched it yet. Hell, it's got to be better than "Alexander."

Olivia Knight said...

Putting the lust back into bloodlust...

Deanna said...

Yes Janine,

The directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven is far better than the cut shown in movie theatres. I walked away from the cinema thinking that something was missing and too much left unexplained. For example how could a blacksmith suddenly handle a sword so expertly.

I love the way Ridley Scott handles Historical movies - he's always so particular about showing the period as accurately as possible onscreen.

Anything would be better than Alexander wouldn't it!

Angel said...

Wow...

This is a gorgeous excerpt. I'm definitely going to read this book. Thanks for starting my Monday out right!

Vincent Copsey said...

Lovely post, Deanna. I'm just trying to place the guy on your cover. I'm sure I've seen him somewhere before...hmmm!

Deanna said...

The guy on the cover looks nothing like my hero Stephen unfortunately.

Janine and I clearly share that problem.

May said...

Now that's the kind of something wonderful I look for in my RSS reader every morning.

Thanks Deanna!

ChristyJan said...

Wow! I want this book!

I loved Barbarian Prize and Savage Surrender - they are both 2 of my favorite books.

Portia Da Costa said...

Your cover man reminds me a bit of Marc Warren

piccie here

Unknown said...

Great excerpt Deanna!
I'm looking forward to reading this!

Deanna said...

Thanks Christyjan,

I'm so pleased you like them so much.

I'm working on another book set in the same universe as Savage Surrender and some of the original characters will be back.

Also you'll eventually learn what happens to Taranis and Sirona in the follow up to Barbarian Prize.

Deanna said...

Thanks everyone for commenting.

Deanna

Alison Tyler said...

Putting the lust back into bloodlust...

Really, our t-shirt shop runneth over. This must be one of my favorite slogans so far.

Awesome excerpt, Deanna. Sorry for showing up late!

XXX,
AT

Vincent Copsey said...

I've sussed who your cover model reminds me of... It's the guy off the BT ads.

TeresaNoelleRoberts said...

Mmmm, tasty!


I'd usually be afraid to read something involving the Crusades and Templars, because I know just enough to be dangerous. But this looks really good--and besides anything involving Saladin piques my interest. (The Middle East in that period was so elegant--and so clean in comparison to the west!)

Sue A. said...

I'd love to win the book because that excerpt left me wanting to read more of the book.

Anonymous said...

Great excerpt! I'm looking forward to reading more! That puts a new slant on the Crusades.

Anne Tourney said...

Wow, Deanna, this one excerpt has it all: a homoerotic sex scene (that turns into a hetero scene!), exhibitionism, suppressed lust, spiritual torment, voyeurism, and a heck of an orgasm! Not to mention your historical detail -- I'm so impressed by the level of research that you do, and your passion for history.

There's something so titillating to me about sex scenes in which a woman poses as a boy, and is revealed to be a woman. I love Edwina's boldness when she's flipped over, and she parts her legs to show that flash of "wicked pink". There's a wonderful BL classic by Vivienne LeFay (Artistic License, I think?) in which a young girl poses as a boy in Italy in order to study painting. I always found those male-into-female transformations to be so exciting. They challenge the way I view sexuality, and they're just plain hot.

This is the novel we talked about that night at RWA -- I'm so happy that I got to have this sneak preview. Beautifully done!

Anne Tourney said...

p.s. I wanna win this one!

Ally said...

Count me in!

Anyone or anything with a sword is hot, swords are hard, swords are pointy swords can thrust and pierce you, impale you... Oh my, now see what you've done! More shiny objects to fantasize about. 1st a chrome bunny with 7 settings. Then a Golden Cock! Huff Puff, Now it's a cold hard steel shiny hard thruster to peirce me with... Oh My! Aghhhh...

Anonymous said...

Another Historical story full of hot, horny soldiers? Phew! Where do I sign?

Deanna: That's one hot book you have there. Can't wait to read more.

Stacy S said...

Loved the excerpt. It sounds like an awesome book.

Janine Ashbless said...

I've just finished re-watching "Kingdom of Heaven" - Yep, the director's cut is definitely better. I still like David Thewlis' character best!

Anonymous said...

Hi Deanna, I am going to keep up on this b/c Like I said I love the Templars and would love to read you!