by Tara Gill
SOUGHT BY THE LION : LIONHAEME
BY
TARA GILL
This is a work of fiction, Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of my imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments , events or locations is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
© Copyright 2018 by Tara Gill
© Cover 2018 by Miny Misstress Creations
Dedication
To S. with love
-
Blurb
Beauty and the Beast meets Regency romance in this second standalone instalment of Tara Gill’s ‘Beyond the Planes’ series.
Eighteen year-old Regency Society debutante, Mia Gray hasn’t been very lucky when it comes to family. Neglect has shaped far too many crucial moments of her life. Mia doesn’t recall a moment that she hasn’t longed for love, for a place to belong. But when her self-centred parents seek to push her into marriage and wash their hands off of her, they ignore Mia’s misgivings about wedding a man from the Other Planes. Before Mia knows it, she is transported to Lionhaeme—a brutal, beautiful world!
Lionhaeme, home to lionshifters, is ruled by the dangerous King Barghurr—a formidable, sensually handsome shifter who commands immeasurable power. When Mia encounters the notoriously reclusive Barghurr, the meld of power and man and beast that she encounters is enough to overwhelm her.
Yet he pursues her single-mindedly. He entices her closer with the lure of intimacy, threatening to overcome her caution and seduce her senses.
Will this dominant, sexy man-beast win Mia over and tame her to his hand?
Can Mia rise beyond her untried self to be the Queen that everyone expects her to be?
Come join Mia in her sensual journey from Regency London to Lionhaeme as she navigates her way through magic, mayhem and perhaps even love!
Note: This is a low-angst, erotic paranormal romance novel with no cheating.
Other books by Tara Gill
Beyond the Planes Series
Caught By the Dragon: Dragonhaeme
Clearwater Werebear Series
Bear With Me
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Table of Contents
Contents
Dedication
Blurb
Other books by Tara Gill
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
Epilogue
Author’s Note
About Author
Prologue
Panicked shudders rocked through her body.
Mia tried to move. But the heavy sheet of pristine, transparent crystal that encased her body wouldn’t let her shift an inch. Her hands were locked on her swollen belly where she’d placed them before he trapped her and transported her to this cave up in the mountains.
The baby kicked her, hard. Her fingers clenched, her heart hammered and sweat slid down her hairline.
In the dank, gloomy cave, her frightened gaze followed him as he shifted to a lean, dark-brown lion and padded into a shaded corner. She squinted.
Was that a dead body?
“Oh God!”
He opened wide, fanged jaws and bit into what looked like the carcass of a deer. The lion was scruffy, his mane tangled and filthy—streaked with dirt and she knew not what kind of gore. Nausea churned in her stomach and she swallowed, struggling to keep the bile down.
Her sight blurred, and she felt light-headed. She squeezed her eyes and opened them again.
Could it be that the air in the enclosed space was becoming scarce? Was she confined in her very own tomb?
Her lungs expanded, fighting for breath. Again, she tried reaching out to her mate, not feeling very hopeful—after all, crystal acted as a natural magical barrier.
The mate bond led into a yawning emptiness. It felt like she was finally alone in her head after a very long time. She had forgotten what it was to be lonely and she didn’t like it one bit.
“Oh baby, what are we going to do?” she whispered. Defeated tears poured down her face and she bit back a sob.
How was she supposed to protect herself let alone her baby? She couldn’t access her mate’s magic or even get through to him. Would he even know where to look for her?
Crunch. Blood dripped down the lion’s jaws as he tore through raw, pink flesh with a shake of his massive head and chewed with relish.
“Ow.” Her belly contracted with a sudden cramp. Her back bowed.
She fought dizziness, trying to hold on for her baby’s sake. Barghurr, where are you? I need you! We need you!
Chapter 1
“What gown shall I lay out for you today, Miss Mia?” Betsy asked, her nimble fingers smoothing the folds over the newly made bed. The dull light of the morning shone through lacy curtains into Mia’s shabby-respectable bedroom in their small rented London townhouse.
“I think I shall go out this morning. Please get my blue walking dress ready. I fancy some book-shopping,” Mia decided, a slight frown between her brows, as she ate her breakfast. Now that Mia was eighteen, her grandmother had talked her parents into bringing her out for a Season in polite society. Her maternal grandmother cared for her quiet granddaughter not overmuch, but she at least required that social conventions be followed, unlike Mia’s scientist father.
Since her parents were dependent on Grandmother’s purse strings to an extent, they had conceded. Mia didn’t mind. Mia and her governess—now companion—Fanny were having a lovely time exploring London. The museums, the libraries, the exposure to foreigners from the Continent, even discreet traders from the Other Planes, it was all quite wonderful.
Why, just the other day, she’d discovered a tiny, quaint shop that contained maps and books about the Other Planes with art, histories, and tales from those far-off lands. Many were in languages that she didn’t know, but the illustrations were eye-catching. The place had seemed entirely magical to Mia.
The small sharp-faced shop lady had been so kind, entertaining her and Fanny with tea after which she had read their fortunes on their palm. Not that Mia took anything she said in earnest. Even though the story of an eternal, everlasting love with a man from another land was rather romantic in an exotic way.
Now that she had in hand this quarter’s pin money, Mia planned to visit the shop today, to see if she could buy that beautiful book about fresco art she saw there. The techniques described in it were different to any she’d studied before.
“Mia!” Mia’s mother, an imposing, hawk-faced woman in her forties knocked firmly on her door before entering.
Mia’s heart sank as she stood, patting her mouth with a cloth. In the normal course of a day, Mama had no time for her. If Mama had expended the effort to come to her, it was for nothing good. Mia braced herself for another tirade on how she was squandering her Season and not doing enough to inveigle a rich man to the altar. But to her surprise, that did not ensue.
Sending the maid away from her bedroom, Mama said, “Child, there is someone your father wants you to meet. An important gentleman.” Seeming a bit frazzled, she hurried towards Mia’s painted dress
ing room doors, and opened them with quick imperious movements. Choosing a pale ivory dress with short sleeves and tiny pink satin ribbons embellishing the front, she held it out. It was a new dress, among the few ordered from a well-known London modiste, for Mia’s coming out.
“Wear this dress. It is essential that you impress Lord Barghurr. He is very important to your father, as he has been a patron of his work for long. But he is also from the Other Planes, so he may be a bit odd. Do try and make a good impression.” She bent a stern look on Mia, underscoring the need for her docility.
This struck Mia as strange. Many old fogies, friends of her parents had met up in their house over the years. Most of them paid Mia no mind, as they were more interested in insects than a shy young girl.
So why did this man matter?
“Mama, why do I have to meet him?”
Mama’s lips tightened. She had limited time for Mia as did her father. In general, her parents didn’t have much patience for Mia’s questions. She was expected to do what her parents asked without demurring. From a small age, she’d learned that questions and tantrums left them vacating the area, sometimes even the country in a hurry, so that Mia was left to deal with impersonal servants, who maintained the formal distance expected from them by Mia’s parents.
“Lord Barghurr has asked to meet you.”
Her jaw dropped. Mia was pulling her dress over her head as Mama helped her to adjust it and then fasten it. “What for?”
Was she in trouble?
Mia was a quiet girl and most of her time was spent reading. If anything, Mia got into trouble because she was clumsy. She’d spilt ink on a two hundred-quid dress last month and got a scolding from Papa. Maybe this person was a neighbour, and she spooked his carriage horses or something. Horses did seem to be alarmed by her. From a very young age Mia discovered that she and dogs, horses did not get along.
Mama only frowned at Mia, her intimidating brows meeting in the middle. She called in the maid to arrange Mia’s hair and monitored the process, instructing Betsy to arrange the locks just so. Astonished at this level of attention from her mother, all Mia could do was sit mutely at the shabby rosewood dressing table as the maid worked on pinning up her hair. Mama met her eyes in the mirror and said in a clear voice, “Lord Barghurr wishes to offer for you, Mia.”
Mia’s eyes widened.
“He must have encountered you at a Society event in town. Indeed, his Lordship mentioned that he glimpsed you at Lady Farley’s ball. It was such a horrible crush! It is quite possible that you were not introduced or even if you did meet him, you do not remember. Attentions from such a noble personage is leagues more than what we could have hoped for from your first Season! All I ask is that you do not shame us and try to maintain his favourable opinion of you.” Mama’s voice held the implacable tone that Mia knew so well, the one that meant she was deaf to anything that she did not want to hear.
“Very well, Mama.” Mia managed in a subdued voice.
*
“Isn’t it suffocating in here?” Mia touched her delicately embroidered muslin handkerchief to the fast-beating pulse at her throat. In truth, she felt rather wobbly.
“Perhaps, dear, the windows should be opened a little. Let me call the footman,” said Mama assessing Mia’s pale face with critical eyes. Mia had already almost tripped on her gown when she’d first entered the room, so maybe her censorious gaze was warranted. Mama rang the bell for the butler. When the windows of the morning room were open, the cool air that crept in was a bit of a relief.
Throughout all this, the tall man seated in the upholstered armchair across the room only grew stiffer, his nose slightly twisted as if he was looking down on them all, his seated posture stand-offish. If only the visitor’s disdain was the sole thing causing Mia to become white and rigid, gaze not daring to leave her lap.
She peeked up through her lashes.
There it was again. The lion chimera across where his face was supposed to be. The lion’s yellow eyes glinted and glared right at her, even though the man’s actual eyes seemed to be focused somewhere over her shoulder. The beast’s gaze was feral and calculating in turns, a hint of possession in them as it ran over every inch of her, not missing a detail.
Mia glanced away, hands twisting her kerchief. If, as Mama mentioned, she had indeed met him prior to today, she was quite sure she would remember. In spite of herself, her gaze flickered to him and away.
The rest of the man’s body was human enough. In fact, he was the epitome of the perfect male. His clothing was of premium superfine cloth and he sat with shoulders back and legs spread as if he was King of all he surveyed. Muscular thighs and wide shoulders set off the morning dress perfectly. An ebony walking stick topped by a bejewelled lion’s head lay next to him. As civilized as he appeared, something was off about him, and he emanated ‘Otherness’, an energy that screamed that he was at the top of the food chain. His thick brown hair was pulled back from a high forehead, his deep-set and wide golden eyes rested enigmatically on her, and the delicately carved, oddly sensuous lips were pressed tightly together. He was handsome, in fact, the most handsome man, Mia might have met, if not for the strangeness of the chimera overlaying his face.
It was a translucent veneer similar to a transparent, slightly glowing mask that lay over and above his visage. Simultaneously, Mia could see both the leonine face as well as the human countenance just a few millimetres behind it.
At first, she had been shocked speechless at the sight of the guest Mama ushered in. After some time though, her wits returned enough for Mia to be certain that no one else saw what she did. Her parent and the servants seemed to treat him normally enough, if maybe a little in awe of his stature and reputation.
There wasn’t much Mia knew about Lord Barghurr other than what she’d heard in passing from her parents. She knew that he was from one of those Other Planes. People from there rarely visited the Earth Plane except to trade and were held to be close-mouthed. Lord Barghurr maintained lands somewhere up north and occasionally made an appearance in Society. Usually seen mixing with the stuffy scientists and ancients who were part of the Botanical Society, the Archaeological Association, the Royal Society and many other organisations, Lord Barghurr was considered a great patron of the sciences and the arts not only in the Isles but many other countries.
“My Lord Barghurr, my husband gave me to understand that you own a lovely estate. What is it called, if I may ask?” said Mama, fanning herself graciously. Her high winged eyebrows gave her a look of perpetual surprise and that along with her hawk nose and sharp chin gave her the look of polite inquisitiveness.
“Lionhaeme,” Lord Barghurr replied. His voice was deep, and it vibrated through Mia, awakening her body from a slumber it was locked in her whole life. Her senses screamed danger. Her breath quickened. A sense of a great prowling beast narrowing in on her, fencing her in overcame her. She felt hunted.
She raised a surreptitious hand to her temple. Maybe she was coming down with something.
“Lionhaeme! What an exotic name! Don’t you think so, Mia? Lord Barghurr has invited us to visit his estate and stay with his parents for a few weeks. The botanical gardens there are supposed to be quite beautiful. We can also hunt. I must say I haven’t seen your father this excited in a while.”
Mia supposed Papa would be excited. As a world-renowned botanist, Mia’s father and mother were away travelling across Africa and India for most of her life. Raised in a large part by servants in their small estate in the country, she had never even been to London before this year.
His human eyes met hers. From her silk covered small feet to the top of her shining red-gold hair, Lord Barghurr examined her as if she were a thing under a microscope. His nostrils flared as if he was trying to get a whiff of something—or as if her mere presence insulted him.
Mia’s skin warmed in response and her hand clenched on the arm of her ebony chair which had a few missing chips. The edges bit into her skin. She must be feelin
g anger at his bold scrutiny of her person, she told herself.
His voice rumbled. “Perhaps Miss. Gray would like to receive my addresses in private?”
“Of course.” Unperturbed and with a pleased slant to her brows, Mama rose with alacrity from the grey satin sofa she’d occupied. “Wilkins will be by in a quarter of an hour to show you to Mr. Gray’s study, My Lord.”
Lord Barghurr inclined his head expressionlessly.
Mia’s hands clenched in panic, and her breathing quickened.
Mama left them alone without a chaperone. She would only do that if a man was going to propose to her! While Mama had indicated that this was the plan, but Mia hadn’t expected to face that choice right this very minute!
What was she supposed to do?!
Chapter 2
Mia’s heart thudded. Sweat beaded her upper lip. She felt inadequate to the situation. Other than Tom, her childhood friend, Mia didn’t have much experience with gentlemen beyond casual social interactions, always in the company of a chaperone.
Many of the older men she met at assemblies and balls were well-read and even participated in government. When a curious Mia asked questions about the topics of the day though, the lords gave her funny looks and changed the subject as soon as they possibly could, with a well-bred joke. Mia didn’t attempt drawing them into discussion again. The younger men she met, on the other hand, seemed more interested in sport, gambling, fashion, and flirting. Even if they had some substance, they chose not to expound on it.
In Mia’s experience, most men didn’t have a use for her mind. Hence, she didn’t bother talking much, which surprisingly enough didn’t stop her dance card from being full. Fanny said that even if gentlemen were intimidated by Mia’s silence, they took it for shyness and danced with her for the sheer pleasure of staring at her.
