by Sable Sylvan
Book 1: The Cinderella Cook-Off
Book 2: Beauty And The BBQ
Book 3: Spicy Beauty
Book 4: The Matchstick Grill
Book 5: Little Red Hot Sauce
You can find the first book in this series, “The Cinderella Cook-Off”, on Amazon on March 17th. The rest of the books are coming out soon.
A special sneak peek of the second book in the series, “Beauty And The BBQ”, is included after this sneak peek. “Beauty And The BBQ” is coming out on Amazon on March 24th.
Best of all, specially branded Sable Sylvan hot sauce, produced by Mo Hotta Mo Betta, in five flavors related to the books, will be available on Zazzle upon launch. Five brand new teas (watermelon decaf herbal tea, mint green tea, lemon black tea, raspberry black tea, and peach black tea) will also be available via Adagio Teas. You can find all these items and more on www.shopsablesylvan.com !
Love this book? Join the Sable Sylvan ARC (advance reader copy) team today! Get every Sable Sylvan book FREE a week before release, no reviews required (although I love reading your reviews). Learn more about it here:
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Yours,
Sable Sylvan
Bears + BBWs + BBQ + BDSM = Too Hot To Handle!
The last thing that the curvy Quincy sisters expect is to meet their rivals, the Scoville brothers, in the flesh at the reading of their grandfather’s will. What the heck are a bunch of Norwegian billionaires doing at a fair in the middle of Texas? Planning a corporate takeover, of their family’s hot sauce company, The Quincy Sauce Co. These shifters have another thing coming if they think that these BBWs are about to give up their family’s recipes without a fight, and the eldest Quincy and Scoville siblings become arch rivals…with an undeniable primal attraction to one another that they can’t explain.
Hot sauce hotties and ice-cold shifters…
What the heck do a bunch of Nordic polar bear shifters know about running an American hot sauce company? Well…more than meets the eye. With a history tracing back from before the East India Company, all the way to the Silk Road and the Viking Age, these shifters know everything there is to know about the spice trade. What they don’t know is how to woo a mate. That’s right, from the moment that the eldest Scoville brother, Herbert ‘Herb’ Scoville, sees the curvy heir to the Quincy Sauce Company, Alice ‘Allie Penny’ Quincy, he knows that this firebrand is a special woman. Herb loves the hunt, and he’s never failed to catch his prey…but Alice is no ordinary woman. She’s as saucy as her family’s hot sauce, and she’s not going to give up the recipes to the sauces that Herb claims her grandfather stole from his that easily. When Alice suggests a cook-off at the Bright Star County Fair, it’s on. Herb’s got his eye on the prize…and the trophy doesn’t look half bad either.
Just who does this billionaire think he is, turning Alice on like a propane grill…
From the moment Alice sees Herb, she knows he’s everything she doesn’t want in a man. He’s pompous, gets what he wants, how he wants, and he’s competitive to a fault…so why does she feel a link to him that she just can’t ignore? His steely grey eyes remind her of a night filled with masks, ballgowns, ratty sneakers…and neck ties and belts wrapped around her wrists and the bedposts of a certain hotel room, in a certain city, on a certain night that seems to be so far in the past that it might as well be a fairy tale. Herb looks just as good in a custom tailored European suit as he does shirtless, handling a grill with a finesse that nearly rivals hers, but this polar has more than just a hot body to offer. The only thing hotter than their sauces is their banter, but Alice’s heart belongs to another…a shifter whose name she doesn’t even know. Can she learn to let go of her past, or does Fate want her to keep nursing a broken heart? Will Herb take away Alice’s pain…or will he take away her grandfather’s legacy?
Small towns and billionaires don’t mix like sweet tea and lemonade…
These billionaires have never been denied anything before, solving every problem with a credit card or check, but to earn the trust of the curvy BBW Mesquite sisters, they’re going to have to earn the love of their small town. Instead of using what’s in their wallets, they’ll have to use what’s in their hearts. Can the Mesquite’s sisters hot sauce melt their cold Nordic hearts, or will they have to heat them up in the bedroom? These shifters are going to have to learn their lesson the hard way, the hot way, the spicy way…if they have any chance at all of understanding The Feminine Mesquite.
The Quincy sisters sat on the couch inside the law firm. While some places in the Northeast would kick their clients out after a meeting, things were different down South, where hospitality was still important. Their grandfather’s lawyer had insisted they compose themselves before they headed out. The hot Texas sun shone down on them through the large stained glass window, and because all five sisters were wearing all black, they felt even hotter. Even though these five were used to the heat, they still weren’t used to the loss of their last grandparent, their father’s father, Elijah Quincy.
“I can’t believe Pop-Pop is gone,” said Savina, the youngest, wiping a tear from her eye.
“He wouldn’t want you to be sad,” said Alice, the eldest, offering Savina a tissue from her purse. “After all, you’ll be going off to college this week. You’ve gotta keep your chin up. That goes for you too, Abby.”
“At least the four of us will have our studies to keep us occupied,” said Abigail, the second eldest. “I’ve got my senior thesis to work on, but you’re going to be here, alone.”
“Oh, I won’t be that alone,” said Alice. “After all, I have the kitchen and the shop to run now. The four of you have got to focus on your studies, and yes, Addy and Kai, that goes for you too.”
“We’ll visit over breaks,” promised Addison, the middle sibling.
“You’ll see Dad often, won’t you, Allie?” asked Cayenne, a.k.a. ‘Kai,’ the second youngest. “I’ll make sure to call him at least once a week.”
“Yeah, I’ll visit Dad,” promised Allison. “Pop-Pop lived a long life, a good life. We have to make sure that we continue his legacy, all five of us.”
“You sure you want to share his gift to you with us?” asked Cayenne. “After all, you are the sole heir to the Quincy Sauce Company.”
“Before Pop-Pop passed, he had a conversation, in private, with Dad and me,” said Alison. “I didn’t bring it up at the time because I didn’t want to worry the four of you. This was when he was first diagnosed with lung cancer, and we were hoping the chemo would work. He told me that he had intended to leave the company to all five of us, given that we are his only grandkids, after all. But, the lawyer said that, because the four of you are still in college, owning part of the company would interfere with your financial aid.”
“It would?” asked Savina.
“Yeah, by the time Mom and Dad were helping you with your forms, they had already done them four times,” said Addison. “But, I remember when we were filling mine out, they asked us to disclose what assets we personally owned.”
“The more you own, the less aid you qualify for,” explained Abigail. “That’s why it makes sense for Alice to be the sole heir. She’s graduated, so she doesn’t have to worry about financial aid.”
“Don’t worry,” said Alice. “As soon as each of you graduates, you’ll get a share of the company, so that we end up with twenty percent each, one fifth per sister. That’s what Pop-Pop wanted to have happen eventually.”
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay running the company on your own?” asked Abigail. “I could take the year off, help you get into the groove.”
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“No, you need to graduate,” insisted Alice. “After all, how hard can it be to run a hot sauce company?”
Five men entered the room. Tall, blonde, they were all wearing suits, and Alice didn’t recognize them. She knew everyone in this small town. After all, there were only a few thousand people living in Fallowedirt, and she would’ve remembered these guys. Each of them was exceedingly handsome, with blonde hair in varying shades. The tallest was toned, but strangely pale. When was the last time she had seen a guy that pale? It was hard to avoid the sun in Texas. Shouldn’t he at least be a little tan?
The men walked towards the front desk, and the tall, toned man spoke for all of them. The other four were standing by quietly, but their presence was still intimidating. Alice heard their voices raise. Who the heck did these guys think they were, coming in here and treating the paralegal so rudely?
Alice got up off the couch.
“Alice, what are you doing?” asked Cayenne.
“I’m about to give these men a piece of my mind,” said Alice, a hand on her hip, as she shimmied over to the desk. “Excuse me. Excuse me!”
“We’re in the middle of something,” said the man, turning to face Alice and looking her over.
Alice felt the man’s eyes eating her up. He felt predatory, but at the same time, he wasn’t scaring her. He had an accent. It sounded British, but there was something else there. Alice couldn’t tell what it was. German? Dutch? Swiss?
“Who do you think you are, talking to her that way?” asked Alice. She looked over the man. Tall. Blonde. Broad-chested, muscular…and pale. He was very pale. Where the heck was he from where they didn’t have sunny days all the time? His designer suit made him look sophisticated, like one of those Yankees from upstate who passed through town and stopped for gas or the New Yorkers she’d met during a New Year’s Eve party in Times Square she’d gone to back in college when staying with a friend from New England over a winter break.
However, his body had a primal aura of masculinity, his muscles pressing against the slimmer cut designer European suit that only served to make him look even sexier. Alice had never understood the appeal of a man in a well-tailored suit before, but now, she definitely would have a thing for sartorially educated men. She just had to make her body resist having a thing for this one. Why did she want nothing more than to lean into his body, which was strangely familiar to her?
“Again, it’s absolutely none of your business,” said the man, turning to face the secretary again.
“Excuse me, it is my business,” said Alice. “If I didn’t stand up and say something when I saw something wrong going on, well…then I wouldn’t be Alice Quincy!”
“Alice Quincy?” said the man, turning to face her. “Well, speak of the devil. I was expecting someone a little more…masculine.”
“Masculine?” said Alice. “What the heck is that supposed to mean? You wanna explain what the heck you’re talking about?”
“The name’s Herbert, Herbert Scoville. Friends call me Herb, but, trust me…you and I won’t be friends,” said Herbert. “I came here looking for an ‘Al Quincy,’ and assumed that they’d be an Albert, not…”
“Not, what, a woman?” asked Alice.
“Well, honestly, no,” said Herbert.
“Well, what do you want with me? Spit it out,” demanded Alice.
Fiesty. Curvy. Sassy. Under any other circumstance, Herbert would’ve listened to what the head in his pants was telling him to do, but, he hadn’t come five thousand miles for a quick lay.
“Again, I’m Herbert Scoville, you must’ve heard of me,” said Herbert. “Your grandfather and mine, they had…unfinished business.
“Scoville?” said Alice, then, it hit her. Scoville. The rat bastards. “You mean your grandfather was Morten Scoville?”
“The very same,” said Herbert. “Your grandfather stole something from my grandfather, rather, one very important recipe. It’s the recipe for the sauce that your grandfather sold as his ‘Special Sauce.’ There are suspicions your grandfather stole four other recipes from my grandfather, but…”
“…But you have no evidence, just has you have no evidence other than hearsay,” said Alice. “Who do you think you are, coming here, on the day of the reading of my grandfather’s will? I don’t know how they do things wherever you’re from --”
“Norway, by way of Britain,” said Herbert with a smirk.
“Well, you’re in Texas now, and we don’t play that game here,” said Alice. “Now get out of here before I have to take you out of here by that pretty blonde hair of yours.”
“Any other day, an offer to be taken out by you would be an offer I’d take you up on, but I’m not leaving this state until I have my grandfather’s recipes in my hands,” said Herbert. “If it’s a war you want, well…I’ve got an army of lawyers waiting to take you down.”
“The men you’re with?” said Alice.
“No, and there are two things you’re wrong about,” said Herbert. “First off, we’re not men. We’re polars. Polar bears. Shifters. You know what that means? We’re hunters who can handle any situation and keep a cool head. They’re not my lawyers. They’re my brothers. Basil. Clove. Mason. Sage. And they’re not about to leave my side. You’d think we werewolf shifters by the way we hunt in a pack.”
Herbert leaned down to whisper that last sentence into Alice’s ears. Her cheeks blushed with arousal and frustration. Who the heck did he think he was to treat her like this, to whisper in her ears as if he were her lover, and to turn her on like no man ever had before? He was the man who in the last few minutes had established himself as her arch nemesis, but he was making her wetter than she’d ever been before. It had to be that dang shifter animal magnetism at work. It was no fair. How could she, a human compete?
The minute Herbert leaned down he knew he’d made a mistake. He wanted to whisper something else into Alice’s ears, about what he wanted to do with her, and how hard. He couldn’t help but take in her scent. Underneath the light scents of soap and floral shampoo was her natural musk, and it signaled her fertility as strongly as her ample curves and sass signaled that she was in need of a good pounding. His cock twitched. It only did that when he was on the prowl, either for business or a woman’s honeyed petals. In this case, it was for both reasons, and that drove Herbert wild. He could feel his polar wanting to burst from his skin, and he heard his inner bear tell him to take this woman back to his cave, or any cave at all, and breed her with his seed.
Herbert pulled away quickly. As he stood back up, something brushed against Alice’s stomach. She looked. Something was bulging from his pants.
Alice raised an eyebrow. Had Herbert really gotten a semi just from talking to her?
“I’ll be seeing you again shortly,” said Herbert, trying to get the boner to go away. What the heck was happening? He usually had fine control of his body, but around Alice, it was obvious that all bets were off. Yes, she was the most attractive woman that he’d seen since stepping foot in America, but…he knew that she was forbidden, for two reasons. First off, she was his grandpa’s arch rival’s heir. Secondly, well…he shook that thought out of his head. It was no use thinking about her while he was here, especially when he had no clue where she was…or who she was.
“I look forward to it,” said Alice sarcastically.
“Brothers, let’s go,” said Herbert. He turned and walked off with his entourage of tall hot Norwegian blondes.
Alice walked back to her sisters.
“Uh, what the heck was that?” asked Abigail, who had been comforting her sisters in Alice’s absence.
“Do you remember the stories Pop-Pop told, about the war?” said Alice. “About the Norwegian polar bear shifter that he was stuck with in a Nazi POW camp?”
“Yeah, Scarsdale or something,” said Cayenne.
“Scoville,” corrected Abigail. “Well, they had that rivalry, and apparently, Morten Scoville has been telling people that he owns the rights to the hot
sauce recipes that Pop-Pop uses. One of the recipes is the recipe for the Special Sauce.”
“So who the heck were the blondes?” asked Savina.
“Pop-Pop wasn’t the only one with a gaggle of five grandkids,” said Alice. “Apparently, Morten had five of his own, grandsons, all polar bears, who are here to get the recipes.”
“Are you kidding me?” asked Addison rhetorically. “I thought for sure that you and that tall one had chemistry. What the heck is gonna happen to next?”
“I’ll tell you what’s gonna happen,” said Alice. “I’m going to handle this. This Friday, we’ll all go out to the county fair and have a great time, and you’ll fly out to your colleges in a few weeks. Things are gonna be okay, I promise. Don’t worry. I’ll handle everything.”
Alice drove them all home, to the house that their parents had left them in Fallowedirt before they had moved to Florida to retire. As Alice drove, she couldn’t help but wonder how she’d solve the two new problems that had popped up in her life: the problem of the hot sauce recipes, and the problem of her attraction to the man that was there to steal them…and who might just steal her heart.
Sneak Peek: “Beauty And The BBQ”
My dear readers,
I’m pleased as punch to announce a brand new Sable Sylvan series, “The Feminine Mesquite”. A family rivalry between the Texas Quincys and the Norwegian Scoville Polar Clan makes this series extra spicy. This series has everything you know and love from a Sable Sylvan series: bear shifters, BBWs, fairy tales, and true love. This series takes it a step further. It features BBWs, BBQ…and BDSM.
