Home

Blog

About

Booklist

Press kit

Articles

Fun Page

Contest

Newsletter

Contact

Links

Buy Liddy's Books at

"Liddy Midnight weaves spells with her words. Don't miss her!"
~ Maggie Shayne 

 

Rogues

2006 Ecataromance Reviewers Choice Nomination

Buy Here Also Available

Rogues, May 2007 Ellora's Cave ISBN-10: 1419953338 ISBN-13: 978-1419953330 Genre: Erotic / Fantasy Format: Print A vampire, a psychic and a werewolf walk into a bar on Alpha Prime...

Thomas and Rick have a stable partnership, exploring the stars and skirting the law. Vampire and companion for decades, they fill their downtime aboard their ship the Sleepwalker with sex and banter. Lately they've felt that something, or someone, is missing in their relationship. Rick believes it's a woman, one destined to complete them and become their perfect long-term third.

Harriet isn't content with her life as a bank repo officer. She'd really like a desk job in Accounting, but corporate assignments are limited for a werewolf with unusual talents. Getting down and dirty with her marks isn't her practice, but she has no idea what sensual delights the latest deadbeats she's sent to collar have in mind.

From the moment they meet, the trio is ensnared in a web of desire, heat and danger as they untangle a conspiracy and race to head off unthinkable disaster.

 

 Reviews

"I highly recommend ROGUES for its excellent writing, fully fleshed
characters, fascinating plot -- and oh yeah, some very well crafted love scenes."
~ Romance Reviews Today

"I give Rogues 5 Angels. I found the story the story to be an exciting, wonderful read. It is full of laughs and action. Rogues was an absolute joy to read from start to finish."
~ Fallen Angel Reviews

"Drama is interspersed with a constant naughty sensibility so that sex is never far from the heroes' (or reader's) mind. I enjoyed this ride through a future universe with these three and the humorous computer character, Elvie."
~ JERR

"Ms. Midnight & Ms. Starr deliver with ROGUES a terrific story. These two authors are a perfect writing team and this reviewer really hopes that they will write more stories together! ROGUES has funny, sensual, and really hot elements."
~ Love Romances and More

Ms. Midnight and Ms. Starr have given readers an exhilarating story that is sure to heat up many cold winter nights. You can give me a fantastic futuristic romance such as this any day of the week and I will be supremely happy. If you read this book, I am sure you will agree."
~ Coffee Time Romance

"These rogues mix fun, intrigue, heroics, and, oh yes, sex. Take a ride on their ship, The Sleepwalker; sleep is something you won't mind missing with this crew."
~ Just Erotic Romance Reviews 

 

Excerpt

A discordant tune started up, blasting through the ceiling speakers. Zydeco-opera fusion. Rick hadn’t heard that in almost a decade. He’d hoped never to encounter it again and certainly not at that volume. Thomas flinched, muttering a curse, and Rick was glad for once they weren’t mentally linked. The noise grated enough on his normal ears. He didn’t want to know what it sounded like to his hypersensitive partner.

The scattered tables held some couples but mostly same-sex crews enjoying their chosen poison. He nodded to a few he knew and eyed those he didn’t recognize. This early, he wasn’t about to try to be heard over the music and the other patrons shouting at each other. No sense in getting hoarse as well as deaf right off the bat.

You never knew who you’d find here, from bounty hunters looking to make a collar to spies for every corporation and government agency imaginable. Since the Empire fell apart, knowledge was the edge everyone wanted.

Thomas glanced around at the women with eager eyes. “So do you see her yet?” His words were audible over the hubbub of drunks and partiers. Although he’d clearly meant to whisper, he might as well have used an amplifier.

Use our link, dammit. Rick couldn’t restrain himself from shushing his partner.

Thomas tossed off a nevertheless sincere, Sorry. He turned his attention back to the women in the bar. There’s one who might do, no, she looks too rough.

His partner’s contrition lasted for one word, no more. As usual, Thomas didn’t mean to blab their business to the whole crowd. He was just enthusiastic. Rick sighed. Knowledge was power and in places like this, power was a valuable commodity. Time after time, he’d tried to instill a bit of discretion in his partner. To no avail.

Thomas was at least a hundred years older than he was…so why was it he always felt like the older of them? Maybe because Thomas had become a vampire when he was young. Physically he looked maybe thirty, while Rick had been closing in on thirty-five when they met.

Even so, Rick mused, you’d expect a little more maturity in a grown vampire after all those years of experience. But Thomas couldn’t seem to contain himself. The vampire bounced on the balls of his feet, fairly bubbling over with eagerness while he checked out the people clustered around the bar.

He must really want a woman bad. Rick had to force himself not to be insulted by that. After all, he had as much to gain from finding the elusive woman as his partner did, maybe more. Through their recent experience when making love, for one blissful moment he’d glimpsed what could happen if they found her. Another mind to join both of theirs when linked. Someone to share control.

Still, it was only a guess that she’d show up here, in Sedilous. Were they drawing her, as she drew them? He hoped so. Given that the space station was the only neutral gathering place for two star systems—whether you were carrying legit cargo or not—it was the only logical place they could meet her but then again, that didn’t mean much.

It was only a guess that her more frequent brushes with their minds meant increasing proximity. Maybe she was simply becoming accustomed to finding the mental pathway that they tapped into. She could be light-years away if her psyche was strong.

The raucous cacophony subsided, to be replaced by a short interval of sweet silence. When the speakers crackled to life once more, they emitted the wail of a saxophone and the tinkle of a piano backing a deep-voiced blues singer. Appropriate. He’d bet most of the people around him were on intimate terms with the blues.

He glanced around at the “ladies” crowding the small bar. They all failed to give off a psi signature that came anywhere close to what he’d sensed of their woman. Most of them were norms with no psi signatures at all.

One of the taller and more slender women in the group raised a glass when his gaze swept over her. Thomas nodded to her, and she sashayed between the tables.

She was pretty enough but Rick had to force himself not to recoil as she approached and her body odor filled the air round them. Dear god, what a stench. She smelled like she’d been cooped up in an escape pod with rotting livestock for a month, then showered in some cheap scent to make herself attractive. Even as eager as Thomas was, his nose wrinkled and he leaned back. Rick breathed through his mouth once and gave up. Either he’d hold his breath long enough to pass out or she’d leave.

While Rick tried not to gag, Thomas got rid of her by mumbling something and signaling the barkeep to give her a drink. It took the air a while to clear after she left. The way the other women quickly closed in around her didn’t raise his hopes for their olfactory appeal.

Rick sought refuge by taking a hasty swig from his mug, wincing at the burn. It was Delion Ale, something he’d used more than once as a paint-thinner when he’d had no alternative. Here, management had watered it down to be drinkable. They diluted the blood serum and grain alcohol too, if Thomas’ sour expression was any indication. The psi toyed with the idea of throwing in the towel and heading back to the Sleepwalker.

If their lady really did exist, she’d never show up here. This place was miserable and filthy. Definitely the last place you’d expect to see anything even close to what he wanted, a refined lady of taste and beauty.

Which was why when the chocolate-skinned woman with the golden eyes strode through the door, every man and woman in the joint riveted their attention on her. She was a lovely thing to look at, who made even her simple clothing look elegant. A long green tunic topped black leggings and high-heeled boots that made her legs look a light-year long. Even considering her dusty travel vest, she was a vision of perfection. Someone that gorgeous was completely out of place and alien to most of the bar’s patrons. To them she must have appeared a dream.

To the vampire and his companion, she looked like so much more.

Copyright © LIDDY MIDNIGHT & CRICKET STARR, 2006

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

Liddy Midnight © 2006-2007 All rights reserved.
Site Designed and Maintained by Moonglade Designs