Masquerade. The Secret Library. Essential Sensual Reading

A collection of three erotic novellas.

Seducing Mr Storm by Scarlet Blackwell:

In the late 1700s, Susanna Seymour's mother is very keen to find a husband for her younger sister, Lucy, while Susanna is considered on the shelf at 27. Enter their neighbour arrived from London, the dashing and irreverent Elijah Storm, who makes his admiration plain for Susanna from the start. Susanna is not looking for a husband and is keen to make sure Lucy bags the bachelor, but things don't go quite to plan. Elijah is frank in his desire to have Susanna's sexual services, and she believes by giving him what he wants, he will lose all interest in her. The price of it is his agreement to marry her sister. But with passions ignited, what will happen when Susanna seduces Mr Storm?

Freefalling by Zara Stoneley:

Falling in love has just been scrubbed off artist Hayley Tring's to-do list. But when the gorgeous Tom Holah commissions a painting, keeping her mind on the job and her hand on a paintbrush becomes a whole new challenge. Tom needs to brighten up his corporate image, but after a lust-filled night with Hayley he wants more than just her pictures. And he isn't used to taking no for an answer. But can mixing business with pleasure be good for both of them? Or will it leave Hayley with a blank canvas and a broken heart?

Masquerade by Elizabeth Coldwell:

Let go from her sales job, Summer Kerrigan finds new employment at her local bar. It's nothing like her old routine, but there's welcome compensation in the shape of her cute boss, Eddie Quinn. When Eddie's sister, businesswoman Heather, turns up at the bar selling tickets for the fundraising Masquerade Ball, he claims Summer's his new love. But if Heather's going to buy the lie they're really a couple, they have to attend the ball as a couple ― and with champagne flowing, passions run high, and Eddie and Summer find themselves in bed together. The sex is mindblowing, but is it simply the result of taking part in a charade? Can their sham love affair turn into the real thing, or is it all just a masquerade?

Antonia Adams is an experienced author and editor of romantic and erotic fiction at Xcite Books.