12 Marian Men-A-Mating… I mean, A-Meeting
11 Blind Dates-A-Blinding
10 Lords-A-Leaping (to conclusions…)
9 Ladies Dancing (okay, maybe that’s Griff)
8 Kids-A-Complaining
7 Changes-A-Clothing
6 Love Junk Gadgets
5 **DRA-AAG QUEENS**
4 Calling Neighbors
3 Nosy Grannies
2 Men Falling In Love
And a partridge in a pear tree.
The Marians aren’t the only ones finding their happy ever after! In this collection of four short stories, some of our beloved secondary characters from the Made Marian series steal the show and find a love of their own. These stories range from 7k to 10k words and feature plenty of laughs, Marian cameos, and love. A suggested reading order can be found in the Look Inside, but you do not need to have read any other Made Marian novel to enjoy these stories. These stories have been previously published on Lucy’s website.
Brad’s Story: When Brad opens his Vegas hotel room door to find a hot police officer waiting on the other side, he assumes crazy Aunt Tilly has sent him a strip-o-gram. But instead of getting naked, Detective Gorgeous pulls out his cuffs. Turns out, the badge and uniform aren’t just props, this cop is the real deal.
Beck’s Story: After touring around the world, sleeping with fans after sold-out concerts, Beck is still unsatisfied in the bedroom. Men, women, men and women? He doesn’t know quite what he’s looking for when he enters an exclusive club to find some company for the night. But two sexy strangers begin dancing with him at the same time, and Beck finally begins to realize that it might not be variety he’s after, but just the right set of lips whispering sexy words into his ear.
Keller’s Story: After telling Tilly to back off her attempt at setting him up, Keller catches sight of the nude model for the old lady’s art class. Did he speak too soon? Meanwhile, stand-in model Eli is regretting his decision to strip down for a group of senior citizens, but then meets the manager of the vineyard and realizes being naked might not be so bad after all. Especially when things get wet… like really very wet… with hoses.
Josh’s Story: After moving from Denali, Alaska, to San Francisco in order to branch out, Josh hosts a big poker night for the Marians and his co-workers at the National Park Service. Little does he know, his own true love may not be someone new after all. Eight years ago, Cyrus Dimakos had to leave the love of his life to take care of his great-grandmother on a remote island in Greece. A family obligation may have kept Cyrus’s body away from Josh all this time, but his heart never left him. Could it be that The One That Got Away is finally back for good?
What happens when a group of tough vigilantes meets up with a big-hearted family with boundary issues?
Reese: It’s supposed to be an easy job. You know, the kind you get after you’ve been gone a while and the boss is unsure of how capable you still are? But then there’s a mugging, an abduction, two thugs, and a blackmail scheme.
And smack-dab in the middle of it is a beautiful lost soul who needs me. The scared, young gamer-geek pushes all my protective buttons and awakens something inside me that’s ready to dive right in and inhale the man.
But how could I have anything to offer someone like Ben? I’m a mess. Injured, scarred, practically closeted, the recognizable son of a famous man… There’s no way I can ask him to give me a shot at forever. Right?
Ben: It seems like I’ve been looking out for myself my entire life. Heck, I was even given away the day I was born. And, yeah, maybe if my adoptive parents had survived, I would have had a nice life. But they didn’t. And I don’t. Instead, I’m forced to put up with a hateful, scheming foster parent for the sake of sticking around to care for my little sister.
Only, when a blackmail plan lands little Georgie in the hands of thugs, it’s clear I’m her only hope. At least… until I meet the big, strong bodyguard someone sends to watch over me.
Reese is everything I’ve ever daydreamed about: protective, attentive, affectionate, and dedicated. But he’s hiding something, and I don’t have the time or energy to figure out what. Because time is running out, and Georgie is the only family I have left.
Until the biological brother who never wanted me shows up and turns everything on its head.
After having finally accepted it’s just Georgie and me, suddenly falling for my protector and being surrounded by Griff and the Marian clan makes me question everything I’ve ever known about myself and what defines a family.
Can a guy with a broken past ever build a family with someone who seems too good to be true?
A Made Marian Short
When sports journalist Hayworth Buchanan lands the interview of his dreams, he gets the chance to visit famous NFL coach Christian Lasley at his secluded ranch in Wyoming. Despite the cold weather outside, things get plenty steamy inside when sparks fly between Hay and his celebrity sports crush. But Hay’s been down this road before, and he knows from experience hot connections never turn into the real deal for him. After all, everyone he’s ever been interested in has left him for their childhood love.
So when Christian’s on-again, off-again childhood love shows up at the ranch hoping to reconcile, Hayworth knows he a decision to make. Does he hand over the ball and slink off the field, or does he step up and try to make the winning play?
Hay is a 25k word short story and though it is set in the Made Marian world, it stands completely on its own.
The best mixtape always has a mix of favorites on it — songs playing in the background at Jude and Derek’s wedding or when Simone finally falls in love. Loud beats pounding the dance floor when Blue tries to seduce Tristan in public, or sleepy notes written late at night while Jude is on tour. Strains of familiar music bring heart-gripping memories rushing back in—memories of the first time Tilly meets Senator Cannon, the weekend a mysterious new family member arrives at a snowy cabin expecting solitude but finding a sexy lumberjack instead, or the winter Teddy “accidentally” strands Jamie in Tibet.
Made Marian Mixtape is a collection of everything from a short 1k word vignette to a longer 30k novella. Catch glimpses into the lives of favorite existing Marian characters and meet new ones as well. With everything from hot nookie in a broken elevator to double-doses of pre-wedding panic, Mixtape presents over ten new stories set in the Made Marian world that will make you sniffle, swoon, and laugh out loud.
Nico: I left my family and tiny Texas hometown fifteen years ago to escape small-town gossips and to give my mom and sister the chance at a better life. But when a phone call from an attorney back home informs me that my sister passed away, leaving me custody of her newborn baby, I’m shocked out of the steady life I’ve built for myself running a tattoo shop in San Francisco.
The thing is: I don’t do babies. And I don’t do small towns. Or commitment. And I especially don’t do family. My plan is to go back to Hobie just long enough to sign adoption papers, giving my niece the kind of stable, loving family I could never provide.
But the moment I meet my niece in the arms of Weston Wilde, my sister’s best friend and the town’s handsome doctor, my plans begin to change. Because suddenly, I see a different future. One with the very thing I thought I never deserved: a family. If only I can convince West that I’m not the same good-for-nothing kid ready to bolt when things get tough.
Weston: There’s one thing I know for sure about Nico Salerno: he was a good-for-nothing as a kid and judging by the purple-haired, tattoo’d punk who shows up at his sister’s funeral, he hasn’t changed. There’s no way I’m letting him take custody of my best friend’s baby.
But the more time I spend around him, the more I realize that his rough exterior is just a shell and that beneath all the tattoos is a scared, insecure man searching for a place to belong. And pretty soon I know exactly where he belongs: in my bed and by my side.
Felix:
Things I expect to find at Gadleigh Castle:
– Rare stained glass, the subject of my dissertation.
– Peace and quiet, to finish said dissertation.
– An escape from the paparazzi swarming around my starlet mother’s latest blockbuster release.
Things I don’t expect to find:
– A hidden door leading to a secret room.
– The most gorgeous man I’ve ever set eyes on.
– Love.
Lio:
Things I know are expected of me in life:
– One day soon I will become the King of Liorland.
– I will marry a nice woman who will become queen.
– I will provide heirs to my family’s monarchy.
Reasons that might be difficult
– I’m gay.
– I’m falling in love with Felix Wilde.
– He has no idea I’m royal.
Otto:
Seth Walker was my first love and I always swore he’d be my last. Even after he moved away our senior year in high school, we vowed to reunite after graduation. But when he suddenly broke things off without explanation and crushed my heart, it was my turn to run.
After a decade in the navy, I’ve finally come home ready to move on with my life as Hobie’s newest firefighter. Unfortunately, the minute I set eyes on the new sheriff in town, I know I’m screwed. Hobie’s top cop is none other than Seth Walker.
Turns out, he’s come home too. And hell if he doesn’t have a lot of explaining to do.
Walker:
I thought I was doing the right thing when I walked away from Otto Wilde ten years ago without an explanation. I was wrong. I also thought I could come back home without having to face my past mistakes. I was wrong about that too.
What I’m not wrong about: The fact that my heart catches fire every time I set eyes on the sexy man. The fact that I can’t imagine my life without him. The fact that things are still just as complicated now as they were then. And the fact that I have a lot of work ahead of me if I expect to win him back.
Just when things start heating up between us again, a serial arsonist strikes and suspicion falls close to home. I already lost Otto to a secret long ago but I’ll be damned if I let another threaten to send our future up in smoke.
Because Otto Wilde is mine, and I don’t plan on ever letting him go again.
Hudson:
Don’t ever accidentally propose to your girlfriend. In front of her family. Especially if her dad is your boss. Because when you make it clear you’ve made a mistake, he’s likely to send you out of the country to get you as far away from his broken-hearted daughter as possible. It happened to me. Now I’m stuck in Ireland trying to redeem myself so I can get promoted and have the life I’ve planned for: successful career, loving wife and kids, a comfortable, financially-secure home life in Texas.
But all of that seems to evaporate the moment I walk into the historic pub and see the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Only, he’s not a woman.
Charlie Murray is most definitely a man—the kind of man who causes me to take a second look for the first time in my life. And a third look, and fourth. I can’t help but want to get to know him better… to get close to him, touch him, maybe even kiss him. But I’m straight. Or so I’ve always thought. Even if I’m not, how in the world could a feisty Irishman ever fit into the safe, predictable life I’ve always planned for?
Charlie:
Don’t ever accidentally fall for the straight guy. Especially when he’s trying to pry your family’s business right out from under you. I should know. Because when Hudson Wilde walks into my family’s pub and begins babbling so adorably, I can’t help but fall just a little bit in love. But I’m looking for Forever Man, and the sexy American is certainly not him. He’s so confused about what he wants, even choosing something from the dinner menu throws him into a fuddle. But those eyes… how can I resist?
So maybe I’ll give in. One steamy night before he heads home and I go back to life at the pub. We’ll never see each other again.
Until, of course, his business deal sends me to Hobie, Texas, right into the middle of Hudson’s steady life, more gay Wildes than can fit on a dance floor, and an ex-girlfriend who may or may not be content remaining an ex. But the more time I spend with Hudson, the more I think he might be my Forever Man after all. And I may be his. Is it possible we could both be so lucky?
Sassy-mouthed Stevie Devore has always had a crush on the local fire chief. Gorgeous silver fox, Evan Paige, is way out of Stevie’s league, however, not to mention the chief has always been a ladies’ man, but when Stevie turns twenty-one, he decides he’s tired of only daydreaming about Evan. He wants a real taste of that sugar daddy, even if it means turning the flirt factor up a notch or ten to make it happen.
This 36k word novella has pee-in-your-pants humor, peel-the-paint-off-the-walls steam, and a smidgie-poo of hand-on-chest swooning.