We welcome guest Author Mari Christie and her
Multicultural Regency Romance~ La Déesse Noire: The Black Goddess
Blurb~
Sired by a British peer, born of a paramour to Indian royalty, Kali Matai has been destined from birth to enthrall England’s most powerful noblemen—though she hadn’t counted on becoming their pawn. Finding herself under the control of ruthless men, who will not be moved by her legendary allure, she has no choice but to use her beauty toward their malicious and clandestine ends.
When those she holds most dear are placed in peril by backroom political dealings, she enlists some of the most formidable lords in England to thwart her enemies. But even with the help of the prominent gentlemen she has captivated, securing Kali’s freedom, her family, and the man she loves, will require her protectors stop at nothing to fulfill her desires.
Sired by a British peer, born of a paramour to Indian royalty, Kali Matai has been destined from birth to enthrall England’s most powerful noblemen—though she hadn’t counted on becoming their pawn. Finding herself under the control of ruthless men, who will not be moved by her legendary allure, she has no choice but to use her beauty toward their malicious and clandestine ends.
When those she holds most dear are placed in peril by backroom political dealings, she enlists some of the most formidable lords in England to thwart her enemies. But even with the help of the prominent gentlemen she has captivated, securing Kali’s freedom, her family, and the man she loves, will require her protectors stop at nothing to fulfill her desires.
Excerpt (Rated R)
Kali Matai’s head bowed under the candlelight of dozen of chandeliers and the mirrored footlights at the edge of the stage. The silence of the scene, the quiet of the spirit of the dancer before them caused a hush across the theatre. La Déesse Noire would perform only once the men settled themselves to give their full attention.
Kali Matai’s head bowed under the candlelight of dozen of chandeliers and the mirrored footlights at the edge of the stage. The silence of the scene, the quiet of the spirit of the dancer before them caused a hush across the theatre. La Déesse Noire would perform only once the men settled themselves to give their full attention.
The shapely form was held in
perfect abeyance, clothed this night in gold-shot emerald green, which might as
easily have matched any jewel tone: deep sapphire, royal amethyst, garnet red.
The flickering lights from all sides reflected the rhythmic bass note of the tabla
drums, shaking in the jeweled bangles of her gold chain girdle. The bells began
to shake along the edges of her sari as her lithe shape trembled under
the sheerest silk in England. The audience could not see the secrets of her
body, but would swear they might with the next movement, shake, twist, turn.
The fabric was like water flowing
down her collarbone, curling around her shoulder, drifting across her bosom and
around her trim waist. With a twist of ankle, the jeweled rings on her toes
sent flashes of light tripping across the assemblage, sure to blind a few men,
leaving them, for a few moments, with only the thought of their last vision of
her. The bracelets shaking at her wrists added a sharp note to music already
carrying her body through the steps of the mujra dance.
The sound wafting off the sarangi
strings seemed to stroke along her inner thighs, her legs twisting to the
melody underneath the full silk skirts, caressing her hips and buttocks, the
length of her sari slipping on and off her shoulder, covering and revealing her
face, rubbing across any part of her body to which she wished to call
attention.
Her hips began to shake like they
might atop a man lying prone, side to side, fore to aft, hands tracing her
legs, a rhythm known only to her, which might take her blissfully into la
petite mort, if a man could but imitate it.
The steps took her to her knees,
her body writhing like a snake might, wrapping its coils around the legs of any
man in the audience who could visualize it, her eyes in the candlelight
glowing, face flushed, as though by sitting with her knees parted at a man’s
feet, rubbing against his calves, her face against his groin, she might achieve
her own, private ecstasy.
With an unhurried stroke of her
arm against her cheekbone, Kali finally loosened the first strand of her
tightly bound hair. One gold-and-diamond pin at a time, she continued as the
music worked back into a crescendo, until her skirts were like waves crashing
against a sea wall, her black tresses whipping around her face like ash and
smoke left by the fires of a vengeful goddess.
Slowing her limbs to a near-stop,
she draped herself backward, one hand and the top of her head not an inch from
the floor, the silk of her sari now loosely covering, outlining, the treasures
between her legs. Turning on her heel, the view shifted from the crease of her
thighs to the furrow between her bountiful breasts, set off by her slack lips,
reddened like they might appear after rough use. Before the gentlemen looked
their fill, slowly, letting the silk caress her fingers, body loose and limber,
Kali rose languidly from the contortion as gracefully as a raven might stretch
its wing.
As the music once more gained
speed and volume, her body followed, beginning to turn, spin, to keep the
rhythm with wrists, hips, and toes, heels keeping time with the pounding drum.
The faster she spun, the more the skirt rose to show her ankles, her knees,
covered in diaphanous muslin, another layer of translucence keeping her all but
nude for her audience’s pleasure.
One quick twist of her
gemstone-covered fingers released a gold chain strung with beads from the
girdle about her waist, letting it fall among the lengths of her skirts to
shimmer among the shot threads of silver and gold, Her hip set the chain swinging
in unison with her turns, and she loosened one bell-strung chain after another,
until the half-dozen that had circled her waist now draped her hips, tinkling
more raucously in their freedom.
When the turns had entirely
mesmerized the men, all eyes following her curves in unison, she collected her
movements once more, her feet almost motionless, the rest of her body
undulating in every direction at once, letting each man in the room believe he
was the one for whom La Déesse Noire might be reaching.
Her body had been trained for a
lifetime to exhibit and elicit the sexual hunger of the most passionate bed:
the depths of her dark eyes, the tangling of her heavy, black-satin locks, the
negligence of her smile, and the outline of her quivering body undulating under
silk, all brought to mind nothing so much as the way she might look being
stroked to completion under a man’s hand.
“Brava! Brava!
Enter Mari's Rafflecopter contest May 15 - June
9
Win a free epub or mobi copy of La Déesse Noire:
The Black Goddess.
Author Bio~
Mariana Gabrielle is a pseudonym
of Mari Christie, a professional writer, editor, and designer with almost
twenty-five years’ experience. Published in dozens of nonfiction and poetry
periodicals since 1989, she began writing mainstream historical fiction in 2009
and Regency romance in 2013. In all genres, she creates deeply scarred
characters in uncommon circumstances who overcome self-imposed barriers to
reach their full potential. She is a member of the Bluestocking Belles, the
Writing Wenches, and the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Her first Regency
romance, Royal Regard, was released in November 2014.
Buy/Review Links
Mariana's
Social Media
Facebook Launch Party, June 10,
noon - 8 pm EDT:
Website and Blog
7 comments:
Hello Mari, it sounds like you have had an interesting writing career. Your heroine is in for a bumpy ride, but being beautiful can sometimes get a gal out of danger. All the best with the book.
Hey, Mari! I didn't know you'd be here this morning! It was great reading about you and your book. Best of luck!
What an evocative and descriptive passage - Kali's dancing came to life for me as I read. Good luck with this!
"Interesting" is the nice word for it. "Bumpy ride" is closer... ;-) And yes, one of Kali's lines, while she is feeling put-upon, is, "If I were ugly, no one would have any use for me."
Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks! Here I am! Nice to see you, too. :-)
Hywela, it is one of my favorite passages in the book. I'm so glad you liked it.
Thank you guys so much for having me on the blog. For what it's worth EQ made it into the Acknowledgements. :-)
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