New Release: Deception by Lyndi Lamont

Gay Historical Erotica

Heat Level: 3

When Trace issued a call for submissions for the Masquerade series, I couldn't resist the lure. There is something about a masked ball that stirs an author's imagination, and the costumed pictures available for our covers were very tempting, indeed. I was intrigued by this gorgeous black and gold costume.

Who is the man behind the mask and what does he have to hide?

Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Deception is set in 1895 London, a period I'd been wanting to explore. It was a time of great excess and great poverty, of sexual repression and joyous romanticism. In this world of extremes, two very different men meet and form a bond, but one based partly on half-truths and deception.

Leander Frampton, a struggling artist who makes ends meet by waiting tables at a cafe, is astonished to receive an invitation of a masked ball along with the costume of a Medieval fool. He has no idea who sent it to him, but it's an offer he can't resist. That night, he meets a man in a gorgeous costume of black and gold. When the masks come off, he realizes it is Rupert, a man he met and bedded two months earlier. The man he has dreamt of ever since.

Nor has Rupert forgotten Leander. But Rupert has more to lose and more to hide. At home in Liverpool, he lives the circumspect life of a respectable art importer. But in London, he's at liberty to indulge his passion for handsome young men. He has a preference for artistic young men like Leander, and a lot of emotional baggage.

Leander thinks he has found a lover, a patron and his muse, but Rupert is maddeningly elusive, appearing and disappearing in Leander's life with little explanation. Rupert arranges for a private showing of Leander's work, but that doesn't mean he trusts Leander with all of his secrets, especially after risky public sex that could have landed them in jail.

Two very different men - one, a businessman, with a great deal to lose and a taste for secret liaisons with beautiful young men; the other a young, gifted artist who will give his all to the right man. Will deception destroy any possibility for a once-in-a-lifetime passion for these two lovers?

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 1:

Feeling at loose ends, he wandered around the periphery of the ballroom, his artist’s eye drawn to the paintings on the walls and the statuettes expertly placed in niches. Whoever owned this place had incredible taste and must have traveled on the continent.

As he was admiring a fine statue of a naked youth, a tall man approached him. Leander eyed the stranger’s costume, a study in black-and-gold satin, with puffed sleeves and a gold ruff. A feathered and gold-trimmed black velvet beret covered his head above a gold mask that covered his entire face. “Good evening,” Leander said. “This is a fine piece of work.”

“It is. Our host has excellent taste.” The man’s voice was muffled a bit, and Leander leaned closer to hear better.

“May I ask who our host is?” he asked.

The man shook his head. “That is not for fools to know.”

Frustrated, Leander shook his head. “This is so confusing. I have no idea what this place is or how I even came to be invited.”

“I do,” the man said cryptically.

Leander frowned. “Do I know you?”

“We’ve met.”

“Did you send me the costume?” He’d racked his brain, trying to figure out who it might have been.

The man nodded his head regally.

“Will I recognize you?”

“I hope so,” the stranger said. “We spent a memorable night together.”

Leander’s heart raced. Could it be the gentleman from the restaurant? The one he’d spent the night with in early January. The one he’d dreamt about for the last two months. Could it really be Rupert?

“Then I must find you when it’s time to unmask,” he said, unwilling to let the man escape again tonight.

The stranger chuckled. “Oh, there will be no unmasking. Too dangerous.”

“I see,” Leander said. That meant there were men here who feared to have their identities revealed. He glanced around the room, wondering who they were: highly placed government officials or judges, perhaps. Or clergymen. Possibly even a prince of the realm. “So we are in good company tonight.”

“Precisely.”

Leander turned back to his companion. “What of you? Do you, too, fear exposure?”

“Only a fool would not.”

Leander made no reply. It was true, though there were many in London who flouted the law, some quite openly.
“But if we cannot unmask, how will I ever know who you are? Will you at least tell me your name?”

“Not here.”

“Then where can we go?” Leander asked, impatient to know who the stranger was.

“The night is young,” the man said mildly. “Do you not wish to stay and party?”

Shocked by his own boldness, Leander answered, “Not if there’s a possibility of a private party.”

“Then come home with me.”

Copyright 2011 by Lyndi Lamont.
Cover art © 2011 by Trace Edward Zaber
Available now from Amber Allure

Happy reading!

Lyndi

Visit me online at http://www.lyndilamont.com