Title Marrying My MothLady
Author Marilyn Barr
Genre Monster Romance
Book Blurb
Entomologist Horus has it all...a tenured research position, an engagement to the boss's daughter, and potentially more money than he can spend in a lifetime. When he learns his university department provides data to the mining company destroying the forest he loves, will he risk it all to save the ecosystem he's studied for years? Or is his integrity compromised by the promise of a billionaire's lifestyle?
Millie May hears the bulldozers encroaching on her parent's territory but is helpless against humans. Trapped between keeping her existence a secret and saving her home, she confides in the scientist she has watched from afar. Can she put her infatuation aside and convince him to champion her cause or will she learn the lesson 'to never meet your heroes?'
Monstrous grooms and beastly brides? Don't be afraid of falling in love... it's super-natural! Explore the entire Monster Brides series, one tantalizing happily-ever-after at a time!
Excerpt
This is how those murder shows start. Someone goes into the forest and is never seen again. If the police wait the twenty-four hours required before a missing person’s report is filed, I’ll be hacked into little pieces. I’ve watched hundreds of those shows and they all have one big plot hole. What does the victim need to do to escape? As a grown man, I never thought I would be abducted and murdered. If this happened a year from now, I’d be the owner of this land and could get a restraining order for trespassing…or call the cops on them for kidnapping…wait, I can do that now.
How are you going to file a police report from her bed, idiot?
Talk about a curveball. But puzzles are a scientist’s playground, I’ve got the brains to outsmart her. If her brother with his fake limp but very, real bat is absent, I can overpower her once I’m freed. My guts churn with anxiety. I’m enveloped in a putrid gas cloud. An evil smile curves my lips. If she doesn’t free me to use the bathroom, she will suffer more than me when my bowels let loose. She picked the wrong victim.
“Better slow those wheels in your head, darling,” she says with her adorable twang. Damn if my blood doesn’t stir at her accent. Memories of her shifting skirt and thick thighs blanket my escape plans in a milky fog. “Steam’s rising from your ears…and other parts. Even if you wrestle your way out of the ropes and overpower me, you are over twenty feet off the ground in my treehouse. You won’t survive the fall in one piece.”
“Thanks for the info,” I say with a louder intestinal rumble. “I’m not contemplating an escape without my glasses. I’m blind as a bat—”
“Bats aren’t actually blind. Besides echolocation, they have adequate night vision. They are color-blind though,” she interrupts.
“Yeah, well Ms. Genius, I am legally blind without my specs. My driver’s license says so. Like right now, you look like a giant bat yourself with your wiggly antennae, glowing red face, and fluffy black blobs resembling wings,” I grouse when my guts quiet. My dumba** digestive system loves to embarrass me in social situations except when I wish to torture my tormentor and possible murderer. “How do you like that? Your daily style is as outrageous as superhero cosplay.”
I can’t see the scowl on her face, but the feminine growl tells me I hit my bull’s eye. The black blob of my abductor grows larger as she approaches. By God, she’s wearing wings! Not a feathered cape or dress, but Halloween-store knock-off wings. She’s changed from her black dress to a pink and white striped one, so the wings are an accessory. Her legs and feet are bare, but I don’t let my eyes linger on those before she meets the bed. I get a noseful of herbal soap and forest freshness when she leans over me.
Don’t look at her cleavage. Don’t look at her cleavage.
The soft globes of her breasts press against my chest. Her arms cage my body. My heart takes off like a rabbit outrunning a fox with thumps, leaps, and erratic jumps. Animatronic antennae wiggle above her stiffly styled hair. Her face is a tiny heart lost in the puffy cloud of maple brown. Yes, her eyes glow red, but my lust-addled brain focuses on her button nose and juicy lips. Despite being a creature of my nightmares, she’s dolled up her dainty features with makeup to resemble my sweetest wet dream.
“Moth,” she says against my lips. Her breath fans over my chin. I swear every nub of my patchy stubble stands on alert. “I’m the Mothman’s daughter. Not a cosplayer. Not a kidnapper. I’m the true owner of this part of the forest and will haunt you or anyone who trespasses on my land.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” flies out of my smart mouth. Haunt? Who threatens with haunting? Mothman’s daughter, my a**. I’ve seen red contact lenses, so it’s not a stretch that reflecting ones are available on the internet too. Nice try, but she can’t fool me. “This is the land of Winged Wildlife and Abundant Earth which is currently owned by Eli Carter Jr. If you have a grievance, you can visit their website—”
“You think I didn’t try that first? Do you take me for a moron?” She jumps back as if I’ve burned her when I’m the one missing the heat she created between our bodies. I also miss watching the expressions flit across her face. She denied me the pleasure when she stepped out of my vision’s limits.
“Well, you did assault and kidnap me. Criminals aren’t the brightest,” I retort with an eye roll. “Since we are on speaking terms, can I have my glasses?”
“They bent all to pieces when you fell—”
“When I collapsed, after your brother’s violent assault on my person,” I interrupt.
“Well, tomato, tomaut-o,” she says, approaching the bedside again. She lifts my frames and balances them on my nose. The backs of her fingers are feather-soft as they caress my cheeks.
Feather soft.
Like her wings.
My eyes can’t focus on her any better with the mostly empty frames. The view through a sliver of cracked lens pulls a scream from my lungs. I curse a blue steak as jumbles of syllables fall from my lips. Her eyes don’t have floating contacts after she blinks. The iris is red! The more I scream the brighter they glow! My stomach joins in my operatic expression of terror with grumbles and burps.
Her antennae vibrate. They hum a sad song with rhythmic clicking. Does she click from her throat? She has a grey hackle under her chin, like a bird…or a moth! My screams increase their pitch to screeching.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Marrying My MothLady releases on 4/15/2024!
Facebook Party:
Celebrate with the Monster Brides for a fangy, furry, and scaly 2-day Valentine extravaganza. All the authors of the series will be playing games, posting sneak peek snippets, and hosting giveaways in the Monster Brides fans group. Join Millie May Moth and the rest of the Monster Brides here:
Author Biography
Marilyn Barr lives in the wilds of Kentucky with her husband, son, and rescue cats. She has nine books with The Wild Rose Press in multiple romance subgenres from sweet, new adult romance to erotic, fantasy romance. She loves to place monstrous characters with hearts of gold in historical romances and her historical, paranormal romances have won the Crowned Heart Award, 2nd place in National Excellence in Story Telling (NEST) Contest, Imadjinn Award for Best Paranormal Romance, and Grand Finalist for the InD’Tale Magazine’s RONE Award. When engaging in the real world, you can find her with the Kentuckiana Romance Writers, volunteering with her son’s Special Olympics teams, or dancing around her kitchen. She is a sucker (haha) for cheesy horror movies, Italian food, punk music, black cats, bad puns, and all things witchy. For the latest Strawberry news and witchy tips, join her newsletter at www.marilynbarr.com
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