Yes, I’m giving away a copy of GAMBIT on Lex Valentine’s 30 Days of Christmas.  Lex is also giving away a paranormal title from her back list.

Captain Chae Beyon is a hustler, a mercenary pilot, a wounded woman who prefers her men to be easily thrown aside.

Daned Traern is a first-caste Ladaian bound by tradition and DNA to protect his race. He’s willing to align himself with the hot space captain if she’ll transport him home in time to ensure the right candidate is crowned—and thus prevent a bloody war.

Disguised as Chae’s sex toy, Daned is erotically bound to her through living gold, alien tech designed to increase pleasure. When he frees himself, their passion only increases…but succumbing to temptation will bind them together—permanently.

But there’s more at stake than their needs. As Chae is dragged into a world of insane princes and sentient stones, hired killers hound them across the quadrant.

And then, as only her lousy luck would have it, Chae must choose between the good of the galaxy and her own heart…

Oh and the Han Solo reference comes from the idea that spawned this book.  I was watching Return of the Jedi, with Leia in her little gold slave bikini and was thinking how much better Han Solo would look wrapped up in gold. With a leash… And Daned Traern was born 🙂

And there’s more free stuff!

Back in October, my story, RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW made it into the Just One Bite contest.  All the entries are available now as free read anthologies.

The above little story is in this anthology:

Contributing authors:

By: Kim Knox | Shermaine Williams |  Lauren Hawkeye | Elaine Lowe | Barbara Elsborg |Rosalie Stanton | Raven Corinn Carluk |  Jocelyn Michel | Randi Alexander

You can find the other books here.

Here’s a snippet from RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW:

“Red suits you.”

His voice was little more than a growl and it warmed my skin, fluttering excitement deep into my belly. Shadows surrounded the high backed chair in which he sat. Flickers of light from the fireplace caught his sharp profile, shifting, lighting the burn of his silver eyes. My mark wasn’t quite human, I was sure of it. The remote hall, the obvious wealth, the secrecy. He had to be one of the rare preternaturals.

“Thank you.” I didn’t know what else to say. My being in the hall, in this starkly empty room with him was…hazy. The reason was important, I felt it down to the bone and something about that made me glance at the red silk of my cape. It was the only thing I wore. I frowned. I didn’t remember driving up to the hall, slipping out of my street clothes, changing… Heat from the fire warmed the silk, distracting me and the material brushed against my bared legs like the kiss of a lover.

I forced a smile to twitch across my mouth and lifted the thick sheaf of paper in my hand. The splotch of a broken seal gleamed along its edges. Not that I remembered snapping the seal open. I glanced at the heavy copperplate lettering that simply stated my name, a time and that day’s date. “The…agency hasn’t given me your name.”

“Balthasar.”

“Balthasar…?”

“My last name isn’t important.” He sat forward and firelight licked his features.

My chest tightened and I stared. I hadn’t expected him to be quite so…beautiful—all hard male planes and those silver-edged eyes that burned into me. His black shirt clung to his chest, his muscled arms, bare, browned and dusted with hair. Strong hands flexed. A dark ring gleamed on his right hand.

“So…” I took a step towards him, my bare feet soundless in the deep pile of the rug. I wet my lips. “What do you expect of me?”

His gaze drifted down over the length of my body and made me too aware of the brushing silk of my long cape. “I expect to fuck you.”