The Captive King
Susan Copperfield
(Royal States #3)
Publication date: February 12th 2018
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
In the Royal States of America, magic rules all, but life—and love—always finds a way.
At the Texas Charity Auction, money can buy anything, and Summer Cassidy is under orders to take advantage of the opportunity. While she believes the marital collar once worn by an Aztec queen belongs in a museum, it’s up to her to sell the priceless treasure to one of the elite in attendance.
Meeting Bachelor #103, a man who finds her descriptions of human sacrifice charming rather than appalling, hadn’t been part of her plans. Buying his company for a quarter hadn’t been part of her plans, either.
One coffee date, a dinner, and a curse later, Summer’s catapulted across the Royal States on an adventure that will forever change her life, alter the course of an entire kingdom, and give her a chance to earn a love capable of defying even death.
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EXCERPT:
How had I gotten saddled with attending the Texas charity auction? I wanted to return to my tent in Mexico and hide, but no. Someone from the Nahua dig team at Joya de Ballesteros had to convince some overly wealthy, braindead elite to part with his money, and by virtue of being the only intern with tits, I’d gotten the job.Hell, I was the only woman at Site C, and most of the team wasn’t sure what to think about that. The ones who weren’t busy trying to get into my pants blamed me for each and every disruption.
After the first time I’d buried a would-be assaulter neck deep in dirt, they’d kept their harassment verbal so history wouldn’t repeat itself.
If I wanted my doctorate, I needed to shut the hell up, sell the damned jade Nahua marital collar for top dollar, and deal with the humiliation of being the only unmasked attendee at a bloody masquerade ball.
I wished I was wearing something other than muddy cargo pants with pockets full of digging tools.
A little warning would’ve been nice.
“The last time a woman attended an auction looking like she’d just come in from the fields, she charmed herself a king,” a man murmured behind me.
The last thing I needed was to be compared to the talk of the entire auction, the future wife of Montana’s king. I scowled, clutching the polished wooden box containing the jade necklace to my chest. “I was at a temple, not a field.”
A field would’ve been a lot nicer; in some ways, I appreciated the respite from the smothering jungle humidity and the incessant attention of thirsty mosquitos.
“A temple? Were they having a mud-wrestling competition?”
I bit the bullet and turned to face him. He wore a suit like every other man present at the auction, although his was navy rather than the standard black. Unlike everyone else, he wore a plain black mask, just enough to cover his face so he couldn’t be readily identified. I found his lack of feathers, gemstones, and trappings reassuring.
He was either like me—a goose stuck among swans—or he was an elite with no fucks left to give about what anyone thought of him.
Author Bio:Susan Copperfield is the royal romance, urban fantasy loving alter ego of award-winning & USA Today bestselling novelist RJ Blain.
Under the super not-so-secret identity of Susan, the Royal States of America is explored, where the work of sixteen founding royal families preserved the United States from destruction and civil war when magic swept over the world.
In the Royal States, life, love, and magic always finds a way.
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