Books by "Nicki Bennett" (24)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a widowed Earl must be in want of a wife—or so Marcus Stanthorpe’s grandmother believes. Marcus had done what was necessary to ensure an heir, but now has no patience for his grandmother’s matchmaking. Spending the holidays with his friends, his son, and his valet, William Haworth, brings him enough contentment.

But when a family emergency calls Haworth to London, Marcus’s contentment reveals itself to be fickle. Suddenly he realizes how much William has come to mean to him. But William has never indicated he shares Marcus’s preferences. Can the comforts of the holiday season bring two lonely men joy?

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When Mason gets caught in a blizzard on his way home for Christmas and ends up in a snowdrift, the outlook is grim—until a handsome trucker appears, offering shelter, companionship, and a tow in the morning.

Tate has never been anyone’s idea of a hero. He’s been on the road most of his adult life, with few ties to people and even fewer to any particular place. Now, after one steamy night in the cab of his truck, all that changes. Suddenly he has a sweet, intelligent guy who can’t get enough of him, who invites him to spend New Year’s with his family… who already feels like home. But Tate’s job keeps him on the road for weeks at a time. Can he really build something permanent?

Portions of this novella appeared in the short stories Weathering the Storm, Coming Home, and Tying the Knot, published by Dreamspinner Press in 2009. 

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Health issues have kept Scott Calligan in quarantine since the start of the pandemic. But when a wandering dog is nearly hit by a car in front of his house, he can’t help but come to its rescue—even if he’s more of a cat person.

Max’s owner, Brandon Richards, represents everything Scott has kept himself safe from. Once he picks up the runaway, Scott doesn’t expect he’ll see either of them again.

It seems Max has other ideas….

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Workaholic investment banker Timothy Wyatt is determined to spend the first Christmas since his divorce with his four-year-old daughter, Megan. Fate—in the form of the largest winter storm system in a decade—seems determined to thwart him. When his flight from Dallas to Chicago is canceled, along with every other flight for at least the next two days, Tim is willing to try any alternative means of transportation to keep from disappointing his daughter yet again. 

Luckily for Tim, he’s befriended by Zach Whelan, another stranded traveler. Zach is a travel agent, and since he was only planning a solo vacation in Mexico over the holidays, he makes it his mission to get Tim to his daughter in time for Christmas instead. They have three days—how hard can it be?

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Exploring Limits: Book Two

For three actors in a committed gay ménage, balancing work, sex, and romance might be their most challenging role yet.

The Dom who taught Devon about BDSM is back to reclaim his sub and break up the trio. He leaves chaos across the set of Camelot and Devon reluctant to resume his dominant role with his lovers, Jonathan and Kit. 

But facing their pasts and discovering and exploring new kinks might not be the ultimate test of their relationship….

Filming is ending on the miniseries that brought the three of them together, and they’re about to go their separate ways, pulled in different directions by family, obligations, and careers. How will they hold onto the love they’ve built when production wraps?

Each man has a unique idea about how to maintain their relationship, but will promises and memories be enough?

This volume includes newly edited and expanded versions of the novellas:

Breaking Limits

Transcending Limits

No Limits

First Edition
Breaking Limits, Transcending Limits, No Limits previously published individually by Dreamspinner Press, respectively: July 2010, September 2010, November 2010.

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Exploring Limits: Book One

We could always share him….

After failing to capture the attention of their bicurious costar singlehandedly, Kit and Devon team up to seduce Jonathan, who plays King Arthur in the new miniseries Camelot. 

The chemistry between the three actors is off the charts, and it brings out the adventurous side in all of them. Things heat up in the bedroom as the trio explores the pleasures of dominance, submission, bondage, toys, and anything else they can find to get the most out of their secret time together. 

But a gay ménage presents problems without easy solutions—especially as they work closely together on set. For their threesome to survive and evolve into a true committed relationship, they’ll all have to test their physical and emotional limits.

This volume includes newly edited and expanded versions of the novellas:

Exploring Limits

Stretching Limits

Refining Limits

First Edition
Second Editions: Exploring Limits, Stretching Limits, Refining Limits previously published individually by Dreamspinner Press, respectively: January 2010, March 2010, May 2010.

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An Out and About Novel

Out and About: No commitments, just fun.  

Liam Gruene and his best friend, Kate Weaver, start Out and About to give LGBTQ singles fun, safe, stress-free events where they can meet other LGBTQ singles. Liam hopes—but doesn’t really expect—to meet someone for himself in the process.

Erik Jansen moved to Houston a few months ago after a bad breakup. Since his move, he’s thrown himself into work at the expense of a social life. When Liam withdraws funds managed by Erik’s firm to finance his new venture, it brings Out and About to his attention and he thinks what the hell. It can’t be any worse than trying to meet someone at any of the gay clubs and bars around the city.

Erik and Liam hit it off right away, but Erik can’t forget that Liam is a client and Out and About is Liam’s job. Erik has an ironclad rule against mixing business and pleasure, and that puts Liam firmly out of bounds.

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Une deuxième chance pour vivre son premier amour, s’il en a le courage. 

Alex se considère comme un raté. À l’école secondaire, alors qu’il envisageait une carrière professionnelle dans le football, il noua une amitié improbable avec Ricky Lee Jennings, un jeune métis comanche issu des pires quartiers de la ville. Leur goût commun pour les livres aurait pu évoluer vers un sentiment plus fort, mais quand un coéquipier homophobe s’en prend à Ricky Lee, Alex ne peut se résoudre à risquer sa bourse universitaire pour le défendre. Ricky Lee est expulsé et Alex n’entend plus parler de lui pendant plus d’une décennie. 

Les jours de gloire d’Alex sont désormais dans le passé. Blessé, il n’a pu mener à bien ses rêves de gloire dans le football et son mariage a sombré en même temps que ses aspirations à créer une différence dans le lobbysme environnemental. 

Tout pourrait changer quand Ricky Lee se présente à la réunion des anciens élèves de l’école…

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A second chance at first love—if he has the courage to take it.

Alex can’t think of himself as anything but a failure. In high school, he was on the fast track to a career in pro football when he forged an unlikely friendship with a half-Comanche boy from the wrong part of town, Ricky Lee Jennings. Their shared love of books could have grown into more—but a homophobic teammate attacked Ricky Lee, and Alex wouldn’t risk his scholarship to defend him. Ricky Lee was kicked out of school, and Alex never heard from him again.

Now Alex’s glory days are nothing but a memory. An injury ended his football aspirations, his marriage fell apart, and his dreams of making a difference as an environmental lobbyist are as dead as his fantasies of sports stardom.

But all that could change in one magical night, when Ricky Lee shows up at their high-school reunion.

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Jonah Hollis a depuis longtemps le béguin pour son patron, Lincoln Courtwright, directeur de ranch et millionnaire de son état, mais il sait que ce n’est pas réciproque. Malgré tout, ses espoirs sont ravivés lorsque Linc et sa magnifique petite amie, Melissa Cutler, rompent quelques semaines avant le plus grand événement de Dallas : le Bal des Barons du Bétail. En effet : son patron lui demande de l’y accompagner à sa place !

Est-ce une tactique pour rendre Melissa jalouse ? Jonah, simple assistant administratif, peut-il avoir sa place dans le monde de Linc ? Ses colocataires et sa meilleure amie, Caylee, font des pieds et des mains pour le convaincre d’accepter. Rapidement, Jonah se met à espérer que Linc puisse ressentir la même chose pour lui… jusqu’à ce que la famille et tout un tas de malentendus s’en mêlent et menacent de briser ses rêves de bonheur.

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All for Love: Book Three

“Are you surprised that strength is drawn to strength?”

For the last six years, the gypsy healer Raúl has lived a life he never dreamed possible. Gerrard Hawkins has stood at his side, his love a source of silent strength like nothing Raúl has ever known.

When a letter from Gerrard’s estranged father forces them in separate directions—Gerrard back to England to make peace with his family and Raúl to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer for his annual pilgrimage—Raúl expects to suffer for their parting, but he holds on to their plans to meet again in France when Gerrard has satisfied his father’s demands.

Gerrard left England never expecting to return, especially after he pledged his life and love to Raúl. Yet he cannot dismiss his father’s offer of peace without some acknowledgment. When he arrives in England to find tragedy, his sense of duty toward his family’s tenants wars with his promises to Raúl.

As tensions mount and illness spreads in France, Raúl stands as a bastion of hope, but his strength is not limitless. Gerrard is the rock he leans on, and without that strength, Gerrard’s arrival in France may come too late.

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All for Love: Book Two

Aristide, Léandre, and Perrin pledge only three loyalties in life: their king, their captain, and their passion for each other. So when the musketeers discover a plan to accuse M. de Tréville of treason, the initial impulse to kill the messenger, Benoît, is tempered by their need to unmask the plotter. But their first two suspects, the English ambassador and Cardinal Richelieu, prove to be innocent, forcing the musketeers to delve deeper into the inner machinations of the French court.

Meanwhile, Aristide finds himself falling in love with the ill-fated messenger, a blacksmith without a home who rouses all of his protective, possessive instincts. Benoît, however, has no interest in any man. Torn between desire and duty, Aristide must find a way to protect the king and clear his captain’s name—all while heeding the demands of his heart.

2nd Edition
First Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, 2010.

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All for Love: Book One

When sword-for-hire Teodoro Ciéza de Vivar accepts a commission to “rescue” Lord Christian Blackwood from unsuitable influences, he has no idea he’s landed himself in the middle of a plot to assassinate King Philip IV of Spain and blame the English ambassador for the deed. Nor does he expect the spoiled child he’s sent to retrieve to be a handsome, engaging young man.

As Teodoro and Christian face down enemies at every turn, they fall more and more in love, an emotion they can’t safely indulge with the threat of the Inquisition looming over them. It will take all their combined guile and influence to outmaneuver the powerful men who would see them separated… or even killed.

2nd Edition
First Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, 2009.

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It might be a sham to his boss, but it's all too real to him.

Administrative assistant Jonah Hollis has nurtured a hopeless crush on his boss, millionaire cattle rancher Lincoln Courtwright, ever since he started working for him. But hope is kindled when Linc and beautiful rodeo star Melissa Cutler break up just weeks before the biggest event of the Dallas social season, the Cattle Baron’s Ball, and Linc asks Jonah to accompany him in her place.

Is it all a ploy to make Melissa jealous? Can Jonah fit into Linc’s world? It takes some encouragement from his roommates and his best friend, Caylee, for Jonah to agree. Before long, Jonah dares to believe Linc might just feel something for him… until interfering family and a series of misunderstandings threaten his fragile dream of happiness.

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Police detective Patrick Flaherty has no illusions about Russian mobster Alexei Boczar, but that doesn’t stop his fascination with the bodyguard to one of the most ruthless families in Chicago’s growing Eastern European crime community. From the moment Patrick meets Alexei’s eyes over the body of another Russian mobster, Alexei is a thorn in Patrick’s side, refusing to cooperate with the police and turning all of Patrick’s questions back on him. Alexei’s hard-as-nails persona whets Patrick’s professional determination to get the information he’s sure the gangster is hiding, while personally Patrick just wants to get his hands on Alexei’s hard body.

The tattoos marking Alexei’s skin tell the story of his criminal past, but the more Patrick learns about Alexei, the more he wants to know, until he finds himself over his head in a relationship that might cost him his job and could well cost Alexei his life. Alexei is equally fascinated by Patrick’s willingness to overlook his past and even his present associations, but he has secrets of his own that could drive a wedge between them forever.

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A Hot Cargo Story

Desperate for an edge in the war against the Gavenelians that will keep the Confederation from losing as many ships to the sadistic aliens as they destroy, Sasha Dmitrov contacts the space pirate he knows only as Harry, hoping the mysterious engineer will be able to pull off one more miracle. Having been warned of Harry's disdain for the Confederation, Sasha is prepared for Harry to tell him to jump out an airlock without a space suit. The last thing he expects is an invitation to Nicodemus Vector, Harry’s shielded planetoid. What Sasha discovers is an Andromedite empath who sees far too deeply into his soul.

As they race against time for a breakthrough that will tip the scales in their favor, Sasha finds himself more and more attracted to the reclusive mercenary. But duty calls, and Sasha has a war to win before he can even think about returning to Harry’s side—assuming that either of them will risk opening himself to the other's empathic touch.

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Actor MacAlester Kerr wanders into a whole new world of pampering and pleasure when his director sends him to Evan's Heaven for a pedicure. When Mac meets the spa's owner, Evan York, he finds himself head over heels and up to his eyebrows as Evan spoils him like no one ever has before.

Whether it's a paraffin manicure, an herbal body wrap, or even a sugar waxing, Evan makes every treatment special with his own brand of kinky accompaniment. But when Mac wants to take things farther than Evan ever expected, will it lead to trouble in paradise?

2nd Edition
First Edition published in the Dreamspinner Press anthology Size Matters.

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