The Marriage Auction: Book One(91)
To them, my coming home and getting married answered their prayers. It also made me feel like shit. I may have been going through the motions since the accident, but I’d also pushed everyone I loved away. Letting them watch me disappear with each new day I lived under a dark cloud .
This was the end of that time. I was going to live for each new day. And Savannah made that decision all the brighter.
I ended the conversation with my parents, lifted Savannah into my arms, and smiled as she mumbled something unintelligible against my chest. I carried her down the long hallway that led to my half of the home and brought her straight to my bed. My mother had already taken the liberty of prepping clean bedding for me while Savannah and I cleaned up after dinner, so I was able to set my precious girl on our bed.
She woke just as I was tugging her sweater over her head.
“Bra on or off?” I asked, seeing her beautiful pale skin on display and wishing I could touch and taste every inch of it. But she was dead on her feet. Between Las Vegas and traveling across the world, the park visit, and dinner and drinks, she was done.
I left her where she sat, eyes closed, and got her one of my clean T-shirts.
“Off,” she mumbled, unsnapping her pants and lifting up just enough that she could shove her jeans to the floor.
I reached around her body and unclasped the lace and metal enclosure, and the fabric released into my hands. I glanced away and worked the T-shirt over her head. She pushed her arms through, and the fabric fell over her bare body. I helped her lean back and get settled in bed, covering her with the fluffy blankets.
After I got her situated, I turned on the fireplace so it would stay warm and give off enough light in case she woke in the night confused about her surroundings. Then I removed all my clothes aside from my boxer briefs and crawled into bed with my woman.
No longer caring about the distance between us, especially after those two kisses, I tucked my body to her back where she slept on her side. I looped an arm over her, and curled around her form, feeling the most content I’d ever been in my life .
She hummed sweetly and pushed her rounded ass against me, getting closer. “I had the best day,” she mumbled, sleep taking her further under.
“Me too, elskede,” I murmured against her hair, closing my eyes. “Sweet dreams.”
“Mmm, goodnight, Jarod. I love you.”
My eyes shot open.
Who the fuck was Jarod?
Continue along with the entire cast in book two of The Marriage Auction, available now! Click here to purchase.
Madam Alana
A Marriage Auction Novella
By Audrey Carlan
Click here to purchase.
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Audrey Carlan comes a new story in her Marriage Auction series…
I run the most elite auction in the world.
Candidates and bidders come from all over the globe hoping to change their lives.
And I deliver.
I’m in the business of bringing couples together in a mutually beneficial and legally binding marriage. The terms are three years for no less than a million dollars a year, not including my commission. Once a pair signs on the dotted line, the contract ensures there is no going back.
Most couples find over time they are a love match, but not all.
Before I took over The Marriage Auction, there wasn’t an extensive vetting process. Some candidates were subjected to horrors that haunt my every waking moment.
I vowed to change that. To stand up for those who deserve more and to release them from the wrongs inflicted upon them by circumstance and chance.
What my bidders and candidates don’t know is that I understand exactly what they are experiencing.
I wasn’t always known as Madam Alana.
Once upon a time, I too was purchased in The Marriage Auction… And this is my story.
Acknowledgements
I have to thank the readers for this one. The first episode of The Marriage Auction appeared on Amazon’s new Kindle Vella platform in July of 2021. No one had any idea what the platform would do or if there was even an audience for serialized fiction in an episodic fashion. You readers showed us exactly what you wanted to read, skyrocketing this saga to #1 within mere weeks. At the time this book releases, the saga has received well over a MILLION episode reads. Without you guys, none of this would ever have taken off. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to do what I truly believe I was set on this Earth to do…tell complicated and endearing love stories that help readers find themselves while falling in love.
To my husband, Eric, who knows me better than anyone and loves me anyway…it’s you and me baby! Always.
To the world’s greatest PA, Jeananna Goodall, for jumping into this crazy new journey feet first right alongside me. The Marriage Auction has been a massive undertaking, over a year in the making and you were there for every second of it. The highs, the lows, and everything in between. I hope using your name for the best damn cowboy around showed a token of my appreciation at the sheer commitment and love you too have poured into this saga. I hope one day we’re sitting next to one another watching it come to life on the silver screen. Wouldn’t that be epic?
To Jeanne De Vita, my personal editor, I’ll bet you had no idea what you were getting yourself into when you agreed to edit these episodes (chapters) as I wrote them! Most editors would balk at that type of time constraint, but not you. You threw yourself in fully, and I’m so grateful. I’m sure the readers are too.