The Oak King

The seasons are out of balance, the Courts of the Fae who govern the Wheel of the Year in disarray. Lachlan Darragh, better known as the Oak King, must set things right. His best chance is to do what the rulers of the Yuletide Fae have done—find a mortal to marry. When he claims Emma Watts as his queen, he thinks the problem is solved. There’s only one catch. For him to gain power from their union, they have to fall in love, and he has no idea how to do so.

Emma did not ask to become the Queen of the Springtime Court. She knows enough about fairies to want out of the arrangement as quickly as possible. So what if the Oak King is the most gorgeous man she’s ever seen? He’s willing to let her go on one condition—that she teaches him how to fall in love with someone so he can woo another queen. The only problem is that Emma has never been in love herself. And the more time they spend together, the more she wonders if everything she thought she knew about the Fae might be wrong.

Lachlan is approaching the peak of his rule over the Wheel of the Year, and if he can’t win someone’s heart by Beltane, he risks the Court of the Springtime Fae forever falling into weakness. But the more Emma teaches him about love, the more certain he is that she’s the only woman he wants. Will they learn to open their hearts to each other in time to restore the balance between the Courts?

Excerpt:

She turned back around in her chair just in time to see another man enter. He was so tall, he had to duck to keep his tawny brown hair from brushing the top of the archway between the dining room and the bar. A server slid past him and had to turn entirely sideways to fit through the space left over from the guest’s massive shoulders. He wore a pale green, three-piece suit over a mint shirt, with a deep golden tie at his throat. He hooked a thick finger under the collar of his shirt as if to loosen it, but froze, grimacing as he left it be. He let his huge arm drop back to his side, his hands in fists.

Now this one—this one—was her type.

He scanned the room and their eyes locked. His scowl became a bit less pronounced, but his eyebrows lowered over his jade-green eyes, his focus fixated upon her. Shivers skittered up and down her spine, goosebumps rising on her arms. Her mind was immediately flooded with imaginative examples of just what the two of them could get up to if given the right opportunity. Which this was not.

Why did she have to meet this absolutely perfect example of a man when she was supposed to be having lunch with the Oak King? The man started making his way toward her, occasionally nudging aside people in their chairs to give him enough space to walk through the dining room.

Emma couldn’t keep herself from grinning. She knew she shouldn’t. She shouldn’t even have made eye contact with this guy. Now she was going to have to find a way to let him down easy as quickly as possible. Who knew what the Oak King would do if he saw them together when he arrived. Maybe she could get this guy’s number really discreetly…

He stopped right next to her table, looking profoundly uncomfortable. He craned his neck to one side, then the other, a loud cracking sound coming from it each movement. His hands kept flexing and curling alternately at his sides as he glanced around the room, then back to her, then back to the room, his mouth opening and closing as if he didn’t know what to say.

“Hi,” she said.

He froze, staring at her through narrowed eyes. “Hello.”

“I’m Emma.” She smiled at him, leaning forward on her elbows while playing with the strand of diamonds at her neck.

“Lachlan,” he said, seeming relieved. He pulled out a chair and sat across from her.

“I’m actually meeting someone.”

“I know.” He leaned back in his chair and stared at her.

“Wait, you’re not…”

“The Oak King?” he said. “I am.”

This? This exquisite example of a man was her ‘husband?’ If it weren’t for the impossible circumstances surrounding them, she would have been thrilled to hook up with him. Knowing what he was, how he had transformed her life into chaos…

‘Thrilled’ was not the right word. But she was certain she’d come up with a few choice ones throughout their blind date. She just had to be careful she didn’t mess up her chance to get out of all this in one piece.