I settle deeper into my chair. I refocus my attention where it needs to be.

On Kane Atelier.

I seek His blessing every noon, 

And pay my vows at night.

Rowan Kane took my brother.

And I vow to take his.

Thank you so much for reading!! Keep flipping the pages for a first look at Leather & Lark, Book 2 in the Ruinous Love Trilogy that will follow Lark Montague and Lachlan Kane’s journey to love. And for a bonus spicy chapter of Rowan and Sloane, click the link below!

Butcher & Blackbird Bonus Chapter - “Skullduggery”

Please follow me on social media—I love to hear from readers!

Instagram

Facebook

TikTok

OceanofPDF.com

LEATHER & LARK

This is a first teaser for Lachlan and Lark’s story - a hate-to-love, marriage of convenience, dark romantic comedy! Teaser subject to change. Release date TBC.

LACHLAN

Lark and Sloane exchange some kind of silent conversation.

Sloane raises a single brow.

Lark’s eyes narrow.

Sloane sighs and shrugs.

And then Lark is pushing her seat back. She stands and hikes her ridiculous hobo bag up her shoulder.

“Gotta run,” she says as she beams a smile bright as a feckin’ laser at Sloane and Rowan. When it lands on me, that smile feels like it could slash my skin open. “See you at home.”

And then she’s striding out of Butcher & Blackbird, her energy trailing after her like a comet.

Rowan laughs and shakes his head before he takes a sip of his drink. “Unless you want to be bailing her out of jail, you’d better go get your wife.”

I lean back in my chair and tap the ring on my index finger against my glass as I try not to look toward the door. My focus lands on Sloane instead, who masks her smile with a bite of food.

A sinking feeling coats my chest. “What are you on about?”

“Go get her before she knifes Claire, you bellend,” he says.

“Nah…she…” I look toward the door and then to Sloane, her eyes full of sparks. “What…?”

“Listen,” she says, laying her palm flat against the table as she finally meets my eyes. That bloody dimple flashes next to her lip. It’s like her bat signal for mischief. “Lark Montague might be cute as a button, all shiny happy rainbows ra-ra cheerleader shit, but bitch is a fucking psycho in disguise. I love her to death and beyond, but psycho.”

I still can’t reconcile their words with the woman I think I know. “That Lark…Music therapist, singer songwriter, happy-happy-joy-joy Lark…? You’re telling me she has a psycho streak…?”

They both laugh. Fucking laugh.

“Lachlan,” Sloane says, shaking her head, “she doesn’t just have a streak. She has a full-on glitter parade of psycho.”

Rowan points his fork toward her. “She once rigged a glitter bomb in my car for the time I made Sloane cry and told her to go home. I spent a grand getting the car detailed and I still find glitter on a daily basis.”

“When we were in boarding school, this girl named Macie Roberts called one of Lark’s friends a ‘skanky cum bucket’. So Lark got into Macie’s room and spent an entire night writing ‘I’m a skanky cum-bucket’ in fabric paint on literally every item of clothing Macie had, even her underwear.”

“Tell him about the sequins.”

“Sequins?” I ask as the two snicker.

Sloane’s brows hike as she pushes a bit of food around her plate. “A few years ago, Lark was living with her boyfriend of the time, a guy named Andrew. One weekend while Lark was out of town, he and their mutual friend Savannah hooked up at Lark and Andrew’s apartment,” she says as an irrational tidal wave of anger sweeps through me and back out again. “A couple weeks later, Lark broke into Savannah’s house while she was sleeping and spelled ‘cheating bitch’ on her face with Gorilla Glue and sequins. She stole Savannah’s bottle of nail polish remover and her phone and computer so she had no choice but to go out and buy more to get the glue off. Even once the sequins were gone, you could still see the marks. It was pretty awesome.”

I can’t deny I kind of love the ballsiness of that plan. I almost smile, but then I catch the exchange of a dark look between Sloane and Rowan. “What is it?”

“Well…Lark will neither confirm nor deny her involvement, but two months later, Andrew died in a freak fireworks accident.”

“Lark…killed someone…? That Lark?”

Sloane shrugs.

“Don’t know why you’re still sitting here when she’s probably slicing Claire’s face off to make into a kite, but it’s your bail money, I guess,” Rowan says, and in a heartbeat I’m halfway to the door, my chair a loud clang behind me as it tips over with the force of my urgency.

The sound of Rowan and Sloane’s laughter follows me out to the street.

OceanofPDF.com

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank YOU, for taking the time to come on this crazy journey with Rowan and Sloane and for spending time in their world. I hope you enjoyed the wild ride. It was an absolute JOY to write this story and I had the best time bringing these characters to life. I hope that joy came through from the page for you.

Big thanks to Najla and the team at Qamber Designs, who created the stunning covers for all three books in this series. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with everyone on that team - they did an amazing job bringing the essence of these stories to life!

Such huuuuge thanks to the amazing ARC readers of Butcher & Blackbird for taking the time to come on this journey with Rowan and Sloane. It means so much to me that you want to get involved and be part of this story’s life as it makes its way into the wild. I had really no idea where this would end up and it’s been a joy. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

Extra special thanks to Arley, who is always my go-to for sharing early chapters, and whose feedback has made Butcher & Blackbird into a better story. Arley - you really helped me to find the balance in it that I was hoping to achieve, and I thank you!!

Thanks also to Trisha, who has never failed to build me up and cheer me on. It means the world to me. Your willingness to share your advice and guidance has helped me to push through, even in the early days when I was like ‘what the fuck even is this story?!’. Thank you! Please do yourself a favour and check out Trisha’s works if you haven’t already (I recommend starting with Lovely Bad Things!)

To Jess for being an early champion of Rowan and Sloane, and for always checking in on me. You always seem to pop up when I need your little boost of sunshine the most. Jess, your calming energy and unwavering support means the world to me!

And to my friend Lauren, who helped me get THE MOST out of David. When I was like, ‘is this lobotomized guy a step too far?’ Lauren was like ‘ABSOLUTELY NOT’ hahaha. This pint of cookies and cream is for you, you hot bitch. Please check out Lauren’s hitchhiker dark romances - start with Hitched! And Lauren - where the hell is my boxcar man?!

Last but certainly not least, to my amazing boys, my husband Daniel and son Hayden, who help to carve out time so I can write, who bring me coffee and smoothies, and who give the best hugs. I love you my boys. (Hayden don’t you dare read this, I’m talking to the universe.)

OceanofPDF.com