Book picks similar to
The Lord and the Scorpion by Shiree McCarver


historical
historical-romance
interracial
romance

What the Earl Desires


Aliyah Burke - 2011
    Yet, fate being fickle, introduces a mysterious woman into his life. Societal dictates say he has no business wanting her...he does. Najja's in England for one thing, however, meeting Colin changes everything. After he unexpectedly becomes Earl of Clifton, Najja withdraws. Her excuse? His title. Her vow.Colin doesn't care, but wanting and /having/ Najja are two different things. For Najja can never truly be his so long as another controls her. Obstacles are meaningless when a love that spans the continents is...What the Earl Desires

Nicademus: The Wild Ones


Sienna Mynx - 2014
    Her only desire is to become a healer like her dead father once was and to protect the people she loves. Life is sweet. That is until an outlaw by the name of Jeremiah ‘One Finger’ Polk was found unconscious on her land. Annabelle’s initial curiosity over his presence and desire to heal him from his serious wounds blooms into a forbidden encounter that will threaten the towns’ very existence and even her own. Jeremiah Polk is a wanted man. Driven by the need for vengeance and retribution, he barely escapes the hangman’s noose and gun. When he wakes and finds a beautiful brown skin woman nursing him back to health, he thinks it’s a dream. He soon learns of the free people of color and the hidden town at the foot of the mountain that could be his sanctuary. He also finds himself drawn to the promise of redemption. But will his demons, both real and imagined, rob him of the chance? Can love survive the racial tensions between Annabelle and him post-civil war? Miss Kitty is what they call her. However, her Christian name is Cora, and she runs the saloon and whores of Nicademus. Escaping New Orleans and the chains of a placage, she has founded a home and thriving business in Nicademus. However, the unwanted desires of the town’s sheriff, her passionate affair with her Chickasaw lover, and the new threat of the dangerous man who hunts her from her past all collide in Nicademus and threaten to destroy her. Red Sun, Chickasaw, and the lone survivor of his tribe out of White Rock Mountain, trusts no one. He brings the orphaned Annabelle and himself to the town of Nicademus for a chance to start again. Ten years later the bitter memory of his slain people keeps him locked in the past. However, his new love affair for his ‘soiled dove’, Cora, keeps him sane. Nicademus is his home. He will risk it all to protect the town and the woman he loves. In 1866, a town run by freed slaves, called Nicademus, is the promise of the future. The story of the town and the passionate, dangerous, and infamous exploits of its citizens are still whispered from the lips of people today. This fictionalized tale reflects some of their story. You will search for truth in it.

Georgie's Beau


Shara Azod - 2010
    As the bastard daughter of the man who ran the local juke joint, there was little hope of a respectable life in store for her. Especially after she caught the eye of Beau Dupuis, son the richest man in all of South Georgia. All he could offer her is a nice house hidden away on his family's plantation, but Georgie yearned for more.Beau had never had to wanted for a thing. He got what he wanted, and what he wanted was Georgie Willard. Beau would break all the rules, defy all of society just to be with her. Little did they both know what the fickle hands of fate had in store. Through war and strife, Beau would have to fight to keep Georgie's love.

Zoe


T.A. Ford - 2008
    The product of une petite liaison between her French father and his African mistress, Zoé lives a life of comfort and love. However, Zoé's stepmother, jealous of the affections showered upon her by her father, has long resented having to raise a mulatto as her own in French society.At sixteen and the younger by two years, Zoé's sister, Marianne, has reached the age to marry. Thus the girls are presented to the mysterious, philandering Comte Julien La Roque de Toulouse. Soon Zoé herself falls prey to the Count's charms. Seduced by a glimpse of the man behind the title, Zoé finds herself deep in a passionate liaison beyond her youthful understanding.Desperate to cover her foolish lapse in judgment, Zoé races against time to keep her secret affair from being uncovered. When caught by her cruel stepmother, her hopes of rescue by her father cannot be realized, and she is forced into a bitter bargain. But even as she tries to return the attentions of the Count to her sister, Marianne, and her impending betrothal, she must fight the truths underneath her own feelings. Her only salvation is to trust the one person who has created the labyrinth of betrayal and tragedy she cannot escape.A Cinderella fairytale for all time, Zoé takes the reader beyond color and shares the true nature of humanity and passion in a page-turning erotic tale that will keep you reading—and believing that true loves knows no bounds.

Ain't No Sunshine


Leslie DuBois - 2010
    Those words adorned every building in Livingston, Virginia during the summer of 1963 confusing and angering five-year-old Stephen Phillips. Those words told him that what he felt for his colored neighbor Ruthie was wrong. As a teenager, Ruthie becomes the only ray of sunshine in his abusive life and he is not willing to let her go without a fight, a fight that could lead to murder.

Love In the Jim Crow South


Kendra Queen - 2017
     Even talking to a white man could get Eva LaLaurie killed. But the richest man in town has his eye on her. He wants to dominate her...claim her...posess her. She’s going to risk it all for love- and he better do the same. But in Klan Country nothing’s ever just black and white...

The Fancy


Mercedes Keyes - 2006
    However, at hearing how close he'd come to losing his mother - his priorities, his plan shifted. Dr. Quinton Thaddeus Caine had saved his mother's life - for this deed, the young surgeon deserved the best that he could give in compensation. A gift - the best - a Fancy. To his reasoning, what better gift could one man offer another? Especially considering that the new doctor had arrived and settled in their small town off the Port end of Connecticut - with practically nothing. He would need help, in more ways than one - thus - the placing of Suga - his most valuable possession - her skills far exceeded many of those whom were purchased simply to fill ones bed. According to her master, she'd been taught to serve in many more ways... than that one - as her new owner, Quinton Caine would come to find out.

Being Plumville


Savannah J. Frierson - 2007
    You're given them from birth, and anything that could possibly make you break them is removed from your life-even if it's your best friend. Such is the case for Benjamin Drummond and Coralee Simmons, two best friends separated during childhood because Benjamin is white, Coralee is black, and relationships between the two races are unspoken in its taboo. However, fifteen years later during the turbulent 1960s, Benjamin and Coralee are reunited, and despite their upbringing, neither are able to deny what they had in their innocent youth, nor suppress the desire to rekindle it-maybe even into something more.The reunion forces the pair and those around them to examine the consequences of following the status quo versus following their hearts. Is friendship too high a price to pay to be Plumville? Is love? Will Benjamin and Coralee become who Plumville raised them to be, or who they were born to be?

The Butcher Of Beaumont


JanJan Untamed - 2018
    And I know what I saw. You are disobedient and a spoiled fucking brat. A good daughter would have heeded her mother’s warning and stayed away.” He drags me to my feet. “Get up. We need to move. It is only a matter of time before someone turns you in and the palace guard comes searching for us.” “I am grieving, you beastly man.” I snarl at him. “Show some respect.” My attempt to remove myself from his firm grip is met with resistance. His hand is locked around my arm as he pulls me along. Can he not see that I am angry and hurting after witnessing the horrors that were foisted upon my family today? I am a grief-stricken woman, damn it. “You can grieve while we walk, Sunshine. Do not speak to me of respect after you disobeyed your mother and risked your stupid neck.” He gives me a good shake. “Now, which way is it?” “West.” I concede. “Into the mountains.” I am not sure if I can trust him. What if he tries to rob me? Or rape me? “You have nothing that I want, woman.” The arrogant ass smirks rudely. “I assure you, your virtue is safe with me.” He laughs for a full minute. “The sooner I get you home, the sooner I can be rid of you.” Please note that this is a work of historical fiction. The names, characters, places and other incidents are the product of the author’s twisted imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarities to real people, living or dead, businesses, events or locations is entirely coincidental. Content warning: This novel contains graphic language, graphic sex scenes, graphic violence and is not recommended for readers under the age of eighteen. All rights reserved.

Spring Summer Falling


Francesca Penn - 2019
     A woman on his mind. And, it’s not the pregnant one. Henri Zidane has a dilemma: honor his commitment or get to know the quirky HR manager who cornered him in the stairwell. He has a baby on the way with a woman he doesn’t trust, and he keeps asking himself, “How did this happen?” Well, not how really, but why? Why! Why is it that even with all precautions he used, he still going to be a father before he’s a husband? And, no, he’s not about to marry Cassie! But one look into Sanya’s big brown eyes has him agreeing to things he’d usually turn down, and an unexpected twist has them spending a lot of time together which makes it harder to ignore the heat growing between them. Cute and quirky Sanya Shaw has an ax to grind and the super fit engineer Henri Zidane is the key — she hopes — to her looming predicament. She needs to fit into her dress to save face in front of a wedding party she despises. Weight loss is no joke, and she needs the real deal to help her meet her goal. She may not be able to blow off her commitment to be a bridesmaid for her ex’s cousin without seeming petty - even if her jerk of an ex brings The Petty – but she can take super-sexy and freshly single Henri along for the ride. When a racy weekend on the beach permanently shifts the dynamic of their friendship, Henri and Sanya find out that what started as a fitness journey has them falling in ways neither anticipated.

Crimson Bird


L.B. Keen - 2017
    One: A Vampires word is law Two: Their food, the third sex are known as Damphirs Three: Love is for those who can afford to buy it. And Bird wishes to be free of all three. Bird, a Damphir bought once she completed training, lives her life with the Wellings Noble family never completely accepted, and never fully rejected. Living a half existence, thinking that every Damphir is living the same existence as she. She endures, and takes each day one by one. A game of cards at a midnight ball changes everything... Finding herself the prize at a card game, Bird is dragged into a world far more decadent world then she ever thought possible. Desired for her looks, she will be offered a chance of freedom, for a small price...she must seduce the First Prince and dash his heart against the cold stones of the palace. A game of Hearts... First Prince, Talon Ellison does not desire the crown, but he going to do his duty of securing the throne from his conniving brothers. Yet, a Damphir gifted to him by his devious brother, causes him to begin doubting his desire to fulfill his duty, and live up to the expectations of his father. Talon is determined to torture Bird, to make her break, but with each taste, with each touch, Talon finds himself losing this dangerous game.

Plucking the Pearl


Afton Locke - 2012
    The successful widower is the “oyster king” of the island, but his intense desire for his forbidden new employee, a woman of color, threatens everything he’s built.What begins as a private sexual liaison flowers into strong feelings that don't fit the social mores of the island. When their secret is discovered, they risk losing everything. They dared to pluck the pearl, but will their love be strong enough to keep it forever?

Volatile: The Empress and the Executioner


Jeanie Johnson - 2007
    She has spent half of her young life avoiding matters of the heart. And she’s spent ninety-five percent of that time avoiding the one male that always sets her heart racing and her blood pumping: Lukas Montague, the Commander of the Locke Brotherhood. Being the only female Scout for The Society and having a peculiar relationship with the ruler of the Vampire Nation has set Star apart from “normal” vamps. Of course Lukas Montague is anything but normal. He’s also not patient. After 200 years of Star avoiding him, he’s decided that it’s time that she realise that she belongs to him. Lukas’ patience is put to the test by events that come dangerously close to spiralling out of control. What happens the end … well read on and you will find out!

Saving Her


Tiana Cole - 2019
     Bev Witnessing the brutal murder of my grandfather upended my whole life. We packed up and moved across the country to start over safely. I built my business and kept to myself, never wishing for more. Never wanting more. Until I met a man who made me want more. Need more. Crave it. Too bad it was all a lie. Too bad my safety depends on trusting him. Too bad I can’t resist him... Lucas It was a chance to start over after the service, and I took it. He was my dad’s old military buddy, and his little princess needed help. I needed a job, a distraction, so I went, expecting to protect a Hollywood brat. Bev wasn’t any of those things. She was sexy as hell. Sweet as a summer night. And she was being stalked by a psycho. I had to keep her safe, not fall for her. Fate had other plans. When she finds out the truth, I’ll do whatever it takes to convince her what we have is real.   ****This is a standalone 51,000-word full-length novel with a touch of steam and HEA.****

Ophelia's Embrace


Dahlia Rose - 2020
    Instead she ended up as a teacher at a school outside Quebec in a small town named Kamouraska. They weren’t many people or women of her color in Canada in the early 1899. There were no laws centered against being black and she didn’t have to fear for her life. Instead she settled into a routine where she worked with the children of farmers and fishermen while the night gave her adventures life within the books, she wrote under a secret pen name. One day these dreams would be her reality or so she hoped. Destiny had other plans for her in the form of Euan Campbell when he rode into town.His tales of travel and intriguing exploits were made all the more enticing by the Scottish brogue that emitted from his lips. Passion built between them and while many women wanted his affection, Euan wanted her. Another surprise was in store for them both, an unexpected pregnancy made the situation more complicated. Unlike her stories, a happy ending might be derailed because a woman with dark skin was good enough to teach but take one of the most eligible men in the area? Some vowed it would never happen. Ophelia choices were few, trust the man that called her ‘his heart’ and the life of their child he vowed to protect? Or run and let those who wanted her gone… win.