Portia Da Costa

Blackie

2022-02-22T14:53:00.000+00:00

This is our new cat, Blackie. Isn't she a beauty?

RIP Felix

2020-09-05T11:58:00.001+01:00

RIP Felix.

He was a very Good Boy and he is sadly missed. 😢

My first 'photography walk'...

2019-01-07T14:13:00.000+00:00

Found some beautiful colour in a town centre shrubbery when I ventured out this morning. This was a bit of an expedition for me, as winter and fibromyalgia aren’t a good mix and I very rarely sally forth from my burrow.

But as it was fine and dry and not too cold, I pushed myself and decided to go into town to pay in a cheque and collect a prescription myself. Bit scary, as it’s been weeks/months since I’ve done this.

The cherry on the cake though was that I decided to pop my small DSLR, with a pancake lens, in my bag, and see if I could be bold enough to get some shots as I rambled around. I’ve *never* done this before, and I was very nervous. But town was quiet and once I started shooting, the fear disappeared and the pleasure of photography came flooding in.

The shots I took are probably far less than average by most photographers’ standards, I’m sure, but I’m pleased. And it was an important first step. I’ve done it once now, so I can do it again. And again. And again. This pretty foliage is just one of about 40 shots, and I might post a few more in the coming days.

I’m very pleased that I took the chance!

ps. I haven't been writing all that much lately, and I'm not sure when I'll get back to it, so I'm pretty much all about photography at the moment.

I will get back to writing some time in 2019 though!

See my photos here!

Happy Christmas from Monsieur le Prince... and Portia

2018-12-19T17:11:00.001+00:00

His Serene Highness the Overlord in Exile of Nouvelle-Aquitaine wishes you a tolerable Midwinter Eating and Spending Festival.

BELOVED NEMESIS - out now!

2018-07-14T14:10:00.000+01:00

BELOVED NEMESIS is my latest self published release, out this week.

It’s new, but it’s not absolutely, completely and entirely new because a version of it was published almost twenty years ago, in print, by a British publishing house. I was going to release it as-is, as a sort of period piece, but when I came to read through it I saw ways I’d like to change it, and update it… so I did!

Don’t get me wrong, I was proud of the original version, and I loved it. But it was slightly long and on the rambling side, and not as focused on the central couple, Florence and Jacob, as I would make the same story if I’d written it today.

It’s basically the same storyline, the same plot as the 1990s version, but it’s just tighter and gets to the point a bit quicker now, in 2018.

NB. It’s still not what you’d call fast paced… because that’s not what I do. I still tend to witter on and on a bit because it’s hard to change the habits of a lifetime. LOL

Here's the blurb...

A love-hate relationship… a stubborn estrangement… a fiery, reluctant attraction. Where better for a feuding couple to resolve their differences than the most dismal country shack known to humanity?

Rising journalist Florence Trevelyan doesn’t know whether to be thrilled or horrified when she’s tasked to interview a handsome, devastatingly talented actor who’s about to star in a breakthrough role as the dashing lead in a prestigious costume drama.

The thrill is that it’s an interview that can raise her profile and lead to greater things. The horror is that the actor is her adoptive cousin Jacob, who she hates. And while the two of them have no blood relationship, they do have an emotional history. Long ago, they shared a single night of passion and… it did not end well. The pair have studiously avoided each other ever since.

But Florence is a focused professional and she’s determined to get a great interview out of Jacob, even in the face of his extreme provocation and the sizzling chemistry that still sparks between them. An accidental weekend holiday together, in a ramshackle family cottage, could prove a great opportunity to get the job done and perhaps even end their years of enmity… even if ‘roughing it’ in such confined quarters is dangerously intimate.

Will the two cousins finally reach a rapprochement? Will they become friends again… perhaps even a whole lot more? Or will fate throw yet another spanner in the romantic works for Flora and Jacob?

Buy from Amazon :: US :: UK :: CA :: AU

Also available from :: Nook :: Kobo :: iBooks

Taster excerpt - click here

Finally! HER LOVER'S SECRET is released!

2018-04-18T20:20:00.001+01:00

At long last, here it is, the fourth instalment of my SECRET PLEASURES series. I meant to publish this ages ago, but circumstances seemed to conspire against it. Health, crises of confidence, changes of direction with the story, they've all delayed a release that should have happened not just months but years ago.

Anyway, here's the blurb... and my massive, abject apologies to those who've been waiting HER LOVER'S SECRET. I hope you enjoy the love story of Rachel and Lawrence, their sensual adventures and the way they surmount the obstacles that life throws in their path to happily ever after.

When Rachel spills wine all over herself and a devastatingly handsome older man at her friends' wedding reception, she little realises that it's the beginning of a heart-stopping journey of sensual discovery.

Lawrence Brady is stunned discover his state of sexual ennui shattered by the beautiful young woman who upends her glass of red wine all over him. Rachel wants to learn the delicious secrets of BDSM, and he's just the man to provide her 'education'... in a thrillingly intense but short-lived no strings affair.

But what if their fling becomes more? Will Lawrence's secret destroy their chance of happiness and a future together?

Amazon :: US :: UK :: CA :: AU

Also from :: Kobo :: iBooks :: Nook

There's a short excerpt here.

There's also a naughty nibble from HER LOVER'S SECRET at Book+Main - the new site for romance readers, where you can find excerpts, teasers and tasters from hundreds of authors!

Mindy

2018-03-23T11:22:00.000+00:00

Last Thursday, 15th March, our dear little cat Mindy died suddenly. It happened super quickly and she probably didn't know what was happening and had no time to be frightened. When I found her, on the bedroom floor, she looked peaceful and her pose was relaxed.

We miss her terribly. She was sweet, affectionate and good-natured. Perhaps the gentlest and cuddliest cat we've ever had. We adore her surviving brothers, Mork, Felix and Prince, but they are very different personalities, so without Mindy there's a gap.

A week on, the pain of her loss is beginning to ease a little. It's still keen, but we're beginning to function again, and hopefully, before long, we'll be in a position to remember the good times with little Min, rather than dwell on the fact she isn't here any more.

In the end, the joy of living with her for five years far out balances the sorrow we're feeling now. Like our other beloved feline friends we've shared our lives with, she enriched us.

RIP MINDY

IN LOVE WITH TWO MEN - now available in print!

2018-03-11T12:22:00.000+00:00

Get your print edition from:

Amazon :: UK :: US :: CA :: AU

Also available from :: Barnes and Noble

IN LOVE WITH TWO MEN - menage romance x 2!

2018-02-17T13:26:00.000+00:00

I've bundled my two menage romance novellas POWER OF THREE and TEMPTED BY TWO into one steamy love triangle anthology! So if you enjoy stories where one woman falls in love with not one but two gorgeous men, and you haven't tried either of these stories before, this is the collection for you.

It's also a bargain to buy these two vacation set tales together! ;)

POWER OF THREE

Sun-drenched days and lush steamy nights stir strange desires in singleton Laurie Jones. Jilted by her philandering fiancé, she’s not a woman to wallow in self-pity, so she’s turned her honeymoon into a solo holiday.

But a surprise is in store for Laurie in the form of Ed and Denny, two gorgeous hunks sharing a nearby cabana. Golden boy Denny, and dark, enigmatic Ed are committed lovers, but they adore women too, and the handsome, generous pair quickly draw Laurie into a sizzling sensual threesome that begins to heal the pain inflicted by the fiancé who betrayed her.

As the holiday progresses, the three explore each other's bodies in a feast of delicious pleasure and experimentation, while forming a close and caring emotional bond.

But only too soon, it's time to go back home...

Can Laurie's simmering Caribbean idyll become something deeper when she returns to the cooler shores of England? Can her holiday fling become the love of a lifetime... with two wonderful men?

TEMPTED BY TWO

When executive woman Katie Warren arrives in the picturesque village of Little Marplethorpe for a country holiday, to reassess her life and her future, she doesn't bargain on ending up in a hot three way love affair with a man she's admired from afar... and his gorgeously handsome male partner.

Marcus Dane and Owen Foster are lovers, committed for a lifetime, but they both enjoy the company of women as friends and bedmates too. Encountering Katie at an exhibition of his work, Marcus knows she's just the kind of bold, daring, imaginative woman who'll relish sensual games shared with Owen and himself.

But what none of the trio expects is that their intense, steamy threesome will quickly deepen into a bond that's a lot more than just simply fabulous physical pleasure.

IN LOVE WITH TWO MEN is available from Amazon:

UK :: US :: CA :: AU

Also from :: iBooks :: Kobo :: Nook

DELICIOUS things now in print!

2018-01-29T17:43:00.001+00:00

Here are DELICIOUS PLEASURE and DELICIOUS PAIN posing naughtily on the pink pouffe in the Dumpster Office of Doom!

DELICIOUS PLEASURE is a collection of short fiction devoted to general sensuality and naughtiness, while DELICIOUS PAIN features stories and short novellas devoted to BDSM and erotic power play.

I hope you like the covers that I designed myself. They're simple enough, but I think they turned out well.

Here are the buy links for Delicious Pain

AMAZON UK

AMAZON US

AMAZON CA

AMAZON AU

BARNES & NOBLE

More info about the stories in Delicious Pain here

Here are the buy links for Delicious Pleasure

AMAZON UK

AMAZON US

AMAZON CA

AMAZON AU

BARNES & NOBLE

More info about the stories in Delicious Pleasure here

Here's the pretty! WILD IN THE COUNTRY

2018-01-17T14:07:00.001+00:00

The print edition of my super steamy, super length novel WILD IN THE COUNTRY is here!

Very pleased with the result as I designed the cover myself. The gorgeous stock image makes it, of course. Perfectly captures Flora in dreamy soft focus.

Read an excerpt and check out the buy links here

Big in Japan... sort of...

2018-01-16T13:47:00.001+00:00

These arrived this morning!

They're my author copies of a Spice Briefs anthology that's been published in Japan. I don't know what the antho is actually called though. Maybe a Japanese speaker could help? But it includes my story Second Time Around, from my Risque Reunions trilogy. Other authors in the antho include Megan Hart and Jackie Barbosa...

I always get a kick from translations! Love to think of people reading my stories in lands so far away... :)

Portia in Print!

2018-01-15T12:56:00.001+00:00

I've been foofing about with Createspace, and making print copies of some of my self published work. Some time ago, I published a print copy of Lessons and Lovers, with a beautiful cover by Croco Designs, but in the last week or so, I've gotten experimental and started making my own print covers and interior files, using Photoshop and Vellum. A fantastic YouTube video from Elizabeth Ann West really helped me gain the confidence to try making covers.

Of course, the crunch will come when the proof copies arrive, in a week or so's time, but here are the covers I've come up with so far, for WILD IN THE COUNTRY, and my little kink anthology DELICIOUS PAIN.

I will post again here with pix of the actual books when they arrive, and also when the go live and are available to buy!

WILD IN THE COUNTRY is out now!

2018-01-05T12:17:00.003+00:00

Well, after a long, long wait and years of being unavailable, WILD IN THE COUNTRY is finally published again!

This is my saucy country romp novel, and it’s a bumper one, over 300 pages. It’s been slightly edited, to highlight a growing romantic relationship, in and amongst the general sex high jinks, and deliver a more clearly defined ‘happily ever after’.

Here’s the blurb:

Welcome to the naughtiest little village in England!

Flora Swain is a newcomer to the village of Marwick Magna, renowned for the inspiration it provides to painters, authors and other artistic types. Impetuous and strong-minded, Flora is no artist – yet. But there are creative urges within her, she is convinced, and she's come to the country to give them life and expression.

The strange thing is that most of Flora’s urges turn out to be almost entirely sensual. Is it the mystique and undoubted physical allure of her new neighbour, Declan McKenna, that’s driving her wild? Or the explicit messages which appear daily in her post? Or could it be that country life has revealed to her a daringly sensuous new self?

Could Wild Flower be the real Flora Swain?

It’s available from the outlets listed below, and I hope to have a print edition out in the not too distant future.

Amazon UK https://goo.gl/QD9jT9

Amazon US https://goo.gl/rkRHhJ

Amazon CA https://goo.gl/aw9m4W

Amazon AU https://goo.gl/B8onAH

Nook https://goo.gl/twrQND

iBooks https://goo.gl/vhjm2e

Kobo https://goo.gl/e7tmMY

Goodbye 2017... Hello 2018!

2017-12-31T11:08:00.000+00:00

No resolutions... just hopes for a good year!

Seasons Greetings... Prince is not amused...

2017-12-12T16:25:00.000+00:00

All the best for the Festive Season!

Working on Wild - cover preview

2017-11-29T16:51:00.000+00:00

I'm currently working towards self publishing this older title of mine, WILD IN THE COUNTRY. And this cover perfectly expresses my vision of Flora, the heroine. When we were discussing ideas for covers for Wild, my buddy Saskia Walker mentioned the dreamy sensuality of the old Cadbury's Flake television adverts, and that really inspired me! With that in mind, I was lucky enough to find this image fairly quickly on a stock site.

Although WILD IN THE COUNTRY has been published before and edited twice, I knew it needed a bit more work. Mainly to pick up odd little punctuation blips and things that slip in during file conversion and what have you. But as I worked on it, I knew I had to make some slight changes to the story. This book was originally written as a kind of crazy sex romp, with Flora as a free spirited girl, kicking over the traces of an old, more boring life, when she moved to live in a village full of rampant sensualists who enjoyed partner swapping and a host of wild erotic games. That's still the main... er... thrust... of the story, but thinking about Flora, and Declan, the central male character in the story, I wanted to give them a real romantic relationship. One that starts as part of the sexual experimentation they both enjoy in the village community, but growing and developing into something deeper, more forever... and in the end, exclusive.

But that has to develop properly, and Flora can't go straight from wild experimentation, with Declan just one amongst a whole bunch of equally important lovers, to snap, he's The One. So I have to build in some more gradual realisation of their growing affection, maybe even an evolution that neither she nor he are consciously aware of while it's building.

And of course, that takes much longer to do, and a lot more brain thrashing than just a simple check for misplaced punctuation and whatnot. I was hoping to get the new version of Wild out before Christmas, but if I'm honest with myself, I don't think that'll happen now.

Will many people read this new version when I've written it? Who knows... But I'll have had the pleasure and challenge of revamping and revising it. A bit of proper mind work, to keep the old little grey cells from atrophying!

And if anyone fancies a flavour of Flora *before* the revamp, you'll find her as Katy, in IN THE AIR TONIGHT. Many of the usual Wild suspects are there too, but under different names...

Who is Delaney Silver?

2017-11-25T15:55:00.000+00:00

This is my latest release under my alter ego pen name, Delaney Silver. My Delaney books are a bit edgier, a bit racier and more explicit than my more recent Portia Da Costa books. They're self published titles, short stories, mostly, that were originally published at a time when I wrote erotica that was meant to be read by men *and* women... or even couples together!

Delaney stories are mostly kink-based, with the emphasis on themes of BDSM, femdom, and f/f etc. There isn't a massive difference between these stories and some of my earlier Black Lace novels. Those early Black Lace books were very often about a woman's journey of sexual exploration rather than a one-on-one relationship between a hero and heroine. They were far less erotic romance and much more erotica, although some contained love relationships and either implied or explicit 'happily ever afters'.

IN THE AIR TONIGHT is very much in the women's sexual exploration vein, featuring a heroine who's wild and free-thinking, and who enjoys relationships with several different lovers who live in her local village. It's actually a spin-off from a Portia title that I'll also be republishing soon, WILD IN THE COUNTRY. The revision work I'm doing on Wild means that the central couple choose a committed, exclusive relationship towards the end of the book, whereas Katy, the heroine of IN THE AIR TONIGHT, is a hold-over from the previous incarnation of that story, and hasn't settled down with one man alone.

So you could say the characters in In The Air Tonight are alternate universe versions of the people in Wild in the Country.

Does that make sense? LOL

Anyway, here's the blurb:

When Katy attends her first formal evening event since her arrival in Briarwood Magna, she’s hoping for much more than just champagne, canapés and routine social chitchat. Her village friends are all adventurous hedonists, who love to party hard and explore all manner of steamy scenarios, and she wants to get in on the action.

Consequently, she’s thrilled when her handsome friend Mitchell touches and teases her behind the concealing ornamental hedge, and then again, inside the manor house, when she succumbs to the Lord and Lady who are fond of dark games of transgressive pleasure amongst the priceless antiques.

Most of all, though, Katy wants to thank her girl crush Sybilla for the aphrodisiac perfume the beautiful herbalist concocted for her… but she gets a big surprise when she discovers just what the scent is that’s been attracting droves of randy admiring guests to her side throughout the party.

Available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au and Amazon.ca

Also from Nook Books, Kobo and iBooks

There's a mini excerpt here!

Discover more about Delaney Silver here.

Look out for news of WILD IN THE COUNTRY coming soon. Read a taster.

A Pretty Weird Bloke - a slightly weird story...

2017-11-12T14:03:00.000+00:00

A Pretty Weird Bloke is my latest self published release. It's a bit of a shortie, but hopefully weirdly sweet in a kinky BDSM sort of way. If that makes any kind of sense... why not give it a whirl? LOL

Here's the blurb...

Nikki thinks she’s found the perfect man in the form of her handsome, sophisticated work colleague David. He’s intelligent, funny, and a devastatingly desirable Alpha male in a traditional and slightly old-fashioned English way.

But even though she knows that he fancies her, it takes forever for him to make a move. And when he does, he issues a tantalising warning… he tells her that he’s a ‘pretty weird bloke’.

Nikki guesses that this is something to do with his preferences as a lover, but she’s up for an adventure. Even so, his interest in a certain part of her anatomy - and certain wickedly ‘testing’ things he’d like to do to it - is as unsettling as it is dangerously exciting.

Can she channel her inner daring and handle David’s weirdness… and walk on the wild side with him into dark, seductive pleasure?

Try an excerpt here

Buy from Amazon :: US :: UK :: CA :: AU

Also available from :: iBooks :: Kobo :: Nook

A TOUCH OF HEAVEN returns to Earth!

2017-10-29T18:54:00.000+00:00

A TOUCH OF HEAVEN is my sensual paranormal romance novella about a gorgeous, mysterious stranger who entrances a forty-something woman who's beginning to have doubts about her own attractiveness. Patrick is house-sitting next door... or at least that's what Miranda hopes he's doing. If not, he's the most handsome, delectable squatter she's ever set eyes on!

TOUCH was originally published by Samhain Publishing a few years ago, but now I've self published it and it's available again at the usual outlets.

Here's the blurb:

Pleasure with a perfect stranger can be divine...

If Miranda Clay believed that angels exist, they’d look just like her neighbours’ new house sitter. Golden hair. Golden, naked skin. Muscles that are poetry in motion. Is it ridiculous that even his feet are beautiful?

When mysterious Patrick turns his heavenly blue eyes toward her and smiles… Well, how can a red-blooded woman resist his friendly offer of a soothing massage? But pretty soon his therapy to ease her forty-something aches and pains turns into an exquisite touch of pleasure, a storm of bliss that leaves her boneless and sighing.

But when Miranda reaches for Patrick to return the favour, he stays her hand—and reluctantly reveals his almost incomprehensible secret. He’s an angel on an earthly mission of kindness, and though he’s always longed to live a full, if messy, human life, he’s never been tempted to violate his unbreakable angelic code. Until now.

Soon, the deeply-in-love couple face a perilous decision, and Patrick will have to risk everything—even the prospect of extinction—to keep the woman he adores in his arms.

Buy from Amazon :: US :: UK :: CA :: AU

Also available from :: Nook :: Kobo :: iBooks

~~~ Try an excerpt here... ~~~

NB. thanks to Carolan Ivey for her help with the blurb

New short story release - HIS PRIVATE DANCER

2017-10-12T14:22:00.002+01:00

Looking for something short and sexy and told from the male POV? Well, look no further!

HIS PRIVATE DANCER - a decadent tale of saucy burlesque

With a front row seat at a private burlesque show, Mr Curtis finds himself bewitched and seduced by the gorgeous Madame X.

As the silken gloves and feather boa go flying, the mysterious beauty works him up into a fever of desire with her steamy, exotic moves.

Will there be an encore? An even hotter show?

Buy from Amazon :: US :: UK :: CA :: AU

Also available from :: Nook :: Kobo :: iBooks

FAR FROM PERFECT - new edition - 99c/99p until 27 August!

2017-08-21T07:00:00.000+01:00

My sensual contemporary romance, FAR FROM PERFECT, is being given a new lease of life, courtesy of Entangled Publishing!

To celebrate, it's available at a special low price of 99c/99p until 27th August 17. Anna and Nick's story is pretty hot stuff, though I say it myself, but if you buy it this week you get it both hot *and* cheap!

FAR FROM PERFECT... what it's about

A night of earthshattering lovemaking left Nick Lisitano wracked with remorse for taking advantage of Anna’s innocence. He knows Anna deserves deep, enduring love, which is not something he can offer her. He’s managed to keep his distance until now, but his father is ill, and he knows just what will bring his family together and give his father peace. A wedding. His wedding. To the lovely young Anna.

Four years ago, Anna Felgate gave her virginity to the man who held her heart—long-time family friend and legendary lover, Nick Lisitano. That one night branded her for life and ruined her for any other man, but Nick has been cold to her ever since. Until now that is, when he comes to her with a crazy plan…a proposal…of marriage.

Anna knows she shouldn’t agree to Nick’s plan, but how can she refuse the man who holds her heart.

Read an excerpt here

Available from :: iBooks :: Kobo :: Nook :: Entangled Publishing

Amazon :: US :: UK :: CA :: AU

Lessons and Lovers - now in print!

2017-04-13T20:23:00.000+01:00

LESSONS AND LOVERS

Lover after dark…

By day, he's the perfect personal assistant, bodyguard, chauffeur… by when the lights go down, he's a devastating sex machine, using his hands, his lips and his breath-taking body to drive his employer to the very limits of pleasure.

Wealthy young widow Hettie Miller loved her husband, but night after night, she's tormented by desire. Lonely and confused she turns to Starr, her faultless servant, the man whose cool reserve and discretion hide the wild, hard-driving soul of a sensualist.

But does Starr really care for her, or is he simply performing his duties, as supreme between the sheets as he is elsewhere? Hettie hopes for more… because she's falling, and Starr's rocking her world.

Read excerpt here

Now available in print from:

Amazon.com :: Amazon.co.uk :: Barnes and Noble

Seasons Greetings!

2016-12-18T20:47:00.000+00:00

A very Merry Christmas

a Happy New Year!

Slings and arrows

2016-05-21T14:42:00.000+01:00

Blargh! I'm poorly, and I have been for a week and a bit now. I feel better than I did, but this bout of what I suspect is Swine Flu, has really knocked me out of the great groove of productivity and positivity that I've been in recently.

There's not a lot I can do about it. I'm not one of these super focused, super determined writers who can push on through in situations like this. I just have to give in and wait out the virus, hoping that it doesn't dig in too hard and linger with me too long.

So, I'll be cosseting myself, keeping warm and hydrated and rested for a little while yet, and I'm hoping it won't be too long before there are more reports from the Dumpster Office of Doom and updates on the progress of Her Lover's Secret.