Spotlight & Giveaway: Taming the Big Bad Billionaire by Pippa Roscoe

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Pippa Roscoe to HJ!

Hi Pippa and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Taming the Big Bad Billionaire!

 
Hi Everyone! Great to be back here and sharing the deliciousness of my latest book with you all.
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

Ruthless, rich and only out for revenge, Roman Black is determined to ruin his grandfather. The key? His innocent ward, Ella. Roman underestimates his new wife and just how quickly the tables can turn, but all bets are off when she becomes pregnant with his child!
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

It was the smell of coffee, as strong and bitter as his quest for vengeance, that usually heralded the beginning of Roman Black’s day, not damp earth and tree bark. It was the richly carpeted floors of his office that he usually stalked at this hour of the morning, not the crunch of twigs and leaves.
The noise felt overly loud, as if the attempt to be stealthy had made him clumsy. But if there was one thing Roman Black was not, it was clumsy. Every thought, every move, every action had always held one purpose for Roman, and one purpose only.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I really enjoyed researching Little Red Riding Hood (as I think you’ll see!). Books, adaptations, twists, films, quotes… Some are on my pinterest board for Taming the Big Bad Billionaire, so do take a look!
• Roman and Ella had at least five different incarnations before I finally settled on the right character profiles. At one point, Roman was Ella’s guardian!
• My mother made me promise that during all these changes, Roman’s mother would remain a Russian ballerina. (Thanks mum!)
• This book is one of Harlequin’s eight Once Upon a Temptation series all out this month in Harlequin Presents.
• Ella’s best friend, Célia, will be the heroine in my next book.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

For Roman, he’s known that Ella is the key to his revenge and believes he knows her. He’s made his assumptions and even as she clearly doesn’t fit in to the mould he gave her, he’s determined to ignore that fact. So what really attracts him to her is what he doesn’t know. Her purity and innocence.
For Ella, it’s a little more complicated. She thinks she falls for who he is when they first meet, but the real Roman is the one who steals her heart.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe Hero and Heroine’s love affair?

Passionate, powerful, intense, difficult, redemptive
 

The First Kiss…

But as the words of the priest washed over him, joining them as husband and wife, as the music played to signal the end of the service and he was directed to kiss his bride, Roman lost all thought of revenge, of the separate person who had married Ella Riding, of his promise to leave her untouched. Instead he focused on the soft lips parting beneath his—the gentle, sweet sweep of Ella’s tongue as she opened for him, as she enticed him further into her depths. He lost his head and drew her to him, heedless of the gentle laughter of the few others in the small church, and wished that it could be different.
Reluctantly he pulled back, because it wasn’t different, and he wasn’t. The only gift he could give her on her wedding day would be to leave her unsullied by his touch. Even if it nearly killed him.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

Ohh, there are so many in this story! For me, it’s when Ella first turns the tables on Roman and proves herself a worthy adversary. It’s when we begin to see that she is capable of giving as good as she gets and that as a result of Roman’s evil machinations, she’s become strong and determined, she’s beginning to embrace her own power.

‘Imagine if the wife of the world’s greatest seducer looking elsewhere for her pleasure. What would that do to your precious reputation?’
‘You’re an innocent, you wouldn’t even know how,’ he declared.
He watched in horrified fascination as his wife turned her gaze from his to some poor dolt at the neighbouring table. Roman hadn’t spared a glance at him, but the other man had obviously not done the same for Ella—who now focused her entire being on him. A quirked eyebrow and delicious curve of red-painted lips brought a blush to the man’s cheeks. Before he took in Roman’s scowling features, put his drink down and made his way to a safe distance on the other side of the room.
Ella turned back to Roman, the look in her eyes unadulterated victory.
‘My virtue is meaningless, my innocence destroyed. You saw to that. You like to think that you’re the big bad wolf, but I was raised by the biggest, baddest wolf of them all. You taught me revenge and vengeance and I might just find that I enjoy it.’

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

I’ve always liked this scene because to me it shows that while Roman is gloriously alpha and powerful, he is utterly enthralled to Ella, giving her just as much of a hold over him as he has of her. (It’s also HOT!!)

Spinning back to her, he pressed on. ‘Tell me. Would you be able to do what I did? Would you be able to seduce? To bend another to your will?’
He snared her with his gaze and took slow deliberate steps towards her, the unconsciously lithe movements catching her attention and widening her eyes.
‘Because true seduction involves the chase.’ This he could do. This he could give her. A final lesson to teach her the error of her plans. ‘It’s about timing. When to make your move. Not when you are ready, but when they are.’
As if conjuring the very thing he wanted to warn her against, he watched as her body turned to him, in tune with his every movement, and cursed both her and himself to hell and damnation.
‘It is the appreciation of what your prey is feeling,’ he said as her eyes flared as much as his own arousal, no longer able to ignore the way that his body had reacted to hers. The way her nipples had pebbled beneath the tight confines of her dress, the way her breath hitched, caught in her throat, as if equally under the sensual spell he was weaving between them.
‘The heady sense of anticipation when they know what’s coming and no longer fight it but actively want it. When every nerve, every cell of their body is on fire with need, with desire, an intensity that becomes almost undeniable. It’s the moment when your prey is most alive, ready and willing to succumb to their own desire.’
He was bare inches from her now, no longer sure who was the seducer or the seduced, his breath just as ragged as her own.

Readers should read this book …

If you like Red Riding Hood adaptations, one night with consequences, romances with pregnancy, or dark brooding heroes hell bent on revenge then this one is for you. Part of Harlequin Presents Once Upon A Temptation month, it’s one of 8 books published in June inspired by fairy tales. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

My next book follows Ella’s business partner, Célia D’Argent and Greek Billionaire, Loukis Liordis in Rumors Behind the Greek Wedding available in August 2020.

The engagement was a lie…But their connection was all too true.

She’d been hired to repair Loukis Liordis’s public reputation, not become involved in his private affairs. Yet spiraling rumors have Loukis demanding Célia play the role of his fiancée. To deny the Greek would be the end of her career, but to agree…?

For years, Loukis focused on one goal. Now he has the gorgeous Célia to consider. She is tempting beyond reason, and perhaps just the woman he needs. They may have already indulged in their wedding night…but will they make it to the altar?

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 3 copies of Taming the Big Bad Billionaire world wide.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: It’s obvious that Little Red Riding Hood was my favourite fairy tale, but what was yours and why?

 
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Excerpt from Taming the Big Bad Billionaire:

‘You talk of seduction and power as if you didn’t already know that you had all the power all along?’ Ella threw at the man mere inches from her, crowding her in the most delicious of ways. She hated what her body wanted, the yearning that almost choked her. The need. Her only defence ineptly thrown barbs at a man who seemed more well versed in the cravings of her own body than herself.

‘Really? And what if I gave you all the power now? What would you take from me? How would you exact your revenge? Is it a signature you want or is there something else?’

Her mind stopped. Short-circuited. Instead, it threw up images of her deepest, darkest dreams from the last eight months. Fantasies of a wedding night that had never been, ones that she could barely admit to herself even though she’d woken up morning after morning hot and exhausted, aching with an unsatisfied need. A need that only one man could truly satisfy.

‘Is that why you’re really here? Do you know as much as I that we have unfinished business?’ he demanded, his words surprisingly soft, gentle almost, seductive.

‘Says the man who reportedly saved my innocence,’ she bit out angrily.

He leaned into her then, closing the small space between them, dipping his head to whisper in her ear. ‘Says the woman who would give it away to have her revenge.’

He pulled back, his eyes raking over her body as if looking for something, some kind of sign—something she feared that her body would betray. Had perhaps already betrayed.

‘What if I said that you could take your vengeance out on me? Right here, right now?’ Once again, her husband was pulling the rug from beneath her. Turning her words and intentions against her. Because suddenly she wanted that more than anything. She barely had the time to wonder if she had been fooling herself all along. If she had, in fact, come here with that one purpose.

‘What if I gave you one night—just this night—to take whatever it is you want? Because, Ella, I would lay myself prostrate on that funeral pyre and die a happy man.’

The raw admittance, guttural and dark with desire, completely undid her. A strange heady sense of vulnerability, the image of her husband willingly giving her whatever she desired for this one night, fired a heat deep within her until she ached, a sob of need rising within her chest threatening to escape.

‘And I am supposed to believe a word that comes out of your mouth?’ Her last line of defence, half begging and half pleading, for what outcome, she no longer knew.

‘Then don’t believe my words…Believe this.’

His lips claimed hers with an almost primal need. These were not the same gentle sweet-tasting lies pressed against her lips she remembered. This was raw, unadulterated desire. Seeking, demanding, expecting.

She gasped as her mouth opened to his, desperately seeking oxygen that only served to feed the fire within her. The fire of need and want and so much more. Yes, she admitted to herself, this was what she had wanted.

Ever since she had first seen him, Ella had sensed this about him, had desired and coveted it. All her imaginings of how she would feel, what it would be like, paled in comparison as his arms swept around her, his hands trailing fire across her body, over her breasts and clutching at her hips, drawing her into him, against him, against his arousal. Showing her his own need for her.

‘This is what you do to me, Ella. Does that please you?’

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

TAMING THE BIG BAD BILLIONAIRE

A cold-hearted billionaire

And the innocent to tame him!

The moment he spotted Ella Riding, Roman knew she would be his. Unworldly Ella was his grandfather’s ward, living the life Roman had been denied. Ignoring his guilt at letting her fall for and marry him, he believed his revenge was faultless…

Ella may be naïve, but she’s no push-over. Discovering Roman’s lies, she can’t pretend their passion-filled marriage never happened. Instead, she’ll challenge him. Roman might see himself as a big bad wolf, but she knows he could be so much more…
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Pippa Roscoe lives in Norfolk near her family and makes daily promises that this is the day she will leave the computer and take a long walk in the countryside. She can’t remember a time when she wasn’t dreaming of gorgeous alpha males and misunderstood heroines. Totally her mother’s fault of course – she gave Pippa her first romance at the age of seven! She is inconceivably happy that she gets to share those day dreams with you! @PippaRoscoe www.pipparoscoe.com
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