Taming the Legend

Taming the Legend
By Kat Latham

Book four of the London Legends

When retiring rugby star Ash Trenton considered his next career move, coaching troubled teens at his ex-girlfriend’s California camp wasn’t
on the list. But when Camila Morales reappears after eighteen years, begging for his help, he can’t say no to his first and only love.

Camila was just sixteen when Ash moved on to start his rugby career, leaving her heartbroken…and on her own to make a life-changing decision. Now she needs his help to win a tournament prize and save her camp. Relying on Ash is the last thing she wants. But
while it’s hard to get over being dumped for a sport, it’s even harder to ignore the rush of attraction that has only gotten stronger after so many years apart.

Coaching teens is the hardest job Ash has ever had, and the task becomes personal when he begins to fall for Camila all over again. But when he is offered his dream job, will he choose the job—or the woman whose heart he already sacrificed
once?

95,000 words

Dear Reader,

I’d rather be reading.
How many times do you say that during your day? I know I say it probably a dozen times through my day. I love to read, and I’d pretty much always rather be reading, so I’m always stockpiling books to ensure I never run out for the times when I
can
read. I’m thrilled Carina Press is able to give you month after month of books to add to your TBR
pile, and May is no exception!

In Lynda Aicher’s erotic contemporary romance
Back in Play
, fun, flirty and sexy-as-hell Rachel Fielding is the perfect distraction Scott Walters needs when the Glaciers refused to renew his contract. But he hadn’t counted on falling for her or purging his deepest secrets to her, either. Can their fledgling relationship survive the trials he has ahead?

Edie Harris’s first romantic suspense,
Blamed
, was a reader favorite and she’s back with book two,
Ripped: A Blood Money Novel
, in which a sexy, hot-blooded spy coerces an ice-cold attorney to partner with him to wreak vengeance on the villain who threatens them both.

Joely Sue Burkhart is burning up the pages and testing our boundaries with her latest erotic romance,
One Cut Deeper
. Her needs
are dark. His are dangerous. For Charlie and Ranay, pain is their shared pleasure…until Charlie disappears, and the hunger Ranay loved in him may be even darker than she suspected.

Alyssa Cole rocked our world with her first postapocalyptic romance,
Radio Silence
, and she’s back with sexy male/male romance
Signal Boost
, set in the same technologically devastated world. Months have passed
since electricity, and society, stopped working; John is wondering if a life without internet is worth living when he stumbles across a hot astrophysicist who might change his life—and the world.

Also in the male/male category and taking us to whole new worlds is
Lonely Shore
, book two in the stunning science-fiction romance series from Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen. Zander and Felix are trying
to make their relationship work, but two things stand in the way: a criminal cartel out for blood and the rapid deterioration of Zander’s mental health. It’s a game of duck and cover as they search for answers, and when they find one, the cost might be too high.

2014 RITA® Award-nominated author Kat Latham’s
Taming the Legend
rounds out our romance offerings in May. In this passionate story
of lovers reunited, legendary rugby player Ash Trenton fights to help Camila Morales—his first and only love—save her indebted sports camp…while also fighting to keep from losing his heart to her all over again.

For mystery fans who like their mystery with a side of fun, you have to check out Ricardo Sanchez. You first met Floyd, the PI living his life as Elvis would have wanted, in
Elvis
Sightings.
Now he’s back in
Bigfoot Blues
, and his newest case leads him to man-eating mountain lions, chupacabras and plain-old murderers.

Coming in June 2015: Lisa Marie Rice delivers another awesome alpha hero, Julie Moffett’s Lexi Carmichael returns with further adventures and Julie Rowe launches a new romantic suspense military series.

Here’s wishing you a wonderful month of books
you love, remember and recommend.

Happy reading!

Angela James
Editorial Director, Carina Press

Dedication

For Lise. For everything.

Acknowledgments

No book is easy to write, but this one almost defeated me. I started it, wrote 20,000 words and then scrapped everything and started over—three times. If words were rubbish, my computer would be a landfill.

Then I spent a weekend with my friend Lise in Northamptonshire, England. Lise is one of those incredible friends who’s thoughtful, intelligent and encouraging,
but also bluntly honest. I know I can trust her to tell me if something’s not working. I confessed how badly the book was going, and as she asked me some astute questions, I finally started seeing where my problems were. I had an idea I liked: a legendary rugby player retires and finds himself coaching a young team in the U.S. But I didn’t know why he would do it.

Lise’s help didn’t end with
her questions. She works for the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, which was founded by retired rugby player Ben Cohen to fund organizations that fight bullying. It’s a wonderful foundation that I’ve done some volunteering for (that’s how Lise and I met), so Lise drove me to Ben’s house and told him I was a romance novelist struggling with my latest book. He made me a cup of coffee, sat down across
from me and said with a smile, “What do you want to know?”

Never comfortable talking about my books—and especially not with someone like Ben, who’s lived the kind of life I write about—I stuttered an explanation of the basic plot and waited for him to laugh at me. Instead he nodded and said, “Did you know rugby’s one of the fastest-growing sports in America?”

All of my rugby-watching
experience has been in Europe, and I had no idea the sport was becoming so popular with American fans. Once I figured out that it would actually make sense for a player to restart his career there, a weight lifted from me, and I finally started believing in my story.

That conversation with Ben is also directly responsible for the fact this book features rugby sevens (a very fun, fast form
of the game) and for the epilogue. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Lise and Ben. After talking with them, the story finally took shape in my head. As soon as I developed the confidence to write it, the other pieces started falling into place.

Many others helped me along the way. My husband Tim patiently supported me as I burned the 3 a.m. oil night after night to meet my deadlines. You
are the greatest rugby romance hero ever, love-love.

My mom took on lots of administrative tasks so I could focus on writing. I can never tell you enough how much I appreciate and love you, Mom.

My agent, Laura Bradford, has tirelessly championed my career and patiently helped me through the teething stages.

My editor, Deborah Nemeth, is worth a hundred times her weight in gold.

My dear friend Maria José Ibarrola helped me with the Mexican cultural aspects I was unfamiliar with and fixed my dodgy Spanish.

My eagle-eyed friend Claudia Arendt read a draft and helped me see where I was going wrong.

Last, but certainly not least, to all the readers who have fallen in love with my rugby boys: your emails, Tweets and Facebook messages mean more to me than you’ll
ever know. Thank you!

Glossary of British Slang

The playwright George Bernard Shaw reportedly once said, “The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.” To make things a little easier for readers who are unfamiliar with British slang, I’ve compiled this little glossary. I hope it’s helpful.

If you are
bolshie,
you are defiant or uncooperative, like a Bolshevik.

If you
boot
something, you kick it hard.

If you
chunder,
you vomit.

If something is
doing your nut in,
it’s driving you crazy.

If you have a lot of
dosh,
you have a lot of money.

Flipping someone the V
is very impolite. It’s like showing someone your middle finger, except you make a V with two fingers and jab them in the air with your palm facing you.

Try not to
go
spare
because it means you get really angry or lose your temper.

If you
kick something into touch,
you get rid of it quickly. This expression is based on a rugby move. Players kick the ball into touch (the out-of-bounds area) to move the ball farther down the field or to end a match.

Your
pants
are your underwear. You wear
trousers
over your pants.

A
postie
is a postal worker.

A
prozzie
is a prostitute.

If you’re accused of being
sarky
then you’ve said something sarcastic.

If you
scupper
something, you ruin it.

A
zebra crossing
is a crosswalk.

If you
don’t give a monkey’s toss
about something, you couldn’t care less about it. This can also be shortened to
I don’t give a monkey’s.

In British English, collective nouns (i.e. a noun that refers
to a group of individuals, such as
family
and
team
) are usually plural because they’re composed of more than one person. That’s why you’ll see phrases like
my team are
instead of
my team is.

Brits often refer to
sport
in the singular (
I don’t watch much sport
), and they don’t use the word
gotten
(as in,
I have gotten used to explaining British English
). They use
got
instead.

Glossary of Rugby Terms

Backs
and
forwards:
Instead of being divided into offense and defense, rugby positions are made up of
forwards
and
backs.
Forwards tend to be bigger and more aggressive, while backs tend to be faster and more skillful—but I would never say that to a forward’s face. Ash Trenton, the hero of this book, is a
scrum-half,
also sometimes called a
halfback
because
he is the link between the forwards and backs.

Capped for England:
playing on your country’s national team (in this case England’s). If a player has been
capped ten times,
it means he or she has played ten games on the England team.

First team:
Many rugby clubs have a first team—made up of their best players—as well as a reserve team. The reserve team is often called the A team.

Kit:
uniform.

Pitch:
the playing field.

Scrum:
a way of restarting a match. The eight forwards from each team bind together, crouch down and slam into the other team’s forwards. They try to push the other team back while fighting for possession of the ball with their feet amid much grunting and sweating.

Touch:
the out-of-bounds area around the pitch. The
touchline
separates the
playing area from the out-of-bounds area. If a player who has the ball steps on the touchline, he is
in touch
and the referee will blow the whistle to stop the play.

Try
(as in
scored two tries
)
:
the equivalent of a touchdown in American football, only a player has to place the ball on the ground on or behind the try line in order to score. A try is worth five points. If you
make a try,
you
help make it possible for one of your teammates to score (for example, by passing or kicking the ball to him or her).

Try line:
the equivalent of the start of the end zone in American football (known as the
in-goal area
in rugby).