Unraveled Together (19 page)

For a second, I start to swoon.

Then he steadies me.

“Miranda, my Miranda,” he says.

Author's Note

The
Unraveled
trilogy is fiction and a work of the imagination. However, as an investigative journalist who has spent a great part of her career writing about all aspects of sex and sexuality, and as an author who has published three nonfiction books on sex—
What Makes a Woman G.I.B.* (*Good in Bed)
,
What Makes a Man G.I.B.* (*Good in Bed)
,
and
The Infidelity Report
—I've been fortunate enough to meet and become inspired by many sexual revolutionaries, icons of sex, and sexual adventurers. Some were well versed in BDSM, some in commercial sex, and most of them were willing to talk to me about their proclivities in depth. Much of what they told me, and the essence of who they were as human beings, has infused the texture of the
Unraveled
trilogy.

These include Dr. Wardell Pomeroy, the sexologist who worked with Dr. Alfred Kinsey on his seminal research; Gore Vidal, who was one of Kinsey's subjects; Marilyn Chambers, the Ivory Snow girl who starred in the groundbreaking
Behind the Green Door
, and her then-husband, Chuck Traynor, former husband of
Deep Throat
's Linda Lovelace and the man who taught her how to give oral sex; Harry Reems, Linda's costar in
Deep Throat
; John Holmes, the genetically gifted porno star who was the prototype for Dirk Diggler in
Boogie Nights
; Sir Dai Llewellyn, the Old Etonian baronet who was vocal to me about his passion for what was once known as
le vice anglais
; Vicki Morgan, Alfred Bloomingdale's S&M mistress who interviewed me as the potential ghostwriter for her book, and whose revelations propelled alternative sex into the headlines.

Heidi Fleiss, who also interviewed me for the role of ghostwriter, but who subsequently decided not to write her autobiography after all; Lyle Stuart, publisher of
The Sensuous Woman
, by J, the most sensational sex book of its day, who wanted to publish my book but whose offer of a contract I refused.

Penthouse
publisher Bob Guccione, who did publish my first book and granted me an interview for it—during the course of which he was open about his dominance and his requirements for a submissive.

Along the way, I also witnessed Belle de Jour's explicit S&M show, which took place at her establishment on a Wednesday night and included displays of practices on the heavier side of S&M; the Mineshaft, the gay S&M club portrayed in
Cruising
, which banned women but to which I was able to gain admission on a rare ladies' night; the Hell Fire Club; the Vault; Paddles; Le Trapeze, Plato's Retreat; the Fetish Factory, Fort Lauderdale; as well as an unnamed S&M fantasy parlor, high above Sunset Boulevard, which comprised a dungeon with a pit in it; Sherri's Ranch, one of Nevada's legal brothels; the Chardmore Society, England (
www.chardmoresociety.com
); and the Eulenspiegel Society (
www.tes.org
), the BDSM education and support group in Manhattan.

For anyone who is seeking to understand BDSM in all its real-life, nonfiction permutations, I recommend:

Bentley, Toni. “The Thin End of the Whip: France's Most Famous Dominatrix, Catherine Robbe-Grillet.” Vanity Fair, February 2014.

Brame, Gloria G., William G. Brame, and Jon Jacobs.
Different Loving: The World of Sexual Dominance and Submission.
New York: Villard, 1996.

Broomfield, Nick. Fetishes, 1996.

Merkin, Daphne. “Spanking: A Romance,” in
Dreaming of Hitler
. New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1997.

Miller, Phillip and Molly Devon.
Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns: The Romance and Sexual Sorcery of Sadomasochism
. Fairfield, CT: Mystic Rose Books, 1995.

Tynan, Kenneth.
The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan
, edited by John Lahr. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001.

A final caveat: The
Unraveled
trilogy is fiction, and it's important to point out that the reality of BDSM can be dark and dangerous.

Thus it would obviously be a big mistake for any reader to follow in Miranda's footsteps and have blindfolded sex with a stranger, because while being lured into surrender by a deep and gravelly voice may be a compelling prospect (see Walt Whitman's poem “Voices”), the reality could end up being far from romantic.

In the same vein, if you ever encounter a man who, like Warren Courtney, keeps a bullwhip on display in his apartment, try to draw the line between fantasy and reality, then run and don't look back . . .

All in all, any submissive eager to put herself or himself into the hands of a dominant should be wary, circumspect, and make sure that everything in which he or she engages is—as the classic saying goes—safe, sane, and consensual.

Acknowledgments
for the
Unraveled
Trilogy

First and foremost, all my thanks to the beautiful and brilliant Jen Bergstrom, publisher of Gallery Books, whom I first met at the auction for
Life with My Sister Madonna
, the book I wrote with Madonna's brother, and which she subsequently won. Thanks, Jen, for having the vision to suggest that I temporarily jettison ghostwriting and plunge in and write erotica instead, and for believing in me as an erotic novelist, against all odds.

Thanks to Abby Zidle, whose peerless skills as an editor make her the best in the business. Those skills are matched only by her mellifluous speaking voice, and the subtlety of the velvet glove that encases her steely but sure touch. Thank you, Abby, for guiding me through this new and unfamiliar world of erotic romance, for never being shocked, for always being patient, and for molding and crowning the
Unraveled
trilogy with your remarkable gifts as an editor.

Many thanks to the accomplished and charming princess of PR, Kristin Dwyer, associate publicity director of Gallery Books, for her terrific work on the
Unraveled
trilogy
.

Thanks to the stellar team at Gallery: the capable and congenial Marla Daniels, copyeditor Jane Elias, proofreader Polly Watson, production editor Ciara Robinson, and art director Lisa Litwack, whose sophisticated and elegant covers grace the
Unraveled t
rilogy with allure and star quality.

Thanks to the effervescent, adorable, and unendingly talented Nina Bocci, now a writer herself, and destined for the top, but in this context the best publicist in any hemisphere. Your knowledge of romance, of publishing, of social media, and of just plain story is unrivaled, and I feel fortunate to have you on my team.

Thanks to Dan Strone, CEO of Trident Media. As always and ever, the best agent on the planet, bar none. The day I first walked into your office was one of the luckiest and best of my life. I love working with you and always will, and thank you, too, for your patience in the face of my passion for astrology, which manifests itself whenever I sign a contract, or embark on a new book.

Thanks to Jodie Johnson, my right hand, and my left. You were just fifteen years old when we first met, and even then, when both of us were a million miles removed from the world of the
Unraveled
trilogy
,
and you harbored far different ambitions than publishing and journalism, both your high intelligence and your innate goodness shone through everything. Thank you for being steadfast, and true, for learning faster than the wind, for your unquestionable loyalty, for your lightning aptitude in conquering each and every challenge, and for coming up with the immortal description “
Gone Girl
Gone Wild” for the
Unraveled
trilogy along the way, as well.

Thanks to John Townley, the erudite king of astrology (
www.astrococktail.com
), who pioneered the composite chart, for his continuing astrological advice and friendship. His insightful study of the sun signs most prevalent among the practitioners of BDSM (Virgo and Scorpio, take note . . .), published in his book
Planets in Love
, is riveting. An inspiration to me in so many ways, and a million miles away from “Grandpa.' ”

Thanks to Bridget Kennedy Duvall, the talented photographer who took my author photos, to Carl Stanley, the terrific makeup artist who made me up for the shoot, and to Mauro Sergio, the gifted hairstylist who did my hair for it.

I am glad to have met and spent time with Prince Charles's late valet Stephen Barry, who confided details of his life with Charles and Princess Diana to me in a press interview, and to Diana's brother Earl Spencer, who took me on a tour of Althorp, and from a distance showed me the island where Diana was buried in a mausoleum.

Georgiana of course is far removed from Princess Diana, but Diana is, nonetheless, one of my inspirations for Georgiana, along with Princess Grace, whose biography I wrote, plus countless other brave and beautiful divas with a wicked streak. All of them are Georgiana, and so, on a good—and bad—day, am I . . .

Like Miranda, I'm a ghostwriter, albeit one who generally has her name on the book, and I'm grateful for the experience I've gleaned from ghosting
One Lifetime Is Not Enough
for the immortal Zsa Zsa Gabor, then in her prime, and who was my deus ex machina, without whom I never would have come to America in the first place—when I was twenty-four, armed with just four hundred dollars and an idea for a sex book; thanks, too, to the other subjects whose books I've ghosted: Madonna's brother, Christopher;
I Dream of Jeannie
's blonde bombshell, Barbara Eden; and Shirley Jones, not just Mrs. Partridge but also one of the great stars of musical theater.

Thanks to Anne Rice, an iconic writer far ahead of her time and whose
Sleeping Beauty
quartet, written under the nom de plume of A. N. Roquelaure, remains an inspiration to millions.

My gratitude to Freud's natural heir the distinguished Viennese psychoanalyst Dr. Erika Padan Freeman, who, when I was very young, made the immortal pronouncement to me, “You live your life like a novelist,” and who went on to give me the gift of posing this question: “Should purple feel guilty if it had blue in it?”

I owe much of this book to my memories of my father, who, like his great-great-uncle, the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, understood that in sex there are no absolutes, and that there is no normal.

One of my father's favorite songs was “To All the Girls I've Loved Before,” and I've always wondered why no one ever wrote an equivalent “To All the Men I've Loved Before.”

In that spirit, there would have been no
Unraveled
trilogy, no Robert Hartwell, and definitely no Miranda Stone without all the men I've loved before. Dominant in life, if not necessarily in bed, they are all—to paraphrase one of my own favorite songs, “The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”—there in every line of glory and pain. And each one, in his own time, truly was the best thing that ever happened to me.

They say that all life is the good luck or the ill luck of whom we meet when. Once upon a time, an innocent five-year-old child had a chance meeting that was to brand her forever, but without which her life would have unfolded very differently.

Last, but not least, my gratitude to E. L. James, who freed all of us from our prisons of aloneness and gave us permission to live out our wildness without shame and to soar at last.

Don't miss the rest of the Unraveled Series by Wendy Leigh!

When Miranda, a free-spirited celebrity ghost writer, meets notorious billionaire Robert Hartwell, will she get swept up into a dark world of passion and glamour?

Unraveled by Him

Download the sequel to the sexy, alluring
Unraveled By Him, today! O
n sale now!

Unraveled by Her