Bollywood Desires and Lavinia Lewis

I have a confession, I love Bollywood stories. I love Bollywood movies and everything to do with Bollywood. If I could swing it, I would travel to India. Maybe I will at some point. Today, I have the pleasure of having Lavinia Lewis on my blog. I hope you enjoy her work as much as I do. And I hope you enjoy this post.

Before I begin, I’d like to thank Sara for inviting me on her lovely blog. Thanks so much for having me here hon!

Sometime last year my publisher asked me to contribute a story to their upcoming Bollywood collection. I hadn’t read any stories set in and around Bollywood before then and the premise sounded interesting. Even though I’d watched many Bollywood movies over the years I worried I was out of my depth. I hadn’t visited India and although I’d seen some of the films, I didn’t know a lot about their film industry. But as always, research is the author’s friend. As soon as I started reading about their IIFA awards which are basically India’s version of the Oscars, I got more and more excited about writing the story.

One of my favourite themes in romance is that of the bodyguard falling in love with the person they are meant to be protecting. I don’t know what it is about that coupling that I find so exciting, maybe it’s the idea that the bodyguard is willing to risk their life to protect their charge. I know, I know, I’m a hopeless romantic! Lol!

I decided to make one of my leads an Englishman that had moved to India to set up his own bodyguard business and of course, even though he tries to fight it, he inevitably falls in love with Raj, the hot Bollywood star that hired him. As soon as I started writing the characters became very real in my mind’s eye and Bollywood Desires was born. I hope people have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

The blurb:-

How can Brent give in to his desire for the sexy Bollywood actor when a relationship between them could cost Raj his life? 

When bodyguard Brent Hawthorne moves to India to start a new business, he thinks his biggest problems are going to be the language barrier and coping with the intense heat in Mumbai. But when he starts working for one of Bollywood’s top actors, Rajkumar Khan, Brent has to rethink that estimation. 

Raj is not only handsome and sexy but also secretly gay, and sparks fly the instant the pair meets. But Raj is being blackmailed and the unknown sender of the letters is not only threatening his life but also to reveal his secret. 

As Brent battles to find the identity of Raj’s blackmailer, he finds himself growing closer to the sexy Bollywood star. He struggles at first to resist Raj’s advances, fearing any sort of relationship between them could cost the star his life, but Raj is a hard man to resist. Can Brent keep his hands and heart to himself long enough to find the culprit, or will he give in to his Bollywood desires?

Excerpt:-

Brent followed Rahul through a large set of patio doors that led to the garden at the back of the house. His eyes flickered around, taking in the unusual plants and flowers that bordered the neatly manicured lawn. An eight-foot hedge surrounded the space. To the left of the house was a decked area that housed a large pool. There didn’t appear to be an exit out on to the street from anywhere in the garden.

Rahul made himself comfortable in a large wicker chaise covered in a white, cotton cushion pad. Like everything else in the house, it looked expensive…overly so. He motioned for Brent to take a seat in the matching chair opposite. Brent nodded, sat and waited for the man to speak.

“My client is a very famous man in our country, Mr Hawthorne. He is one of the top actors in Bollywood and it is paramount that his private life remains private. I take it everything we discuss today is confidential?”

Surely that was a given in his profession. Brent was tempted to roll his eyes but he fought the impulse. Instead, he gave a sharp nod of his head to appease the man.

“Of course.”

“Very good. Mr Hawthorne, my client is gay.”

Brent frowned. He wasn’t shocked by Rahul’s statement—he’d known there would be as many gay men here in India as there would be anywhere else in the world—but the disdainful way Rahul said it had Brent firmly on the defensive in two seconds flat. And this man was supposed to be Rajkumar’s agent? Talk about ‘with friends like these’…

Crossing his arms over his chest, Brent threw the man a level stare. Christ, he’d just met the guy and already he disliked him. Of course, it could have had something to do with the way Rahul had curled his upper lip when he’d made the announcement—disgust evident on his chubby, pockmarked face.

“And that’s an issue how, exactly?”

“Mr Hawthorne, this is Mumbai, not LA. Homosexuality might be the norm in other parts of the world but we have a very low tolerance of it here. Rajkumar’s career would be in tatters should his preference become common knowledge.”

“Is there any danger of that?” Brent wanted to know if Rajkumar’s sexuality had anything to do with the threats he’d been receiving.

Rahul sighed. “It is not only my client’s safety that has been threatened. His…habits are also in danger of exposure.”

Brent tensed his jaw. Was Rahul insinuating that being gay was a habit? He fought to keep his mouth shut. It wouldn’t do to piss off potential clients because he didn’t like what they had to say. All-Star Security was in its infancy and, if Brent wanted the business to grow, he needed a good reputation among the bigwigs in the industry. And Rahul and his client Rajkumar were about as big as they came. Brent had Googled the actor before he’d left the office and it seemed he was a very big star in Bollywood.

He was sexy as all hell, too.

“How exactly has your client been receiving these threats?”

“Letters,” a low, husky voice sounded at the door. Brent turned to the intruder and his breath caught in his chest.

Thanks again for having me here today Sara! If anyone is interested in purchasing a copy of Bollywood Desires it can be found here:- http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1580

If you’d like more information about me you can visit my website:- http://lavinialewis.com/

Or my blog:- http://lavinialewisuk.blogspot.co.uk/

You can also find me on Facebook or Twitter as Lavinia Lewis.