Rite of Summer — Tess Bowery

There are terrors worse than stage fright. Like falling in love.

Violinist Stephen Ashbrook is passionate about three things-his music, the excitement of life in London, and his lover, Evander Cade. It's too bad that Evander only loves himself. A house party at their patron's beautiful country estate seems like a chance for Stephen to remember who he is, when he's not trying to live up to someone else's harsh expectations. Joshua Beaufort, a painter whose works are very much in demand among the right sort of people, has no expectations about this party at all. Until, that is, he finds out who else is on the guest list. Joshua swore off love long ago, but has been infatuated with Stephen since seeing his brilliant performance at Vauxhall. Now he has the chance to meet the object of his lust face to face-and more. But changing an open relationship to a triad is a lot more complicated than it seems, and while Evander's trying to climb the social ladder, Stephen's trying to climb Joshua. When the dust settles, only two will remain standing...when they're not flat on their backs.

Warning: Contents under pressure. Contains three men, two beds, one erotic piercing, and the hottest six weeks of summer the nineteenth century has ever seen.