Book: Strength and Sensuality

Genre: Romance/chick-lit

Author:  HeraHarker

Character: Mark Warren

Nominated by: GalaRu57

About the Story:

A modern Pride and Prejudice story. Only sexier.

Mira is a refugee, starting a new life far from home. She has to deal with her troubled past, her son, and her enigmatic boss, while her only weapon is her killer sense of humor.

It's a slow-building love-hate story, with

a strong female lead;

two control freak lawyers, fighting for dominance, in denial of their feelings;

an alpha discovering his submissive side;

lots of humor and humanism.

Hello Mark. Can I call you Mark or do you prefer something else?

Call me Mark, please. I'm not a big fan of nicknames. I'm glad I have a short and serious name.

Excellent!  Pleasure to meet you Mark. Welcome and thanks for agreeing to talk to us today.

Can I get you something to drink? Water? Soda? Coffee? Wine? Whiskey?

A coffee, please. I rarely drink alcohol. I try to avoid those situations.

Tell me a little about yourself?

I'm Mark Warren, owner of Warren Group, a lawyer... what else? I don't really like to talk about myself.

I see. How about we start with where do you live?

In the most beautiful part of the city. Well, truth be told, in a posh area, but still the closest possible to my old neighborhood which is everything but nice. Okay, that was a euphemism. It's the absolute worst you can imagine.

Your question made me wonder why I chose to live here when I could live anywhere. The house's beautiful, with a pool, but it would be most logical to get as far from the place I was born as possible. Oh, never mind. This way, at least, I'm close to Mira. She lives in my old house, you know, so she might get in trouble, and then, I can be there in five. She's too stubborn to move out, and she hates when I do things for her, so it's the only way to be there for her without being there with her, I guess.

Do you have any jobs or hobbies?

I'm a lawyer, as I said. Hobbies... I do sports. I was a pro athlete at university with a sports scholarship. I run a lot these days, too. A bit too much, maybe. People say it's too much but I think it's normal. I've never been fitter. Ah, okay, maybe it's too much, indeed. I do an insane amount of laps every day to relieve my frustration. Happy now?

Very happy.  You are doing great. What are some of your likes and dislikes?

I like my colleagues. I have a team of lawyers and they are like a family to me. I dislike people who contradict me. And try to outsmart me. And clash with me all the time, as if she was the boss, not me. Wait... who am I kidding?

What is your greatest fear?

Letting people down, I think. I kinda feel like if I wasn't needed I'd disappear. Or die. I know, It's stupid. But people seem to like me for taking care of them. Except for Mira. She hates me for it. So I do things for her in secret. She'd be so out of her mind if she knew that I had bought the whole neighborhood she lives in just to provide her with a working electricity system. She's a writer, you know, so it's important for her. And a lawyer. You probably wonder how does she do that. Well, she has the double of my IQ, that's how. Girl's a proper genius. And, being a war survivor, tough as a nail. And pretty. Okay, in fact, she's quite the contrary of pretty, but still. She's so different from the hundreds of women I had. I talk a bit too much about her, right? Right.

Not at all. Mira sounds great. If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

My parents would still be alive. My father died when I was ten, my mother died when I was sixteen, and I had two little sisters. Little, I mean. Ten years younger than me. I had to raise them, practically. Those were hard times. I was constantly worried that they would be taken into foster care so I did anything that was necessary to keep us together.

Are you happy we know your story?

Um... I'm not sure how to feel about that. Society expects men to be all dominant all the time, right? Mostly people who have no idea how tiresome it is to be in control every day of your life, being strong in every situation, because they've never been in a leader's position. Well, they might not understand how good it feels to give it up when you find the right person. Not that I care much about their opinion, though.

Are you in love?

What the...? It's a rude question! How should I know, anyway? I've never been in love before!

Sorry. Let's try a different question. Do you have a secret?

I had quite an eventful youth. Just the usual things, well, maybe not that usual where you come from, but we have some gangs... but I don't keep it a secret. The information could be used to blackmail me, then.

On Monday morning, are you excited to go to work, or are you sad?

Excited. On weekends, I don't have much to do. I feel useless when I don't do anything. Or when I do things only for myself. I know it's weird. I shouldn't have spent so much time raising children when I was a child myself, probably.

Do you like to cook?

Yes. Okay, maybe not the cooking itself. I love watching people eating the food I made for them.

If you could cure one disease, which would it be?

PTSD. It would be so much easier if Mira wasn't so defensive. She would still keep me at arm's length, probably, but at least she'd feel better while doing it. But, on the other hand, when she's insomniac she relies on me because I can make her sleep just by being close, so... okay, that's evil. I don't want her to suffer just to let me closer. So yeah, I'd cure her PTSD.

Is there anything you want to say to your fans?

Do I have fans? Haha, are you talking about the female lawyers of the city? Okay, I know about them. And while I appreciate them throwing themselves at me, I guess I'm looking for something else in women. Sorry.

Can we look forward to reading more of your story?

Never say never. But I'm quite happy at the moment where we are.

Thank you Mark for taking the time to talk to us today.

Find a link to Mark's story in the comment here  --->

Now it's your turn to ask Mark.

Add your questions as an inline comment here. Don't forget to tag the author  HeraHarker so they can get the question to him. ---->