A Hard Bargain (The Hardest Word Book 1)

The Hardest Word:

The Hardest Word charts the sensual journey of Freya North and Nick Hardisty. Unable to speak since early childhood Freya€s fortunes change dramatically when she finds herself holding the winning Euromillions Lottery ticket. Over forty million pounds richer, she still can€t buy the one thing she really wants€"a skilled Master to train her in the fine art of submission.

Her first ill-fated approach to Nick Hardisty, a Dom who comes highly recommended, earns her a punishment spanking at his BDSM club. From the outset Nick is able to find ways around and beyond Freya€s communication issues to release her innermost submissive instincts. Fascinated, intrigued, and hopelessly attracted to Freya, Nick does agree to train her, but on his terms not hers.

Freya moves into his home for one month. The deal is total obedience, and absolute submission. But while her body, and her emotions, are an open book, she doesn€t reveal to him the true extent of her wealth.

As their relationship develops and deepens, how long can Freya keep her secret from the powerful Dom who insists on total honesty from her in every respect? As her two separate lives threaten to collide, Freya is torn between the stern Master she has come to adore, and the opportunities her wealth provides, to grow into the strong, independent woman she longs to become.

A Hard Bargain by Ashe Barker

Book One in the The Hardest Word serial



Over forty-million pounds in the bank, but the one thing she wants to buy is not for sale.



Freya Stone is a Lottery winner. A Euromillions Lottery winner to be exact. The week she won, hers was the only winning ticket. And it was a rollover, seeing her almost forty-five million pounds richer. But with no taste at all for a wealthy lifestyle, Freya bought herself a flashy car and a fancy apartment, then ran out of ideas and stuck the rest in the bank to be carefully invested by her own private wealth consultant.

One passion her wealth will enable her to indulge, however, is her appetite for submission. Or so she thinks. Following a childhood illness, Freya is unable to speak. She gets by pretty well with a combination of British Sign Language and a notepad, but her lack of speech makes negotiating difficult. She can€t tell a Dom what she needs, and she can€t use safe words. None of the Doms she€s played with so far have been especially interested in training a novice sub who doesn€t even squeal.

So Freya decides to buy tuition from a Master who comes highly recommended. Why not? She has the funds at her disposal, and nothing better she€d like to purchase. Twenty-five thousand pounds for a month with the Dom she€s fantasised about for ages seems like a bargain to her.

But experienced and harsh Dom Nick Hardisty has other ideas. Infuriated at Freya€s attempt to buy his services, he turns her down flat, while also demanding that she pay for her temerity by submitting to a punishment which he will administer personally.

Can Freya accept his discipline? Can she convince him to reconsider and provide the help she needs? And Nick Hardisty drives a hard bargain. If he won€t accept her money, what will his price be?



Ashe Barker

About the Author:

Until 2010, Ashe was a director of a regeneration company before deciding there had to be more to life and leaving to pursue a lifetime goal of self-employment.

Ashe has been an avid reader of women's fiction for many years€"erotic, historical, contemporary, fantasy, romance€"you name it, as long as it's written by women, for women. Now, at last in control of her own time and working from her home in rural West Yorkshire, she has been able to realise her dream of writing erotic romance herself.