Marcella Burnard is giving away two copies of Enemy Within on the Alien Romances blog today, Sunday 26th
alien romances
For a chance of winning, leave a comment... preferably about which speculative or science fiction romances you
have read this year.
Also, it's not too late to check out the other blogs in the SFR Holiday Blitz, and to leave comments on all the other
blogs for chances to win lots of other authors' books.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Have a fantastic holiday everyone!
Last but not least, I wanted to thank everyone at The Romance Studio for everything they've done for me this year and for having me here today and I'd like to thank all my readers for sticking by me and supporting me, and giving me a reason to write. You've all been wonderful and I wish you a happy and safe holiday. Don't forget to stop by my blog over the Christmas period to read those new chapters of Love Immortal!
Stay safe everyone and have a great time! See you all here in 2011...
Felicity Heaton
Visit my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/felicityheaton
Friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/feheaton
Stay safe everyone and have a great time! See you all here in 2011...
Felicity Heaton
Visit my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/felicityheaton
Friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/feheaton
Love Immortal by Felicity Heaton - Chapter one
I'm serially posting the first ten chapters of my upcoming epic paranormal romance novel, Love Immortal, at its own special blog. This is an action-packed, passionate and romantic thrill ride featuring immortals, Greek gods and goddesses, werewolves, vampires, and people with incredible powers. A perfect read to start the New Year with a bang!
Love ImmortalFelicity Heaton
When you're searching for your purpose, the last thing you expect to discover is that you're the latest reincarnation of a goddess on a three thousand year old mission to defeat the original werewolf, Lycaon, before he can gain revenge on Zeus and Olympus.
Rescued from the claws of werewolves by Julian, a handsome and mysterious immortal, Lauren is pulled into a dark and frightening new world full of monsters out to kill her and an organisation of people with phenomenal abilities who want to protect her—Ghost. But the most frightening thing of all is that soon Lauren will need to drink Julian's blood in order to reawaken and regain her immortal powers.
Or she will die.
Julian isn't about to let that happen. He's never met anyone like Lauren and he's determined not to lose her. She's the perfect copy of Illia but is nothing like her or any of the incarnations. She is light to their darkness, and she breathes life back into him, but can he trust her with his heart and bring himself to believe that the feelings she shows him are real after everything he has been through?
Can Lauren succeed in defeating Lycaon when all of her predecessors have failed? Will she be able to crack the armour around Julian's heart and seize her happily forever after with him?
Read chapters at the blog: http://loveimmortalromancenovel.blogspot.com/
Chapter One
Monsters existed.
Lauren had always suspected it to be true, and now she had all the evidence she needed.
One was standing twenty feet in front of her.
It towered over her, yellow eyes glowing in the dim alley between the old redbrick houses of her neighbourhood. Tufted black wiry fur covered it from tail to pointed ears, from the long claws on its colossal paw-like hands to the thick trunks of its hind legs. Her fevered mind said that it was only an escaped wolf from London Zoo, but Lauren couldn’t bring herself to believe it. She’d seen the wolves once. This creature was nothing like them. This was something else.
Its mouth opened to reveal jagged teeth, each the size of her thumb.
Why Grandma, what big teeth you have.
All the better to eat you with.
Icy fingers clutched her heart and Lauren trembled, cold sweat trickling down her back beneath the skinny-fit brown t-shirt. The mad rush of her pulse made her dizzy and unexpended adrenaline stole her strength. Whoever had said that adrenaline made you invincible was a liar. Her legs were shaking so much that they were close to buckling, the gym bag on her shoulder was too heavy, and her thick black winter jacket felt impossibly tight, as though it was squeezing the air from her lungs.
Instinct told her to run.
If only her feet would cooperate.
Her shoulders slumped when the monster took a step towards her and her kit bag dropped to the ground. The shinai case slid down her other arm but she caught it at the last second. The feel of the bamboo sword through the black canvas bag was reassuring and instilled a strange sense of calm in her. Lauren tried to remember her kendo training and everything she had just practiced in class but nothing came to her. She stared at the monster, still trying to comprehend what was happening.
Instinct changed its mind.
Her other hand automatically reached across and undid the ties on the shinai bag. Lauren swallowed and kept her movements slow, not wanting to startle the beast into reacting. The end of the bag flapped open and she reached inside, locking her right hand tightly around the white leather hilt of the bamboo sword. She drew it and let the carry-case fall to the ground.
This was insane.
Her shinai would last five seconds against such a huge creature.
It didn’t matter. Her only chance of escape was to stun it with a direct hit and run for her life. Her knees wobbled. That was, if she could run.
Taking deep breaths, Lauren shuffled backwards as the beast advanced and moved into a fighting stance. She brought her shinai around in front of her, clutching it so tightly with both hands that her knuckles turned white.
One breath. Two. Three.
When you're searching for your purpose, the last thing you expect to discover is that you're the latest reincarnation of a goddess on a three thousand year old mission to defeat the original werewolf, Lycaon, before he can gain revenge on Zeus and Olympus.
Rescued from the claws of werewolves by Julian, a handsome and mysterious immortal, Lauren is pulled into a dark and frightening new world full of monsters out to kill her and an organisation of people with phenomenal abilities who want to protect her—Ghost. But the most frightening thing of all is that soon Lauren will need to drink Julian's blood in order to reawaken and regain her immortal powers.
Or she will die.
Julian isn't about to let that happen. He's never met anyone like Lauren and he's determined not to lose her. She's the perfect copy of Illia but is nothing like her or any of the incarnations. She is light to their darkness, and she breathes life back into him, but can he trust her with his heart and bring himself to believe that the feelings she shows him are real after everything he has been through?
Can Lauren succeed in defeating Lycaon when all of her predecessors have failed? Will she be able to crack the armour around Julian's heart and seize her happily forever after with him?
Read chapters at the blog: http://loveimmortalromancenovel.blogspot.com/
Chapter One
Monsters existed.
Lauren had always suspected it to be true, and now she had all the evidence she needed.
One was standing twenty feet in front of her.
It towered over her, yellow eyes glowing in the dim alley between the old redbrick houses of her neighbourhood. Tufted black wiry fur covered it from tail to pointed ears, from the long claws on its colossal paw-like hands to the thick trunks of its hind legs. Her fevered mind said that it was only an escaped wolf from London Zoo, but Lauren couldn’t bring herself to believe it. She’d seen the wolves once. This creature was nothing like them. This was something else.
Its mouth opened to reveal jagged teeth, each the size of her thumb.
Why Grandma, what big teeth you have.
All the better to eat you with.
Icy fingers clutched her heart and Lauren trembled, cold sweat trickling down her back beneath the skinny-fit brown t-shirt. The mad rush of her pulse made her dizzy and unexpended adrenaline stole her strength. Whoever had said that adrenaline made you invincible was a liar. Her legs were shaking so much that they were close to buckling, the gym bag on her shoulder was too heavy, and her thick black winter jacket felt impossibly tight, as though it was squeezing the air from her lungs.
Instinct told her to run.
If only her feet would cooperate.
Her shoulders slumped when the monster took a step towards her and her kit bag dropped to the ground. The shinai case slid down her other arm but she caught it at the last second. The feel of the bamboo sword through the black canvas bag was reassuring and instilled a strange sense of calm in her. Lauren tried to remember her kendo training and everything she had just practiced in class but nothing came to her. She stared at the monster, still trying to comprehend what was happening.
Instinct changed its mind.
Her other hand automatically reached across and undid the ties on the shinai bag. Lauren swallowed and kept her movements slow, not wanting to startle the beast into reacting. The end of the bag flapped open and she reached inside, locking her right hand tightly around the white leather hilt of the bamboo sword. She drew it and let the carry-case fall to the ground.
This was insane.
Her shinai would last five seconds against such a huge creature.
It didn’t matter. Her only chance of escape was to stun it with a direct hit and run for her life. Her knees wobbled. That was, if she could run.
Taking deep breaths, Lauren shuffled backwards as the beast advanced and moved into a fighting stance. She brought her shinai around in front of her, clutching it so tightly with both hands that her knuckles turned white.
One breath. Two. Three.
Her Warrior Angel by Felicity Heaton - excerpt #2
I'm feeling generous today and love to share excerpts, and it's the season after all... so here's a second excerpt of Her Warrior Angel...
I've introduced you all to my Her Angel series before, but now the third story in the series is available. If you like tales of forbidden love, then this is for you. There's no love more forbidden than that between an angel and a demon!
Her Warrior Angel
Felicity Heaton
Einar is one of Heaven’s best hunters and he’s on a mission to uncover why an angel was working with demons. When he finds the first demon fighting a beautiful woman named Taylor, he intervenes and saves her life. Taylor has spent her whole life protecting London from the lowest demons and she’s not about to let an angel waltz into her city and take over her job, and she’s certainly not about to fall in love with him, even if he is gorgeous. The reason why she can’t is simple—she’s half demon.
There is no love in this world more forbidden than that between an angel and a demon.
Sense tells Taylor to get out before she gets her heart broken, but she winds up convincing Einar to partner with her instead. Einar is certain that working with Taylor is a bad idea, and not only because he can’t focus when he’s around her, but he can’t let her go. The mission leads them deep into the city’s underworld, where old flames burn Taylor while new flames of passion and fear of the consequences consume them, and the threat of Einar’s demons hangs over them both.
Can a love so forbidden ever have a happy ending or are they destined to break each other’s hearts?
ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.
available from:
My website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Warrior%20Angel
Alinar Publishing: http://www.alinarpublishing.com/books.php?title=Her%20Warrior%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Her-Warrior-Angel-Romance-ebook/dp/B004CFAS06/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Warrior-Angel-Romance/dp/B004CFAS06/
Fictionwise.com: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b115851/Her-Warrior-Angel-/Felicity-Heaton/?
Excerpt
Taylor shivered against Einar’s broad breastplate as he carried her into the brightly lit cream foyer of a grand hotel. She peered through the dark curtain of her hair, keeping her face obscured to hide the blood on it. No one stared at them, which meant two things. This was the sort of upmarket hotel where staff didn’t ask questions, not even when a guest walked in at gone midnight carrying a woman as though she was a damsel in distress, and they couldn’t see his wings.
He had paused outside and she knew that he had been changing his appearance. When he’d looked at her, she’d feigned surprise, afraid that he would realise that she could see through his glamour, and could still see his armour and his tawny wings. She needed to get the poison out of her system, and this angel wasn’t lying when he said that he could do such a thing for her. It was quicker and easier to let him tend to her than trying to find the local demon medic to get rid it for her. She had been foolish. Trying to run from him had quickened the spread of the poison through her body and it was on the verge of entering the final phase and killing her.
Einar looked impatient as they stood in the lift, heading upwards. Did he know how deep the poison was in her body now? Would it be too late to save her? He glanced down when she took hold of his chest armour and gripped it. Her breathing turned shaky when panic sparked through her. She focused on him to drive it away again.
“Just a few moments longer,” he whispered and the soft deep sound of his voice soothed her. “Hold on.”
His rich brown eyes met hers, the flecks of gold in them shifting in a way that an angel’s irises did. When she had met her first angel, that had scared her more than the wings. Nothing about them felt real. It never had. They weren’t of this world. They were something else.
Taylor looked deep into Einar’s eyes.
He seemed real though, and looked handsome with his eyes brimming with concern and his grip on her tight and reassuring. He smiled when the lift pinged and the doors opened.
“Keep holding on,” he said and she nodded, lost in his gaze.
He walked down a warmly lit corridor with her and then she held on to his neck when he struggled to open the door while holding her. Her fingers brushed the back of his neck, grazing the strands of his mousy ponytail, and she cursed herself for the way it affected her. Teasing him earlier had fired her up, and she had been surprised when she had pulled back and seen in his eyes that it had affected him too.
She knew angels weren’t saints, and that they were as frivolous and passionate as the next man when given the chance, but she hadn’t expected him to be affected by her attention and touch.
Unable to resist seeing if it had just been a momentary slip on his part, Taylor pushed her fingers into his hair, loosening it from the band that kept it tied back at the nape of his neck. The waves of golden brown fell down and he stilled. She felt his gaze on her and shyly met it, partly afraid of what she would see. His eyes were brighter, golden like a raptor’s, and fixed intently on her. His pupils widened when she curled his hair around her fingers and his lips parted. Desire filled his eyes and she couldn’t deny that she was affecting him.
Why?
It wasn’t possible that he didn’t know the secret she held in her heart and in her blood. It just wasn’t possible.
But if he did, he wouldn’t look at her that way, with such fire and hunger. He wouldn’t look at her at all.
The door swung open. Taylor got the better of herself and removed her hands from his neck, settling them in her lap. She stared at her knees. Einar didn’t move. He remained on the threshold of the hotel room, staring at her, his breathing heavy enough that she shifted with it in his arms.
Pain speared her chest. She flinched and pressed her hand to it. It spurred Einar into moving and before she could blink, she was in a bedroom with him. She clutched her chest, burning inside, and breathed deep and steadily. She wasn’t afraid. The angel would help her. Her hands trembled and her limbs shook. She wasn’t afraid.
She wasn’t.
Einar settled her down on the white double bed and she curled up into a ball on her left side, clutching her right arm. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw. Pain rippled through her, blazing like an inferno, stealing her strength and leaving her shaking. She wasn’t afraid.
Panic twisted her stomach.
Okay. She was afraid.
“Shh,” Einar said and took hold of her hand. She stared at it a moment, and then rolled onto her back, covered it with her other one and clung to him. He was her only hope now. The poison was too deep in her body. If he couldn’t save her, she wouldn’t have time to find someone who could. Einar moved her and she was too weak to fight him. He stretched her out on the bed so she lay with her head on the soft downy pillows and her body in a straight line. “Try to keep still.”
Taylor’s eyes widened when he held his hands out a foot above her, palms facing her, and, like a magician performing a trick, moved them back and forth along the length of her body. And just like magic, a white light appeared, beaming down from his hands, blinding her. She couldn’t take her eyes off it though. They tracked it, unable to believe what she was seeing and feeling. Wherever the light touched, she felt warm, weightless, and better.
He moved his hands down to feet and then back up her legs, over her arms and stomach, and then finally settled with one over her chest and one over her head.
“Look at me.”
She obeyed the command in his deep voice and stared up into his eyes. They were golden now, bright and sharp, holding hers in a way that was impossible to break free from.
“Keep looking at me.”
I've introduced you all to my Her Angel series before, but now the third story in the series is available. If you like tales of forbidden love, then this is for you. There's no love more forbidden than that between an angel and a demon!
Felicity Heaton
Einar is one of Heaven’s best hunters and he’s on a mission to uncover why an angel was working with demons. When he finds the first demon fighting a beautiful woman named Taylor, he intervenes and saves her life. Taylor has spent her whole life protecting London from the lowest demons and she’s not about to let an angel waltz into her city and take over her job, and she’s certainly not about to fall in love with him, even if he is gorgeous. The reason why she can’t is simple—she’s half demon.
There is no love in this world more forbidden than that between an angel and a demon.
Sense tells Taylor to get out before she gets her heart broken, but she winds up convincing Einar to partner with her instead. Einar is certain that working with Taylor is a bad idea, and not only because he can’t focus when he’s around her, but he can’t let her go. The mission leads them deep into the city’s underworld, where old flames burn Taylor while new flames of passion and fear of the consequences consume them, and the threat of Einar’s demons hangs over them both.
Can a love so forbidden ever have a happy ending or are they destined to break each other’s hearts?
ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.
available from:
My website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Warrior%20Angel
Alinar Publishing: http://www.alinarpublishing.com/books.php?title=Her%20Warrior%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Her-Warrior-Angel-Romance-ebook/dp/B004CFAS06/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Warrior-Angel-Romance/dp/B004CFAS06/
Fictionwise.com: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b115851/Her-Warrior-Angel-/Felicity-Heaton/?
Excerpt
Taylor shivered against Einar’s broad breastplate as he carried her into the brightly lit cream foyer of a grand hotel. She peered through the dark curtain of her hair, keeping her face obscured to hide the blood on it. No one stared at them, which meant two things. This was the sort of upmarket hotel where staff didn’t ask questions, not even when a guest walked in at gone midnight carrying a woman as though she was a damsel in distress, and they couldn’t see his wings.
He had paused outside and she knew that he had been changing his appearance. When he’d looked at her, she’d feigned surprise, afraid that he would realise that she could see through his glamour, and could still see his armour and his tawny wings. She needed to get the poison out of her system, and this angel wasn’t lying when he said that he could do such a thing for her. It was quicker and easier to let him tend to her than trying to find the local demon medic to get rid it for her. She had been foolish. Trying to run from him had quickened the spread of the poison through her body and it was on the verge of entering the final phase and killing her.
Einar looked impatient as they stood in the lift, heading upwards. Did he know how deep the poison was in her body now? Would it be too late to save her? He glanced down when she took hold of his chest armour and gripped it. Her breathing turned shaky when panic sparked through her. She focused on him to drive it away again.
“Just a few moments longer,” he whispered and the soft deep sound of his voice soothed her. “Hold on.”
His rich brown eyes met hers, the flecks of gold in them shifting in a way that an angel’s irises did. When she had met her first angel, that had scared her more than the wings. Nothing about them felt real. It never had. They weren’t of this world. They were something else.
Taylor looked deep into Einar’s eyes.
He seemed real though, and looked handsome with his eyes brimming with concern and his grip on her tight and reassuring. He smiled when the lift pinged and the doors opened.
“Keep holding on,” he said and she nodded, lost in his gaze.
He walked down a warmly lit corridor with her and then she held on to his neck when he struggled to open the door while holding her. Her fingers brushed the back of his neck, grazing the strands of his mousy ponytail, and she cursed herself for the way it affected her. Teasing him earlier had fired her up, and she had been surprised when she had pulled back and seen in his eyes that it had affected him too.
She knew angels weren’t saints, and that they were as frivolous and passionate as the next man when given the chance, but she hadn’t expected him to be affected by her attention and touch.
Unable to resist seeing if it had just been a momentary slip on his part, Taylor pushed her fingers into his hair, loosening it from the band that kept it tied back at the nape of his neck. The waves of golden brown fell down and he stilled. She felt his gaze on her and shyly met it, partly afraid of what she would see. His eyes were brighter, golden like a raptor’s, and fixed intently on her. His pupils widened when she curled his hair around her fingers and his lips parted. Desire filled his eyes and she couldn’t deny that she was affecting him.
Why?
It wasn’t possible that he didn’t know the secret she held in her heart and in her blood. It just wasn’t possible.
But if he did, he wouldn’t look at her that way, with such fire and hunger. He wouldn’t look at her at all.
The door swung open. Taylor got the better of herself and removed her hands from his neck, settling them in her lap. She stared at her knees. Einar didn’t move. He remained on the threshold of the hotel room, staring at her, his breathing heavy enough that she shifted with it in his arms.
Pain speared her chest. She flinched and pressed her hand to it. It spurred Einar into moving and before she could blink, she was in a bedroom with him. She clutched her chest, burning inside, and breathed deep and steadily. She wasn’t afraid. The angel would help her. Her hands trembled and her limbs shook. She wasn’t afraid.
She wasn’t.
Einar settled her down on the white double bed and she curled up into a ball on her left side, clutching her right arm. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw. Pain rippled through her, blazing like an inferno, stealing her strength and leaving her shaking. She wasn’t afraid.
Panic twisted her stomach.
Okay. She was afraid.
“Shh,” Einar said and took hold of her hand. She stared at it a moment, and then rolled onto her back, covered it with her other one and clung to him. He was her only hope now. The poison was too deep in her body. If he couldn’t save her, she wouldn’t have time to find someone who could. Einar moved her and she was too weak to fight him. He stretched her out on the bed so she lay with her head on the soft downy pillows and her body in a straight line. “Try to keep still.”
Taylor’s eyes widened when he held his hands out a foot above her, palms facing her, and, like a magician performing a trick, moved them back and forth along the length of her body. And just like magic, a white light appeared, beaming down from his hands, blinding her. She couldn’t take her eyes off it though. They tracked it, unable to believe what she was seeing and feeling. Wherever the light touched, she felt warm, weightless, and better.
He moved his hands down to feet and then back up her legs, over her arms and stomach, and then finally settled with one over her chest and one over her head.
“Look at me.”
She obeyed the command in his deep voice and stared up into his eyes. They were golden now, bright and sharp, holding hers in a way that was impossible to break free from.
“Keep looking at me.”
Vampire for Christmas by Felicity Heaton - Excerpt #2
Enjoyed the first excerpt of my holiday offering, Vampire for Christmas? Here's the second chapter...
Vampire for Christmas
Felicity Heaton
It was one last mission. Shannon, a demon hunter with the agency, is looking forward to leaving behind the small town and the vampire she’s been stuck with for the past two years. Things are getting complicated fast and she wants out. A fresh start, free of her vampire partner, awaits her if she can survive their final mission and the lonely Christmas holidays.
It was one last mission. Rafe, a vampire doing time with the agency, watches it approach with dread weighing heavily in his stomach. Two years of working with Shannon has been difficult, especially since he started falling for her, but he doesn’t want their partnership to end. He has barely a few days to make her face her feelings and stop her from leaving, and he intends to do just that.
When a slimy demon threatens the season of peace and goodwill, it’s the chance Rafe has been waiting for and the moment Shannon secretly fears. Rafe’s determination to prise open her heart and her own resolve to keep it closed clash as violently as they do with the demon, and threatens to end as messily.
Can Rafe make Shannon see that his love for her is real and that she feels something for him too? Can Shannon face her fears and her past, and stop herself from running away from both? Will a wish on a star bring her what her heart truly desires—a vampire for Christmas?
available at:
My website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Vampire%20for%20Christmas
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-for-Christmas-ebook/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vampire-for-Christmas/dp/B004AM59T6/
Fictionwise.com: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b115596/Vampire-for-Christmas/Felicity-Heaton/?si=0
Excerpt
Shannon jammed her hands into her jacket pockets and hunched up against the wind. It had come out of nowhere when they had been halfway across the small countryside town, near to the cemetery and stone church, and it had only grown stronger when they had entered the hallowed ground.
Rafe didn’t seem to care.
But then, he never seemed to care about much. Was that what being a vampire was like? Carefree? Was that why they could kill a human without even flinching, without a moment’s regret? She didn’t care about the excuses every vampire spouted when she was about to sentence them for murdering an innocent human. Liquid diet or not, it was wrong to kill, especially since a vampire was perfectly capable of feeding without indulging their perverse lust for tasting human death.
Rafe was her un-living example of that and she took great pleasure in pointing that out to every vampire she killed, so they knew that they had dug their own second grave.
Shannon looked up at him where he stood on a stone sarcophagus, his long black coat flapping out behind him in the gale and his short dark hair flat against his head. He grinned into the wind.
“Having fun?” she hollered up at him but the wind carried her voice away. He frowned down at her and touched his ear, as though asking her to repeat herself. The wind wasn’t that strong and his hearing would have picked her up if she had only whispered. The cocky smile on his handsome face said that he was waiting for her to say something more polite before he answered. “Can you see anything?”
He shrugged and shook his head, and went back to challenging the wind. She didn’t know how he could bear it when he was only wearing a black shirt and jeans beneath his unbuttoned coat. She knew that he could feel the cold, and that it drained his body heat. Last winter, he had complained during every mission about how long it would take him to regain his normal body temperature. From the number of times he had bound her wounds during their partnership, she could say that normal for him was cold for her. Somewhere around room temperature. Right now, he had to be freezing. She was, and her coat was buttoned up.
Rafe put his booted foot out in front of him, bracing himself against the wind, and leaned into it. He outstretched his arms, splaying his fingers, and grinned, revealing short fangs.
The sight of them didn’t bother her anymore. When she had first started working with him, she had been surprised to see that his canines were always slightly extended compared to hers. She had asked the demon-hunting agency about it, curious because all the vampires she had previously encountered had already been in their true guise, and they had told her that it was a sign of his age. A young vampire could appear completely human. The older they got, the more their true nature began to shine through. How old was Rafe? He looked to be in his late thirties, but that was misleading since vampires didn’t age. She hadn’t asked the agency how old he was. It seemed rude to ask them such things, even if Rafe was a vampire and not someone she was likely to ask about himself.
At least, she had felt that way back when they had first met.
Since then, she had asked him things about himself from time to time, but only small things, worded in careful ways so she wasn’t directly asking about him. She had danced around so many things, and he had done the same in return, leading her in circles, as though he knew that she wanted to know about him but wouldn’t tell her until she asked outright.
Shannon ran her gaze down his lithe figure. He looked so human sometimes. It had caught her off guard several times in the early days of their partnership. It was no wonder vampires could blend so easily into the unsuspecting human population. Seeing how he could move through a crowd, could come close to so many people, within easy killing reach, had boosted her resolve to protect the world from his kind and the demons.
Back then, she had thought it even needed protecting from Rafe.
Now, she could see that she had been wrong. It pained her to acknowledge such a thing, but she was feeling strong enough to admit it to herself. Rafe wasn’t out to kill anymore. He wasn’t one of the bad vampires. He was one of the enlightened ones, those who had found out they could co-exist with humans and only take what they needed to survive. She still didn’t like it, but she couldn’t deny the right to live to those who had fought their nature to become more human. The moment they crossed the line though, she would be there with a sharp stake to send them back to the grave, this time permanently.
Rafe laughed.
Was he enjoying his game against the gale? Shannon huffed. This wasn’t a game. There was a demon on the loose and she wasn’t about to let the season of goodwill become the season of blood spill for some unfortunate passerby.
“Rafe,” she called out to him but the wind stole her voice again.
Squinting, she braced herself against the wind and then took a laboured step forwards, towards him. She ducked to one side when the tail of his coat whipped the air and narrowly missed her face. Edging around the grave he was standing on, she frowned and shook her head when she saw the look of sheer elation on his face. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him happy, but this was the closest he had ever got to that emotion. If challenging the wind was amusing him, then he could come back later and do it on his own time.
“Rafe!” She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back into the wind. It started to ease. “Get down here.”
Rafe raised a dark eyebrow and then opened his eyes and looked down at her. She stood her ground, not caring if she sounded as though she was scolding him. They had a mission to complete, and she wanted it over with as soon as possible. Her head was filling with ridiculous notions that she didn’t want to entertain and her guard was slipping. She was certain that the moment he was out of her life she would forget about him and her muddled feelings. The thought that had crossed her mind earlier had been ridiculous. Love?
Never going to happen.
She wasn’t in love with him and a clean break from him would prove that. She wasn’t going to miss him or this town at all. She was going to pack up, leave, and get on with her life, and maybe she would even find herself a boyfriend.
One with a heartbeat.
Shannon cursed that thought. Rafe was not her boyfriend. He was a guy, and sort of a friend, maybe, but he was so far from boyfriend material that he stood in the next galaxy along from it. This was just some strange form of Stockholm Syndrome. Rafe had been her closest acquaintance for two years. He had helped her out of some bad scrapes, had given her someone to talk to when she needed it most, and had even protected her a few times.
Although he always said that he didn’t protect her out of chivalry, rather it was done out of desire to end one night without having to bind her wounds.
A lie that she didn’t believe.
Rafe sighed and started to move but then stopped. A look of pure revulsion twisted his face.
“What the—” He wiped his cheek and she wondered what was wrong until he hopped down from the tomb and she saw the clear jelly-like substance coating his fingers. Trails of it stuck to his left cheek.
She mirrored his face of disgust. The dying wind caused strands of her hair to dance across her face. She clawed them back.
Rafe flicked the goo off his hand. “Someone seems to think it is funny to go around throwing slime at—”
Something hit her arm and Shannon didn’t want to look. She could feel the heavy glob on the sleeve of her coat. It eased down her arm and she let out a long sigh. Rafe bit his lip and she glared at him. How dare he laugh at her misfortune when she hadn’t laughed at his?
Anger bolted through her, sharply raising her temperature, and she looked down at the right sleeve of her black jacket. A clear track of slime covered her arm, shining in the combination of moonlight and the streetlights along the path through the cemetery. Blobs spotted the silver trail here and there, the largest of them rolling down towards her elbow. Someone was going to pay for that.
Shannon set her jaw and scanned the cemetery for their assailant.
It wasn’t difficult to spot.
Seven foot of hideous green demon was heading straight for them, oozing slime as it walked and leaving a trail like a slug. It moved on thick legs that supported a midriff that said the owner needed some serious time in a gym. Long muscular arms hung at its sides, and its large hands gave Shannon the distinct impression it could crush her head in just one of them. It spat slime at a headstone, covering it completely, and then grinned towards her. Globs of clear goo rolled down from its wide serrated mouth. Black eyes fixed on her. Dark pine trees waved in the distance behind it. Light clung to its shiny coating. This was not going to be a fun fight.
She removed her coat, wiped the slime off her sleeve, and flicked it to the floor. Rafe took the jacket from her and placed it down on the lid of the tomb he had been standing on. He removed his own coat, setting it down next to hers, and then nodded when his gaze met hers.
Shannon pulled the stake from the back pocket of her dark jeans, flexed her fingers around it to get a good grip, and then hesitated. Rafe didn’t move either. She couldn’t blame him for having second thoughts about launching an attack on an unknown species of demon that looked as though it was as slippery as an eel and far slimier. She wasn’t exactly enjoying the prospect of getting completely coated in the cold sticky substance that was on her hand either.
“Any ideas?” She gave Rafe a hopeful look. Maybe he would do the chivalrous thing now and fight the demon for her.
“Not really.” Rafe ran his gaze over the approaching demon and then glanced at her. A moment later, his gaze came back to meet hers. “Would you like to go first?”
She frowned. Was that his idea of chivalry? Ladies first? She shook her head.
“After you.” She swept her hand out towards the demon. It was getting closer now. One of them had to attack, and at this rate, it was going to be the goo monster.
“How about we do this together?”
Together?
Shannon swallowed at that thought.
“Or you could do it by yourself.” The sharp edge to his words cut her deep and the anger that flared in his eyes only made her feel worse. “Just forget I am here. It is what you do most nights, is it not?”
She cringed.
Felicity Heaton
It was one last mission. Shannon, a demon hunter with the agency, is looking forward to leaving behind the small town and the vampire she’s been stuck with for the past two years. Things are getting complicated fast and she wants out. A fresh start, free of her vampire partner, awaits her if she can survive their final mission and the lonely Christmas holidays.
It was one last mission. Rafe, a vampire doing time with the agency, watches it approach with dread weighing heavily in his stomach. Two years of working with Shannon has been difficult, especially since he started falling for her, but he doesn’t want their partnership to end. He has barely a few days to make her face her feelings and stop her from leaving, and he intends to do just that.
When a slimy demon threatens the season of peace and goodwill, it’s the chance Rafe has been waiting for and the moment Shannon secretly fears. Rafe’s determination to prise open her heart and her own resolve to keep it closed clash as violently as they do with the demon, and threatens to end as messily.
Can Rafe make Shannon see that his love for her is real and that she feels something for him too? Can Shannon face her fears and her past, and stop herself from running away from both? Will a wish on a star bring her what her heart truly desires—a vampire for Christmas?
available at:
My website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Vampire%20for%20Christmas
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-for-Christmas-ebook/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vampire-for-Christmas/dp/B004AM59T6/
Fictionwise.com: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b115596/Vampire-for-Christmas/Felicity-Heaton/?si=0
Excerpt
Shannon jammed her hands into her jacket pockets and hunched up against the wind. It had come out of nowhere when they had been halfway across the small countryside town, near to the cemetery and stone church, and it had only grown stronger when they had entered the hallowed ground.
Rafe didn’t seem to care.
But then, he never seemed to care about much. Was that what being a vampire was like? Carefree? Was that why they could kill a human without even flinching, without a moment’s regret? She didn’t care about the excuses every vampire spouted when she was about to sentence them for murdering an innocent human. Liquid diet or not, it was wrong to kill, especially since a vampire was perfectly capable of feeding without indulging their perverse lust for tasting human death.
Rafe was her un-living example of that and she took great pleasure in pointing that out to every vampire she killed, so they knew that they had dug their own second grave.
Shannon looked up at him where he stood on a stone sarcophagus, his long black coat flapping out behind him in the gale and his short dark hair flat against his head. He grinned into the wind.
“Having fun?” she hollered up at him but the wind carried her voice away. He frowned down at her and touched his ear, as though asking her to repeat herself. The wind wasn’t that strong and his hearing would have picked her up if she had only whispered. The cocky smile on his handsome face said that he was waiting for her to say something more polite before he answered. “Can you see anything?”
He shrugged and shook his head, and went back to challenging the wind. She didn’t know how he could bear it when he was only wearing a black shirt and jeans beneath his unbuttoned coat. She knew that he could feel the cold, and that it drained his body heat. Last winter, he had complained during every mission about how long it would take him to regain his normal body temperature. From the number of times he had bound her wounds during their partnership, she could say that normal for him was cold for her. Somewhere around room temperature. Right now, he had to be freezing. She was, and her coat was buttoned up.
Rafe put his booted foot out in front of him, bracing himself against the wind, and leaned into it. He outstretched his arms, splaying his fingers, and grinned, revealing short fangs.
The sight of them didn’t bother her anymore. When she had first started working with him, she had been surprised to see that his canines were always slightly extended compared to hers. She had asked the demon-hunting agency about it, curious because all the vampires she had previously encountered had already been in their true guise, and they had told her that it was a sign of his age. A young vampire could appear completely human. The older they got, the more their true nature began to shine through. How old was Rafe? He looked to be in his late thirties, but that was misleading since vampires didn’t age. She hadn’t asked the agency how old he was. It seemed rude to ask them such things, even if Rafe was a vampire and not someone she was likely to ask about himself.
At least, she had felt that way back when they had first met.
Since then, she had asked him things about himself from time to time, but only small things, worded in careful ways so she wasn’t directly asking about him. She had danced around so many things, and he had done the same in return, leading her in circles, as though he knew that she wanted to know about him but wouldn’t tell her until she asked outright.
Shannon ran her gaze down his lithe figure. He looked so human sometimes. It had caught her off guard several times in the early days of their partnership. It was no wonder vampires could blend so easily into the unsuspecting human population. Seeing how he could move through a crowd, could come close to so many people, within easy killing reach, had boosted her resolve to protect the world from his kind and the demons.
Back then, she had thought it even needed protecting from Rafe.
Now, she could see that she had been wrong. It pained her to acknowledge such a thing, but she was feeling strong enough to admit it to herself. Rafe wasn’t out to kill anymore. He wasn’t one of the bad vampires. He was one of the enlightened ones, those who had found out they could co-exist with humans and only take what they needed to survive. She still didn’t like it, but she couldn’t deny the right to live to those who had fought their nature to become more human. The moment they crossed the line though, she would be there with a sharp stake to send them back to the grave, this time permanently.
Rafe laughed.
Was he enjoying his game against the gale? Shannon huffed. This wasn’t a game. There was a demon on the loose and she wasn’t about to let the season of goodwill become the season of blood spill for some unfortunate passerby.
“Rafe,” she called out to him but the wind stole her voice again.
Squinting, she braced herself against the wind and then took a laboured step forwards, towards him. She ducked to one side when the tail of his coat whipped the air and narrowly missed her face. Edging around the grave he was standing on, she frowned and shook her head when she saw the look of sheer elation on his face. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him happy, but this was the closest he had ever got to that emotion. If challenging the wind was amusing him, then he could come back later and do it on his own time.
“Rafe!” She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back into the wind. It started to ease. “Get down here.”
Rafe raised a dark eyebrow and then opened his eyes and looked down at her. She stood her ground, not caring if she sounded as though she was scolding him. They had a mission to complete, and she wanted it over with as soon as possible. Her head was filling with ridiculous notions that she didn’t want to entertain and her guard was slipping. She was certain that the moment he was out of her life she would forget about him and her muddled feelings. The thought that had crossed her mind earlier had been ridiculous. Love?
Never going to happen.
She wasn’t in love with him and a clean break from him would prove that. She wasn’t going to miss him or this town at all. She was going to pack up, leave, and get on with her life, and maybe she would even find herself a boyfriend.
One with a heartbeat.
Shannon cursed that thought. Rafe was not her boyfriend. He was a guy, and sort of a friend, maybe, but he was so far from boyfriend material that he stood in the next galaxy along from it. This was just some strange form of Stockholm Syndrome. Rafe had been her closest acquaintance for two years. He had helped her out of some bad scrapes, had given her someone to talk to when she needed it most, and had even protected her a few times.
Although he always said that he didn’t protect her out of chivalry, rather it was done out of desire to end one night without having to bind her wounds.
A lie that she didn’t believe.
Rafe sighed and started to move but then stopped. A look of pure revulsion twisted his face.
“What the—” He wiped his cheek and she wondered what was wrong until he hopped down from the tomb and she saw the clear jelly-like substance coating his fingers. Trails of it stuck to his left cheek.
She mirrored his face of disgust. The dying wind caused strands of her hair to dance across her face. She clawed them back.
Rafe flicked the goo off his hand. “Someone seems to think it is funny to go around throwing slime at—”
Something hit her arm and Shannon didn’t want to look. She could feel the heavy glob on the sleeve of her coat. It eased down her arm and she let out a long sigh. Rafe bit his lip and she glared at him. How dare he laugh at her misfortune when she hadn’t laughed at his?
Anger bolted through her, sharply raising her temperature, and she looked down at the right sleeve of her black jacket. A clear track of slime covered her arm, shining in the combination of moonlight and the streetlights along the path through the cemetery. Blobs spotted the silver trail here and there, the largest of them rolling down towards her elbow. Someone was going to pay for that.
Shannon set her jaw and scanned the cemetery for their assailant.
It wasn’t difficult to spot.
Seven foot of hideous green demon was heading straight for them, oozing slime as it walked and leaving a trail like a slug. It moved on thick legs that supported a midriff that said the owner needed some serious time in a gym. Long muscular arms hung at its sides, and its large hands gave Shannon the distinct impression it could crush her head in just one of them. It spat slime at a headstone, covering it completely, and then grinned towards her. Globs of clear goo rolled down from its wide serrated mouth. Black eyes fixed on her. Dark pine trees waved in the distance behind it. Light clung to its shiny coating. This was not going to be a fun fight.
She removed her coat, wiped the slime off her sleeve, and flicked it to the floor. Rafe took the jacket from her and placed it down on the lid of the tomb he had been standing on. He removed his own coat, setting it down next to hers, and then nodded when his gaze met hers.
Shannon pulled the stake from the back pocket of her dark jeans, flexed her fingers around it to get a good grip, and then hesitated. Rafe didn’t move either. She couldn’t blame him for having second thoughts about launching an attack on an unknown species of demon that looked as though it was as slippery as an eel and far slimier. She wasn’t exactly enjoying the prospect of getting completely coated in the cold sticky substance that was on her hand either.
“Any ideas?” She gave Rafe a hopeful look. Maybe he would do the chivalrous thing now and fight the demon for her.
“Not really.” Rafe ran his gaze over the approaching demon and then glanced at her. A moment later, his gaze came back to meet hers. “Would you like to go first?”
She frowned. Was that his idea of chivalry? Ladies first? She shook her head.
“After you.” She swept her hand out towards the demon. It was getting closer now. One of them had to attack, and at this rate, it was going to be the goo monster.
“How about we do this together?”
Together?
Shannon swallowed at that thought.
“Or you could do it by yourself.” The sharp edge to his words cut her deep and the anger that flared in his eyes only made her feel worse. “Just forget I am here. It is what you do most nights, is it not?”
She cringed.
Her Warrior Angel by Felicity Heaton - excerpt #1
I've introduced you all to my Her Angel series before, but now the third story in the series is available. If you like tales of forbidden love, then this is for you. There's no love more forbidden than that between an angel and a demon!
Her Warrior Angel
Felicity Heaton
Einar is one of Heaven’s best hunters and he’s on a mission to uncover why an angel was working with demons. When he finds the first demon fighting a beautiful woman named Taylor, he intervenes and saves her life. Taylor has spent her whole life protecting London from the lowest demons and she’s not about to let an angel waltz into her city and take over her job, and she’s certainly not about to fall in love with him, even if he is gorgeous. The reason why she can’t is simple—she’s half demon.
There is no love in this world more forbidden than that between an angel and a demon.
Sense tells Taylor to get out before she gets her heart broken, but she winds up convincing Einar to partner with her instead. Einar is certain that working with Taylor is a bad idea, and not only because he can’t focus when he’s around her, but he can’t let her go. The mission leads them deep into the city’s underworld, where old flames burn Taylor while new flames of passion and fear of the consequences consume them, and the threat of Einar’s demons hangs over them both.
Can a love so forbidden ever have a happy ending or are they destined to break each other’s hearts?
ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.
available from:
My website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Warrior%20Angel
Alinar Publishing: http://www.alinarpublishing.com/books.php?title=Her%20Warrior%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Her-Warrior-Angel-Romance-ebook/dp/B004CFAS06/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Warrior-Angel-Romance/dp/B004CFAS06/
Fictionwise.com: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b115851/Her-Warrior-Angel-/Felicity-Heaton/?
Excerpt
She was heading for trouble.
Einar watched the raven-haired woman walking straight towards a male coming the opposite way through the quiet moonlit park. He beat his wings, keeping his position high above them in the cool air.
The woman appeared and disappeared as she passed under the intermittent streetlamps that lined the paths through the park. The lights weren’t strong enough to cut through the darkness, leaving the area as a black hole in a sea of glittering golden and white pinpricks. London stretched out as far as he could see in all directions. The yellow halo over the city drowned out the stars and made the shadowy shapes of the buildings visible to him.
Einar swooped lower in the night, wanting to get a closer look at the two people and needing to be near in case he was right and the man wasn’t a man at all. If the demon showed any sign of attacking the woman, he would intervene. Until that happened, he would watch. It wasn’t his place to interfere in things. He was here to hunt, not protect.
The steady rush of wind over him chilled his skin. Summer was on its way out and autumn was encroaching as surely as the night. The days were growing short and he still hadn’t found his demons. Heaven’s Court were becoming restless with the desire to know why a commander of theirs called Amaer had sided with three demons, assisting them in the disposal of over one hundred human bodies, and had incriminated a fellow angel, setting him up to take the fall.
The angel, an intervention specialist and mediator called Lukas, had fought back though and had proven his innocence. Amaer was dead. Now Einar’s only lead were the demons.
The woman neared the man. Einar’s hand went to the hilt of the blade hanging from his waist. The vambrace protecting his forearm was cold against the strip of stomach exposed between his rich brown and gold breastplate and his dark loincloth. He would soon have to resort to wearing winter armour.
A noise from below caught his attention. The woman was under attack. Einar dived towards her and then halted in mid-air barely a few metres above them when the woman drew a short silver blade from beneath the back of her black jacket and started to fight.
She was breathtaking.
Einar could only stare at her as she fought the male demon, still in his human skin. Her movements were fluid, made only more graceful by her tall slender form and the tight clothes she wore. She swung her leg around, kicking the man in the head. The moment her foot touched the floor, she brought it back again, catching the man unawares and unguarded.
She attacked then, putting the demon on the back foot and keeping him off balance with lunges and swipes of the short blade. It gleamed brightly under the moonlight, flashes of white and silver lines marking its deadly path.
Einar beat his wings to keep steady, mesmerised by the woman and her ability to fight. He had never thought a female could have such skill. He had only ever met females that needed tending to and protecting. This one was different. She could handle a weapon with ease, and with skill almost matching his own, and she radiated confidence and strength. She could take care of herself and he couldn’t bring himself to intervene in her fight, even when his instincts were screaming at him to go down and assist her.
The male demon snarled and shifted his shoulders. Black ragged scaly wings erupted from his back, tearing through his dark shirt, and his hands became talons. Einar’s eyes narrowed.
The history recorded in the pool in Hell had revealed the type of demon that had committed the sin of killing the innocent humans.
This man was one of their breed.
Einar’s dark gaze flickered to the woman. She didn’t even hesitate at the sight of the man’s wings and claws. She continued her attack. If anything, she was putting more effort into it now that the demon had revealed himself.
She wasn’t a stranger to this sort of creature.
The demon screamed and launched himself at the woman, still half in his human guise. The woman blocked each swipe of his talons with her short sword but the demon was forcing her backwards, putting her off balance this time. She rallied, kicking the demon in the shin and then going for the chest. The demon caught her ankle and turned, hurling her along the pavement. She tumbled, losing her weapon, and stopped a few metres away from the demon. Her long dark hair covered her face as she struggled to get to her feet.
Cold fury curled through Einar’s veins, tightening his muscles. He flexed his fingers around the hilt of his sword and gripped it tightly.
He had seen enough.
The demon ran at the woman.
Einar swept down, drew his sword, and blocked the demon’s attack. The man snarled and hissed, and leapt backwards, placing some distance between them. With a deep breath, Einar readied himself, standing tall and stretching his wings out to shield the woman behind him. He used his senses to check on her. She wasn’t badly injured. The rich smell of her blood filled the air and she was muttering dark things under her breath. Other than that, she seemed fine. He would tend to her once he had dealt with the demon.
“Get out of my damn way, you big oaf,” the woman said just as the demon charged them.
Einar turned, confused about whether she was speaking to him. She crouched, tugged the right leg of her dark jeans up, revealing her black leather boot, and the next thing Einar knew, she had a knife in her hand and was running past him. Resilient, resourceful, but foolish.
Unless she wanted to get herself killed.
The demon lashed out, slamming the back of his right hand into the side of her head and sending her skidding across the dewy grass. She landed in a heap and didn’t move.
Felicity Heaton
Einar is one of Heaven’s best hunters and he’s on a mission to uncover why an angel was working with demons. When he finds the first demon fighting a beautiful woman named Taylor, he intervenes and saves her life. Taylor has spent her whole life protecting London from the lowest demons and she’s not about to let an angel waltz into her city and take over her job, and she’s certainly not about to fall in love with him, even if he is gorgeous. The reason why she can’t is simple—she’s half demon.
There is no love in this world more forbidden than that between an angel and a demon.
Sense tells Taylor to get out before she gets her heart broken, but she winds up convincing Einar to partner with her instead. Einar is certain that working with Taylor is a bad idea, and not only because he can’t focus when he’s around her, but he can’t let her go. The mission leads them deep into the city’s underworld, where old flames burn Taylor while new flames of passion and fear of the consequences consume them, and the threat of Einar’s demons hangs over them both.
Can a love so forbidden ever have a happy ending or are they destined to break each other’s hearts?
ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.
available from:
My website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Warrior%20Angel
Alinar Publishing: http://www.alinarpublishing.com/books.php?title=Her%20Warrior%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Her-Warrior-Angel-Romance-ebook/dp/B004CFAS06/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Warrior-Angel-Romance/dp/B004CFAS06/
Fictionwise.com: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b115851/Her-Warrior-Angel-/Felicity-Heaton/?
Excerpt
She was heading for trouble.
Einar watched the raven-haired woman walking straight towards a male coming the opposite way through the quiet moonlit park. He beat his wings, keeping his position high above them in the cool air.
The woman appeared and disappeared as she passed under the intermittent streetlamps that lined the paths through the park. The lights weren’t strong enough to cut through the darkness, leaving the area as a black hole in a sea of glittering golden and white pinpricks. London stretched out as far as he could see in all directions. The yellow halo over the city drowned out the stars and made the shadowy shapes of the buildings visible to him.
Einar swooped lower in the night, wanting to get a closer look at the two people and needing to be near in case he was right and the man wasn’t a man at all. If the demon showed any sign of attacking the woman, he would intervene. Until that happened, he would watch. It wasn’t his place to interfere in things. He was here to hunt, not protect.
The steady rush of wind over him chilled his skin. Summer was on its way out and autumn was encroaching as surely as the night. The days were growing short and he still hadn’t found his demons. Heaven’s Court were becoming restless with the desire to know why a commander of theirs called Amaer had sided with three demons, assisting them in the disposal of over one hundred human bodies, and had incriminated a fellow angel, setting him up to take the fall.
The angel, an intervention specialist and mediator called Lukas, had fought back though and had proven his innocence. Amaer was dead. Now Einar’s only lead were the demons.
The woman neared the man. Einar’s hand went to the hilt of the blade hanging from his waist. The vambrace protecting his forearm was cold against the strip of stomach exposed between his rich brown and gold breastplate and his dark loincloth. He would soon have to resort to wearing winter armour.
A noise from below caught his attention. The woman was under attack. Einar dived towards her and then halted in mid-air barely a few metres above them when the woman drew a short silver blade from beneath the back of her black jacket and started to fight.
She was breathtaking.
Einar could only stare at her as she fought the male demon, still in his human skin. Her movements were fluid, made only more graceful by her tall slender form and the tight clothes she wore. She swung her leg around, kicking the man in the head. The moment her foot touched the floor, she brought it back again, catching the man unawares and unguarded.
She attacked then, putting the demon on the back foot and keeping him off balance with lunges and swipes of the short blade. It gleamed brightly under the moonlight, flashes of white and silver lines marking its deadly path.
Einar beat his wings to keep steady, mesmerised by the woman and her ability to fight. He had never thought a female could have such skill. He had only ever met females that needed tending to and protecting. This one was different. She could handle a weapon with ease, and with skill almost matching his own, and she radiated confidence and strength. She could take care of herself and he couldn’t bring himself to intervene in her fight, even when his instincts were screaming at him to go down and assist her.
The male demon snarled and shifted his shoulders. Black ragged scaly wings erupted from his back, tearing through his dark shirt, and his hands became talons. Einar’s eyes narrowed.
The history recorded in the pool in Hell had revealed the type of demon that had committed the sin of killing the innocent humans.
This man was one of their breed.
Einar’s dark gaze flickered to the woman. She didn’t even hesitate at the sight of the man’s wings and claws. She continued her attack. If anything, she was putting more effort into it now that the demon had revealed himself.
She wasn’t a stranger to this sort of creature.
The demon screamed and launched himself at the woman, still half in his human guise. The woman blocked each swipe of his talons with her short sword but the demon was forcing her backwards, putting her off balance this time. She rallied, kicking the demon in the shin and then going for the chest. The demon caught her ankle and turned, hurling her along the pavement. She tumbled, losing her weapon, and stopped a few metres away from the demon. Her long dark hair covered her face as she struggled to get to her feet.
Cold fury curled through Einar’s veins, tightening his muscles. He flexed his fingers around the hilt of his sword and gripped it tightly.
He had seen enough.
The demon ran at the woman.
Einar swept down, drew his sword, and blocked the demon’s attack. The man snarled and hissed, and leapt backwards, placing some distance between them. With a deep breath, Einar readied himself, standing tall and stretching his wings out to shield the woman behind him. He used his senses to check on her. She wasn’t badly injured. The rich smell of her blood filled the air and she was muttering dark things under her breath. Other than that, she seemed fine. He would tend to her once he had dealt with the demon.
“Get out of my damn way, you big oaf,” the woman said just as the demon charged them.
Einar turned, confused about whether she was speaking to him. She crouched, tugged the right leg of her dark jeans up, revealing her black leather boot, and the next thing Einar knew, she had a knife in her hand and was running past him. Resilient, resourceful, but foolish.
Unless she wanted to get herself killed.
The demon lashed out, slamming the back of his right hand into the side of her head and sending her skidding across the dewy grass. She landed in a heap and didn’t move.
Vampire for Christmas by Felicity Heaton - Excerpt #1
Here's the first excerpt of my seasonal offering this Christmas. What better to curl up in front of the fire with than a hot sexy vampire?
Vampire for Christmas
Felicity Heaton
It was one last mission. Shannon, a demon hunter with the agency, is looking forward to leaving behind the small town and the vampire she’s been stuck with for the past two years. Things are getting complicated fast and she wants out. A fresh start, free of her vampire partner, awaits her if she can survive their final mission and the lonely Christmas holidays.
It was one last mission. Rafe, a vampire doing time with the agency, watches it approach with dread weighing heavily in his stomach. Two years of working with Shannon has been difficult, especially since he started falling for her, but he doesn’t want their partnership to end. He has barely a few days to make her face her feelings and stop her from leaving, and he intends to do just that.
When a slimy demon threatens the season of peace and goodwill, it’s the chance Rafe has been waiting for and the moment Shannon secretly fears. Rafe’s determination to prise open her heart and her own resolve to keep it closed clash as violently as they do with the demon, and threatens to end as messily.
Can Rafe make Shannon see that his love for her is real and that she feels something for him too? Can Shannon face her fears and her past, and stop herself from running away from both? Will a wish on a star bring her what her heart truly desires—a vampire for Christmas?
available at:
My website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Vampire%20for%20Christmas
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-for-Christmas-ebook/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vampire-for-Christmas/dp/B004AM59T6/
Fictionwise.com: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b115596/Vampire-for-Christmas/Felicity-Heaton/?si=0
Excerpt
His favourite prey.
Rafe stood on the lawn, his dark eyes following her from room to room in her large house. Shannon disappeared from view on the top floor only to reappear in the living room. He couldn’t see much through the open curtains but his senses made up for what he lacked in vision. He tracked her with them, focusing until the dark world around him drifted into the distance and there was only her.
She was muttering.
A smile tugged at his lips.
How many times had he told her not to mutter?
She reappeared and stood in the middle of the living room, tying her long fair hair up into a ponytail, her gaze on the television. The twinkling lights hanging around the room cast a myriad of colours, turning the scene from warm to cold and back again. She looked pale tonight. Had she been getting enough sleep? They had last worked together two weeks ago and she hadn’t seemed herself. He had tried to ask her what was wrong, but had failed to find his voice, instead leaving her to mull over whatever was bothering her in silence.
Rafe had killed the vampire that night. She hadn’t even noticed it. He’d had to report it to the agency. In a toss up between her being angry with him for telling her superiors about her dangerous lack of concentration and her being safe, the latter would always win with him.
She smiled.
His chest ached.
He hadn’t seen her smile in a long time. He stood in silence, unmoving, absorbing this rare beauty before him. She was a goddess when she smiled, and it always tugged at his insides, luring him to her. She turned towards the window and her smile slowly faded, her expression turning distant.
What was she thinking in there?
She couldn’t see him. Human eyes weren’t sharp enough to pick him out in the shadows of the tall trees on her lawn. The lights in the room would steal what little night-vision she had. He could observe her from the darkness without fear, could watch her and think over the things that plagued him every night.
The feelings.
During the day, Rafe could almost pretend they didn’t exist. The sun stole the world from him and his emotions with it, leaving him in a deathly slumber. At night, when he came to her, when he saw her again, everything returned, and each time it came back stronger.
He knew that Shannon didn’t like working with him, and the past two years had been difficult for them both at times, especially at the start, but it didn’t stop him from feeling something for her. They had been through so much together, so many fights for their lives, so many long nights passed in quiet company when no demons showed up, and so many long conversations when her guard slipped. When they had first been assigned to each other, he had wanted out of the deal straight away, but now he almost looked forward to the times they were required to work together.
His dead heart called him a liar.
He didn’t almost look forward to it at all. He waited for it. Yearned, in fact.
Rafe sighed and leaned back against the broad rough trunk of the pine tree.
It was no use anyway.
Come the New Year, the agency would separate them and relocate them at opposite ends of the country.
He stared at her. She swept a few rogue strands of golden hair back, tucking them into her messy ponytail, and laughed at something. The light from the television flickered across her face. Rafe smiled at the same time as she did. The sight of her chased the winter chill from his body.
He was going to miss her.
His little vampire hunter.
He had never wanted a partner, but she had changed that. Now, he didn’t want any partner except her.
Shannon smiled again and zipped up her red jumper, until the tall collar of it covered her neck. She pushed shorter lengths of her hair behind her ears and then looked out of the window again, and he felt as though she was looking right at him. She was so beautiful when she was unaware of him. Naturally so too. No trace of make-up touched her oval face. No kohl to highlight the depths of her green eyes, or lipstick to enhance the sensual swell of her coral lips. Everything about her was natural, right down to her curvy shape. He had tended to her wounds a few times before, each time battling his desire as he swept his fingers over her soft skin and laid eyes on the toned body she hid beneath her clothes. She trembled for him sometimes and refused to look at him whenever she did, and he was convinced that her shivers weren’t born of fear. He was convinced that part of her was attracted to him too. Her gaze shifted and settled on something partially obscured by the pale curtains.
He frowned and tried to make out what it was.
Ragged dark shape that tapered upwards. Shiny coloured lights. Glittering orbs. Tufted strings of foil.
A Christmas tree.
It surprised him that she celebrated the occasion. He had thought she would be indifferent to such human things since she was a demon hunter, but there she was, standing in a room bathed in twinkling lights, tinsel and festive trimmings. The entire street was alive with flashing reindeers, singing Santas, and fake snow on roofs. No decoration touched the outside of her two storey home, but it was different on the inside.
Rafe studied her as she adjusted a bauble on the tree. He might have been talking about her. The exterior she showed to him and others was different to how she was on the inside. He knew that best at times like these when he was watching her from the shadows. This was the real her, the one she hid beneath her armour and would never let him see. This was his only way of seeing the side of her that he wished she would show to him, and he couldn’t help himself.
He told himself that it wasn’t stalking. It was observing. It was hunting. It was having the chance to see the woman he wanted her to be around him and taking it.
Shannon moved away from the tree, towards the back of the house, her hips swaying in her snug blue jeans. His gaze slipped to her backside and he growled, desire spearing him in the gut. He loved the way she walked even when she thought no one was watching. There was something sexy about it, alluring. He cocked his head to one side and fought the urge that rose inside him.
It was useless.
She would never be his.
She had looked at him differently sometimes, almost as if he was human, but those moments rarely lasted. The barriers were swift to come back up, protecting her heart before he could reach out and capture it. During their past few hunts, he had struggled with the right words, trying to form them into a semblance of order and put his feelings in a way that she wouldn’t reject outright, in a way that would make her see that his emotions were real and that he would never harm her. He had never found the perfect moment though, or the perfect words.
And time was running out.
The ticking clock made him reckless. It didn’t matter anymore if she rejected him. He couldn’t let the chance slip through his fingers again. It was now or never.
This was their last mission together.
He wouldn’t leave without trying to make her see what he felt for her.
Shannon came out of the back room, her jacket in her left hand, and stopped in front of the Christmas tree again. She touched the same bauble she had before but this time her expression changed, turning troubled and distant. What was on her mind? Rafe had seen that look before, normally when she was lost in her thoughts, like the time he had reported to her superiors. They had told him not to worry about it and that they would speak with her. He wanted to be the one to speak to her about it. He wanted to know why she had joined the agency. She was young, barely over thirty, and she had never mentioned her family. Did her reason for hunting demons have something to do with them? Did it have anything to do with vampires?
He only hunted his own kind because the agency had him by the balls on several murder cases. He was a vampire. All of his species were susceptible to temptation and he was far from saintly. He had fought his addiction though and had come out the other side a better vampire for it. A stronger vampire because of it. He didn’t kill anymore. He could control that side of him now, and maybe it was time he made the agency realise that and made them let him go.
Rafe shook his head at the way he sounded. Childish. Petulant. Everything that a vampire his age shouldn’t be. And why? Because he didn’t want to leave her. He didn’t want to be reassigned to someone else, or sent off to work alone. He wanted to stay here, with Shannon, where he belonged.
She tugged her short black wool jacket on and Rafe knew it was time to make a move. She was expecting him and he had never been late before.
He moved further back into the shadows on her front garden when she approached the window. She didn’t see him. She closed the curtains, hiding her from view, and he resorted to tracking her with his senses again.
A car passed along the street behind him. The sound of carol singers drifted on the chill breeze. Rafe looked up at the crisp night sky and the twinkling stars. Christmas. He couldn’t remember if he had ever celebrated it.
He had forgotten so much about his former life on becoming a vampire.
His gaze dropped and stuck on something on her porch.
Mistletoe.
Rafe raised an eyebrow and then smiled as he left his hiding place and walked towards the front door.
Some traditions he definitely remembered from his life as a human.
Felicity Heaton
It was one last mission. Shannon, a demon hunter with the agency, is looking forward to leaving behind the small town and the vampire she’s been stuck with for the past two years. Things are getting complicated fast and she wants out. A fresh start, free of her vampire partner, awaits her if she can survive their final mission and the lonely Christmas holidays.
It was one last mission. Rafe, a vampire doing time with the agency, watches it approach with dread weighing heavily in his stomach. Two years of working with Shannon has been difficult, especially since he started falling for her, but he doesn’t want their partnership to end. He has barely a few days to make her face her feelings and stop her from leaving, and he intends to do just that.
When a slimy demon threatens the season of peace and goodwill, it’s the chance Rafe has been waiting for and the moment Shannon secretly fears. Rafe’s determination to prise open her heart and her own resolve to keep it closed clash as violently as they do with the demon, and threatens to end as messily.
Can Rafe make Shannon see that his love for her is real and that she feels something for him too? Can Shannon face her fears and her past, and stop herself from running away from both? Will a wish on a star bring her what her heart truly desires—a vampire for Christmas?
available at:
My website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Vampire%20for%20Christmas
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-for-Christmas-ebook/dp/B004AM59T6/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vampire-for-Christmas/dp/B004AM59T6/
Fictionwise.com: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b115596/Vampire-for-Christmas/Felicity-Heaton/?si=0
Excerpt
His favourite prey.
Rafe stood on the lawn, his dark eyes following her from room to room in her large house. Shannon disappeared from view on the top floor only to reappear in the living room. He couldn’t see much through the open curtains but his senses made up for what he lacked in vision. He tracked her with them, focusing until the dark world around him drifted into the distance and there was only her.
She was muttering.
A smile tugged at his lips.
How many times had he told her not to mutter?
She reappeared and stood in the middle of the living room, tying her long fair hair up into a ponytail, her gaze on the television. The twinkling lights hanging around the room cast a myriad of colours, turning the scene from warm to cold and back again. She looked pale tonight. Had she been getting enough sleep? They had last worked together two weeks ago and she hadn’t seemed herself. He had tried to ask her what was wrong, but had failed to find his voice, instead leaving her to mull over whatever was bothering her in silence.
Rafe had killed the vampire that night. She hadn’t even noticed it. He’d had to report it to the agency. In a toss up between her being angry with him for telling her superiors about her dangerous lack of concentration and her being safe, the latter would always win with him.
She smiled.
His chest ached.
He hadn’t seen her smile in a long time. He stood in silence, unmoving, absorbing this rare beauty before him. She was a goddess when she smiled, and it always tugged at his insides, luring him to her. She turned towards the window and her smile slowly faded, her expression turning distant.
What was she thinking in there?
She couldn’t see him. Human eyes weren’t sharp enough to pick him out in the shadows of the tall trees on her lawn. The lights in the room would steal what little night-vision she had. He could observe her from the darkness without fear, could watch her and think over the things that plagued him every night.
The feelings.
During the day, Rafe could almost pretend they didn’t exist. The sun stole the world from him and his emotions with it, leaving him in a deathly slumber. At night, when he came to her, when he saw her again, everything returned, and each time it came back stronger.
He knew that Shannon didn’t like working with him, and the past two years had been difficult for them both at times, especially at the start, but it didn’t stop him from feeling something for her. They had been through so much together, so many fights for their lives, so many long nights passed in quiet company when no demons showed up, and so many long conversations when her guard slipped. When they had first been assigned to each other, he had wanted out of the deal straight away, but now he almost looked forward to the times they were required to work together.
His dead heart called him a liar.
He didn’t almost look forward to it at all. He waited for it. Yearned, in fact.
Rafe sighed and leaned back against the broad rough trunk of the pine tree.
It was no use anyway.
Come the New Year, the agency would separate them and relocate them at opposite ends of the country.
He stared at her. She swept a few rogue strands of golden hair back, tucking them into her messy ponytail, and laughed at something. The light from the television flickered across her face. Rafe smiled at the same time as she did. The sight of her chased the winter chill from his body.
He was going to miss her.
His little vampire hunter.
He had never wanted a partner, but she had changed that. Now, he didn’t want any partner except her.
Shannon smiled again and zipped up her red jumper, until the tall collar of it covered her neck. She pushed shorter lengths of her hair behind her ears and then looked out of the window again, and he felt as though she was looking right at him. She was so beautiful when she was unaware of him. Naturally so too. No trace of make-up touched her oval face. No kohl to highlight the depths of her green eyes, or lipstick to enhance the sensual swell of her coral lips. Everything about her was natural, right down to her curvy shape. He had tended to her wounds a few times before, each time battling his desire as he swept his fingers over her soft skin and laid eyes on the toned body she hid beneath her clothes. She trembled for him sometimes and refused to look at him whenever she did, and he was convinced that her shivers weren’t born of fear. He was convinced that part of her was attracted to him too. Her gaze shifted and settled on something partially obscured by the pale curtains.
He frowned and tried to make out what it was.
Ragged dark shape that tapered upwards. Shiny coloured lights. Glittering orbs. Tufted strings of foil.
A Christmas tree.
It surprised him that she celebrated the occasion. He had thought she would be indifferent to such human things since she was a demon hunter, but there she was, standing in a room bathed in twinkling lights, tinsel and festive trimmings. The entire street was alive with flashing reindeers, singing Santas, and fake snow on roofs. No decoration touched the outside of her two storey home, but it was different on the inside.
Rafe studied her as she adjusted a bauble on the tree. He might have been talking about her. The exterior she showed to him and others was different to how she was on the inside. He knew that best at times like these when he was watching her from the shadows. This was the real her, the one she hid beneath her armour and would never let him see. This was his only way of seeing the side of her that he wished she would show to him, and he couldn’t help himself.
He told himself that it wasn’t stalking. It was observing. It was hunting. It was having the chance to see the woman he wanted her to be around him and taking it.
Shannon moved away from the tree, towards the back of the house, her hips swaying in her snug blue jeans. His gaze slipped to her backside and he growled, desire spearing him in the gut. He loved the way she walked even when she thought no one was watching. There was something sexy about it, alluring. He cocked his head to one side and fought the urge that rose inside him.
It was useless.
She would never be his.
She had looked at him differently sometimes, almost as if he was human, but those moments rarely lasted. The barriers were swift to come back up, protecting her heart before he could reach out and capture it. During their past few hunts, he had struggled with the right words, trying to form them into a semblance of order and put his feelings in a way that she wouldn’t reject outright, in a way that would make her see that his emotions were real and that he would never harm her. He had never found the perfect moment though, or the perfect words.
And time was running out.
The ticking clock made him reckless. It didn’t matter anymore if she rejected him. He couldn’t let the chance slip through his fingers again. It was now or never.
This was their last mission together.
He wouldn’t leave without trying to make her see what he felt for her.
Shannon came out of the back room, her jacket in her left hand, and stopped in front of the Christmas tree again. She touched the same bauble she had before but this time her expression changed, turning troubled and distant. What was on her mind? Rafe had seen that look before, normally when she was lost in her thoughts, like the time he had reported to her superiors. They had told him not to worry about it and that they would speak with her. He wanted to be the one to speak to her about it. He wanted to know why she had joined the agency. She was young, barely over thirty, and she had never mentioned her family. Did her reason for hunting demons have something to do with them? Did it have anything to do with vampires?
He only hunted his own kind because the agency had him by the balls on several murder cases. He was a vampire. All of his species were susceptible to temptation and he was far from saintly. He had fought his addiction though and had come out the other side a better vampire for it. A stronger vampire because of it. He didn’t kill anymore. He could control that side of him now, and maybe it was time he made the agency realise that and made them let him go.
Rafe shook his head at the way he sounded. Childish. Petulant. Everything that a vampire his age shouldn’t be. And why? Because he didn’t want to leave her. He didn’t want to be reassigned to someone else, or sent off to work alone. He wanted to stay here, with Shannon, where he belonged.
She tugged her short black wool jacket on and Rafe knew it was time to make a move. She was expecting him and he had never been late before.
He moved further back into the shadows on her front garden when she approached the window. She didn’t see him. She closed the curtains, hiding her from view, and he resorted to tracking her with his senses again.
A car passed along the street behind him. The sound of carol singers drifted on the chill breeze. Rafe looked up at the crisp night sky and the twinkling stars. Christmas. He couldn’t remember if he had ever celebrated it.
He had forgotten so much about his former life on becoming a vampire.
His gaze dropped and stuck on something on her porch.
Mistletoe.
Rafe raised an eyebrow and then smiled as he left his hiding place and walked towards the front door.
Some traditions he definitely remembered from his life as a human.
Good morning everyone, and happy holidays!
Good morning readers and authors, and happy holidays to you. Are you all looking forward to the holidays? It's almost time to settle down and forget work for a few days whilst we spend time with our loved ones and families. This is my last blog appearance of 2010, and I'm here today to share some excerpts of my previous two releases with everyone, and to introduce you all to my next release too.
But first, here's a little bit about me.
Felicity Heaton is a romance author writing as both Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. She is passionate about penning paranormal tales full of vampires, witches, werewolves, angels and shape-shifters, and has been interested in all things preternatural and fantastical since she was just a child. Her other passion is science-fiction and she likes nothing more than to immerse herself in a whole new universe and the amazing species therein. She used to while away days at school and college dreaming of vampires, werewolves and witches, or being lost in space, and used to while away evenings watching movies about them or reading gothic horror stories, science-fiction and romances.
Having tried her hand at various romance genres, it was only natural for her to turn her focus back to the paranormal, fantasy and science-fiction worlds she enjoys so much. She loves to write seductive, sexy and strong vampires, werewolves, witches, angels and alien species. The worlds she often dreams up for them are vicious, dark and dangerous, reflecting aspects of the heroines and heroes, but her characters also love deeply, laugh, cry and feel every emotion as keenly as anyone does. She makes no excuses for the darkness surrounding them, especially the paranormal creatures, and says that this is their world. She's just honoured to write down their adventures.
If you'd like to see and read more about my books, including excerpts, then visit my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk
You can also follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/felicityheaton
Or friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/feheaton
Now, I'll gather some excerpts of my latest releases for everyone to read!
Felicity Heaton
But first, here's a little bit about me.
Felicity Heaton is a romance author writing as both Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. She is passionate about penning paranormal tales full of vampires, witches, werewolves, angels and shape-shifters, and has been interested in all things preternatural and fantastical since she was just a child. Her other passion is science-fiction and she likes nothing more than to immerse herself in a whole new universe and the amazing species therein. She used to while away days at school and college dreaming of vampires, werewolves and witches, or being lost in space, and used to while away evenings watching movies about them or reading gothic horror stories, science-fiction and romances.
Having tried her hand at various romance genres, it was only natural for her to turn her focus back to the paranormal, fantasy and science-fiction worlds she enjoys so much. She loves to write seductive, sexy and strong vampires, werewolves, witches, angels and alien species. The worlds she often dreams up for them are vicious, dark and dangerous, reflecting aspects of the heroines and heroes, but her characters also love deeply, laugh, cry and feel every emotion as keenly as anyone does. She makes no excuses for the darkness surrounding them, especially the paranormal creatures, and says that this is their world. She's just honoured to write down their adventures.
If you'd like to see and read more about my books, including excerpts, then visit my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk
You can also follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/felicityheaton
Or friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/feheaton
Now, I'll gather some excerpts of my latest releases for everyone to read!
Felicity Heaton
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Looking forward, looking back
It's typical, at this time of year, to look back and to look forward. I'd like to try something different.
Let's look at Now. It's too easy to get wrapped up in the future -- planning for it, hoping for it, wishing for it. Will my book be published? Will people like it? Will I make the X list? And looking back can make your head spin! Hindsight is always 20/20. Just accept that what happened -- happened. Now cope with the consequences.
Too often we forget about Now. Today. Right now. Try to pause and enjoy this day. We're in the middle of a festive holiday season. Take a deep breath and smile at those decorations, laugh at a movie, or just stop and enjoy the bright displays in the windows. Don't let expectations color your gift shopping (or your gift receiving). Every day is a gift to be savored, even those days when your arthritis hurts or your paycheck is too small or the heat just isn't warm enough to battle the wind chill factor. Every day is a new day, a new beginning. Don't wait for a new beginning until January 1. Start today -- in fact, start every day that way.
Look forward to tomorrow, savor the past, and enjoy today. Life is a gift we can all enjoy.
Have fun!
J Wilson
Let's look at Now. It's too easy to get wrapped up in the future -- planning for it, hoping for it, wishing for it. Will my book be published? Will people like it? Will I make the X list? And looking back can make your head spin! Hindsight is always 20/20. Just accept that what happened -- happened. Now cope with the consequences.
Too often we forget about Now. Today. Right now. Try to pause and enjoy this day. We're in the middle of a festive holiday season. Take a deep breath and smile at those decorations, laugh at a movie, or just stop and enjoy the bright displays in the windows. Don't let expectations color your gift shopping (or your gift receiving). Every day is a gift to be savored, even those days when your arthritis hurts or your paycheck is too small or the heat just isn't warm enough to battle the wind chill factor. Every day is a new day, a new beginning. Don't wait for a new beginning until January 1. Start today -- in fact, start every day that way.
Look forward to tomorrow, savor the past, and enjoy today. Life is a gift we can all enjoy.
Have fun!
J Wilson
Monday, December 20, 2010
Holiday Fiction
As a reader and a writer I enjoy holiday fiction about new characters as well as favorite characters from the past. Even if I’m not in the holiday spirit, reading a holiday themed story often gets me there. Lovers finding each other and going through squabbles, setbacks and adventures to be rewarded with their happily ever after during the holiday season inspires warm feelings and the desire to join in the holiday festivities.
As a writer I enjoy revisiting some of my characters with short and spicy holiday stories. Holiday in Hornview, Reindeer on Red Satin and Yule Tydisian are free holiday stories available on my website. They feature characters from my Horsemen, Ancient Blood and Alien Affairs series.
What’s on my reading list this year? Disturbing the Yuletide by Nevea Lane, Ginger Snap by Shoshanna Evers, Under a Falling Star by Fabian Black, and Sugarplum: Mutts by Sarah Black.
Are you reading holiday themed stories this year? What are some of your favorites?
Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic 2011!
About Kate Hill
What do trips around the world, endless nights of breathtaking sex, and a muscular, 6-foot 3-inch, brown-haired, blue-eyed significant other have to do with Kate Hill? Absolutely nothing, but she can dream, can't she? In reality Kate is a single, thirty-something vegetarian New Englander who loves writing romantic fantasies.
Currently, she might not be traveling around the world, but Kate has visited Europe and Africa and those beautiful places have been wonderful inspiration for her writing. While working at various times as a clerk, assistant karate instructor, house painter and banker, Kate dreamed of being an author. In 1996 her first short story was accepted for publication and since then she has sold over ninety short stories, novellas and novels.
When she's not working on her books, Kate enjoys reading, working out, and researching vampires and Viking history. Visit Kate online at http://www.kate-hill.com.
As a writer I enjoy revisiting some of my characters with short and spicy holiday stories. Holiday in Hornview, Reindeer on Red Satin and Yule Tydisian are free holiday stories available on my website. They feature characters from my Horsemen, Ancient Blood and Alien Affairs series.
What’s on my reading list this year? Disturbing the Yuletide by Nevea Lane, Ginger Snap by Shoshanna Evers, Under a Falling Star by Fabian Black, and Sugarplum: Mutts by Sarah Black.
Are you reading holiday themed stories this year? What are some of your favorites?
Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic 2011!
About Kate Hill
What do trips around the world, endless nights of breathtaking sex, and a muscular, 6-foot 3-inch, brown-haired, blue-eyed significant other have to do with Kate Hill? Absolutely nothing, but she can dream, can't she? In reality Kate is a single, thirty-something vegetarian New Englander who loves writing romantic fantasies.
Currently, she might not be traveling around the world, but Kate has visited Europe and Africa and those beautiful places have been wonderful inspiration for her writing. While working at various times as a clerk, assistant karate instructor, house painter and banker, Kate dreamed of being an author. In 1996 her first short story was accepted for publication and since then she has sold over ninety short stories, novellas and novels.
When she's not working on her books, Kate enjoys reading, working out, and researching vampires and Viking history. Visit Kate online at http://www.kate-hill.com.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
A Cowboy's Christmas Story
A soldier may wave a white flag of surrender but a cowboy never concedes, especially at Christmastime.
Luke McGregor knows how to protect himself. He’s a hard ass but even a cowboy with a cocksure attitude understands what he’s facing when his heart speeds up and his words slow down all because of one little brown-eyed darlin’.
Marcy Killian has something about her, a way of making Luke stand up and take notice. She may scare the livin’ daylights out of him but Luke’s played around with wild notions long enough. It’s time to approach the enemy and make nice with an old friend.
Marcy is a little older and quite a bit wiser since the last time she saw Luke McGregor. She knows all about missed opportunities and since she’s not getting any younger, she’s bound and determined to capture Luke’s attention once and for all. But she may bite off a little more than she can possibly chew.
Sparks fly when Marcy and Luke end up at the same bar on Christmas Eve. They immediately realize fate has a hand in bringing them together. Will their holiday happenstance lead to more than one night of passion or will their pride and stubbornness keep them from sharing Christmas together?
Just Released at ARE, Bookstrand, 1PlaceforRomance.com, and Amazon
Excerpt:
A soldier knows when to wave a white flag and yell surrender. He may hide behind the wind-ripped cloth and pray he doesn’t face further conflict, but he understands his purpose. He has a mighty fine reason for marching forward with a tight grip latched around a thin pole and a pale sheet waving high above his head.
He steps out in front of his fellow countrymen eager to call a truce, but he doesn’t approach the enemy without significant knowledge. He realizes he’s the weaker party on the battlefield even though that understanding hardly empowers him.
Luke McGregor wasn’t a soldier. And he damn sure wasn’t ready to turn tail and run—at least not yet. Temptation existed and he had a right mind to take out the distraction in his path or at least contain her.
He eyed the petite brown-eyed hellion he didn’t expect to see in Bo’s Bar and Grill. She still looked good enough to tie to his bed and drip berry juice down her middle. Marcy Killian was as pretty as you please and every bit as sexy as he remembered her. God help him. His dick found new life the second Luke saw her.
“Down boy,” he whispered, watching her approach.
“Hey Luke,” Marcy drawled, trying to push by him in order to make her way through the layers of people.
“Marcy,” he grated out. Every blasted time he bumped into the vixen, he felt the same. His chest tightened, his heart stopped beating and what the hell? Yeah, he mused, swiping at his forehead. He was sweating bullets.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Final Weekend to Enter Christmas Quickie Contest!
FINAL WEEKEND TO ENTER N.J. WALTERS'
CHRISTMAS QUICKIE CONTEST!
We're all so busy this time of year. There are halls to be decked, food to be prepared and presents to buy. Then there are all the social obligations, Christmas pageants and the like to schedule in. There's not much time for reading.
But there's always time for a Quickie. No, not that kind of quickie. (Although that's not a bad idea either.) But a quick read. Something you can pick up and read in one sitting while you're relaxing after a hard day of work or shopping.
I want to help you out this holiday season, so I'm giving away a free download of one of my Ellora’s Cave Quickies to two lucky readers. Just go to my website and click on the “Contests” page for details on how you can enter for a chance to win.
Winning names will be chosen at random on December 20th. That's my last official day of work before I start my holidays.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
CHRISTMAS QUICKIE CONTEST!
We're all so busy this time of year. There are halls to be decked, food to be prepared and presents to buy. Then there are all the social obligations, Christmas pageants and the like to schedule in. There's not much time for reading.
But there's always time for a Quickie. No, not that kind of quickie. (Although that's not a bad idea either.) But a quick read. Something you can pick up and read in one sitting while you're relaxing after a hard day of work or shopping.
I want to help you out this holiday season, so I'm giving away a free download of one of my Ellora’s Cave Quickies to two lucky readers. Just go to my website and click on the “Contests” page for details on how you can enter for a chance to win.
Winning names will be chosen at random on December 20th. That's my last official day of work before I start my holidays.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Xmas thoughts and gifts for you
Xmas blogging and free books!
What a great time of year to blog!.So much wonderful atmosphere surrounding everything you see and do. No matter your faith or your beliefs, the carols and joyous aura of the season can’t help but lift your spirits. It’s the only time of the year I miss the snow we had when we lived in the east. But not enough to want to go back, but not enough to go back.
I’m interested in your Xmas traditions. Xmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate. Love’em all.I have one I follow without exception, and will continue as long as I can find the proper Xmas candles. I’ve blogged about my amazing grandmother before and I honor her in a small way at Xmas. As she always did, I burn a bayberry candle on Xmas eve. The saying she taught me was “A bayberry candle burned to the socket, brings health to the home and wealth to the pocket” Once you light it you must let it burn completely down to make the verse come true. Now it’s getting harder. Not only are bayberry candle difficult to find, at least in California, but we’ve gone for years to a friend’s house on Xmas eve. I scrounge around as much as I need to find a bayberry candle, and then light it and put it in the sink to burn to the socket You’ve gotta burn it clear down, so you’re left with nothing but a little wax in the saucer the next morning.
My children think it’s a charming custom, so I find candles for them too. Not easy, believe me, at least on the west coast. I imagine easterners don’t have this much trouble.
Here’s a little Xmas present for you, especially if you hate cooking the way I do. For a great appetizer, put a slab of cream cheese on a plate and pour cranberry relish over it. Wonderful with crackers or pita chips.
And for another present… I want to hear your traditions for the holidays. I’ll pick the two top ones and give them my choice of e-books, any of them. Druids, Mages, or historical. All are listed on my website or Amazon, and you can make your choice.
And to all of you, truly one and all, a happy holiday season.
What a great time of year to blog!.So much wonderful atmosphere surrounding everything you see and do. No matter your faith or your beliefs, the carols and joyous aura of the season can’t help but lift your spirits. It’s the only time of the year I miss the snow we had when we lived in the east. But not enough to want to go back, but not enough to go back.
I’m interested in your Xmas traditions. Xmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate. Love’em all.I have one I follow without exception, and will continue as long as I can find the proper Xmas candles. I’ve blogged about my amazing grandmother before and I honor her in a small way at Xmas. As she always did, I burn a bayberry candle on Xmas eve. The saying she taught me was “A bayberry candle burned to the socket, brings health to the home and wealth to the pocket” Once you light it you must let it burn completely down to make the verse come true. Now it’s getting harder. Not only are bayberry candle difficult to find, at least in California, but we’ve gone for years to a friend’s house on Xmas eve. I scrounge around as much as I need to find a bayberry candle, and then light it and put it in the sink to burn to the socket You’ve gotta burn it clear down, so you’re left with nothing but a little wax in the saucer the next morning.
My children think it’s a charming custom, so I find candles for them too. Not easy, believe me, at least on the west coast. I imagine easterners don’t have this much trouble.
Here’s a little Xmas present for you, especially if you hate cooking the way I do. For a great appetizer, put a slab of cream cheese on a plate and pour cranberry relish over it. Wonderful with crackers or pita chips.
And for another present… I want to hear your traditions for the holidays. I’ll pick the two top ones and give them my choice of e-books, any of them. Druids, Mages, or historical. All are listed on my website or Amazon, and you can make your choice.
And to all of you, truly one and all, a happy holiday season.
Idiosyncrasies
I was trying to get my printer to work the other day I realized something. If I don’t load the paper a certain way it will jam. Since this has happened a few times and frustrated me I wanted to get to the bottom of what the problem was. So after loading and reloading my printer I came to the conclusion. The paper can’t be flat but have a little hump to it. So I need to load it hump side up. Yeah I know it was like an ah ha moment. LOL. Hey who am I to go against my printer. It doesn’t like the flat side. This made me think of other little idiosyncrasies around me.
Namely some people’s idiosyncrasies. For example every day I meet some of the same people as I go to work. We take the same seats. I don’t think it is even intentional we just go there. On the same trip there is one person who is a reader, a music listener and a cell phone talker. They each do the same thing each day. The reader pulls out whatever book they are reading. Of course since I am reading too we eye each other’s book to see what we are reading. The music listener bops and lip syncs to whatever they are listening to. The cell phone talker had a long conversation that shares all their business and so on. Yeah they are loud and I don’t think they even realize it.
These are idiosyncrasies that we each have that we don’t even think about. Another of my idiosyncrasies is at the end of my day as I come out of the tunnel in the train I automatically relax. It is at that moment that I know that I am only a few minutes from home. Home where I can relax even more before I starting all over again the next day.
What are some of your idiosyncrasies?
McKenna Jeffries
http://www.mckennajeffries.com/
…. sensual, edgy, unexpected
Blog: http://www.mckennajeffries.com/blog
Chat Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/McKennaJeffriesList
Free Reads Site: http:/ /www.satinnotes.com/
Conquering Jazz - What’s a woman to do when she unwittingly makes a tantalizing proposition to her best friend?
Be brazen, bold and set some ground rules. Her offer. One night of carnal bliss. No emotion allowed.
His counter offer. A continued affair to fulfill all their sexual cravings.
His hidden agenda. Conquer to make sure their affair never ends.
Buy here at Liquid Silver Book.
Namely some people’s idiosyncrasies. For example every day I meet some of the same people as I go to work. We take the same seats. I don’t think it is even intentional we just go there. On the same trip there is one person who is a reader, a music listener and a cell phone talker. They each do the same thing each day. The reader pulls out whatever book they are reading. Of course since I am reading too we eye each other’s book to see what we are reading. The music listener bops and lip syncs to whatever they are listening to. The cell phone talker had a long conversation that shares all their business and so on. Yeah they are loud and I don’t think they even realize it.
These are idiosyncrasies that we each have that we don’t even think about. Another of my idiosyncrasies is at the end of my day as I come out of the tunnel in the train I automatically relax. It is at that moment that I know that I am only a few minutes from home. Home where I can relax even more before I starting all over again the next day.
What are some of your idiosyncrasies?
McKenna Jeffries
http://www.mckennajeffries.com/
…. sensual, edgy, unexpected
Blog: http://www.mckennajeffries.com/blog
Chat Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/McKennaJeffriesList
Free Reads Site: http:/ /www.satinnotes.com/
Conquering Jazz - What’s a woman to do when she unwittingly makes a tantalizing proposition to her best friend?Be brazen, bold and set some ground rules. Her offer. One night of carnal bliss. No emotion allowed.
His counter offer. A continued affair to fulfill all their sexual cravings.
His hidden agenda. Conquer to make sure their affair never ends.
Buy here at Liquid Silver Book.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Xmas thoughts and gifts for you
Xmas blogging and free books!
What a great time of year to blog!.So much wonderful atmosphere surrounding everything you see and do. No matter your faith or your beliefs, the carols and joyous aura of the season can’t help but lift your spirits. It’s the only time of the year I miss the snow we had when we lived in the east. But not enough to want to go back, but not enough to go back.
I’m interested in your Xmas traditions. Xmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate. Love’em all.I have one I follow without exception, and will continue as long as I can find the proper Xmas candles. I’ve blogged about my amazing grandmother before and I honor her in a small way at Xmas. As she always did, I burn a bayberry candle on Xmas eve. The saying she taught me was “A bayberry candle burned to the socket, brings health to the home and wealth to the pocket” Once you light it you must let it burn completely down to make the verse come true. Now it’s getting harder. Not only are bayberry candle difficult to find, at least in California, but we’ve gone for years to a friend’s house on Xmas eve. I scrounge around as much as I need to find a bayberry candle, and then light it and put it in the sink to burn to the socket You’ve gotta burn it clear down, so you’re left with nothing but a little wax in the saucer the next morning.
My children think it’s a charming custom, so I find candles for them too. Not easy, believe me, at least on the west coast. I imagine easterners don’t have this much trouble.
Here’s a little Xmas present for you, especially if you hate cooking the way I do. For a great appetizer, put a slab of cream cheese on a plate and pour cranberry relish over it. Wonderful with crackers or pita chips.
And for another present… I want to hear your traditions for the holidays. I’ll pick the two top ones and give them my choice of e-books, any of them. Druids, Mages, or historical. All are listed on my website or Amazon, and you can make your choice.
And to all of you, truly one and all, a happy holiday season.
What a great time of year to blog!.So much wonderful atmosphere surrounding everything you see and do. No matter your faith or your beliefs, the carols and joyous aura of the season can’t help but lift your spirits. It’s the only time of the year I miss the snow we had when we lived in the east. But not enough to want to go back, but not enough to go back.
I’m interested in your Xmas traditions. Xmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate. Love’em all.I have one I follow without exception, and will continue as long as I can find the proper Xmas candles. I’ve blogged about my amazing grandmother before and I honor her in a small way at Xmas. As she always did, I burn a bayberry candle on Xmas eve. The saying she taught me was “A bayberry candle burned to the socket, brings health to the home and wealth to the pocket” Once you light it you must let it burn completely down to make the verse come true. Now it’s getting harder. Not only are bayberry candle difficult to find, at least in California, but we’ve gone for years to a friend’s house on Xmas eve. I scrounge around as much as I need to find a bayberry candle, and then light it and put it in the sink to burn to the socket You’ve gotta burn it clear down, so you’re left with nothing but a little wax in the saucer the next morning.
My children think it’s a charming custom, so I find candles for them too. Not easy, believe me, at least on the west coast. I imagine easterners don’t have this much trouble.
Here’s a little Xmas present for you, especially if you hate cooking the way I do. For a great appetizer, put a slab of cream cheese on a plate and pour cranberry relish over it. Wonderful with crackers or pita chips.
And for another present… I want to hear your traditions for the holidays. I’ll pick the two top ones and give them my choice of e-books, any of them. Druids, Mages, or historical. All are listed on my website or Amazon, and you can make your choice.
And to all of you, truly one and all, a happy holiday season.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Christmas Crazies
My mom is a Christmas crazy. It is HER holiday, and she celebrates it like no one I have ever met. She has Christmas everything from broiler covers to light bulbs. Every day in December has something planned and the day itself... well... it is scheduled from the 5 a.m. start to the midnight crash. I have a list of presents that I absolutely must get her for Christmas every year (which makes gift buying easy). I have a reindeer sweater she expects me to wear. I even have matching reindeer socks.
I enjoy my mom's Christmases, and I usually go to her home to share them with her. In fact, this is the first year, I won't be going home, and I'm feeling a little lost.
You see... I don't really do the Christmas thing on my own. My mom is so overboard that I compensate by having a Christmas-free zone. I exchange presents, yes, but I don't decorate, I don't put a tree up (though I have one in the basement somewhere), I don't bake, or own a single Christmas movie or album.
It'll be interesting to see what I'll do this year. I'm already watched a couple of Christmas movies on TV. I'll likely wear my reindeer sweater and socks. Will I put the tree up? I don't know.
What do you do for Christmas? Are you a Christmas crazy?
Kimber Chin is giving away a freebie story on http://businessromance.com/ .
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Need a little Christmas now
It’s the holiday season. A lot of people are grinches and self avowed Scrooges. The holiday season can be overwhelming. Stressful. Costly. It taxes both the person to be perfect and the wallet to stretch beyond its means.
Yep, I admit all that.
Me? I’m one of those people. Those people who just get filled with holiday spirit and run through the season…well, merry and bright. Yep, I’m one of those.
I love the holiday season. Everything about it just fills me with anticipation.
I watch holiday specials until my kids are sick of them. Peanuts, Alivin and the Chipmunks, Rudolph, the Muppets, Santa Claus, Nestor, Heat Miser, Cold Miser. I’ve spent time with them all. I had a Christmas VHS tape that I taped from TV with all the Christmas specials I could cram on it. *long suffering sigh* it’s given out. I played it too much. The simple message of a Charlie Brown Christmas has always wowed me with Linus telling the story from Bible in such an earnest quiet voice. One of my favorite all time Christmas specials is a Muppet Family Christmas. I’ve watched it in July. The music is awesome and who can resist the Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle gangs all getting together. Not to mention an appearance by the man himself, Jim Henson, at the end.
I cram in as much holiday music as I can as long as I can. I love the traditional carols and songs, yet I also get a kick out of new songs and parodies (think Bob Rivers and Al Yankovich). I couldn’t name a favorite song if you paid me, though I admit a certain reverence for Snoopy’s Christmas, which I can remember listening to on Christmas Day when the AM radio station would play Christmas music for 24 hours. My kids are already groaning because I have the radio planted firmly on a holiday radio station and won’t change it.
I’ve been called tacky in my decorating style. I’m not offended, it’s my style! LOL. My display has been growing every year. I don’t have enough to make any tacky tour list but with the kids help, maybe I’ll make it one day. I do enjoy simple decorations like wreaths with red bows. This morning, it snowed and someone’s evergreen tree had the white lights on…it was so gorgeous. I have snowmen, a Snoopy, an inflatable Snoopy, three deer, a polar bear, and a penguin. I’d really like an entire polar bear family but one of my polar bears broke last year. Oh, and I will cry when inflatable Snoopy, who is after the Red Baron on his dog house, finally meets his maker.
My tree is decked out fully in lights, garland, and ornaments. I love the big lights, all blinking at different rates. I get lost in the symmetry of it. I’ve loved to lay under the tree and look up at it since I was a kid. There are so many ornaments that have meanings behind them, from the “First Christmas” ornament that commemorates my marriage to the ornaments we made when we were first married and had no money to a Star Trek shuttlecraft to ornaments commemorating the pets and births of children to the ornaments the kids have made each year. It’s not decorating a tree, it’s a walk down memory lane. Yes, the tree was brought home in a convertible on a cold December night because it was the display. LOL yes even the tree has memories.
I think the holiday season invigorates my imagination. I know it gives my soul a little something extra. I need the holiday season to function the rest of the year. So please…roll your eyes at my cheery all you want, but I need a little Christmas now.
Santa did come early this year, thankfully. I had a release from Liquid Silver yesterday! That definitely adds to my holiday spirit.
Link
When Joel goes to a science fiction/gaming convention, he never expects to meet the woman of his dreams. But when he finds out a gaming buddy he's never met is there, that's exactly what happens.
Sam got tried of being a woman in the gaming communities, so she adopted a male persona to play--only now she has to make that lie up to her best friend Joel, who she's spent many a night chatting with online. She doesn't think anything that happens onscreen could be real but things sure heat up when she meets the man she considers a buddy.
Amidst science fiction regulars and popular shows and movie fans, Sam and Joel try to get to know each other beyond their gaming names and have a wild night together.
When another online woman sets her sights on Joel and is willing to do anything to get him, Sam is caught in the crossfire. Will she ever be able to reconcile herself to geek love becoming real
Mechele Armstrong
www.mechelearmstrong.com
Yep, I admit all that.
Me? I’m one of those people. Those people who just get filled with holiday spirit and run through the season…well, merry and bright. Yep, I’m one of those.
I love the holiday season. Everything about it just fills me with anticipation.
I watch holiday specials until my kids are sick of them. Peanuts, Alivin and the Chipmunks, Rudolph, the Muppets, Santa Claus, Nestor, Heat Miser, Cold Miser. I’ve spent time with them all. I had a Christmas VHS tape that I taped from TV with all the Christmas specials I could cram on it. *long suffering sigh* it’s given out. I played it too much. The simple message of a Charlie Brown Christmas has always wowed me with Linus telling the story from Bible in such an earnest quiet voice. One of my favorite all time Christmas specials is a Muppet Family Christmas. I’ve watched it in July. The music is awesome and who can resist the Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle gangs all getting together. Not to mention an appearance by the man himself, Jim Henson, at the end.
I cram in as much holiday music as I can as long as I can. I love the traditional carols and songs, yet I also get a kick out of new songs and parodies (think Bob Rivers and Al Yankovich). I couldn’t name a favorite song if you paid me, though I admit a certain reverence for Snoopy’s Christmas, which I can remember listening to on Christmas Day when the AM radio station would play Christmas music for 24 hours. My kids are already groaning because I have the radio planted firmly on a holiday radio station and won’t change it.
I’ve been called tacky in my decorating style. I’m not offended, it’s my style! LOL. My display has been growing every year. I don’t have enough to make any tacky tour list but with the kids help, maybe I’ll make it one day. I do enjoy simple decorations like wreaths with red bows. This morning, it snowed and someone’s evergreen tree had the white lights on…it was so gorgeous. I have snowmen, a Snoopy, an inflatable Snoopy, three deer, a polar bear, and a penguin. I’d really like an entire polar bear family but one of my polar bears broke last year. Oh, and I will cry when inflatable Snoopy, who is after the Red Baron on his dog house, finally meets his maker.
My tree is decked out fully in lights, garland, and ornaments. I love the big lights, all blinking at different rates. I get lost in the symmetry of it. I’ve loved to lay under the tree and look up at it since I was a kid. There are so many ornaments that have meanings behind them, from the “First Christmas” ornament that commemorates my marriage to the ornaments we made when we were first married and had no money to a Star Trek shuttlecraft to ornaments commemorating the pets and births of children to the ornaments the kids have made each year. It’s not decorating a tree, it’s a walk down memory lane. Yes, the tree was brought home in a convertible on a cold December night because it was the display. LOL yes even the tree has memories.
I think the holiday season invigorates my imagination. I know it gives my soul a little something extra. I need the holiday season to function the rest of the year. So please…roll your eyes at my cheery all you want, but I need a little Christmas now.
Santa did come early this year, thankfully. I had a release from Liquid Silver yesterday! That definitely adds to my holiday spirit.
Link
When Joel goes to a science fiction/gaming convention, he never expects to meet the woman of his dreams. But when he finds out a gaming buddy he's never met is there, that's exactly what happens.
Sam got tried of being a woman in the gaming communities, so she adopted a male persona to play--only now she has to make that lie up to her best friend Joel, who she's spent many a night chatting with online. She doesn't think anything that happens onscreen could be real but things sure heat up when she meets the man she considers a buddy.
Amidst science fiction regulars and popular shows and movie fans, Sam and Joel try to get to know each other beyond their gaming names and have a wild night together.
When another online woman sets her sights on Joel and is willing to do anything to get him, Sam is caught in the crossfire. Will she ever be able to reconcile herself to geek love becoming real
Mechele Armstrong
www.mechelearmstrong.com
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Destiny Blaine and Friends Host the Biggest Party of the Year Tomorrow and They're Giving Away Their Favorite Things
Promo Flyer Created by Dawn Roberto:
You are cordially invited to THE EVENT of the Season when Destiny Blaine and all her friends take over the LR Café Loop for a fun filled day of books, gifts and more.
It’s time for Destiny Blaine’s and Friends Annual Favorite Things Christmas Giveaway
DATE: December 12th, 2010
TIME: 9 AM EST start time till…..
WHERE: LR Café Loop (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/loveromancescafe)
Some of Destiny’s Friends are stopping by and giving away a few of their favorite things.
Take a look at this remarkable line-up of talented authors and publishers:
Secret Cravings Publishing
Dark Castle Lords
Changeling Press
Samhain Publishing
Siren-Bookstrand
Manlove Romance/Passion in Print
Aspen Mountain Press
Evernight Publishing
Kiki Howell
Jennifer Campbell
Desiree Holt
Ginger Simpson
Jessica Freely
Nicole Morgan
Jillian Chantal
Barrie Abalard
Christie Gordan
Missy Martine
Eternal Press
Damnation Publishing
Realms of Fantasy Magazine
Whispers Publishing
Gianna Bruno
Giselle Renard
Melody Layne
Sayde Grace
Natalie Acres
Addison Avery
Christina James
James Hatch
Sam Cheever
Bethany Gaines
Skylar Sinclair
Lex Valentine
Paige Tyler
Ariel Tachna
Sandy Sullivan
Selena Illyria
Lizzie T. Leaf
Selena Kitt
Cammie Eicher
Trinity Blancio
Tess MacKall
Cynthia R. Arsuaga
Tabitha Shay
Michele Hart
Laura Tolomei
JJ Keller
Jenika Snow
Over 200 authors and publishers will stop by and many of them are giving away some extravagant prizes.
Readers: Authors and publishers are giving away their FAVORITE THINGS and you’re invited to come on out and see what you can win. A lot of winners will go home with their arms loaded down with prizes. If you aren’t a member of Love Romances Café, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/loveromancescafe/ and join now. Tell us you signed up for the chat and be sure to tell all your friends where they need to be on December 12, 2010!
It’s time for Destiny Blaine’s and Friends Annual Favorite Things Christmas Giveaway
DATE: December 12th, 2010
TIME: 9 AM EST start time till…..
WHERE: LR Café Loop (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/loveromancescafe)
Some of Destiny’s Friends are stopping by and giving away a few of their favorite things.
Take a look at this remarkable line-up of talented authors and publishers:
Secret Cravings Publishing
Dark Castle Lords
Changeling Press
Samhain Publishing
Siren-Bookstrand
Manlove Romance/Passion in Print
Aspen Mountain Press
Evernight Publishing
Kiki Howell
Jennifer Campbell
Desiree Holt
Ginger Simpson
Jessica Freely
Nicole Morgan
Jillian Chantal
Barrie Abalard
Christie Gordan
Missy Martine
Eternal Press
Damnation Publishing
Realms of Fantasy Magazine
Whispers Publishing
Gianna Bruno
Giselle Renard
Melody Layne
Sayde Grace
Natalie Acres
Addison Avery
Christina James
James Hatch
Sam Cheever
Bethany Gaines
Skylar Sinclair
Lex Valentine
Paige Tyler
Ariel Tachna
Sandy Sullivan
Selena Illyria
Lizzie T. Leaf
Selena Kitt
Cammie Eicher
Trinity Blancio
Tess MacKall
Cynthia R. Arsuaga
Tabitha Shay
Michele Hart
Laura Tolomei
JJ Keller
Jenika Snow
Over 200 authors and publishers will stop by and many of them are giving away some extravagant prizes.
Readers: Authors and publishers are giving away their FAVORITE THINGS and you’re invited to come on out and see what you can win. A lot of winners will go home with their arms loaded down with prizes. If you aren’t a member of Love Romances Café, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/loveromancescafe/ and join now. Tell us you signed up for the chat and be sure to tell all your friends where they need to be on December 12, 2010!
So come on over to the LR Café December 12th and party with Destiny Blaine and her talented friends.
Christmas is coming early for Destiny Blaine readers. Come on over and celebrate the holidays with us--Christmas could come early for you, too!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Christmas Favorites
I was going to try to be more creative with my topic, but why fight it? Christmas is only two weeks away, so why not do a Christmas theme post?
I was trying to think of romantic Christmas-themed novels, but I had a lot of trouble with that. I guess it's because we think of family more often at Christmas, and we save the romantic couple activities for New Year's. I had better luck thinking of some favorite Christmas movies with romance angles. Here are my top five:
The Bishop's Wife - Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven
A beautiful story about an Episcopal minister (played by one of my favorite overlooked leading men, David Niven) who's having trouble remembering what being a man of God is supposed to be about. He's all obsessed with building a new church and doesn't want to be distracted by petty parishioner problems or his beautiful, lonely wife. Enter the unlikeliest angel ever in the form of Cary Grant and the bishop learns his lessons the hard way. Very clever and funny.
Yes, I know it's an obvious choice. It's a Wonderful Life is about an awful lot of things - dreams not realized, fighting the good fight, making a difference in the lives of others. But at its heart, it's also a love story. All about the love between George and Mary and what a difference they make in each other's lives and the lives of everyone around them because of that love.
Love Actually - Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman and every other actor or actress in London at the time of filming, or so it seems
This is a really uneven story, because it's not one story at all. It's a bunch of vignettes about some loosely related people, all of whom are having relationship troubles in the month leading up to Christmas. Colin Firth is his usual magnificent self in romancing an Italian housekeeper. Liam Neeson is touching as a widower trying to get back to the business of living. Martin Freeman, now so wonderful as Watson in BBC America's "Sherlock Holmes" is a porno movie actor. But the top peformance goes to Bill Nighy as a dissolute washed-up rock star trying to make a comeback.
Stairway to Heaven - Kim Hunter and (oh, look, here he is again!) David Niven
This one is the obscure obsession of an old movie nut. The original British title is A Matter of Life and Death. I saw this on the late show when I was a teenager and thought it was awesome. Technically, it's not a Christmas movie, but it was released on Christmas Day in 1946, so I decided it qualifies. David Niven is Peter, a British fighter pilot who's shot down on his way back from a bombing run. He has to jump out of his plane without a parachute. Before he goes, Peter talks to an American radio dispatcher named June. He's supposed to die when he jumps out of his plane, but the otherworldly Conductor meant to fetch him can't find him in the fog. And so June finds Peter instead and they fall in love. But the Conductor wants to collect his soul. A sort of extra-terrestrial court is convened to decide what's more important - Peter's duty to report to Heaven on time, or his newfound love for June. This is just a great movie and one of David Niven's best. A lot of movies have used this plot since, notably Warren Beatty's "Heaven Can Wait," but this is really the best. A great finish to any Holiday romantic movie festival.
I hope I've given you a few good ideas for holiday movies. Let me know some of your own ideas on the subject!
I was trying to think of romantic Christmas-themed novels, but I had a lot of trouble with that. I guess it's because we think of family more often at Christmas, and we save the romantic couple activities for New Year's. I had better luck thinking of some favorite Christmas movies with romance angles. Here are my top five:
The Bishop's Wife - Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven
A beautiful story about an Episcopal minister (played by one of my favorite overlooked leading men, David Niven) who's having trouble remembering what being a man of God is supposed to be about. He's all obsessed with building a new church and doesn't want to be distracted by petty parishioner problems or his beautiful, lonely wife. Enter the unlikeliest angel ever in the form of Cary Grant and the bishop learns his lessons the hard way. Very clever and funny.It's A Wonderful Life - Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed
Yes, I know it's an obvious choice. It's a Wonderful Life is about an awful lot of things - dreams not realized, fighting the good fight, making a difference in the lives of others. But at its heart, it's also a love story. All about the love between George and Mary and what a difference they make in each other's lives and the lives of everyone around them because of that love.
Bachelor Mother - Ginger Rogers and (wait for it. . .) David Niven. Technically, it's after Christmas in this story. Ginger is a salesgirl in a department store who's just lost her job at the end of the holiday shopping season when she finds an abandoned baby and decides to care for it. Very ahead of its time (1939), since it addresses the issue of single parenthood. The playboy son of the department store owner takes pity on Ginger and gets her job back, then finds himself falling in love with her and wondering what Dad will think of him cavorting with a "loose woman." But it all ends happily, of course.
This is a really uneven story, because it's not one story at all. It's a bunch of vignettes about some loosely related people, all of whom are having relationship troubles in the month leading up to Christmas. Colin Firth is his usual magnificent self in romancing an Italian housekeeper. Liam Neeson is touching as a widower trying to get back to the business of living. Martin Freeman, now so wonderful as Watson in BBC America's "Sherlock Holmes" is a porno movie actor. But the top peformance goes to Bill Nighy as a dissolute washed-up rock star trying to make a comeback.Stairway to Heaven - Kim Hunter and (oh, look, here he is again!) David Niven
I hope I've given you a few good ideas for holiday movies. Let me know some of your own ideas on the subject!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Grandma News
Hey there! Can you believe Christmas is just a couple weeks away? Where did the year go? I'm excited to share some news. On December one my daughter gave birth to her second baby, a boy this time, three days before my birthday! Talk about a wonderful birthday and Christmas gift. He's a little doll. Life is good. Thought I'd share a picture of Mason and his big sister, Alivia. They're the light of my life.
Getting back to Christmas. Do you have any friends who might have one of those fancy ebook readers? Well, if you do, and they like suspense romance then you might want to check out my latest release, All the Right Moves. It's offered in ebook and print.
Blurb -
Annie McCall finds a patient dead in her office, and now she's on the run for her life. Detective Marshall Thomas is willing to break the rules to protect the beautiful doctor, but who will protect her from him? It isn't long before the only danger Annie's facing is the sizzling heat between the sheets.
Buy it now at The Wild Rose Press
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
The Emotions of Rain
On rainy days I think about what it means to me. There is just something about the sound, scent and overall feeling that rain brings out so many various emotions. When I look out my window at the rain coming down I think of some of the different rains that and what emotions they invoke.
All New
The misty rain brings to mind the softness of a kiss or the blush of first love.
Lost and Adrift
The soaking rain with the wind blowing you to and forth batters at you like that moment when all seems lost in a relationship you put your all into. Everything you are yet it seems as if all is lost and there is no middle ground.
Resonate in the Soul
The deluge of rain with thunder and lightning resonates in the soul just like that moment when you know that person is forever yours. They are the one for you. The tumultuous emotions makes your soul sing.
Aftermath
As the rain slows and the rainbow comes out reminds you that you know all will be right. No matter what happen you will be stronger than yesterday.
There are so many more variations of rains I could explore. So much that the sounds of rain bring out in me. No matter what I experience I can compare it to the variety of rain. The next time wherever you are take a moment to appreciate the sound, scent and overall feel of rain. Let it wash over you with the many emotions of rain.
Taige Crenshaw
http://www.taigecrenshaw.com/
…increasing the sizzle factor
Blog: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com/blog
Chat Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crenshawcafe
Newsletter: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com/newsletterandgroups.shtml
Free Reads Site: http://www.satinnotes.com/
Wilde Seduction - What happens when a woman who doesn’t know how to relax meets a man whose lust for life will change her and make all her deepest desires come to life?
Buy here at Total-E-Bound.
All New
The misty rain brings to mind the softness of a kiss or the blush of first love.
Lost and Adrift
The soaking rain with the wind blowing you to and forth batters at you like that moment when all seems lost in a relationship you put your all into. Everything you are yet it seems as if all is lost and there is no middle ground.
Resonate in the Soul
The deluge of rain with thunder and lightning resonates in the soul just like that moment when you know that person is forever yours. They are the one for you. The tumultuous emotions makes your soul sing.
Aftermath
As the rain slows and the rainbow comes out reminds you that you know all will be right. No matter what happen you will be stronger than yesterday.
There are so many more variations of rains I could explore. So much that the sounds of rain bring out in me. No matter what I experience I can compare it to the variety of rain. The next time wherever you are take a moment to appreciate the sound, scent and overall feel of rain. Let it wash over you with the many emotions of rain.
Taige Crenshaw
http://www.taigecrenshaw.com/
…increasing the sizzle factor
Blog: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com/blog
Chat Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crenshawcafe
Newsletter: http://www.taigecrenshaw.com/newsletterandgroups.shtml
Free Reads Site: http://www.satinnotes.com/
Wilde Seduction - What happens when a woman who doesn’t know how to relax meets a man whose lust for life will change her and make all her deepest desires come to life?Buy here at Total-E-Bound.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Handmade Christmas Gifts
With 2010 closing in, most of us are looking forward to Christmas and if we haven’t done our Christmas shopping, we’re at least thinking about it. This year I’m giving food treats for presents instead of buying things for family members. I love to bake and find it relaxing so it’s no hardship to whip up something as a gift.
I thought I’d share one of the recipes I’m going to be making. Biscotti are one of my favorite things to nibble with a cup of coffee and you can make so many different taste combinations. This recipe comes from the Foodlovers Website. (www.foodlovers.co.nz)
Cranberry Biscotti
Makes 40 pieces
When the dough has been baked once it should be firm enough to handle and to slice, if it collapses then bake it for slightly longer. I slice it with a serrated bread knife.
Ingredients
• 220 g flour (8 ounces)
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 50 g coconut (1 ¾ ounces)
• zest of one lemon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 100 g almonds, roughly chopped (3 ½ ounces)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Method
Preheat oven to 190 C (370 F)
Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Whisk together the eggs and sugar and then pour into the dry ingredients, mix well.
Mix in almonds and cranberries. Tip dough out onto a lightly floured bench and pat into two logs, place on a greased and floured baking tray.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and when cool enough to handle slice into .5 cm thick slices.
Reduce oven heat to 130 C. Place slices on baking tray and return to the oven for 20 minutes or until biscotti are firm.
Cool on a rack and store in an air tight container.
Shelley’s notes:
1. My oven is a fan bake one. When I’m baking this recipe I use normal bake rather than the fan bake.
2. The dough is quite a damp one. I usually have a little spare flour handy and add enough so I can shape the dough easily. It really depends on the size of the eggs you are using. Three smallish eggs work better than three large ones.
3. Feel free to experiment with flavorings. I tried chocolate chips and cranberries and intend to try ginger and almond very soon.
I’ll take this opportunity to wish you a wonderful and safe festive season.
Shelley Munro lives in New Zealand and writes romance for Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave, Liquid Silver Books and Samhain Publishing. Shelley’s most recent release is a historical romance called The Spurned Viscountess, available from Carina Press. You can visit Shelley at www.shelleymunro.com
I thought I’d share one of the recipes I’m going to be making. Biscotti are one of my favorite things to nibble with a cup of coffee and you can make so many different taste combinations. This recipe comes from the Foodlovers Website. (www.foodlovers.co.nz)
Cranberry Biscotti
Makes 40 pieces
When the dough has been baked once it should be firm enough to handle and to slice, if it collapses then bake it for slightly longer. I slice it with a serrated bread knife.
Ingredients
• 220 g flour (8 ounces)
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 50 g coconut (1 ¾ ounces)
• zest of one lemon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 100 g almonds, roughly chopped (3 ½ ounces)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Method
Preheat oven to 190 C (370 F)
Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Whisk together the eggs and sugar and then pour into the dry ingredients, mix well.
Mix in almonds and cranberries. Tip dough out onto a lightly floured bench and pat into two logs, place on a greased and floured baking tray.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and when cool enough to handle slice into .5 cm thick slices.
Reduce oven heat to 130 C. Place slices on baking tray and return to the oven for 20 minutes or until biscotti are firm.
Cool on a rack and store in an air tight container.
Shelley’s notes:
1. My oven is a fan bake one. When I’m baking this recipe I use normal bake rather than the fan bake.
2. The dough is quite a damp one. I usually have a little spare flour handy and add enough so I can shape the dough easily. It really depends on the size of the eggs you are using. Three smallish eggs work better than three large ones.
3. Feel free to experiment with flavorings. I tried chocolate chips and cranberries and intend to try ginger and almond very soon.
I’ll take this opportunity to wish you a wonderful and safe festive season.
Shelley Munro lives in New Zealand and writes romance for Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave, Liquid Silver Books and Samhain Publishing. Shelley’s most recent release is a historical romance called The Spurned Viscountess, available from Carina Press. You can visit Shelley at www.shelleymunro.com
Monday, December 6, 2010
A Christmas-themed short story – The Promise by Ambrielle Kirk
My interracial erotic romance is out now at Breathless Press. If you like your romances steamy and sweet, The Promise could be a nice Christmas treat.
The Promise
By Ambrielle Kirk
Blurb
Some promises are meant to be fulfilled—especially when they involve a naughty endeavor.
Craig has been waiting for the right time to show Tina just how badly he wants her. His patience pays off when she visits him on his Christmas tree farm.
Tina could care less about buying a tree to decorate her home this holiday season. She's more concerned with the naughty promise he made to her months ago. For this couple, fulfillment of a promise could mean the beginning of a steamy rendezvous.
Tina could care less about buying a tree to decorate her home this holiday season. She's more concerned with the naughty promise he made to her months ago. For this couple, fulfillment of a promise could mean the beginning of a steamy rendezvous.
Excerpt
Tina took a sip of the champagne, set the glass on a nearby stand, and then swallowed nervously as she ran her gaze over his sculpted body. The muscles in his chest were nicely toned from heavy-duty work. The water slid down over his skin, some into the soft curls peeking from his boxers. Her gaze focused on the outline of his cock as the wet fabric clung to it, and her heart quickened and pussy clenched. She'd felt the strong outline of his arousal so many times from the hugs they shared, but always through clothes. What would it feel like to hold it in her hands, run over the soft flesh with her tongue, and accept him into her body?
"I..." She shook her head and grabbed his hand to prevent from swooning and slipping on the floor.
"Why are you so nervous, Tina?" He squeezed her hand in his. "You know me."
She laughed softly. "That's like asking me why I'm hungry."
"How can I make you at ease, then?
"Kiss me."
"What?"
What was she saying? Oh, but she was so tired of holding back her feelings for him. Tired of wanting and not having him.
"I said kiss me."
Craig stroked his fingers over her bangs, then traced the smooth brown skin on her cheek, as if admiring the texture of his roughened hands against her delicate face. Tilting her chin up, he brought her lips to meet his. His lack of hesitation did not surprise her, and she reached up to grasp the back of his neck with her fingers in acceptance. He tasted of sweet champagne and she wanted more of it. Their mouths parted and tongues flirted, and her body shivered in response, but not from the cold. Butterflies awakened in her stomach as their lips swept and roamed over each other's like a never-ending caress. She'd forgotten how gentle his kiss could be. Calloused, demanding hands. Soft, caring kisses. She loved every minute of it.
"I..." She shook her head and grabbed his hand to prevent from swooning and slipping on the floor.
"Why are you so nervous, Tina?" He squeezed her hand in his. "You know me."
She laughed softly. "That's like asking me why I'm hungry."
"How can I make you at ease, then?
"Kiss me."
"What?"
What was she saying? Oh, but she was so tired of holding back her feelings for him. Tired of wanting and not having him.
"I said kiss me."
Craig stroked his fingers over her bangs, then traced the smooth brown skin on her cheek, as if admiring the texture of his roughened hands against her delicate face. Tilting her chin up, he brought her lips to meet his. His lack of hesitation did not surprise her, and she reached up to grasp the back of his neck with her fingers in acceptance. He tasted of sweet champagne and she wanted more of it. Their mouths parted and tongues flirted, and her body shivered in response, but not from the cold. Butterflies awakened in her stomach as their lips swept and roamed over each other's like a never-ending caress. She'd forgotten how gentle his kiss could be. Calloused, demanding hands. Soft, caring kisses. She loved every minute of it.
Buy Links
My Website: www.ambriellekirk.com
My Blog: ambriellekirk.wordpress.com
Friday, December 3, 2010
Celtic Winters
Please comment below to be entered in my the blog contest, the prize is pdf ebook of Druid Bride.
As I write Celtic/Romances, I invite you to come with me back through the mist of time to the ancient tribes of the Celts in early winter. Many things marked the transition of the earth from fall to winter: salmon returned to spawn in the river pools, white, waxy mistletoe berries were the last autumn fruit to appear, also the tribes brought their shaggy red cattle in from outlying pastures to a nearby field or an enclosure within the village and the first of the winter hay would be set out for their feed. The Celts sleek, agile horses had to be bought in too. And the Celts went inside their round houses and huddled around their central fire.
Of course one of the main things for the ancient Celts was to figure out how to stay warm on those long winter nights.
Here’s a heated PG excerpt from Druid Bride:
Tanwen’s fingers played with the golden torque around her neck as she gazed at Brude. She drank in his masculine beauty as he gulped the sweet, thick mead. After the feast, she would honor him in her own way in their chamber, in their bed. Tanwen silently vowed they would heat their bedchamber in the dead of winter, hotter than the glowing hearth fire. Brude gnawed on the leg bone, ravishing it as he gazed at her with fire in his eyes. She burned for him. The pit of his stomach tingled, and it wasn’t from the mead. Her pulse pounded from just gazing at him. She studied the inviting mouth and arresting eyes on his lean, tan face. She reached out her hand and covered his wrist with hers. Lacing his fingers in hers, she squeezed his hand. His lips came down on hers in a slow, shivery kiss. Her mouth burned.
When the harper began to play and the dancing started, Brude stood, taking Tanwen’s hands in his, and pulled her to a standing position as he gazed into her eyes. “I would rather dance with you, alone.”
“Yes.” Tanwen whispered.
Arm in arm, they strolled to the wheelhouse, and as soon as they reached the door, Brude covered her mouth with his. She wrapped her smooth arms around him. Her pulsating heat shot through him. Lifting her off her feet, cradling her in his arms, he carried her inside and laid her on the smooth bull hide draped over the soft pallet. She let out a low, whispery moan. His heart beat erratically.
The main food for the ancient Celts during winter was porridge or what we call oatmeal yet they did supplement their diet by hunting, and boar was a favorite animal to hunt.
So here’s a boar hunting excerpt from Druid Bride:
Loud grunts and yells assaulted her ears as a charging beast and warriors headed straight toward them. She barely managed to jump out of the way of a raging, sharp tusked boar. A warrior burst out of the woods with more fierceness than the wild beast. He leapt like a deer. Beneath his short tunic, his long, lean, bare legs raced at the speed of a bird in flight. He pulled to a halt with the flexibility of a leather thong, bent back and then leaned forward to launch a long, black spear. The weapon soared through the air, struck hard, and impaled the beast. The boar’s high-pitched squeal tore through the forest air as it twitched in its death throes.
Tanwen nodded toward the warrior and his prize. “Good throw.”
One of the main ways the tribe prepared for the dark cold days was with cattle raids. Any tribe that didn’t have enough livestock to get them through the long, cold winter would consider grabbing some from a neighboring tribe.
Here’s an excerpt of a cattle raid from The Wolf and The Druidess:
(coming 12/7/10) Next Tuesday
“No, he is in danger,” Seren snapped.
“It is our only chance. If we lose milk and beef, the entire tribe could starve during the winter.” Hywell shook his head.
“What harm could possibly befall me? The Silures cannot hurt me if I turn them to ice, first,” Gwydion said.
“My mother would not warn me unless the threat was real,” Seren said. “I myself sense danger, but it may not be from the Silures. You must be careful.”
“Seren, he is a god,” Hywell said.
“Yes, what could happen to me?” Gwydion said.
Rather than answer, she peered into Gwydion’s eyes. “Swear to me, you will take heed.”
“Yes, I will return to you unharmed.” Gwydion pulled his wand from the pouch tied to his side and brandished it high. “I am ready.” He swirled the ash stick, decorated with Celtic spirals, through the air in a sweeping motion.
“Foes of the Ordovices
Your raid is condemned.
I forbid your flight.
Winter’s embrace,
Shall halt your escape,
Frozen like ice.
For the tribe to find.”
A blue light with the power of a lightning bold shot from the wand. Gwydion knew everyone in the village could feel the surge, and he noticed Seren and Hywell had clung to each other during the mighty blast.
“It is done,” he said to them.
“Now you must shift into wolf form,” Seren said to Gwydion as she released her hold on Hywell.
After Gwydion eased off his horse, his body blurred from one form to the next as his limbs shortened and his flesh shifted into a pelt of white fur. The wolf stood before Seren once more.
Hywell gasped. “Gwydion, do not get too near the cattle, you will spook them.”
The wolf nodded, and as he darted off, Seren goaded her horse into a hard gallop. Hywell followed.
Tanwen nodded toward the warrior and his prize. “Good throw.”
Please comment below to be entered in my the blog contest, the prize is pdf ebook of Druid Bride. For more of my ten Celtic/romance novels please visit me at
http://CelticRomanceQueen.comAnd feel free to take one of my novels to bed with you along with a cup of hot chocolate on a chilly December night.
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