Journal

Monday, October 31, 2005

WOOHOO...I got chosen for one of 12 Christmas Stories at EC! CHRISTMAS KING IS MY HOT PARANORMAL..Here is a very unofficial BLURB! I only have 20 days to write it so I have to get on it...

Alexis Gray is about to a Christmas present she will never forget... Her dream lover come to life and her past unveiled. But does she dare believe she is a princess who must make love to her prince to become Queen...and to acquire the powers she needs to protect herself from a dangerous enemy.

Now one of my SUPER talented hot author friends from the new ALLUREAUTHORS.com (coming soon!) Delilah Devlin! If you haven't read her you are missing out!
Visit her at www.delilahdevlin.com

VAMPROTICA 2005
featuring Darkest Knight
by Delilah Devlin
ISBN # 1-933400-46-3 (e-book)
ISBN # 1-933400-45-5 (trade paperback)
Published by Chippewa Publishing
http://www.delilahdevlin.com/books/anthology/vamprotica-exc.htm

While hiding her true identity, Maddie must seduce the mysterious Lord Garon to cement their marriage contract to assure she won't be returned into her lecherous stepfather’s care.

Fresh from Crusade in Palestine, Lord Garon has a secret he must hide, a hunger that must be fed, and a dark and uncertain future. Having shed himself of a fiancé he never met, he’s home to lick his wounds. The only thing he wants is a warm-blooded meal--but the new housekeeper is strangely insistent on giving him much more.
Excerpt (unedited)

Maddie shivered at the creaks and groans as the portcullis slowly rose. The wind carried the noises and filled the silences in between with a howling that sounded like the hounds from hell had arrived at the castle gate. And in a way, one had.

Shouts outside the curtain wall had alerted them only minutes before of Lord Garon d’Angerville’s arrival. With time to throw only a bliaut over her sleeping shift, she stood on the first step of the keep, holding a tray with a goblet of wine, ready to render a proper greeting to her overlord.

“Are you sure this is the way you wish to go about this, M-Maddie?” Egbert asked, fidgeting at her side.

She swallowed against the sudden dryness in her mouth and nodded.

“It be on your head, then,” he said, his always mournful tone dire as one of Father Ansel’s Sunday sermons.

The clatter of many hooves on the cobbled bridge beyond the gate was thunderous. From the encroaching darkness, the sounds were as deafening and ominous as the dark shapes looming on the gatehouse walls. The torches she’d ordered lit sputtered and flared, distorting their forms, elongating them so the men riding through the entrance appeared as giants.

Already tired and on edge from the days-long wait, Maddie’s fevered imagination painted them darker still.

“Be they devils?” Egbert asked, his narrow shoulders shaking. “No one travels on a night with nary a speck of light in the sky.”

“Hush!” The storm whipping at her clothing, and the fatigue from months of worry over this very moment, combined to make her own hands shake and dampened an already foul mood.

The horsemen entered the bailey and large shape separated from the contingent that approached the keep. As he drew closer, her fears weren’t eased one whit. The warrior sat atop a huge, black destrier, forcing her to raise her gaze quite high to seek his face.

He wore a helm that left only his square jaw exposed. His eyes were concealed in the darkness cast by the metal nose guard. Only his mouth gave hint of his mood--a thin straight line with the corners crimped downward.

Aware he stared, Maggie’s knees trembled, but her tray never rattled. She squared her shoulders and shot a glance about her at the castle folk. “Stephen!” she called to the stable master. “See to their horses.”

In moments, boys scrambled to accept reins and the air was filled with the creak of leather and the clank of iron.

The stable master stepped close to the dark warhorse at the foot of the steps, but the warrior’s gaze never left Maggie.

She licked dry lips with a dryer tongue. “Lord Garon?” she asked, although there could be no question who led this contingent. All gazes remained on his intimidating figure. “Please come inside, milord. Your people will see to your comfort and that of your men.”

His mouth twisted in an alarming sneer. “And who will see to mine?”

Maddie’s heart leapt to the back of her throat. “I will, milord.”

A long pause indicated he looked her up and down. “Who the blazes are you?” he asked, his voice a deep, hollow rumble.

Maddie remembered to curtsy, and then straightened, girding herself to speak the lie aloud. “Your housekeeper, milord. I take care of things now.” The last at least was the truth.

Lord Garon grunted. Without a glance at the stable master, he tossed down his reins and dismounted.

When he turned, Maggie’s breath caught. Lord, he’s a tall man. I thought it was just the horse!

Maddie lifted the ornate chalice from the tray to deliver her much-rehearsed welcome.

Instead, his lordship’s lips pressed into a tighter line and he brushed past her.

She was left gasping on the bottom step. “What a rude ogre!” she exclaimed, annoyed he hadn’t fallen in with step one of her plan.

“Watch your tongue, madam” an accompanying knight said as he followed the lord up the steps. “He has exceptional hearing.”

“M-Maddie?” Egbert said, nodding toward the door.

She shoved the tray at his belly and grasped her skirts high to rush up the steps.

The plan had seemed so simple. All she needed was to get him alone, addle his sight with a little wine and ale so he’d not care she wasn’t the comeliest creature in the keep. Then she would seduce him.

And the sooner, the better. For the longer she took in losing her virginity, the greater the risk he would discover her identity. The truth was, she’d rather copulate with the devil himself than be returned home.

However, this business of copulation, which had seemed a simple, messy, perhaps even enjoyable act according to the laundress, now boded a daunting trial.

After all, the lord of the keep was a giant and dour as a priest at confession. The thought of being naked with him and accepting his manstaff into her body frankly petrified her. She rushed through the massive doors, hoping her preparations would meet with his approval. Nothing else could mar her well-thought out plan.

Inside the hall, his lordship stood in the center, hands on hips. Unlike his men, he wore no chain mail, no leather hauberk to protect his body. He’d removed his headgear, revealing hair black as midnight and a face hard as carved granite.

His gaze narrowed, and she looked around to see what might have displeased him already.

Around him, servants scurried delivering warm food to the men-at-arms as boys eagerly divested them of their armor. If she hadn’t been observing him so closely, she might not have detected the change. He scarce seemed to notice the din of activity. His mouth lost a little firmness. His hands unclenched on his hips and his chest rose and fell deeply.

In that instant, Maddie lost a measure of her fear. Here was a man savoring his first night home after a long absence. He had a heart, and cared for something at least. Perhaps he wouldn’t be a complete troll when making her his wife.

* * * * *

Posted by Lisa Renee Jones :: 8:32 AM :: 7 comments