Recently I met Julie A. D’Arcy, but only
online. She lives in Australia but writes a variety of genres that include
contemporary western romance. Her book THE
SHAPE OF DESTINY is a paranormal in this genre. Her book appears in the
eight-author anthology COME LOVE A
COWBOY, contemporary western romance that released April 1. These eight
books are all new, never before released. You can snap it up at: http://amzn.com/B01D5876UK
for only
99 cents for the time being.
THE SHAPE OF
DESTINY Blurb:
Cole is a shape shifter on the
run from the man who murdered his parents. Shannon is a
well-educated owner of a ranch
who refuses to acknowledge her Indian heritage and
their beliefs. When danger
threatens and Cole’s secret is revealed, can Shannon find it in
her heart to believe in the
unbelievable and change their destiny?
THE SHAPE OF
DESTINY Excerpt:
Cole awoke to the sound of a loud
crack. His eyes fluttered open and stared into the
barrel of a gun. He should have
recognized the sound of a rifle being cocked. His first
thought…Granger has finally
found me.
This wasn’t a man’s voice at all,
but a woman’s. “What are you doing here? Who are
you?”
He climbed to his feet, knowing
instinctively she wouldn’t shoot. He could read people
and knew she wasn’t the type to
take the life of another human being. An animal he
wasn’t sure about. He laughed
inwardly and glanced to where his sister had slept. Gone.
He frowned and forced himself not
to look around for her. Mia knew to hide at the first
sign of danger.
Cole had to get the woman out of
the barn. “I was just passing through.” He bent to pick
up his backpack. “I’ll leave now.
I needed somewhere to crash for the night, that’s all.”
The rifle followed his movement
as he bent to retrieve the shirt he’d used as a pillow.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Why is that?”
He straightened and looked at her
then, really looked at her. She was quite beautiful in
an unusual sort of way. Dark
eyes, almost black, her skin a shade darker than most, and
high cheekbones. If it wasn’t for
the long pale blonde hair he would have sworn she was
Native American. Maybe she had
some of their blood in her gene pool. And he wanted
her; he’d been a long time
without a woman. He ignored the lust in his gut and headed
for the door.
Her voice quavered. “Stop or I’ll
shoot. I swear I will.”
He stopped but didn’t turn. “I
don’t think so.”
He sensed her falter as she
lowered the rifle. A head shorter than him, she came to stand
beside him. “I just want to know
what’s going on here.”
“Nothing is going on. I was
hiking across country. I needed somewhere to sleep and
spied the lights in the
distance.” He shrugged. “Thought there was no harm in sleeping
in your barn. I’d be gone before
anyone found me. Guess I was wrong.”
* * *
Why didn’t she believe him? When
she’d first found him sleeping on the hay a gamut of
emotions ran through her
body—fear, anger, and she had to admit, he was the most
amazing looking man she’d ever
seen. Most guys she knew were either old, scrawny, or
had a gut the size of six
watermelons. He pulled on his black t-shirt to cover his six-pack,
and broad, muscled shoulders. She
couldn’t help but finish her inspection by running
her gaze down his stomach to
where a line of dark hair disappeared past his belt buckle
into his pants, and then lower to
the thick thighs covered by his faded blue jeans.
When she looked up again into his
yellow-green eyes, his lips held a smirk, as if he knew
her thoughts as she perused his
body. What was he thinking? She didn’t want to know,
but for some unknown reason she
wanted him to stay. She glanced away, and that was
when she saw her, a little
girl in long white nightgown with curly black hair. She clung to
the barn wall and Shannon realized
then she had the rifle trained on the child.
The man whipped around and pushed
the rifle down before Shannon could lower it. And
then he glowered at her.
“I wouldn’t have pulled the
trigger,” she said. “I didn’t know she was there.” She spoke
to the child, her voice soft.
“Don’t be afraid. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Offering her
best smile, she added, “You
startled me.”
She was a pretty little thing,
with the same coloring as her father. She wondered about
the story behind that. Why wasn’t
the child in school? Had he kidnapped the girl from
her mother and they were on the
run? And where was her mother?
She turned her attention to the
man again. “I presume the girl is with you?”
“Yes.”
She put his age at around twenty-six…twenty-seven,
a little young to have a daughter
this age.
“Mia, go behind the bales and get
dressed, we’re leaving.”
The child picked up her backpack
did as she was told.
Shannon remained silent wondering
what to say or do next. A child was the last thing
she expected to see in her barn.
There was a story here, but she wasn’t sure she wanted
to pursue it. Questions lingered
on her lips but halted in her throat when she took in the
thunderous look on the man’s
face.
“Want to tell me your name?”
“Why?” he said with a slight
sneer. “We are not staying. There’s no reason to know our
names.”
For a moment she thought she saw
something akin to fear flicker in his bright eyes.
“Look, Mister, don’t make me out
to be the bad person here. You were the one
trespassing.”
His shoulders slumped. “Sorry. As
I said, we needed somewhere to sleep.”
Mia came running toward him and
slipped her small hand into his before they turned
away and headed for the door.
“Stop!” she said a little too
loudly. “Do you need a job?” Where the hell did that come
from?
He stopped and pivoted toward
her, a half-laugh erupting from his throat. “First you
point a gun in my face, threaten
to kill me, now you offer me a job?” He raised a brow.
“Why?”
“Something is killing my cattle
and I need them moved closer to home. They’re about
five miles from here, near the
base of the mountain. I was going to take the pickup into
town to hire someone, but thought
I’d ask if you might be interested, or perhaps you
could use the money.
Mia looked up at the man with an
indefinable look on her small face.
“Well do you?” Shannon asked
again.
“What?”
“Need a job?”
The little girl spoke for the
first time. “Can we stay?”
His features softened as he
looked down at her. “I suppose we could stick around for a
few days.”
“We have several bunkhouses for
the ranch hands and one sitting empty right now.
Simple and clean but it does have
a stove and a bathroom.”
“Seems Mia’s made her mind up,”
he said.
He still had that wary look in his
eyes, but she ignored it for now. It was none of her
business where they had come from
or where they were going. She needed help on the
ranch, and he was here. Maybe
he’d even decide to stay for more than a few days.
“Good, it’s settled. I’ll show
you to the bunkhouse and have some food brought over.
“Oh, by the way, you do know how
to ride a horse, right?”
“Well enough,” he replied. “But
horses don’t like me much.”
“I’m sure we can find one or two
that do.” She smiled. “And my name is Shannon. Can I
know yours now that you’re going
to be working for me?”
“It’s Cole.” Mia answered for him
and slipped her hand into Shannon’s. “He doesn’t talk
much.”
“I gathered that.” Shannon
thought it strange Mia should answer for her father, but that
was their business, not hers.
“Have a last name to go with that?”
“No. No last name.” Cole shot
back. “We won’t be staying that long.”
Shannon was taken aback. “Fine,
but it might be hard to pay you with no last name.”
“Cash will do fine.” He headed
for the door. “You said something about showing us a
bunkhouse?”
“Of course,” she answered him in
the same short tone he’d used on her. “And then I’ll
meet you at the stables in an
hour.”
“I don’t have a watch.”
“How about a cell phone?”
“Nope.”
“Use the digital alarm clock in
the bunkhouse then.”
“Fine. Where are the stables?”
“That would be the building next
to the barn.”
He pushed a hand through his long
black fringe. “Looks like I’m yours then, at least for a
few days. Lead the way.”
What influenced
my story?
At a young age, my father
encouraged me to watch western movies on the television as
they were his favorite. Out of
this grew a glamorous but somewhat glorified view of the
Old West. I grew to love all the
westerns staring John Wayne, who to me encompassed
the ideal western hero.
As to why I chose a shape
shifter, black Panther, for the hero of my novella? Fantasy and
Paranormal are the usual genres I
write. Also, when I was around twenty and driving
out in the country I could have
sworn I saw a black Panther run into the trees at the side
of the road. The incident never
left me.
When asked to write a novella for the COME
LOVE A COWBOY anthology I have combined all these elements
into my story hopefully to a satisfying conclusion.
 |
| Julie A. D'Arcy, Author |
Julie A. D’Arcy was born in Bendigo, Australia,
lived her formative years in Melbourne, then moved to Wangaratta. After leaving
college, she returned to Wangaratta where she set up her pottery business,
specializing in fantasy pottery, in which she still dabbles. She married and
has two beautiful daughters, Errin and Tegan. She has since divorced and now
lives with her life partner, Phillip. She also has a spoiled Tonkanese named
Jessalyn and a big, gray fluff ball named Jasper. She is an award winning
author of numerous novels and novellas and founder of Entangled Press. You can
find her here:
