A. NICKY HJORT SHARES HER BOOK -- A SINISTER VISION

A
Sinister Vision

Sinister
Series Book 2

by
A. Nicky Hjort

Genre:
Romantic Thriller

Elise
Phillips, a doctor in training, has successfully repressed her
kidnapping five years prior. The only problem is...she has six and
one half days to remember every terrible detail, or a total stranger
will die. But to make matters even worse, in order to save this
nameless woman, Elise will have to face something that scares her
even more than death–intimacy.

Another
paranormal romantic thriller, A Sinister Vision: Know This Much is
True, the second of the Sinister Series, will take you even further
over the edge of what you know to be possible and guide you right
back out through the only way left...impossible.

Wake
up. Open your eyes. Accept your assignment.

...The
problem is not to find the answer–but to face it.

Know

this much is true.

Goodreads * Amazon

A
Sinister Bouquet: Awakening

Sinister
Series Book 1

Devyn
Mitchell has a choice… listen to the voice of her unborn baby –
or die- again.

After
a near death experience, Doctor Devyn Mitchell finds herself not only
mysteriously pregnant but able to communicate with her fetus.

She
has two choices: give in to total madness or surrender to her new
reality, which just may be the only way she and her family will
survive the obsessions of the Homeless Hunter’s mind.

A
true paranormal romantic thriller, A Sinister Bouquet: Awakening, the
first of the Sinister Series, will take you right to the edge of what
you know to be possible and then drop you in a place so dark, so
terrifying, that the only passageway out is through the blinding
light of awakening.

Wake
up.

Open
your eyes.

Finally.

We’ve
missed you so.

(MA18+

for graphic sexual and violent content)

Goodreads * Amazon

A.
Nicky Hjort is originally from Arlington, Texas- the second of five
siblings, all of whom have strong creative talents. She currently
lives in coastal central California where she practices medicine as
an Ob/GYN. In between being a lovingly devoted mother and delivering
babies, she writes stories that cross multiple genre lines- from Sci
Fi to high fantasy, but all of her stories have thriller and strong
romantic components. And for her clever reader, all of her
manuscripts are subtly connected to each other, with their purpose to
explore all facets of Love and Light. She likes to say that her
stories write themselves, and in the process, often write her, or at
least the next version of her hoping to emerge. A lover of all the
arts, A. Nicky Hjort hopes her stories might inspire you to find your
inner creative genius.

As
for her heroes- they are as varied and eclectic as her choice of
narrative genres, but when pushed to list her favorite influences,
she would say James Patterson, Barbara Kingsolver, Patricia Cornwell,
Dean Koonntz, Gene Roddenberry, Shel Silverstein, Suzanne Collins,
and Walt Disney.

She
thanks you for your attention to her work.

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There's tons of neat prizes up for grabs!

ENTER HERE!

NOT A PERFECT FIT IS A BOOK OF HUMOROUS, HEARTWARMING STORIES

Not A Perfect Fit

by
Jane A. Schmidt

Genre:
Heartwarming Humorous Short Stories

Not a Perfect Fit is a collection of stories that are laugh-out-loud
funny one minute and thought-provoking the next. Stories range from
Schmidt’s experience living off-grid as the only English woman in
an Amish neighborhood to family trips that are remarkably similar to
National Lampoon’s Vacation. Through it all, she manages to rise
above the many challenges she faces—inspiring and entertaining her
audience along the way. Filled with animal antics, gratitude,
mishaps, and madcap adventures, Not a Perfect Fit’s tell-all,
single-girl-gone-country, down-home stories give readers permission
to laugh and cry—and, most important, to carry on.

Goodreads
* Amazon

An Interview with Jane

1. When did you make the move from the city to rural Wisconsin? Why? 

I moved to the Driftless area of Wisconsin after the hype of the millennium in 2000. I spent a lot of time driving in the country when my daughter was small. I'd see an old cabin or a house that was falling apart and I'd think, if only I could buy that place. My dreams were of land, out-buildings, animals, and a quiet country life. I longed to get out of the city and live closer to the land, where I felt I’d have more room for living.

2. How did moving to rural Wisconsin impact your life? 

The impact was huge. I had to start all over. I had no friends here, no job, and after a couple of months I was living off-grid. The learning curve was not only steep but sometimes dangerous. I cooked with a head-lamp on in order to see. The “hot plate” was connected to a propane tank under my cabin. I lived in fear every time I lit a match. I thought I'd blow myself and the cabin up. Every day I learn something new. Like don't use the John Deere mower to blaze a hiking trail through your Amish neighbor’s hay field. Before moving here I spent all my free time getting away. I'd drive to the parks, small country towns, lakes, and rivers. I was camping out every chance I had. Now I live in the kind of areas I was always running too. I can finally slow down and walk!

3. What is your favorite part about living in the country? Is there anything you miss about city

life? 

I lived in apartments before moving to this area. I love the freedom of living alone, surrounded

by trees and my animal family. Coming from apartment city living to my own home in the country

is liberating. I feel I can live-out-loud better here. I miss ethnic restaurants, my family, and the many

lakes I lived near when in the Milwaukee area.

4. How does your passion for fitness and wellness influence your stories? 

My passion for a life lived outside has influenced my interest in fitness and wellness. I knew from the get-go that I needed to stay fit and healthy to live the life I wanted to. My stories revolve around my life. My

passion for fitness and wellness is reflected in them.

5. Why do you think readers connect with your stories? 

My stories are real. I talk about everyday happenings that some people would never admit to. Reading about walking through an airport with toilet paper hanging off my rear end or mixing up the words circumcise and circumnavigate allows people to relax and find the humor in their own lives. In the end, we're all just people trying to do the best that we can. Not a Perfect Fit reeks of humanness.

JANE A. SCHMIDT is a columnist and the owner of two businesses, Fitness
Choices and Turtle Adventures. When not teaching her fitness classes
or encouraging women to get outside, she spends her time backpacking
in places like the Grand Canyon, Superior Hiking Trail, and Isle
Royale National Park; biking across Wisconsin; hiking and kayaking in
the Kickapoo Valley Reserve; or just hanging out with her animal
family in rural Viola, Wisconsin.

Website
* Facebook
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* Amazon

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CLOAK AND MIRRORS -- SUSPENSE ON A HONEYMOON

Cloak and Mirrors

by P.M. Terrell

GENRE:   Suspense

P.M. Terrell will be awarding Celtic necklace containing the Tree of Life. USA only to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

Ms Terrell shared an interview with us. I've left out the questions so you can enjoy her answers as a vignette of her life:

I began writing when I was nine years old. My father was an FBI Agent and we were living in New Jersey when he was sent to the Mississippi Delta during the tumultuous 1960’s. It was a violent period; Jewish synagogues were being bombed, African Americans were being lynched; and three young men were killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi as they simply tried to register African Americans to vote.

Prior to moving to Mississippi, I had not been shy but I found myself ostracized because I was the daughter of an FBI Agent—someone they wanted out of their state—and I turned inward. The principal at my school saw how lonely I was and she suggested that I write. Creating people and events in my mind led to a lifelong pursuit of writing and when I retired from the computer industry in 2002, I turned to writing full-time.

I also turned to reading an eclectic assortment of books, from Edgar Rice Burroughs to Agatha Christie, Daphne du Maurier to Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee. I loved books that took me away from the Mississippi Delta, particularly those set in England, Ireland or Scotland in centuries past.

It wasn’t until I began writing the story of an ancestor, Mary Neely, in Songbirds are Free that I began to understand my connection to Western Europe. Mary had been captured by Shawnee warriors in 1780 near Fort Nashborough (now Nashville, TN); I knew she had been of Scot-Irish descent but like so many Americans, I knew little else about those distant ancestors.

I began to research my family history and it brought me deeper into Ireland than I ever thought possible. My sister and I began traveling to Ireland, discovering the land that was granted to John Neely in Ballygawley, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. We were presented with a book from the local school that had just celebrated a hundred and fifty years on ground that was donated by the Neely “lords” and we were astonished to find that the villagers still remembered the last of the Neely family. We stood in the family cemetery amid gravestones that had been destroyed; we were told during the time of The Troubles, the British soldiers destroyed them looking for hidden IRA weapons, which they did not find.

Cottage in Ballygawley, Northern Ireland

There is something about Ireland and discovering one’s past that never leaves. That is why my books have increasingly more information about Ireland, from Dylan Maguire’s past in Dylan’s Song to a honeymoon in Cloak and Mirrors. In Cloak and Mirrors, much of the action takes place in Donegal and along the Wild Atlantic Way, which is where my ancestor, William Neely (John’s father) first lived when he immigrated to Ireland from Wigtownshire, Scotland in 1608. Interestingly, as I was researching a new series about my Irish ancestors (to be released later this year) I discovered that the family was actually coming home to Ireland—they left Ireland for Wigtownshire about four hundred years earlier (circa 1200) and there is a possibility that our family is related to Niall of the Nine Hostages, who was the High King of Ireland around 400 AD. I am awaiting the DNA results now.

I had plans to move to Ireland and write my books in a little cottage by the sea, but unfortunately Ireland has initiated stricter guidelines and now an American must have more than $50,000 per year in a government guaranteed pension—income from writing is not counted. I have not given up, however; I hope someday that requirement will be set aside so I can return to the land of my ancestors—a land that resonates more with me with each passing year.

CLOAK AND MIRRORS Blurb:

CIA operatives Vicki Boyd and Dylan Maguire are back in the 6th book of the award-winning Black Swamp Mysteries Series. Vicki and Dylan journey to Ireland for their honeymoon and while they are there, they agree to pick up a package from a Russian spy containing plans for Russia's latest stealth technology. But when the Russian decides to defect, they find themselves trying to get him safely out of the country. They also discover the Kremlin has uncovered their identities and now Vicki and Dylan flee across the island. With breathtaking descriptions of Ireland's rugged coast and the Northern Lights, romance and suspense come together again.

CLOAK AND MIRRORS Excerpt:

“Nettie O’Connelly,” Jack began, “was the mother o’ nine children and a widow to boot. She lived in west Belfast within a stone’s throw o’ The Falls Road and within full view o’ the Divis Tower. It would have been the early 1970’s, so it would.” Jack shook his head. “There was violence every blasted day and night. The Catholics lived on one side o’ the road—divided by the Protestants by what is now known as the Peace Wall.”

He fell silent for a moment as he collected his thoughts. “Divis Tower was manned by British soldiers. Not much was done about violence against the Catholics—” he snorted for effect “—but violence against the Protestants, even in retribution or defense, was dealt a heavy hand. A heavy hand indeed.

“So it didn’t go unnoticed when one o’ the British soldiers stood at Divis Tower and looked down at Nettie’s home. Not once, mind ya; not twice. Every blasted day. She spent time each day washin’ and hangin’ her clothes in the yard—nine children can dirty a lot. She was still attractive, children or no; hair the color of a sunset and eyes snappin’ green. Petite thing she was.”

A gust of wind howled through the night, sounding like a woman’s protracted moan. Ciara began to paw the ground and Dougal snorted.

“We began to suspect a spy in our midst. Oh, it was a bad time, to be sure. Neighbors watchin’ neighbors. No trust, even for brothers. The slightest thing could set off the neighborhood like a powder keg just waitin’ to blow. There were brawls a’plenty. Boys gone missing overnight. Anyone suspected of cavortin’ with the Brits was dealt with severely.”

He rose and stepped to Ciara, stroking her mane in a gentle effort to calm her. “Then the ladies along the block began to notice a correlation between the colors o’ the clothes Nettie washed and hung and what happened afterward… When she washed her whites, she always seemed to leave her home at a particular time and always went a round-about ways. No one knew where she went. It wasn’t to the neighborhood butcher or grocer or any of the usual places a woman would go. Then one day she was spotted in the center of Belfast—an area declared to be accessible to both Catholics and Protestants, unionists and loyalists, which was laughable indeed.”

“So Nettie O’Connelly was a spy?” Alexei asked.

“We’ll never know, boy. That very night she was hauled from her home, right in front of her nine children. And never seen again.” Just as they thought the story was over, he continued. “My brothers were there. They told me about it afterward, I think as a warnin’ to keep my own mouth shut and my head down. They drove Nettie O’Connelly to the very spot where we were to meet the plane. Three carloads o’ men, at the least, and Nettie beggin’ for her life and for her children’s safety. A woman could scream till her throat grew bloody and not a soul would hear her out at the old lighthouse. And so it went on for hour after hour.”

Jack looked at the skies. “It would have been just about this time o’ year, I’d wager. The skies grew black around four or five o’clock and the sun wouldn’t make its appearance until nigh on ten o’clock the next morn. Long nights, they were. They said that Nettie was tortured until the witching hour approached, but she never confessed, never admitted to giving any one of us up. Not even when her children’s lives were threatened. She always maintained her innocence.” His voice grew quiet and then stopped.

After a long moment, Alexei asked, “What became of her?”

“They thought she was dead. Her body was laid out on a flat rock whilst the men debated what to do with her. Some wanted her buried, others brought out to sea. It wasn’t a night like this one, you see. There were no Northern Lights that night. No stars, not even a moon. Just a thick fog that rolled in from the sea, uncanny it was. It was so murky that the men carried a lantern from the cars to the water’s edge; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to find their way. My brothers said they set the lantern beside Nettie’s body while they huddled just a few feet away. They realized everythin’ had gone black around them and when they looked back, she and the lantern were gone.”

Jack inspected Ciara’s bridle for a moment before continuing. “It was easy to see which direction she’d gone; the lantern was bobbin’ along one o’ the paths, around the brambles and the rocks and along the ridgeline. They followed it for a bit, shoutin’ as those men did—” he nodded his head toward the east “—and then the lantern was snuffed out.”

He wiped his nose. “They continued searchin’ for her but it was too dark. Black as pitch, it was. They left sentinels along the main roads to Belfast and left others in charge o’ watchin’ her home and her children. It wasn’t until summer that they found her at the base o’ a cliff, her neck broken. It’s said they brought her body—ravaged by time and the elements—into the ocean some three hours out and dropped her overboard.”

Alexei joined the two men. “And that was the end of the story?”

“Oh, no,” Jack chuckled but his eyes held no mirth. “That was only the beginning. For it’s said that Nettie O’Connelly still haunts these parts after all these years, carryin’ her lantern at the witchin’ hour, lurin’ men to their deaths.”

   

Buy links –

https://www.amazon.com/Cloak-Mirrors-Black-Swamp-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B01NAWXFSK/

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

p.m.terrell is the pen name for Patricia McClelland Terrell, the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 20 books in several genres, including suspense, historical and non-fiction. Prior to becoming a writer, she owned two computer companies in Washington, DC with a specialty in combatting computer crime. Her clients included the CIA, Secret Service and Department of Defense. Technology is often woven through her suspense thrillers. Terrell is of Irish descent, and Ireland often figures prominently in her books as well. She has been a full-time author since 2002 and currently travels between her home in North Carolina and Northern Ireland, the home of her ancestors. She is also the founder of Book ‘Em North Carolina’s Writers Conference and Book Fair (http://bookemnc.org) and The Novel Business (http://thenovelbusiness.com).

Website: http://pmterrell.com

Blog: http://pmterrell.blogspot.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/pmterrell

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pmterrell.author/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/terrellpm

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pmterrell/books/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmterrell

GIVEAWAY

P.M. Terrell will be awarding Celtic necklace containing the Tree of Life. USA only to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

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COVER REVEAL FOR MARTHA HIX'S UPCOMING RELEASE!

HIS HIGH-STAKES BRIDE 

by Martha
Hix

Genre: Historical Romance

Pub Date:
8/29/2017

Win, lose—or fall in love . . .

After
losing her mama and all she has, vagabond Patience “Patty” Sweet
dreams of reuniting with her father in the New Mexico territory. So
she teams up with a no-good gambler whose winnings enable her to get
her closer to her destination. Patty hates hanging around saloons and
poker parlors, pulling dishonest deeds. But when a game of five-card
draw goes wrong in Lubbock, Texas, Patty gets offered up as
collateral—to a handsome stranger who’s about to turn the tables
. . .

Lawyer
Grant Kincaid has no intention of claiming his prize—a nearly
nineteen-year-old petite beauty with sweet eyes—who has a hold on
him he can’t deny. But as he tries to help Patty untangle herself
from her shady partner, he discovers she’s not as innocent as she
seems. For starters, she’s already stolen his hardened heart . . .

Amazon * B&N * GooglePlay * Kobo * Apple

Martha Hix grew up in Texas and
didn’t mind listening to stories about how her ancestors had been
in the place for a long, long time. Well, in Texas that just meant
more than a hundred years. This weird kid soaked up the stories and
became an ardent student of family and general history, which came in
handy when she took to writing both fiction and non-fiction.
Eventually, her romance novels were translated into many foreign
languages, some of them very foreign, like Japanese, Greek, and
Turkish. On the home front, she lives in the fabulous Texas Hill
Country with her husband and their spoiled four-legged kids. Visit
her on the web at marthahix.com.

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GRANT ME THE MOON IS NOW A SINGLE TITLE!

A word of caution. I wouldn't want you to buy GRANT ME THE MOON twice. If you read the contemporary western romance box set COME LOVE A COWBOY, then you’ve read GRANT ME THE MOON. I pulled my book from that set so I could release it as a single title because I am currently working on a sequel, CAPTURE A STAR. Both are set in and near Post, Texas.

Hero and I grew up in Lubbock, Texas, which is forty miles or so from Post. After we married, we drove from where we lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to Lubbock and back to visit family a million, gazillion times.  Maybe not that many, but that’s what it seemed. We went so often we knew when ranchers or farmers painted the barn or got a new pickup truck.

View approaching the Caprock
my photo

On the way, we passed through Post, founded by the cereal magnate Charles William Post, at the foot of the Caprock escarpment. Post bought 250,000 acres to start an experimental colony. This included a number of ranches. He fenced off the land in 160-acre tracts, laid out a townsite, built houses, and in other ways worked to attract settlers. In 1907 Garza County was formally organized and Post City designated as county seat. The name was later shortened to Post.

Someone holding a Clovis point
photo from Google Commons

Evidences of early man found in Garza County include Clovis points (spearheads) like the one pictured above. In 1934, archeologists also discovered the 16-foot-long tusk of a prehistoric imperial mammoth. A type of arrow point used by hunters before 1500 AD was uncovered in the county during the 1960s and named the Garza point (shown below). The site is called the Garza Site and is on private land so we couldn't visit for a tour.

Garza Point
from Google Commons

Nevertheless, Hero and I always wished we could visit the Garza Site. We are amateur archeology fans and have enjoyed visiting places like Chaco Canyon, Hovenweep, and Mesa Verde. Since we couldn’t visit the Garza Site, I invented one on a nearby ranch. Writing fiction is so great!

I don’t know why Post captured my imagination, but it did. The thought of C. W. Post’s Utopian community in dusty West Texas both tickles and puzzles me. Post remains very nice even though it is not exactly what Post visualized. The area has a particular desert beauty, although it is primarily ranch land. A branch of the Brazos River passes through the county. Cotton and hay are grown in Garza County, but I believe most cotton is grown above the Caprock. Oil wells dot the ranchland and wind farms spread along the edge of the Caprock. 

Photo from Google Commons

Our parents are no longer living so we don’t drive through there very often now but my fascination with Garza County hasn’t diminished. Perhaps that’s why Post seemed the perfect setting for GRANT ME THE MOON, available for 99 cents for a limited time. This is book two of the Texas Caprock Series. Book three, CAPTURE A STAR, will be released in a couple of months.

Allow me to share some of GRANT ME THE MOON. Here’s the blurb:

All Tory Fraser intended was to show her high school history club students a local archeology dig. How could she know the excursion would involve a murder? Or that one of her students would be suspected as the killer? And she had no idea she would meet the man of her dreams.

Grant Grayson has taken over management of Grayson Ranch near Post, Texas to give his grandfather a less arduous schedule. A flash flood washed away an old talus slope on the ranch to reveal a prehistoric cave that is a Clovis site. Being a good citizen, he invited the nearest large university archaeology department to excavate the cave. When a gorgeous blonde high school teacher asks his permission to take her students to the site, how can he deny her? Especially when he is instantly attracted to her as he’s never been to anyone.

Tory and Grant are drawn into the investigation to clear her student but unintentionally make themselves a target.

Now I’ll share an excerpt from GRANT ME THE MOON:

This evening, she’d traded her business suit for a blue sundress and left her golden hair down, which he liked much better than the bun-like twisty thing she’d worn this afternoon. Instead of the killer heels she’d worn earlier in the day, she wore low-slung white sandals.

The forty-mile drive to Lubbock passed quickly with talk of archaeology and travel to ancient ruins.

As they entered the city, he asked, “Do you have a food preference?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t want liver or Brussels sprouts. Anything else is fine.”

A laugh erupted from deep inside him. “I don’t like liver either. How about a steak house with a variety of food?”

“Your call, Grant, because I’m not familiar with what’s available. I’ve been reclusive this year. Except for school functions, I’ve spent evenings and weekends with Grandma.”

He chose a restaurant on 82^nd Street and pulled into the parking lot. “Monday evenings are not especially busy, so we shouldn’t have trouble getting seated.”

He guided her inside and they were shown to a table.

After they’d placed their orders, he asked, “Your grandmother, is she all right?”

“Grandpa died last spring. She’s not ill, just frail and deeply in mourning. I was lucky there was an opening in the school.”

“Where did you teach before?”

She offered a wry smile, almost as if embarrassed. “Assistant professor at Texas A&M.” She shrugged and tilted her head. “I realize it appears I took a backwards step, but I was the one who could rearrange my life to move here. Fortunately, I genuinely enjoy teaching high school history.”

“So your grandmother is sad rather than ill. Does she get around well?”

She raised her eyebrows and nodded. “In fact, she can keep up with me. After Grandpa passed away, she was so heartbroken that we were afraid her health was deteriorating. Actually, it was. She wasn’t eating properly and not sleeping well. Or, she was staying up most of the night and sleeping most of the day. With me here, she keeps regular hours and we have breakfast and supper together.”

He reached across the table and laced his fingers with hers. “But not tonight.”

She met his gaze and smiled before she slid her hand to her lap. Disappointment claimed him at the loss of her touch.

“I stopped by the store on my way home and bought her a chicken pot pie in a brand that’s healthy. I only hope she’s doing as I asked and having that and a salad for dinner.”

After they’d eaten, he drove under the speed limit on the way back to Post. Her company fascinated him and he wished he could prolong the evening. When they reached the edge of the Caprock above Post, he pulled over at a wide space on the shoulder and opened the sunroof.

“I love this spot. You can see the lights of our little town below and the stars above.”

She relaxed against the seat and head rest. “The almost full moon tonight obscures many of the stars. This is a beautiful vantage point, though. As if we’re divine and are hanging above the world. I could almost reach out and touch the moon.”

He reached for her hand and entwined their fingers “Should I grab it for you?”

She offered a whimsical smile. “Let’s leave it there so everyone can enjoy the moonlight.”

Amazon: http://a.co/iy1DX2X

Amazon UK: http://amzn.eu/g1QwOmL

Amazon Canada: http://a.co/5cBYOeQ

GRANT ME THE MOON will be available at Nook, Kobo, and iBooks soon.

Happy Reading!

SKYE WARREN'S THE CASTLE!

The Castle

by Skye Warren

GENRE:  Contemporary Romance

Skye will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

THE CASTLE Blurb:

Safe in the ivory tower…

Gabriel Miller swears he’ll keep me safe. Enemies lurk outside, waiting to strike. An army held back by these walls.

Except some animal instinct warns me the danger is much closer. It’s already here. Is Gabriel my protector or my enemy? Is this house a castle or a cage?

There’s nowhere for me to go, no one left for me to trust.

No escape from a past determined to capture its prize.

THE CASTLE Excerpt:

A sleek black limo idles in the center of the parking lot, the gleaming black stark against the backdrop of cracked concrete and cigarette-littered gravel. It’s not for me, I tell myself. It can’t be.

It’s probably one of Chastity’s customers.

At eight o’clock in the morning. In the cheapest motel in Tanglewood.

The driver steps out and nods to me in that deferent, discreet way that drivers have. My stomach sinks. He opens the back door and stands beside it, a silent invitation. A tacit command from the man inside.

My feet move me across the pavement, breath trapped. It’s that moment when you’ve slammed your finger in a door, before the pain has registered, when your mind is all too aware of what comes next.

The shadowed interior hides his face, but I know who it is before he speaks.

“Good morning,” comes the low voice of the man who made me come on his desk. The door shuts behind me, enclosing me in the warm darkness.

“What are you doing here?”

A shuffle of papers. The scratch of a pen. As the darkness solidifies, I see him reclined in the back of the limo, focused on a stack of papers in front of him. Working, like I’m a distraction. “I’m your ride.”

He doesn’t even look up. “Excuse me?”

“To Landon Moore’s office. That is where you’re going, I assume.”

My eyes narrow. “How do you know that?”

Finally he looks up, his golden gaze searing me. “Because you’ll do anything to get your house back. It’s the only place you feel safe, isn’t it? The only place you felt loved?”

My stomach clenches. “How did you know where to find me?”

“I don’t think you need me to answer that.”

Because he knows everything that happens in the city. He could have had me followed after I left his office yesterday, but odds are he knew where I was before. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather walk on nails than ride with you.”

I pull the latch to discover that the door is locked. From the inside.

My gaze flies to him. “You’re kidnapping me?”

“Unfortunately,” he says with fake sympathy. “You’ll have to explain to the cops how I abducted you and transported you in comfort to your previously planned destination.”

The car glides forward, as if connected to his very will.

Asshole.

I glare at him, settling into the warm leather. Are these seats heated? Of course they are. I have to admit this is way more comfortable than the city bus, but everything has a cost. And when it comes to Gabriel Miller, the cost is always too high. “Why are you doing this?”

“Does it matter?” he asks, his voice faintly mocking. “As a gentleman your comfort is my highest priority. It’s enough to be of service to you.”

“You’re not a gentleman.”

“Probably right. In that case I’m coming with you to see sweet old Uncle Landon give you the horrible news, to see your face fall as he assures you there’s nothing you can do.”

My throat constricts. “Can’t you find someone else to torture?”

“No one nearly as pretty. Besides, my presence has some advantages.”

“My very own supply of fire and brimstone?”

“People are more inclined to tell the truth when I’m in the room. My reputation for dealing with liars and cheats is somewhat brutal.” He leans forward, his eyes reflecting sunlight. “All of it true, I’m afraid.”

I’m living proof of that, the fallout from my father’s decision to steal. “Be careful or I might think you’re actually being nice to me.”

A short laugh. “Not a chance. It will be my pleasure to see Landon Moore break. And even sweeter to watch you break, too. A show I can’t pass up.”

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Castle-Skye-Warren-ebook/dp/B01N148JTY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491224927&sr=8-1&keywords=the+castle+Skye+warren

BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-castle-skye-warren/1125600505?ean=2940157295981

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of contemporary romance such as the Chicago Underground series. Her books have been featured in Jezebel, Buzzfeed, USA Today Happily Ever After, Glamour, and Elle Magazine. She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, two sweet dogs, and one evil cat.

Website - http://skyewarren.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/skye_warren

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skyewarren

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/skyewarren/

Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/skyewarren

GIVEAWAY

Skye will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway