Book Blast: Blood That Cries From The Ground

Good morning! Long time no see! Between a new job and life, I had to take a break from the blogging world. Back to it now! Today's book blast is hosted by Goddess Fish Promotions and is for Blood That Cries From the Ground by Gregory Bellarmine. Enjoy!

P.S. A Rafflecopter for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card!

BLURB:

Italy. A tough master of novices, Father Dante encounters the bold young priest Antonio who challenges his identity and accuses him of being the Saint Nicholas. But despite the Father faking his death, a determined Antonio discovers a rather alive Dante arrayed in kilt and armor.

In return for Antonio’s silence—and to protect the town from attracting all manner of darkness—Dante agrees to tell his life story. Without explanation, Dante orders Antonio to meet him at night in the abandoned Cathedral, the site of a former battle that the Church has kept secret for a generation.

Until today.

The Criskindl. Ice Steeds. The Unborn. Saint.

From the Dark Ages’ when Poet-Sorcerers ruled kings, to the Holy Land when a new civilization was rising, to Revolutionary France where love is lost and gained, Father Dante pursues the one responsible for both his master and his mother’s deaths: Black Peter, his brother.

Excerpt:

"As you see, I'm not overweight, and of being jolly I've never been accused. Moreover, I find the pagan ritual of indulging children's greed quite loathsome. Rewarding a year's worth of insolence merely encourages more childish behavior and prevents the child from becoming the man. Secular excess goes against everything I believe about how to upbraid the sinner. In fact, I can't name a single child who should get anything other than the strap for Christmas."

He sat back in the creaky chair, then wove his fingers together and hooked his thumbs into his silver buckle. The white of Father Dante's priestly collar contrasted the Cathedral's late-night shadows. Diamond eyes—blue crystal pools that appeared half-blind but which studied all—snared the candelabra's golden light with a glint. Red among gray streaked the trimmed whiskers at his chin, and cardinal flecks peppered his mane.

November gusts rattled the stained-glass windows and shuddered the main doors where we sat in the foyer. I glanced right to the rows of freshly varnished pews, then above to the painting of Sebastian's Martyrdom on the dome, and hoped the Abbot slept soundly. On the curved roof was a gothic spire, and that was where the young Abbot took his brief hours of rest. He claimed he felt closer to God there.

Dante shifted his broad shoulders. "Were a man like that to exist, do you really believe he'd be sitting across from you now? They're myths. We made them up to teach women to pray at least as much as they gossip. Really, Antonio, you surprise me."

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Gregory Bellarmine is the author of the bestselling Monthly Roman Breviary. He lives a happy though sometimes sleepless life in the UK with his wife, two children and rather cheeky Parson Russell Terrier.

www.FatherDante.com.

Email: frgregory@latinmass.org.uk

Gregory’s blog is http://www.fatherdante.com

@VRevGB

Book Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF_LaW215X4

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18660010-the-blood-that-cries-in-the-ground

Amazon USA: http://amzn.com/1907436472

Kindle: http://amzn.com/B00G24AQRA

“The Blood That Cries in the Ground will grab the reader by the throat with a death grip from which it is impossible to break free.” -Reviewed by Bil Howard for Readers' Favorite

Link to the full review: http://readersfavorite.com/book-review/13394

Blast: Cover of Darkness

Happy Thursday! Please enjoy today's guest, Gregory Delaurentis!

This author is giving away one $50 amazon gift card! Enter here, and follow the tour here.

BLURB:  

A high profile murder of a Wall Street executive in Westchester pits three people against the criminal underbelly of Manhattan nightlife. The key players are two ex-cops turned private investigators—Kevin Whitehouse, whose sharpest tool is his keen analytical mind, and David Allerton, a former Special Forces operative—and Margaret Alexander, Kevin’s lover. In their search for a killer, they are forced to travel to the edge of sanity and morality, while stumbling onto their own confusing secrets as well. The Cover of Darkness is a gritty noir saga that untangles a web of deceit in the course of tracking down a brutal murderer.

EXCERPT:

The pool area was wide and reflected the sun on this hot summer day. It was edged with white marble so polished that it looked like pearl. Deck chairs lined the sides of the long pool, which was two lengths more than Olympic-sized. Outside the deck area was the carpeted lawn of the vast backyard, dappled with sun.

Hugh Osterman walked along the side of the pool wearing a heavy terry cloth robe and sandals. In his right hand, he held a martini glass. He ran his left hand through his sandy sun-streaked hair as he looked over his shoulder at the man following him.

“What’s going on? I don’t get it,” Osterman said, stopping at the end of the pool where the flotation chairs were kept.

“They said no,” the man replied. Considering the backdrop, he was incongruously dressed in a dark suit and tie.

“They said no . . . just like that?”

Osterman sat his drink down on the marble surface, and pushed a flotation chair into the deep end of the pool, sending it out and away. Then he peeled off the robe and dove smoothly into the water, emerging next to the floating chair.

“You go back and tell them that we aren’t pleased,” Osterman said sternly, pulling himself up and into the seat of the chair. “You tell them that Hugh Osterman wants to know what’s holding things up—what the problem is.”

The suit just stood at the edge of the pool, opening his jacket against the heat of the day. Osterman paddled to the side, and reached out and retrieved his martini glass. “I take it you have nothing to say about this?” he persisted, despite the other man’s silence.

The suit shook his head.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Osterman said as he tipped the glass up to his lips. Suddenly, the bottom of the stem shattered. Osterman gurgled as he dropped the glass, blood bubbling from his mouth, an open tear in his neck. He jolted upright in the chair as the suit closed the distance between them, his Colt .38 Super still trained on its victim, its silencer smoldering.

Osterman slowly sat back as the suit pumped more rounds into Osterman’s bare, well-defined chest—the hot shells of his pistol ejecting out and striking the surface of the water, settling to the bottom. His life ended as his body tumbled from the floating chair, his blood a widening crimson slick roughly in the area where his body slipped through.

The suit popped his clip, slipped in a new one, and headed for the sprawling house.

GUEST BLOG:

RESEARCHING TIPS

I don’t have many tips for researchers. I don’t know how well a researcher I am myself. One thing that I do know when I’m researching is that I look for primers first. I usually get these from the Internet just to get an overall view of what I’m researching. A lot of time I’m researching the law, and those topics can become downright arcane. The need for an overview is as important as in-depth research itself. It gives you a sense of confidence as you move forward into the deeper things of the subject you are researching. Otherwise, to me, you are jumping off at the deep end of the pool.

Another tip is to not get too involved into what you are researching unless your novel calls for it. Case in point: the gist of my story was a murder, but two crooked cops were being investigated at the same time. What was needed by me was to research a department of the NYPD that does the investigating of officers that have been accused of wrongdoing. So I began researching this department, jumping in and delving deep. After a few days I was hip deep in study, juggling all types of data and frankly I was drowning in information. But what was more important was that the research was taking over the focus of the story which was a murder. At this point I hit the brake, simplified my explanation of the department and went back into my story, diminishing the investigation of the two officers and bringing to the fore the investigation of the murder. The moral of this story: keep your priorities. When it comes to research, don’t lose track of what your novel is about and research accordingly.

Finally, is your research all that important? It’s nice to be able to point out erudite facts on a subject, and it makes you look like you know what you are talking about, but are these facts germane to the story or does it inflate your ego? I know this is a strong statement because if you write about something it’s important to be an expert about it, but not all the time, and not concerning everything. The best thing to be an expert about is your story and your characters. Don’t get lost in scholarly explanations of subjects or terms or places when you should be concentrating on developing your story and keeping your readers from being bored with external things.

Like I said, I don’t consider myself the premiere researcher, but I do my studying accordingly and in conjunction with my story so that one does not outshine the other.

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

Gregory Delaurentis spent his adult life roaming from job to job, working for Lockheed in California, various law firms in New York, and financial firms on Wall Street. Throughout this period of time, he was writing—unceasingly—finally producing a large body of work, albeit unrecognized and unpublished . . . until now. Cover of Darkness is the first in a series of upcoming books that include Edge of Darkness, Pale of Darkness and Cries of Darkness. These novels follow the lives of three individuals who do battle bringing criminals to justice, while they struggle to understand the complex relationships that exist among themselves. This intriguing trio has absorbed the attention of Mr. Delaurentis for the past year and a half, so much so he decided to self-publish their stories to bring them to a wider audience. [AUTHOR’S DISCLAIMER: These are works of fiction. Name, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.]

LINKS

Vendor links

1) AMAZON  http://www.amazon.com/Cover-Darkness-1-Gregory-Delaurentis/dp/0989185702/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365639244&sr=1-1&keywords=cover+of+darkness+gregory+delaurentis
2) KOBO  http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Cover-of-Darkness/book-SydhWnuMdEGT2jO97s6rDA/page1.html?s=znZMkhZzw0yjFAMp-WIkpQ&r=1
3) BARNES & NOBLE http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cover-of-darkness-gregory-delaurentis/1115107265?ean=9780989185707
4) SONY READER STORE https://ebookstore.sony.com/search?keyword=Gregory+Delaurentis
5) SMASHWORDS  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/304457

General links

1)  http://www.darknessnovels.com/

2) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cover-of-Darkness/435819953132527

3) https://twitter.com/cupgrease

4) http://gregorydelaurentis.blogspot.com/

Blast: How You Leave Texas

Trick answer: You don't!

No, I'm just kidding. Seriously, though, even if you leave Texas, it never leaves you. Welcome to today's guest, Alana Cash!

Prize: This author is awarding a screen printed camisole to a random commenter with the phrase, "What happens in the bedroom, stays in the bedroom," and a screen printed Brass Nuts t-shirt to a second commenter. Good luck! Follow the tour here for more chances to win.

BLURB:  

How You Leave Texas is a volume of three short stories and a novella about four young women who leave Midland, Austin, Fort Worth and Mayville, Texas for New York, California, Jakarta, and in one instance, jail.  They seek escape from boredom and sorrow and find it.  The stories are hilarious, tragic, revelatory.

EXCERPT

Here is an excerpt from the short story Camille's Net Worth  

She was late to work at Fastbinder’s Mortgage Company, and when she arrived, the atmosphere in the office felt charged. Something was up. The top managers were in an unscheduled conference call and no one knew why. No one was working, so Camille called her mother to thank her for the flowers that were already sitting on her desk.

“What do you and Walker have planned for tonight?” Elaine Morgan asked her daughter.

Camille explained about the dinner.

“What is he getting you as a gift?”

“I don’t know, Mom. I’ve looked everywhere.”

“Well, have a wonderful time, honey,” her mom said.

It was ten o’clock when Camille got off the phone. The accounting department surprised her with a birthday cake, sang to her, and gave her the card they had all signed. Five minutes later, the managers were out of their meeting and everyone got canned by one loud announcement from the District Manager.

“We’re sorry to have to tell you that you are all let go.”  That is all that Camille would ever clearly remember.

The mortgage company was belly-up. Those few employees who were retained were being transferred to the Las Vegas branch. Everyone was in shock and had no time to express outrage or disappointment because they were told to pack up all of their personal belongings and exit the building immediately. Camille took the elevator down the four floors, amid grumblings from secretaries and mortgage brokers. What about our benefits?  I didn’t take all my vacation this year. Someone ought to blow up the building. I stole a printer.

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

Alana Cash is an adventurer.  She’s trekked alone through war-torn Serbia and has slept in a KGB interrogation room in Prague.  She’s been to a gypsy fair in rural England, a bullfight in Laredo, and parasailing in Acapulco.  She’s been inside the New York Stock Exchange and eaten in J. Pierpont Morgan’s home dining room.  She's gone on a ride-along in a New York City patrol car and kissed a man inside the Norman Bates Psycho house at Universal Studios.  She’s been a lifeguard, legal secretary, accountant, writer, teacher, filmmaker and artist.

Her experiences are inspiration for her work as an acclaimed writer and filmmaker. 

• She was one of 60 US teachers profiled on the PBS series, "A Writer's Exchange," for her talent as a teacher at the University of Texas Informal Classes  - many of her students published and won writing awards
• Her feature film, "Tom's Wife," based on her novel of the same name, won awards all over the world
• Her documentary "Anna Freud: Under Analysis," part of documentary trilogy on women in science, was translated into German for broadcast in Austria, Germany & Switzerland

Natalie Gayle

Happy Monday! Today's guest is Natalie Gayle, author of  Finding Judgement, who's gracing us with a character interview. Enjoy!

An Interview with Rory and TJ

Hi everyone, Natalie Gayle here.  Today I’m interviewing Rory Southall, who you’re all getting to know as the incredibly sexy and caring lead from Finding Judgement.   (He’s just about busting a gut laughing at how I’ve described him.)  And his gorgeous wife, TJ Walsh or is it Southall?  (she’s giggling and waving her hand assuring me she’s good with either.  Rory’s telling me very firmly it’s Southall.  – Okay message received!)

Well I can say getting an interview with Rory and TJ was a damned sight easier than what I had to go through with this team mate and good friend Brayden, who you may know from Finding Trust.  For that Rory, I’ll be eternally grateful. Thank you, thank you.

We’re sitting out on the back deck of Rory and TJ’s new beach house, and when I say beach people I mean beach.  You can walk down the back stairs pass to the side of the plunge pool and through the back gate and you’re on the hot golden stuff.  Well let’s dive in and see what they’ve been up to.

NG:  Wow this house is awesome – how on earth did you find it?

(TJ looks up at Rory and nudges him slightly.)

RS:       Oh you want me to answer this one?

TJ:        Well der, you did find this place.

RS:       Well actually it was me and the kids if I’m being totally correct. Katie and Marcus spotted it from the road and then I just charmed the previous owners out of their beach pad.

TJ:        They didn’t stand a chance! (she says turning to grin at me – we have one of those female connection moments)

(I can totally understand what she means, Rory just oozes genuine charm and you just want to please him.            She’s right – the previous owners didn’t stand a chance.)

RS:       Well that’s not totally true Pixie, I did pay them a very big fat wad of cash to sweeten the deal. 

TJ:        No doubt it helped Surfer Boy, but you know as well as I do they would have struggled to say no to you. 

(Mmm, I’m going to have to agree with TJ on this one).

NG:      So speaking of the kids, how are they settling in?  They’ve been through a lot in the last few months. 

TJ:        To be honest the kids are doing much better than I thought. I really expected that we’d have more issues with them.  Sure they have their days, but overall they’ve settled in really well.

(TJ turns to Rory and gives him a little smile and nod encouraging him to go on).

RS:       Yeah they’re good kids but that’s hardly surprising given what a great older sister they have. 

(Rory gives TJ a cheeky grin and squeezes her thigh playfully)

TJ:        Flattery will get you everywhere as you know!

(Oh wow, it’s getting hot around here already.  That got me to thinking.)

NG:      So how do you two manage to carve out some privacy given that you’re realistically still very much newly weds?

(Rory cleared his throat and smirked at TJ – she just shrugs and flutters her eyelashes playfully back at him)

RS:       Well one of the attractions with this house is that the master bedroom is on the top floor at the back and the kid’s bedrooms are on the bottom floor down the front.  The house is also constructed of suspended concrete slabs to cater for the harsh salt elements so it’s actually quite soundproof.  Even I have trouble at times hearing through it. 

(Well that was revealing and also gives us a great insight into the construction of the house!)

NG:      Come on guys – our readers need a bit more than that.  They want to know if it’s still hot and steamy between you two. 

TJ:        Ah Nat you can see okay can’t you? ……….My husband is every woman’s dream.  He’s smart, caring, considerate, funny and he has the body of an Adonis. And he’s not full of himself.  What’s not to love and get all hot and bothered over?  Maybe your question should have been how do I keep my hands off him?

(Mmm excellent point TJ – always knew the girl was smart!)

RS:       Pixie’s too kind.  I’m just a guy that’s very happy because I’ve managed to find myself an amazing woman that totally understands my idiosyncrasies  and what it means to be with me.  The fact that she’s a blonde goddess and comes with a family are just bonuses to me.  I’ve always said the universe loves me and she does. 

(I look between them letting them know their answers were all well and good but seriously they dodged the question.)

(TJ huffs a little)

TJ:        Oh all right – the sex is off the charts smoking hot.  That’s what you wanted to know wasn’t it?

NG:      Yes thank you – that will do nicely! 

(We all just laugh at that one.  And I can tell just by looking at them, how close they’re sitting and casually touching, it’s the truth. The chemistry between them is blatantly obvious). 

NG:      So what are you both up to work wise?

RS:       Well I’ve just been finishing off some of our mandatory annual training but the boss gave me a heads up that I’m about to get assigned to a new case. 

NG:      Oh anything interesting?

RS:       Yeah, I think it will be. Dylan’s taking the lead on this one.  I don’t know many of the details just that it’s something to do with illegal drugs in sport.

(Well that does sound interesting).

TJ:        So will I get to meet any famous sports people? 

(Rory turns to TJ in mock horror)

RS:       What am I just a means for you to meet famous rock stars and sports people?

TJ:        No, but I’m just curious.  Brayden is so normal I was just wondering if sports stars are the same? (she shrugs)

RS:       Well I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out.  Besides you’ll be too busy with school to get too involved with what I’m doing.

(he’s teasing her something shocking people – you just know Rory will do anything to make her happy and she’s no different with him.)  

TJ:        That’s true but you know how these things seem to play out;  somehow we all seem to get involved.  And I’ve only got a couple of weeks left before I graduate.

NG:      So how are the rest of the gang?

RS:       Why don’t you just say what you really mean – which is what are Jazz and Quade up to?

NG:      Because I didn’t want to make it so damned obvious that I was curious as to where these two have got up to.

(Rory and TJ both just laugh at this)

TJ:        Well that’s what we all want to know.  Something’s going on or has happened but neither are talking. 

(Rory nods confirming this.)

RS:       Yep – Big Time.  If anything it’s got worse between them.

(Wow people, that’s interesting and hard to believe all at once. Guess I need to go grill Brayden and Rihanna a bit to find out what’s going on).

NG:      Okay guys final question for this part of the interview, and yes I know it’s the question that newly weds always get asked so why should you two be any different?  When can we expect little Rory and TJ’s running around?

(both of them look at each other and burst out laughing and share some sort of private exchange)

NG:      Right – what am I missing here?

RS:       Ah – nothing that’s just our prearranged response to that question.  We figure if you think you its okay to ask it, we think its okay to respond like that. 

(Have I just been politely put back in my place?)

NG:      Seriously guys – please give me something?

TJ:        How about this Nat – when it happens you’ll be the second to know.

(I smile and agree)

NG:      I can live with that.  Anyway thanks so much for letting me come and visit with you both. 

RS:       Thanks for telling our story and you know we don’t mind if you drop back in soon to see what we’re up to.  (He gets a very devilish look in his eye and TJ blushes).  You never know what we might be up to. 

NG:      I’ll take you up on that Rory. 

Till next time. 

You can read Rory and TJ’s story, Finding Judgement for yourself at:

http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Judgement-Centre-Series-ebook/dp/B00DUX8I7Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1374150955&sr=1-1&keywords=finding+judgement

http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Finding+Judgement

Book Blurb—Finding Judgement

Rory Southall’s dreams have been haunted by the beautiful blonde pixie he’d helped three months ago.  Imagine his surprise when his next assignment is to investigate none other than the very same woman.  

TJ Walsh is holding on to her family’s trucking company by a thread.  For the last two and a half years, she’s been trying to keep the debt-ridden business afloat and her family fed.  She’s driven and desperate to make ends meet. But she remembers every detail of a chance meeting three months ago with a handsome stranger. 

What happens when a simple supply chain investigation morphs into a deadly web of lies and deceit and TJ finds herself squarely in the middle of it? It seems that very same handsome stranger has rescued her again, but how could that be?   And how exactly does the illegal genetically modified products he’s investigating have anything to do with her? 

How will she cope with knowing the danger is much closer to home than she thought? When everyone seems to be gunning for them, can she find love and salvation with Rory before it’s too late?

 About the Author

I recently discovered those school vocational assessments are really interesting and probably correct!  Who would have thought hey?  You see I clearly remember taking one of those in Year 11 (for my US friends I think that equates to junior year in high school).  Anyway semantics.  Well the results came back indicating that I should pursue a career in writing and something else.  What that something else was I can’t remember but the writing thing stuck in my mind.

Sure I’d always liked English and had already developed a ravenous appetite for romance novels by the age of sixteen – but who becomes a writer straight out of school?  So to cut a long story short I went to Uni and studied Business and ended up managing large scale IT projects shortly after. 

I can’t complain it’s been a great career and I’ve done some awesome projects and meet some incredible people and I won’t be giving it up anytime soon.  Anyway I’ve messed around with a couple of “secret” novels over the years and I finally decided to get serious and finish one.  Hence “Finding Trust” came about.  And about twenty years later I’ve finally proved a vocational assessment correct, because I love writing! 

As to some other stuff about me, I live on the Gold Coast, Australia.  I love spending time with my family and friends.  When I’m not sitting behind a screen playing with IT or writing you might find me down the beach playing in the waves on a jet ski or a bogey board (both are uber cool).  When the weather turns a bit cooler (doesn’t really happen on the Gold Coast), we like to head for the snow.  I’ve discovered I have two kids that are kamikaze skiers – they must take after their father. He’s always at me to “release the handbrake.”  Apparently I’d ski so much better.  I call it a healthy understanding of self-preservation and gravity!  

I like to think I can fit in a few workouts and martial arts classes each week.  This tends to be a figment of my imagination more than reality unfortunately.  I am trying to remedy this, but those damn characters just keep demanding to have their stories told and well – there’s always another good book to read!

I hope you enjoy mine. 

Please drop me a line I’m active on FaceBook, Twitter and of course here!  I’d love to know what you think of my books and well let’s be truthful – I love talking about books whether they’re mine or someone else’s.  Fiction is just so much more fun than reality!!!

Happy Reading

Natalie Gayle

Blast: Just Perfect

Happy Wednesday! Today's guest is JoMarie Degioia, with Just Perfect. Enjoy!

Prize: This author is awarding Loose Tea and chip nuts to two randomly drawn commenters. Follow the tour here for more chances to win.

BLURB:

William Chesterton, the Earl of Chester, might be the perfect gentleman, but his feelings for Constance Bridgewater are anything but gentlemanly.

Constance Bridgewater, the daughter of the late Earl of Bridgewater, might be the perfect lady, but her feelings for the Earl of Chester are anything but ladylike.

They both know that if they were together, everything would be just perfect.

So what is keeping them apart?

EXCERPT

London, England 1825

William Chesterton, the Earl of Chester, sat in his comfortable parlor swirling an untouched glass of brandy in his hand. Spring had come at last to London, though the April evening was still chilled and damp. His staff had seen to the modest fire burning behind the grate, and the warmth lulled him into a false sense of serenity. It did nothing to dispel the turmoil deep inside, however.

Most of the ton, his closest friends included, believed he was a steady man with a calm demeanor. That was true, for the most part. In the whole of his life, from his privileged childhood through his early ascension to the earldom upon his dear father’s passing, he’d been as steady as the Thames. Stalwart companion, dutiful only son, closest confidant. It was all so bloody boring.

He drank from his glass at last, his eyes on the fire. Tonight had gone just as so many nights before. The season was in its early stages and yet the parties and frivolities had already started. He’d joked with his friends, danced with their wives and sisters, and made certain not to show undue attention to marriage-minded young ladies. Their mothers would love to snare the calm and affable Earl of Chester for their daughters. That was certain.

He’d played his part as was expected, and even managed to ignore the urge to dance with one particular young lady more than the allotted two times. It had nearly killed him. Constance Bridges, the late Earl of Bridgewater’s daughter, was the only woman he wanted for more than two dances.

Her lithe body, her pale golden hair and sparkling gray eyes, were like no other woman’s he’d encountered. Last year, at yet another interminable house party, at one of his happily married cohorts’ estates, he’d attempted to make her see she was more than a pleasant diversion. He wasn’t merely a willing dance partner or riding companion, either. He might have acted a bit wild, however, and no doubt frightened her out of her wits.

He lifted the glass to his lips again and smiled. Ah, but that five seconds he’d spent holding her close, her breath warm on his cheek, her pink lips so close to his . . . he still got hard thinking about the heat she hid beneath that alabaster skin. He’d seen burgeoning knowledge in those gray eyes of hers, too. She’d wanted him. He’d stake the considerable estate his father left him on that fact.

She was a puzzle, to be sure. So serene and bashful on the surface, yet he knew she was more than the perfect picture she presented. He downed his brandy and let out a frustrated breath.

He was tired of playing the nice fellow. If he risked his lauded reputation in the process, so be it. He wanted more in his life than polite dinners and mildly pleasant diversions. He wanted love and passion and everything his friends had been lucky enough to find.

He knew Constance was the one to show him that heat. He drained the glass, letting the smooth liquor burn pleasantly down his throat.

He couldn’t wait to find out just how hot the fire inside her burned.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 JoMarie DeGioia has been making up stories for as long as she can remember, and has spent years giving voice to the characters in her head. She’s known Mickey Mouse from the “inside,” has been a copyeditor for her town’s newspaper, and a bookseller. She writes Historical and Contemporary Romances, along with Young and New Adult Fantasy stories. She divides her time between Central Florida and New England. You can contact her at JoMarie@JoMarieDeGioia.com

Buy Link:

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Dashing-Nobles-Series-ebook/dp/B00DDEH2OM