Justice Gone by N. Lombardi Jr. #mystery #giveaway @GoddessFish

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When a homeless war veteran is beaten to death by the police, stormy protests ensue, engulfing a small New Jersey town. Soon after, three cops are gunned down.



A multi-state manhunt is underway for a cop killer on the loose. And Dr. Tessa Thorpe, a veteran's counselor, is caught up in the chase.



Donald Darfield, an African-American Iraqi war vet, war-time buddy of the beaten man, and one of Tessa's patients, is holed up in a mountain cabin. Tessa, acting on instinct, sets off to find him, but the swarm of law enforcement officers gets there first, leading to Darfield's dramatic capture.



Now, the only people separating him from the lethal needle of state justice are Tessa and ageing blind lawyer, Nathaniel Bodine. Can they untangle the web tightening around Darfield in time, when the press and the justice system are baying for revenge?

Read an Excerpt



Tessa had given much thought as to how she should dress for the occasion. Her first instinct was her Karen Kane pants suit, but dismissed that idea to wear her copper-brown print kaftan in its stead.



Now, with its folds caught in the vigorous September breeze, giving the illusion of a multitude of miniature flags fluttering around her, her thick locks of hair dancing around her head, she spoke to the crowd, slowly, deliberately taking her time. “Hello, my fellow citizens.” She stopped to survey the mass of people standing in front of her. Dramatic pauses replete with eye contact, if not overdone, were quite effective in getting one’s message across. Not surprisingly, Tessa knew how to get her message across, a special art in the realm of behavioral scientists. Public relations firms, advertising companies, political campaigns, all hired an army of psychologists to sell a product. And Tessa Thorpe, as someone who had thirty years’ experience as a criminal psychiatrist, could sell as well as any of them.



“We are here today for two reasons, two very important reasons that are essential to our well-being in a modern society. Freedom is one, and justice is the other.”



Enthusiastic cheers.



“When the call for war came, we were told that our enemies hated our freedoms. We were told that the citizens of Iraq had been held hostage by a ruthless dictator who denied his own people these freedoms. Our invasion of that country was sold to us as Operation Iraqi Freedom. And so we sent our young men and women off to war, the most traumatic experience a human being could ever go through, with the belief that they were fighting for liberty and freedom. And yet, one of those whom we had sent…had come back to us only to have his own freedom denied. His single offence at the time he was approached by law enforcement officers was that he was exercising his freedom to stand on a street corner.”



This elicited a roar from the crowd.



“This is not merely tragic, it is an act of deplorable fraud, being denied the very thing he fought for!”



More heartfelt cheering.



“When I was young, we were made to pledge allegiance, an oath that ended with the phrase, ‘with liberty and justice for all.’ Well, Jay Felson was denied liberty…let us make sure he is NOT DENIED JUSTICE!”br>

About the Author:

N. Lombardi Jr, the N for Nicholas, has spent over half his life in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, working as a groundwater geologist. Nick can speak five languages: Swahili, Thai, Lao, Chinese, and Khmer (Cambodian).



In 1997, while visiting Lao People's Democratic Republic, he witnessed the remnants of a secret war that had been waged for nine years, among which were children wounded from leftover cluster bombs. Driven by what he saw, he worked on The Plain of Jars for the next eight years.


Nick maintains a website with content that spans most aspects of the novel: The Secret War, Laotian culture, Buddhism etc.: http://plainofjars.net



His second novel, Journey Towards a Falling Sun, is set in the wild frontier of northern Kenya.



His latest novel, Justice Gone, was inspired by the fatal beating of a homeless man by police.


Nick now lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.



Visit his goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6982373.N_Lombardi_Jr_



Buy links:



Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Justice-Gone-N-Lombardi-Jr/dp/1785358766


Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1785358766/ref=x_gr_w_bb


Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40398725-justice-gone?ac=1&from_search=true


Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/justice-gone-n-lombardi-jr/1128875661?ean=9781785358760


Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Justice-Gone-N-Lombardi-Jr/9781785358760


Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/justice-gone/n-lombardi-jr/9781785358760


Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/justice-gone





a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal: Genesis (Wolf Pack 2) #gay #newadult @ChangelingPress

I'm excited to reveal my new cover for Genesis (Wolf Pack 2)
Thank you to Changeling Press and Bryan Keller for the fantastic artwork.
The book will be out May 9th.

Blurb

In the Agéli Lýkon Wolf Pack, there are two types of men, Alpha and omega. Since the knotting ceremony, the submissive Bleu has had no problem adjusting to his position as Grey’s human omega. Their love is strong and their bond is unbreakable. But, when they reach out to help another Alpha, their relationship is tested. 

`````````````````````````````````

Initiation (Wolf Pack 1)

BLURB:

Bleu has always lusted after Grey, but Grey isn’t interested until he pledges Agéli Lýkon in college. The wolf pack fraternity says he must choose a human and bind him for life. Animal instinct tells Grey that Bleu is his for the claiming. But will Bleu want to spend the rest of his life in submission to a big bad wolf.

Initiation (Wolf Pack 1) is available at:

Changeling Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks

The Devil Take You by H K Carlton #HighlanderRomance

The Devil Take You

by

H K Carlton

Epic Historical Romance

Release Date: April 5th

Word Count: 140,717 words

Thank you so much for hosting, today. I’m excited to once again share this story with readers. The Devil Take You, is a bit different for a historical romance. Though it's still heaped with historical significance of the time—set in 1307 during the Scottish Wars of Independence and the story also focuses on, of course, a romance, but the ‘hero’ is the villain.

I wanted to create an anti-hero, a severely flawed, cruel, and malevolent character with no hope of redemption.

Meet Gard Marschand—known in the Highlands as the legendary devil—an evildoer of epic proportions. Marauder, murderer, thief, a man hell bent on revenge. He is prepared to do anything, no matter how heinous to accomplish his goals. This man is nobody's hero. But even in his wickedness, he still holds to his own moral code, skewed as it may seem to decent folk.

So, how then, do we create a romance when the protagonist is such a deplorable character?


Place a feisty Scottish lass—with a few secrets of her own—in the devil's path, of course! 

This story was challenging right from the beginning, and I knew that I had to create the right woman with a combination of strength, resilience and an overabundance of, if not understanding, at the very least acceptance, for a man who has no remorse for any of his wrongdoings and with no inclination or desire to change. Braelynn Galbraith began as the woman in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she eventually evolved into a character that could stand toe-to-toe with the devil and hold her own.

I hope you’ll enjoy, The Devil Take You—

Blurb:

Braelynn Galbraith wants peace for her beloved Scotland, marriage to her childhood sweetheart, and a house full of children. In that order. But evil incarnate, in the form of Gard Marschand, turns her life inside out and destroys all hope of a decent marriage.

Known in the Highlands as the legendary devil, Gard Marschand raids his way across Scotland and England amassing power and property in his malevolent wake. He will stop at nothing in his pursuit to regain what is lost— even conceal his true identity and associate with his enemies. His determination is all-consuming until he and his men lay siege to Ross-shire holding and one feisty Scottish lass obliterates his single-minded purpose.

Can Gard abandon his deep-seated need for revenge for a love that just might save his rotten soul? Or will he succumb
to the demons that hound him and surrender to the devil within?

I believe your stay in purgatory has only just begun…

This story has been previously published

Add it to your Goodreads TBR List

What readers are saying:

What a fabulous, well crafted story! I could hardly put it down. I love Brae as much as I loved Holly in the Always Cambridge series. They’re not the same character at all, but Brae is just as spunky, brave, creative, smart and grounded.

This book was wonderful in so many ways. Feisty heroine, brooding hero, historical facts woven into the plot, descriptions of sweeping landscapes, drama and intrigue...well-deserved praise!

I love a good historical romance, especially those set in Scotland. With a spirited young miss in Brae and a rogue in Gard, HK Carlton has created two of my favorite characters in The Devil Take You. With a story that ranks with those of Jude Deveraux and Nora Roberts, HK's tale will sweep you up in a tide of passion and intrigue that will keep you turning pages.

Excerpt:

Brae slept until the noise of the camp rising woke her.

She dressed, then packed her gear and waited for Marschand’s tent to come down, and the day’s travel to begin.

She was unsure with whom she would ride this day, Llach or Marschand. Or if she would have to walk. She could not march too far without eating. She was starving.

Half and hour later, Brae waited outside, where Marschand’s quarters had stood only moments before.

“Did you eat?” Without a sound, Marschand appeared at her side.

She jumped. “Nay.”

“Why not? Do you think if you do not consume, that in death, you will escape me?”

“Nay, it had no’ occurred ta me, but it is somethin’ ta keep in mind. Thank ya for the suggestion.”

His lips tightened.

“As usual I am no’ allowed ta leave your quarters, but no one brings me food,” she explained. “And you are off doin’ wha’e’er it is tha’ ya do. I’d think ya might be nicer ta the one ye need ta rely on.”

His dark eyebrows knitted. “You grant yourself too much importance.”

Unable to help herself, even after Hudson’s warning, she said, “Ye ne’er ken when I could reword your correspondence, or jus’ plain no’ read the whole o’ it. Puttin’ ya in a bad position.” She challenged, returning his scowl. “Ya migh’ want ta think aboot tha’ the next time ye be dolin’ oot your punishments. I can be
vindictive, too. ’Twould seem ya have a whole lot more ta lose than I do.” She
tried to walk away, but he snaked his hand out and grabbed her braid, hauling
her backward.

His black eyes glittered as he yanked on her hair so hard, she had no choice but to face him. “Why do you not learn?” he sneered.

“And why dinna ye learn? I think I jus’ made meself perfectly clear.” Slowly and deliberately, she reached downward in hope that neither Marschand nor his men would detect the measured movement.

“And if you are of no use to me,” Marschand countered, “then I have no use for
you. Do not bite the hand that feeds you, Mistress Galbraith, is that not what
you once said?”

“No one feeds me, Marschand, be tha’ no’ wha’ precipitated this particular argument?”

“And perhaps the withholding of food may continue, Miss...” He stopped speaking when she pressed the blade from his own dirk against his skin. A trickle of blood ran down his neck. His mouth quirked, and his eyes lit from within.

He is the most confounding man! If she did not know better, she’d think he was proud of her. “Ya see, Marschand, I am learnin’. Soon ya willna be able ta push me aroond.”

“You need to be willing to use it, Braelynn.” With lightening speed, he took hold of her wrist and applied enough pressure that she was forced to drop the blade. “Or I will continue to push you around all I wish.” He ground his hips against her, leaving her no doubt as to what kind of pushing he meant. “But it was a splendid attempt.” He winked. The carefree action surprised her—so at odds with his severe nature. “However, I did enjoy the bloodletting.”

Copyright © 2019 H.K. Carlton

I hope you enjoyed the extract!

If you’d like to sample another snippet, head on over to my blog Pick a Genre Already and read the first chapter.

Happy Reading!

Kymmie xoxo

Buy Links:

Amazon

eXtasy
Books

Now available
@ Apple, B&N and Smashwords 

Coming to
other vendors soon

Also available in Print

Author Bio:

H K Carlton is a multi-genre Canadian author of romance, with over thirty titles in publication. From naughty to
nice, historical to contemporary, time travel to space travel, and everything in between.

Variety is creativity’s playground—It’s where you’ll find me

Author Links

Blogs:

Pick a Genre Already

Breaking Genre

Pick a Genre

Outrageous Girls (contributor)

Twitter

Pinterest

Goodreads

Amazon

BookBub

FB Author Page

Out Now! Nothing Else Matters by Peri Elizabeth Scott #Romance @EvernightPub

Nothing Else Matters

by Peri Elizabeth Scott

Blurb:

Claire and Liam had a good thing going until he walks out of her life. Being dumped without warning is devastating enough, discovering she isn’t pregnant leaves her without even a part of him.

Withdrawing from everyone, she moves to another city and immerses herself in work, the better to forget Liam. Not that it’s working. Claire is a one-woman man, to her despair.

Back stateside after an unexpectedly long deployment, security contractor Liam Cafferty has accepted the truth: walking out on Claire makes him a coward. Thinking it for the best, given his dangerous profession, doesn’t cut it. She should have been given the choice.

With the biggest heart of any woman he’s known, he’s hopeful she might take him back and makes it his new mission to convince her.

Claire must decide what matters: her pride or taking another chance on Liam—and love.

Buy Links:

Evernight: https://www.evernightpublishing.com/

Bookstrand: https://www.bookstrand.com/nothing-else-matters-mf

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QMPFB53

Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/y33va2hf

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/nothing-else-matters-15

Excerpt:

The streets were full of people as she used her phone to arrange an Uber. Small groups with youthful faces, couples, and the occasional single individual moved along, their destinations unknown but likely the restaurants that crowded downtown, or maybe a club later on after dusk fell. The camaraderie left her cold, and with some desperation to escape, she scanned the curb for her lift.

Maybe she was indeed crazy, choosing to cut herself off from everyone, cutting ties with her old life, all to forget Liam. Because, newsflash, it wasn’t working. She was like one of those historical romance novel heroines who languished and withered into old age after losing a beau. Whatever empty spaces that opened up in her head, past all her attempts to fill them, Liam snuck in.

While she waited, she opened her messages, trying to shut out the people and noise around her that were reminders of a different life. There weren’t many on the phone. She had no one local to give the number to, outside of work, sad commentary. She was more like one half of those werewolf or vampire couples who wasted away without their mate.

Joanne’s number came up several times, and there was also a text. Hoping nothing was wrong, she opened it.

Haven’t been able to reach u b/phone and u haven’t responded to vms. Assuming u r busy but u should know Liam is looking for u. Call me!

Suddenly lax fingers nearly let the device slip to the pavement, and she tightened her grip. Rereading the text, she remembered to breathe and swayed on her feet.

“Claire?” His familiar voice, hard on the heels of Jo’s text, was surreal. Had she conjured him?

She resisted the urge to spin wildly and shriek at the top of her lungs. It couldn’t be. She wasn’t prepared. How was this happening?

His SUV was nose-in to the curb, the back end blocking traffic and already, impatient drivers were honking. But her attention was on the tall, broad-shouldered man rounding the hood.

“Claire.”

He hadn’t changed at all. Unless one considered the burnished skin and a leaner look. Her stare took in his appearance in minute detail, and something in her chest lurched his way, even as her feet tried to carry her in the other direction.

Hand shaking, she held it up as if to ward off an advancing horde and shook her head. “Go away!”

About the author:

Peri Elizabeth Scott aka Allyson Young lives in cottage country, Manitoba, Canada where she and her husband pretend to work well together in their seasonal business.

She has always enjoyed the written word, and after reading an erotic romance, quite by mistake, decided to try her hand at penning one. That was followed by a mix of spicy (Ally) and sweet (Peribeth) romances in various genres as well as a post-apocalyptic adventure without a lick of romance by Peribeth.

A bestselling Amazon author, a hybrid, and a coauthor, as of April 2019 she has published eight series and several standalones, with others in the works. 

www.perielizabethscott.com

https://www.facebook.com/sweetnspicyauthor/

Destined by Dragonblood Blood Born Series 2 by Lynn Burke #Fantasy #BDSM @EvernightPub

Destined by Dragonblood

Blood Born Series 2

by Lynn Burke

Publisher: Evernight Publishing

*WARNING: This title contains explicit sexual scenes, BDSM, and anal sex.

Dolyn Kemmerly has found his destined mates. Unfortunately, they are more human than dragonblood. While his inner beast longs for them, his male stubbornness insists there are mates more worthy of his royal bloodline.

Due to Ashley O’Connor’s traumatic past, only the painful slap of a Dom’s toys can help her find release. A celibate sub, she’s never ached for a man’s tender touch—until a mysterious stranger follows her into her Master's club.

When Ashley lifts one of her hard limits, Giovanni DiLoreto, her sex-therapist recommended Dom, is finally allowed to touch the flesh he’s been lusting to caress. Doing so, however, earns him a bloody nose by a hot-as-fuck stranger. Master Vanni has never touched a dick in pleasure, but the sudden desire to dominate the newcomer—while Ashley watches—consumes him.

Dolyn’s ancestors might accept Vanni for the heart of the dragon inside him, but it will take Dolyn’s complete submission to his alpha to help Ashley heal and unlock the destiny awaiting them all.

PURCHASE LINKS:

Evernight Publishing:
https://www.evernightpublishing.com/destined-by-dragonblood-by-lynn-burke/

Amazon Universal: http://mybook.to/BloodBorn2

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1131128665

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/destined-by-dragonblood

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/destined-by-dragonblood/id1458681516?

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/932157

EXCERPT:

Cloaking myself and following Ashley into the nondescript door at the end of the hallway came easy. Slipping through what appeared to a main entrance rather than a locker room of sorts she had entered proved a bit more difficult as a receptionist’s desk and bouncer flanked the double doors.

I glanced around the reception area, fully present, yet visually, nothing more than a bend of light to the two in the room with me. Gray walls. Glass desk. Abstract art on the walls and two other doors besides the one Ashley had disappeared through—boring and not giving me a hint of what lay beyond.


I eyed one of the chairs along the wall to my left and considered waiting until Ashley returned.

The double doors opened, however, releasing a flood of sensual delights mere humans wouldn’t catch. Heat, aroused murmuring, and sex. My dragon hummed his delight, but I frowned and raced forward, slipping through the opened door as the patron of whatever the place was bade the receptionist a good evening.


A holding room with another set of double doors that couldn’t muffle or contain the patrons’ arousal. Still nothing more than a flicker in a person’s peripheral vision, I pushed one of the doors open enough to slip through.

I stepped over a threshold leading to a sinner’s delight. Musk, sweetness, and the scent of anxious perspiration swept over me. Humans … dozens of them in all sorts of dress and lack thereof mingled in the huge lounge area. Dim lights. Low music. Leather seating and a bar lay on my left, a dais beyond held a St. Andrew’s Cross with a woman moaning beneath a Dom’s ministrations.

Chains clanked from a man strung to the ceiling directly on my right. Groans rose from two men getting their cocks sucked by kneeling submissives as they lounged by the bar on my left.

My gaze returned to the cross and the woman strapped to it.

How many times had I allowed Elijah to do the same to me? How many times had he forced me to climax before shoving his cock so far up my ass I lost my breath?

My dick swelled in my jeans, but it wasn’t the actions of the Dom that turned me on. It was the thought of being on the receiving end of his flogger—the one receiving the type of pleasure found in pain.

Please.

My dragon’s whimper to play hit me hard, the fact I wanted to be the one submitting rather than dominating even harder. “Alpha,” I muttered aloud, reminding us both of our dominance as a blood born dragon from the royal line.

I’d caught a hint of Ashley’s scent while following her down the hallway into the sex club, but the overwhelming perfumes of human and sex masked her—if she’d even made her way into the lounge area.

My female … found delight in a sex club. I couldn’t have asked for more. Couldn’t have been more pleased—so why didn’t my inner dragon hiss his desire to tie her up? Stripe her ass in the way Elijah had mine countless times? Why did I want to pleasure her with gentleness—loving tenderness?

A fierce frown dented my brow as I licked my lips, hoping for a taste of Ashley’s sweetness in the air.

Cries of ecstasy jerked my head to the left … the lounge’s far corner. A dark-haired man fingered a woman through her climax, her cum slipping around his hand, dripping to the floor.

Her scent slammed into me with a wave, and my dragon growled a rumble deep in my chest to taste. To claim.

My female.

Pale, shapely legs led to her rounded ass the man now caressed, and my need to taste leaped to fierce protectiveness in a single heartbeat.

No longer cloaked, I strode across the room, darkness seizing my mind, my self-control, something that hadn’t happened in over a hundred years.

He’s touching her. Mine.

My dragon hellbent on ripping the man’s arms from his torso, I stalked forward, eating up the distance between us in a matter of seconds, my claws shimmering in and out of sight.

The width of his shoulders came close to mine, but the breadth of his chest didn’t compare. An easy to defeat opponent, my dragon shrieked, clawing at my brain as I pulled all attempts to shift deep inside me where he couldn’t explode into a mass of muscle, sinew, and scales.

I grabbed the man’s shoulder and spun him toward me, my other fist shooting out, connecting with his nose before he had a chance to blink.

Green eyes. Brilliant like spring grass—

My dragon shrieked again as he grabbed hold of my upper arms to keep from falling. Electrical charges raced up through my chest, catching my breath as we stared into each other’s eyes.

Mate.

Dick immediately swollen—leaking at his touch—I hesitated a mere blink, my desire to drop to my knees and worship him shattering all I had hoped for my future.

His punch landed on my side with enough pain my stubbornness rose with a flap of dragon wings, and growling with the need to kill, the need to fuck, goddamn need—I clocked him on the side of the side of the head. He held tight to me, yanking me down as he fell like a bag of bricks, stunned but not knocked out.

I landed on top of him with a groan, my aching dick pressed against his, a wave of desire slamming into me. “Fuck. Me,” I gasped the words, blinking once more.

A cocky grin wobbled his lips, and he shifted his hips beneath me, pressing his own hard-on against mine. “I’m usually the one in charge, but that’s one command I would love to obey.”

His low voice slithered over my skin, waking goosebumps in its path, like a physical caress, and I froze.

My mate, my beta … a goddamn, fucking Dom.

© Lynn Burke 2018

Don't forget book 1 in the Blood Born Series, Drawn by Dragonblood, available at all major retailers!

Amazon Universal: mybook.to/DRAWNBYDRAGONBLOOD

All other vendors: books2read.com/DrawnbyDragonbloodBB1

ABOUT LYNN BURKE:

Lynn Burke is a full time mother, voracious gardener, and scribbler of spicy romance stories. A country bumpkin turned Bay Stater, she enjoys her chowdah and Dunkin Donuts when not trying to escape the reality of city life.

Website: https://www.authorlynnburke.com/

Blog: http://authorlynnburke.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author-Lynn-Burke-555282497937461/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorLynnBurke

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorlynnburke/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lynn-burke

Dukes by the Dozen by thirteen of your favorite #historical #romance authors @GoddessFish

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win a $25 Amazon/BN GC.

What's better than a dashing duke? A dozen of them! In this case, a baker's dozen--thirteen of your favorite historical romance authors have
come together to bring you more than a dozen tantalizing novellas, with one per month, for a year's worth of never-before-released romances.



Duke in Winter by Alyssa Alexander

February - The Difference One Duke Makes by Elizabeth Essex

March - Discovering the Duke by Madeline Martin


April - The Duke and the April Flowers by Grace Burrowes

May - Love Letters from a Duke by Gina Conkle

June - Her Perfect Duke by Ella Quinn

July - How to Ditch a Duke by May McGoldrick

August - To Tempt A Highland Duke by Bronwen Evans

September - Duke in Search of a Duchess by Jennifer Ashley

October - Dear Duke by Anna Harrington

November - Must Love Duke by Heather Snow

December - The Mistletoe Duke by Sabrina York

January - Dueling with the Duke by Eileen Dreyer

Read an Excerpt



from The Duke and the April Flowers

By Grace Burrowes

April




***Henning, Duke of Clonmere is bound by a promise made by his late father. He must marry one of the Earl of Falmouth’s daughters, though only the oldest, Lady Iris, who considers herself on the shelf, interests Clonmere… In fact, she fascinates him. ***




“The waltz will start soon,” Iris said. “We should be going inside.”



His Grace of Clonmere remained on the bench beside her. “Might I confide a secret? I’m all waltzed out. I have no more waltzes, minuets, quadrilles, gavottes or Roger de Coverley’s in me. Not tonight. Your sisters have worn me to flinders.”



I want my waltz. And yet, Iris was also relieved. To twirl around in Clonmere’s arms, pretending to be merely amused, pretending to merely enjoy what Iris would instead be savoring and resenting and treasuring…. Clonmere’s demurral was in truth a reprieve.



“My sisters thrive on society’s entertainments. You will have a waltzing duchess, Your Grace. Best accommodate yourself to that reality now, even if it’s not precisely what you wish for.”



Clonmere plucked a flower from the urn beside the bench. “What do you wish for? If you had a fairy godmother, and she granted you a wish-come-true, what would it be, Lady Iris?”



Just as the duke was out of waltzes, Iris was out of witty rejoinders. The plain, honest truth begged to be spoken, if only this once, if only to a man making conversation to avoid the ballroom.



“A wish? My deepest, most secret wish?”



“The wish your heart whispers as you drift into dreams, that wish.”



To not end up with cat hair all over my life. To not be a burden on my family. To never… but those wishes were all in the negative. What did Iris wish for affirmatively? She had the sense Clonmere would wait for her answer until Michaelmas, though by then he’d be married to some sister or other.



“I wish that a worthy man would regard me, the true me, as the fulfillment of some of his dreams, Your Grace. Not all, of course, just as I wouldn’t expect him to be the sum total of my life either. I was raised to anticipate that I’d find a partner though, and I’m not ashamed to long for it. I wish that man would find me, and kiss me as if all the love in his heart had finally found a home, and as if all the love in my heart was his dearest treasure. Just once, I’d like to experience such a kiss.”



The admission surprised her, but also came as something of a relief. Twenty-six was not ancient, and longing for somebody to love was purely human.



“You are very brave,” Clonmere said, rising. “Very fierce.”



Now he was ready to return to the ballroom? “I am neither.”



He offered his hand—not his arm—and Iris rose. She’d confided much more than she’d intended, but the recitation had given her courage. She would not slink off to Surrey, she would not consign herself to the company of dyspeptic cats and literary spinsters.



“Where are we going?” she asked, for the duke was not taking her in the direction of the ballroom.



“What matters one more waltz, when I can make a lady’s wish come true?” He came to a halt toward the back of the garden. The sound of the ballroom faded to a distant roar, moonlight glinted on a trickle of water splashing from a fountain sculpted into the shape of a blooming rose.



“I must make my own wish come true,” Iris said.



Clonmere shifted his grip on Iris’s hand, linking their fingers. “On Saturday, I will choose which of Falmouth’s daughters to court. From that day forward, I will be devoted to her and only to her, if she’ll have me. I must make my choice in a manner that offers none of your sisters insult, or the woman I choose for my duchess will forever regret that she caused her siblings to suffer. Jealousy among siblings is the very devil, and I won’t be the cause of it in my wife’s family.”



He was trying to make some point, but Iris grasped only the first part of his declaration. “You have not yet made your choice. You aren’t devoted to anybody yet.”



“Precisely.” He took off his gloves, a curious thing to do when the supper was still a set of dances away. “I am free to behave as I please, and I please to make your one, honest wish come true—if I may?”



A peculiar sensation welled from Iris’s middle, part glee, part terror. “You’d like to kiss me?”



“That was your wish.”



Her wish had involved a particular kind of kiss, which Clonmere couldn’t possibly deliver.



She nodded.



He framed her face in the warmth of his hands. “Then… as you wish, my lady.”


About the Author:

New York Times Bestselling, award-winning author Eileen Dreyer has published 40 novels and 10 short stories under her name and that of her evil twin, Kathleen Korbel in contemporary romance, paranormal romance, historical romance, romantic suspense, mystery and medical forensic suspense. A proud member of RWA's Hall of FAME, she also has numerous awards from RT BookLovers and an Anthony nomination for mystery. She is now focusing on what she calls historic romantic adventure in her DRAKE'S RAKES series. A native of St. Louis, she still lives there with her family. She has animals but refuses to subject them to the limelight.



Website: http://eileendreyer.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/eileendreyer

Instagra: https://www.instagram.com/eileendreyerauthor/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/19012.Eileen_Dreyer

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/eileen-dreyer




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Money or Men by David Burnett #Romance #Fiction #Giveaway @GoddessFish

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. David Burnett will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Love or loot?



Erin must choose between the money of which she has long dreamed and the man who she has loved. Eight years ago, she chose “loot” when Chris, her former husband, competed for her hand against the god of money. Now, with a promotion within reach, she is poised to take her place among the elite of Wall Street. She will soon be working twenty-four-seven to reorganize a failing company, and she has been ordered to find someone to care for her children.




She has few options, and she reluctantly concludes she must beg Chris for help. She has not talked with Chris, written, texted, friended, private messaged, or tweeted Chris since leaving him, but if he will not keep their children for the summer, she will lose her promotion, and her dream of wealth will vanish.




Opposites had attracted when they had fallen in love. Erin remembers a Chris who was laid-back, satisfied, and, worst of all, unambitious. He seems not to have changed. He lives on a small island with no home mail delivery. He had been an author, but Erin can find nothing he has published since their split.




But Chris’s photo is the one personal item on Erin’s desk, and she still dreams of him when she sleeps. She fears if she asks Chris to care for their children for the summer, she will be drawn back into his world. She will choose Chris over money, “love over loot,” lose her drive to succeed and everything for which she has worked. Her promotion will be denied – and lightning will not strike a second time. How can she send their children to live with him without becoming entangled herself?

Read an Excerpt


The night after he had consented to care for the twins, she’d dreamed she and Chris had been communicating, and she had awakened, crying out for him, her t-shirt and shorts soaked with perspiration. After a quick shower, she had spread soothing cream over her body and laid down, covering herself with the cool sheet.



As she lay in the darkness, she had begun to cry. She wanted to impress Chris.



No, she wanted him to be proud of her. She wanted him to regret letting her go, which seemed crazy, even to Erin, since it had been she who had orchestrated the leaving.



She smiled as she entertained those thoughts, then she gently shook her head, dismissing them from her mind. Even though, sadly, her dream had been her best encounter with a man in the eight years since their divorce, it wasn’t going to happen in real life. Shouldn’t happen in real life. Not now, when she was on the cusp of her dream life in New York City.



Ahead, Erin spied a bridge, and a sign told her she had reached the Folly River. She crossed the bridge onto the island Chris called home.



The business district was four blocks long and, perhaps, a couple wide, and she maneuvered the Lexus slowly down the aptly named Center Street, observing the sidewalks full of tourists and the beachwear shops, their windows full of t-shirts, catching the aroma of fried fish mixed with the smell of salt wafting in from the ocean, her ears perking to the strains of jazz drifting through the open doors of one of the restaurants. She braked at a crosswalk, allowing a woman with a barely there bikini to push a baby stroller across the street, and an aging hippie with a white ponytail to amble in the other direction. The twins’ faces were plastered against the windows.



It resembled the old beach town near her grandmother’s house, and for a moment she was transported back to her youth when she was fifteen, and she and her sisters spent a glorious summer there, free from her father’s oversight.



Stopping for what appeared to be the town’s sole traffic light, her thoughts turned back to Chris. He would be waiting around the corner, at the town’s pier. She glanced in the rearview mirror, checking her appearance, a sense of foreboding sweeping over her. Her stomach began to rumble.



Alexandra’s “communication” was not the goal, not today. After all, for years she had insisted she no longer loved Chris Stephens, and nothing had happened to change her feelings.



Beyond that, her career was like an airplane beginning to take off. She was taxiing down the runway and by the autumn, she would take flight. There was little space in the aircraft for children. A boyfriend, let alone a husband, surely would be unmanageable.



All she wanted today, was to begin an amicable relationship with the man who would care for her children. She should be able to do that, shouldn’t she? Even with Chris?



As she waited for the traffic light to change, a police car with the slogan “Protecting Paradise” emblazoned on its bumper cruised past. Erin glanced to her left, spotting the car that had followed her when she had turned off the interstate. It was turning while she was going straight. The girl in the front seat saw Erin and smiled.



Erin waved.



Ahead, to the left, she spied the pier.



Chris would be waiting.



“I should have taken the beer…”



About the Author:

We recently moved to our new home near Charleston, South Carolina. Four of my books are set in Charleston, and I’ve always enjoyed the Carolina beaches. I now have the opportunity to walk on the beach almost every day and to photography the ocean, the sea birds, and the marshes that I love.



I love photography, and I have photographed subjects as varied as prehistoric ruins on the islands of Scotland, star trails, sea gulls, and a Native American powwow. My wife and I have traveled widely in the United States and the United Kingdom. During trips to Scotland, we visited Crathes Castle, the ancestral home of the Burnett family near Aberdeen, and Kismul Castle on Barra, the home of my McNeil ancestors.



I went to school for much longer than I want to admit, and I have degrees in psychology and education. In an “earlier life” I was director of research for our state’s education department.



Website: http://davidburnett.yolasite.com



Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavdBurnett


Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DavidBurnett.Author


Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/davidburnett


Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6579272.David_Burnett


Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Money-Men-David-Burnett-ebook/dp/B07N58KL52/





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