5 MORE DAYS AND DEEP WITHIN THE STONE WILL BE RELEASED!!
OCTOBER 31ST is the big day. Deep Within the Stone will be released. I'm so proud of the book. It's an Adult Beauty and the Beast tale. Here's the cover and the blurb and below is an excerpt.
THE BEAUTY…
Like Michelangelo, gifted sculptor Genevieve Warren believes her purpose is to set free the beings she can sense trapped inside the stone she carves. But she’s never had a sculpture speak to her like the rare 14th century gargoyle left out in the elements to crumble in a castle garden. Because of Scottish antiquity law, she can’t buy him, but she leases him and has him shipped home. However, she’s left to wonder why his owners are so eager to get rid of part of their history.
THE BEAST…
Finlay MacLeod has spent centuries as a monster. Stone by day and beast at night, he craves an escape from the endless loneliness of his existence. When Genevieve cares for the stone sculpture as though he’s real, he hopes he’s found someone who will care for the monster imprisoned inside it, too… and help him end his suffering. But first he must reveal to her he’s alive.
THE CURSE…
Genevieve becomes aware there are mystical things afoot when she’s told dark magic surrounds the sculpture she’s imported. The reality of what she’s welcomed into her life is more fantastic and compelling than anything she could have imagined.
But there’s more than one kind of monster prowling the hills and valleys of Superstition. One has decided that only Genevieve can feed his many hungers. He’s watching, waiting, and moving closer every moment.
“I dinna ken why ye wish to draw me, lass. But ye’ve more than earned the right, since ye’ve fed and housed me these past weeks.”
“You’ve brought me fish twice this week, and those mushrooms you harvested were perfect in the salad we ate tonight.”
Finn looked up, and she caught the slight wrinkle of his nose.
“Man cannot live by meat and potatoes alone, Finn. And don’t say you aren’t a man because, you’re ninety percent man and ten percent stubborn. When you become human again, you’ll have to start eating healthier, otherwise you’ll have a heart attack before you’re forty.”
She pointed the stub of charcoal at him. “And don’t say you’re already older than that.” She glanced at him, studying the line of his jaw. “How old were you when you were…changed?”
“A score and eight years. An old man for my time.”
“Twenty-eight is young today. I’ll be twenty-seven my birthday.”
“Ye would have been thought left on the bush if ye were rich. Comin’ from a landed family, yer husband would have been chosen for you and you would have been breeding within the year at seven and ten. Had ye had no resources, ye would have been thought a prize because ye have a skill, and the lads would have been hangin’ about ye, tryin’ to woo ye to the altar for what ye could bring to the marriage and the marriage bed.”
“Seventeen, huh?” She felt a wave of outrage for those poor girls, forced into marriage with strangers while little more than children.
His accent always thickened when he spoke of his home. “Aye. Sometimes older, if their athair was not in need of a political ally or some other binding situation.”
“Why didn’t you want to settle down with one of the landed ladies? I’m sure your cousin could have found you one.”
“Aye, he did, a widow, but she died of consumption before the banns were posted.”
He spoke with such dispassion, she looked up. “I’m sorry, Finn.”
“Life was harder then, and there were no medicines to fight disease as there are now. I would have been a better man then, had she lived, and I took responsibility for her property and the needs of her clansmen.”
“You’re always so hard on yourself, Finn. You patrol my property to make certain I’m safe. You bring me freshly caught fish, mushrooms, wild greens. You make me feel… cared for.”
“I am always at your service.” He raised his yellow-green gaze to her face. The look in his eyes had heat flaring in her face and an empty ache erupting between her thighs.
“I need to concentrate on this. After you’ve been stationary all day, I don’t want you to have to remain so any longer than necessary. I’ve been working from photographs, but this will finish off my ideas.”
He inclined his head, but continued to gaze at her for several moments.
She focused on the paper before her as though it were the most important thing on earth. After half an hour, she said, “You can get up and move around now if you like.” He rose and stretched. The wide, muscular depth of his chest captured her attention, and her mouth dried. He turned to look over his shoulder at her, almost as if he knew what she was feeling, and she dragged her attention back to the drawing. She finished it and tore it off the pad, set it aside, then turned her attention to the portrait beneath.
She had to learn to suppress these feelings. For several days, things had been awkward between them. She was wary of standing too close, for fear of giving away, yet again, how she felt when he was near. Every look seemed awkward.
“Will ye show the drawing to me when ye’re finished?” he asked.
“Yes. Of course. Will you mind if I use it for my next sculpture?”
His brows shot up. “A sculptural copy of me like this?”
“No. It isn’t. It’s as I see you. As you really are.” She put several finishing touches to the portrait, got up, and moved back to view it from a distance.
“I would like to see it before I say aye or nay.”
“All right.” She turned the full-length drawing of him so he could see it. It was of a man fighting his way free from an invisible force. The plan was to add the polymer clay to it as she had Mai’s. Mai’s was about looking to the future. Finn’s would be about fighting against an internal prison and overcoming it. The clay would bond one arm to the base, and the other would reach upward, with tatters hanging from it.
She glanced up to find him studying the drawing. “Ye have left the face blank, lass.”
She tore the portrait she’d done off the pad and placed it carefully atop the other drawing.
He stared at the portrait and his throat worked as he swallowed. “’Tis a face I was once familiar with. How can ye see what was in the past?”
“I know human anatomy and bone structure. Yours is camouflaged, but it’s there.”
“Is it the man you see in the picture ye care about, or the monster before ye, Genevieve?”
“You are one and the same, Finn.”
“Nay. The monster is inside me as well as my shell. I have instincts I work to suppress that no human should have to fight. The urge to hunt, the need to pursue.”
He limped closer. She had filed on the second nail from his big toe, and she should never have done it. He wasn’t healing as he had always done before, because she interfered with the magic.
Why did his yellow irises so often appear green in the glare of the patio lights? Were his eyes changing color?
“The need to take.”
The way he said it brought visions of him coming inside her, and triggered an immediate, visceral reaction.
His hands closed over her arms, and he brought her up against him, the hard heat of his erection pressed against her. He bent his head and nibbled at her throat, using careful pressure while his tongue feathered her skin.
Genevieve moaned his name aloud. She ran her hands up his back to the joint of his wings. Finn shuddered and dragged in a breath. He thrust against her. “If I bite you, if I make love with ye, the magic may pass to ye. I winna let that happen.”
He dragged himself out of her arms and took two stumbling steps back, then turned and raced across the yard, his wings spread. He rose into the sky.
Genevieve bent at the waist and braced her hands on her knees. She couldn’t drag in enough air. Every muscle in her body jerked and shook with frustrated need. Her empathic abilities seemed to be growing stronger. She read his need, and it blended with hers as soon as she touched him. She bit her lip and forced herself to stand.
As her passion cooled, the urge to weep overwhelmed her. Crying wouldn’t help, but now they’d opened this box, there’d be no way to close it.
Miranda and Juliet had to help them.
If you're interested in DEEP WITHIN THE STONE here are the links:
AMAZON: http://amzn.to/2xY7clQ
B & N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/deep-within-the-stone-teresa-j-reasor/1127095745?ean=2940154547915
SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/747636
DEEP WITHIN THE SHADOWS Book one of the series is just $.99.
Welcome to Superstition, Kentucky
Twins Miranda and Juliet Templeton have been haunted by childhood trauma their entire lives. One has the reputation for being bold and rash, the other compulsively responsible. When both are viciously attacked within minutes of each other, they are forced to leave their differences behind in order to survive.
Caleb Faulkner has always loved Miranda Templeton. Her letters to him, during his deployment gave him a slice of home to hold on to. Even though they’re finally together, something is keeping her from acting on her feelings. When she and her sister are injured Caleb’s driven to protect them both. But all his military training can’t help him combat this danger.
Detective Chase Robinson is lead investigator for the murder of Tanner Newton. When the two hired thugs responsible for Tanner’s death are killed and Juliet, his only witness, nearly strangled to death, Chase is certain the crimes are connected. He decides to stay close to the twins so he can catch the real killer. But his police training is useless against his growing feelings for Juliet and what’s hiding DEEP WITHIN THE SHADOWS.
I hope you enjoyed the excerpt and take advantage of the $.99 cent sale on Deep Within The Shadows.
Happy Reading,
Teresa Reasor
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