Tales From Mysteria Falls (11 page)

Venus quickly recovered from the initial shock on her senses, but an underlying tension remained. It made her uneasy, as if a hidden menace lurked in the shadows. She stepped back toward the lab’s entrance and searched the area, but nothing appeared out of the ordinary amid the few dozen cars littering the otherwise empty parking lot. Goosebumps covered her arms and the street lamps flickered slightly. She fished her Glock from her purse and slipped it into the pocket of her lab coat.

After waiting for several minutes and seeing no movement or change, Venus headed for her car.  She wanted a hot shower, chicken soup, and a warm bed, but tonight was her volunteer night at Believe—a women’s shelter in the heart of Atlanta’s neediest district. She counted Lily Johnson, Believe’s director, and Keira Night, the shelter’s nurse practitioner as two of her closest friends. Even if she didn’t work her three hours, she needed to show up. Lily had emailed that the shelter was swamped today.

Suddenly the heavy waves of Venus’s hair lifted from her shoulders as if being tugged by a mega dose of static electricity. Gripping her Glock, she swung around, searching for cause. A flash of a too-stupid-to-live woman about to be axed in a B-rated move crossed her mind.

“You shouldn’t be out here all alone.”  The sinister male drawl came from directly behind her.

Spinning around, Venus cried out, her heart thundering with an intense icy fear. She felt frozen in place, even her fingers gripping the gun in her pocket turned numb.

Trevelyan Series Writing as Jennifer St. Giles

The Mistress of Trevelyan

His Dark Desires

Killdaren Series Writing as Jennifer St. Giles

Midnight Secrets

Darkest Dreams

Silken Shadows

Shadowmen Series Writing as Jennifer St. Giles

Touch A Dark Wolf

The Lure of the Wolf

Kiss of Darkness

Bride of the Wolf

Silent Warrior Series Writing as J.L. Saint

Collateral Damage

Tactical Deception

Weldon Series Writing as Jennifer Saints

Wild Irish Ride

Smooth Irish Seduction

Hard Irish Luck

A Weldon Family Christmas

Frankly, My Dear Series as Jennifer Saints

Cocktail Cove

Upcoming Releases

Point of No Return
(Crimson Thorn Series – Book 1)

Awaken the Night
(Into the Twilight Series – Book 1)

A Rose from the Grave
(Book 1)

Hot Irish Lass
(Weldon Brothers - Book 4)

Down Easy Street
(Frankly, My Dear - Book 2)

Fly Me to the Moon
(Frankly, My Dear - Book 3)

Find Jenni online on her website
www.jennifersaints.com
,
Twitter @jennifersaints
and
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 Get Book One from the Weldon Brothers Series

WILD IRISH RIDE for
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Excerpt From WILD IRISH RIDE

Weldon Brothers Series - Book One

H
e should have stayed away
, he thought, stepping deeper into the shadows as she drew nearer.  He saw she was wearing the damn pearls.  Of course she would, it was her day to wear the cursed things.  He’d never forget what she and those pearls had cost him.  Reporters, like sharks in a feeding frenzy, snapped pictures and yelled questions.  Alexi ignored them all.  He had to admire that, he thought, his jaw clenching in protest.

Where she was going?

He knew what it was like to be shark bait and Alexi was sailing through the water with her head held high, but even through the light rain he could see she was bleeding inside as she drew abreast of him.  Tears streamed down her face and her full lips trembled.  She stumbled and reached for something to break her fall, but only grasped air.

Shit.  He rushed forward and caught her arm before she hit the ground, his instinct towards her stronger than his will.

“Oh!” She turned and surprise washed over her face.  She breathed his name, as if he were an answer to a prayer. “Jesse.”

Hell, she still looked too damn innocent and vulnerable for his good.  Twelve years and she still had the power to get under his skin even though he knew how deadly she could be.  Maybe it was time to turn the tables, collect on what he missed and wipe her from his mind.  She couldn’t be as good as he remembered her being.

Alexi blinked as heat invaded the chill that had stolen through her since she’d seen the pictures of Roger.  She tingled as she looked at the rugged face and chiseled chest of the man who’d just saved her from falling.  Half a day’s dark stubble covered his rough jaw; and his deep sea-blue eyes, crinkled at the corners from the sun, warily assessed her then stared at her mouth.  Tension oozed from him.  She had no trouble connecting the man to the wild devil who’d led her astray years ago then broke her heart.

Small towns had their good side and bad side of the tracks, and the wild Weldon boys had been known a time or two to paint their side a bit blacker.  Jesse’s reputation had been the worst.  She hadn’t believed that until he’d used her to steal from her family.  Over the years, she’d heard from Jesse’s mother Emma, who worked at the hospital, about Jesse’s stellar military career and security business in Washington D.C.  Knowing he’d turned his life around made her glad, but didn’t ease the hurt he’d left behind.

 “Still a virgin on the run after all these years, Lexi?” he drawled.  His voice, as steamy and seductive as Southern summer day, challenged her on an elemental level, a sensual one.

“Almost,” Alexi said, letting the last illicit picture she had of Roger fall from her grasp to the ground.  She’d only ever been with Roger and
he
didn’t count.  Not anymore.  She sucked in air, latching onto Jesse’s appeal.  The reporters encircled them.  Jesse lifted his hot gaze to her eyes and smiled.

“Almost?”  Slow and sexual, his grin spread awareness through her.  “Sounds frustrating.  Interested in changing that?”  He ran his finger under her chin and she caught her breath.

Yes, some part deep inside her shouted.  Yes, she wanted to change that.  Here was one situation her grandmother couldn’t smooth over with a lie.  With the cameras rolling, Roger and her grandmother would get a clear picture that Alexi meant it when she said she wasn’t marrying Roger ever.

“Yes,” Alexi said to Jesse, stepping closer to him.  Waves of his sex appeal washed over her.  Waves she had no trouble remembering, though she’d only been seventeen when she’d last dipped into them.  His nearness and touch sparked something inside of her that wanted to rebel against everything that had just happened to her.  “Kiss me,” she demanded, loudly.

Jesse arched his brow and asked softly, “What’s your game Lexi?”  He slid an arm around her and pulled her flush to his bare chest, her breasts to his smooth, hard muscle.  Then his mouth covered hers.  She gasped at the desire shooting through her as his demanding tongue entered her mouth and his gaze dared her to respond.

She wound her arms around his neck, pressed closer to him, and met his tongue with hers.  Surprise that she’d taken him up on his challenge filled his eyes and he hesitated, but only for a moment before he delivered a four-alarm kiss.  He bent her back over his arm, inserted his leg between hers and had one hand cupping her bottom, no doubt knocking the socks off the gossip hounds surrounding them.  In one kiss Jesse thoroughly ravished her from the inside out and she burned for more.  By trying to deliver a message to her grandmother, Alexi wondered what message had she delivered to herself instead.

Jesse ended the kiss, but kept her captive in his embrace as he stared into her eyes.  She ran her fingers into the silk of his hair and then surprised herself by kissing him again.  His heat chased away the chill Roger had left inside her and she couldn’t seem to get enough of it.  He groaned then and deepened the kiss.  Her hands clung to his broad shoulders, feeling the heat of his bare skin and the strength of his muscled torso.  The cameras continued to flash and the world swirled crazily around her as her heart pounded hard at the line she crossed by embracing a half-naked Jesse so intimately in public.  

He smelled faintly of aftershave and some indefinable, but intriguing scent.  His body, strong and sure, eased around hers, a balm to her chaffed emotions.  Yet before she could lose herself in him completely, he eased back and stared hard at her.  Emotion and desire collided in her heart, springing tears to her eyes.  “Get me out of here, please,” she whispered.

Cool cynicism descended into the heat of his gaze.  “So that’s your angle.  You need a hero, even if it’s a Weldon.”  Glancing up at the reporters around them, he cursed.  “Well, your highness, these days I charge for services rendered, and I expect to get paid.”  He scooped her into his arms and rammed through the reporters.  “I’ll be your hero for a price.”

“What do you mean by that?” she asked, struggling in his arms as he headed to the parking lot.  Reporters followed.

Jesse stopped a moment to meet her gaze.  A sensual promise curved his lips.  “We’ll take care of the details later.  The choice is yours, Lexi.  Me or the sharks following us?”   

“You,” she said, wondering if she’d just made a deal with the devil in Georgia.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Copyright © 2014 by Jenni Leigh Grizzle

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

Dorothea’s Wizard
was originally published in
Bewitched, Bothered & BeVamyred.

eISBN: 978-1495499180

USA Today
Bestselling Author Jennifer St. Giles/ J.L. Saint/ Jennifer Saints might have a split personality. Or as a nurse and mother of three, she knows how to multi-task. She writes in a number of genres from gothic historicals, paranormal thrillers, romantic suspense, and sexy contemporary romance. She has won a number of awards for writing excellence including, two National Reader’s Choice Awards, two-time Maggie Award Winner, Daphne du Maurier Award winner, Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award, along with RT Book Club’s Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Gothic/Mystery. She loves hearing from her readers via her website jenniferstgiles.com or you can find her on
Facebook
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Twitter @jenniferstgiles
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From the Author’s Mouth

What can I tell you about me?

I don’t play video games or watch horror because I can’t take the heat, but give me a kickass thriller every minute of every day and I am there. Be prepared for a Hoover Dam meltdown if you’re with me and the movie is sad. So, to avoid disaster, I love romantic comedies.

Never coffee. Always tea. Never beer. Always champagne. There’s more, but hey, gotta save some secrets until after the first date, right?

I grew up in Miami. Went to nursing school in Georgia, where I now reside. I raised and home schooled three great kids. I wrote for nine years before I sold a book, which made me a firm believer that a person should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP ON THEIR DREAMS.

I remember my father’s remark after a particularly scandalous story about one of my ancestors, a story that involves a conspiracy, treason, betrayal, murder, and execution, a story that after a drink or two in the bar, I might be enticed to share. Anyway, what my father said was, “You can’t keep a good man down.” And I kind of see that in myself. Not that I am necessarily good, because the definitions of moral words are often relative, but I do persevere, and I am resilient. Nothing in life has ever worked out the way I planned for it too. In many areas of my life, I have yet to reach the level I thought I would, of where I envisioned I would be, but I haven’t given up. I won’t give up. I continue to work hard and do everything I can to help who I can and to make my dreams come true.

Besides great kids, family, and friends, that perseverance has so far garnered me a USA Today Bestselling tag and twelve plus books on the shelf in a number of genres (contemporary romantic suspense, historical suspense, paranormal suspense, and contemporary romance). I’ve won a number of writing awards, two National Choice Awards, three Maggie Awards, a RT Book Club Reviewer’s Choice Award, the Daphne du Maurier Award, the Marlene Award, and the Golden Heart Award to name most of them. I work with several amazing women in a charity to raise money for a shelter that helps abused and homeless women and children. I’ve revived my nursing career after a long hiatus, have renewed my license, and have found the right job for now.

I know there are many more great things ahead.

I write romance because I believe that when you boil all of life down to its essence, if you take a human being to the very core of his existence, then you will find that what matters more than anything else is to be loved and to give love.

Life is all about choices and to pull from one of Erich Fromm’s quote,
I choose to create and to love rather than destroy and to hate.

I hope you enjoy my stories.

Go forth, dream, believe, create, inspire, and love,

Jenni (J.L. Saint, Jennifer St. Giles, Jennifer Saints)