A Passion for Pleasure(117)
“Please, Talia.” James lifted her face so she had to look at him. Self-directed anger darkened his brown eyes. “Don’t give me the gift of your love. I won’t do anything good with it. Save your heart for a man who truly deserves it.”
Talia clenched her back teeth together, fighting a sting of tears. Never before had James indicated he thought himself unworthy of anything, least of all a woman’s love. Part of her wanted to argue, to force him to understand that she would not have offered herself to him had she not known his value.
But Talia did have her mother’s pride, uncultivated though it might be. If James did not want her heart, then she would take it back.
“Very well.” She pulled away from the burn of his touch and crossed the room, clutching his still-warm coat around her body.
At the door, she paused. He stood by the sideboard, his hands shoved into his trouser pockets and his shoulders slumped. His hair fell in a disheveled mess across his forehead. A twist of longing, of love, went through Talia but she pushed it down beneath the layer of cold already creeping over her soul.
“James, I ask only that you keep my…my behavior a confidence between us.”
“Talia, I would die before causing you embarrassment or shame.” James cleared his throat. “No one will know of this. If…when I return, we will carry on as we did before.”
“Agreed.” Talia pulled open the door, turning away from him as her heart broke in half. “Best of luck on your expedition then, James. I hope you find what you seek.”
Because now I never will.
Talia hurried back to her room, blinded by tears.
THE DISH
Where Authors Give You the Inside Scoop
From the desk of Debra Webb
Dear Reader,
It’s very exciting to be back again this month with RAGE, the fourth installment of the Faces of Evil series.
Writing a series can be a challenge. There are many threads related to the plots and the characters that have to be kept in line and moving forward (sometimes the characters like to go off on paths of their own!). Former Special Agent Jess Harris and Birmingham Chief of Police Dan Burnett have their hands full as usual. Murder hits close to home in this story and takes us to the next level of evil: rage. We’ve explored obsession, impulse, and power already and there are many more to come. The face of evil is rarely easy to spot. But Jess and Dan won’t rest until they solve the case and ensure the folks of Birmingham are safe.
While I was writing this story, a new character joined the cast. I wasn’t expecting a new character to appear on the page and demand some special attention, but Dr. Sylvia Baron, Jefferson County associate coroner, has a mind of her own. She stepped onto the page in her designer stilettos and her elegant business attire and told me exactly what she wanted to do. From hello Jess and Sylvia butt heads. The two keep Dan on his toes!
I hope you’ll stop by www.thefacesofevil.com and visit with me. There’s a weekly briefing each Friday where I talk about what’s going on in my world and with the characters as I write the next story. You can sign up as a person of interest and you might just end up a suspect!
Enjoy the story and be sure to look for Revenge coming in July and Ruthless in August!
Happy reading!
From the desk of Roxanne St. Claire
I packed a lot of emotional themes and intense subjects into my writer’s beach bag when I penned BAREFOOT IN THE SUN, from faith and trust to life-threatening illness and life-altering secrets. The Happily Ever After is hard-won and bittersweet, but that seems to come with the Barefoot Bay territory. The heroine, Zoe Tamarin, has to overcome a tendency to run away when life goes south, and the hero, Oliver Bradbury, must learn that, despite his talents as a doctor, he can’t fix everything. During their reunion romance, Zoe and Oliver grow to understand the power of a promise, the joy of a second chance, and the awesome truths told by Mother Nature.
But this is Barefoot Bay, so it can’t be all heartache and healing!
In lighter moments, Oliver and Zoe play. They kiss (a lot), they laugh (this is Zoe!), they swim (some might call it skinny dipping), and occasionally Zoe whips out her deck of cards for a rockin’ round of Egyptian Rat Screws (ERS).
I’ve mentioned Zoe’s penchant for ERS in other books, and readers have written to ask about the card game. Many want to know the origin of the name, which, I have to admit, is a complete mystery to me, as the game has nothing to do with Egypt, rodents, or hardware of any kind. The secret of the name is one of many aspects of the game that reminds me of Zoe… a character who reveals in the opening scene of BAREFOOT IN THE SUN that she’s not the person everyone believes she is.