The Shadow and the Night: Glenncailty Castle, Book 3 (30 page)

Love—and healing—can come from the most unexpected places…

Talking Sense

© 2013 Serenity Woods

Sensual Healing, Book 3

Still hurting physically and emotionally after a tragic car accident, Mia Nicholls has everything but love on her mind. Until quiet, sexy Colm Molony—a man who barely registered on her romantic radar—gives her a more-than-friends birthday kiss that really rings her bell.

The minute he laid eyes on Mia, Colm knew she was trouble, which is one reason he’s kept his distance. The other is that he’ll be leaving New Zealand to go back to Ireland at summer’s end. Yet when he touches Mia’s watch, his supernatural ability to sense others’ emotions kicks in, and his instinct to soothe her private pain overrides his intention to stay away.
 

While away on a course together, talk leads to massage, then to a game of strip whist, culminating in a physical relationship that turns emotional faster than either expected. But when a shocking event threatens to upset Mia’s tenuous equilibrium, Colm must untangle himself from his own past before he can save her wounded heart from slipping beyond his reach.

Warning: Includes men in rugby shorts, strip whist, an unashamedly romantic hero performing heroic acts, and a touch of the Twilight Zone.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Talking Sense:

By this time they’d made their way through half the box of chocolates he’d been thoughtful enough to buy. He’d slid down the pillows until he was practically lying down, and she’d moved closer so they were only a foot apart.

It was late, they’d drunk a bottle and a half of wine between them, and his eyelids had slid to half-mast. He looked relaxed and content and sexy, and she finally plucked up the courage to make a suggestion.

“Want to play strip whist?”

He stared at her. Gradually, he smiled. “You’re only saying that because you know I’m rubbish at it.”

“Yep.”

He grinned. “Okay.”

Her heart pounded as she dealt out seven cards. Her inhibitions were rapidly fading and naughtiness surged through her. “Right, so every time you win a trick, you can ask a sexy question of the other person, as well as making them remove an item of clothing.”

“Sure.” He fanned out his cards and began to put them in order. “I like the way you got me drunk before you suggested this so I’d be even more useless at it.”

“You’re drunk after three glasses of wine? Jeez. Way to hold your liquor, dude.”

“I’m a cheap date.” He turned over the top card on the pack. “Hearts are trumps.” He played the ace of diamonds and grinned at her.

Cool as a chilled cucumber, she laid down the two of hearts.

He stared at it. “You have to lay a diamond if you have one.”

“I don’t have one.”

He huffed a sigh and plonked his cards face down on the bed. “Shit. Okay. Go on then.”

“Clothing first.”

He took off a sock and threw it on the floor. “Fire away.”

She studied him thoughtfully. “Favourite sexual position.”

“Woman on top.” He picked up his cards, unfazed. “Too easy. Your turn.”

She blinked. “Do you want time to think about it?”

“No need.”

“What do you like about the woman being on top?”

He fanned out his cards again. “I get a good view. Plus she can control things at her own pace.”

His lack of embarrassment and matter-of-factness made her shiver with desire, but she played it down. “It’s a bit passive. Some would say lazy.”

He grinned at that. “You worried I’m not macho enough for you?”

“Are you? I can be quite demanding.”

“We’ll see.” He smirked and indicated her cards. “Your turn.”

The Shadow and the Night

Lila Dubois

Sins and secrets aren’t the only skeletons in the closet…

Glenncailty Castle, Book 3

London forensic anthropologist Melissa Heavey isn’t anything like the characters in her grandmother’s beloved television crime dramas. Especially since an accident left her crippled and weary. While in Dublin to rest and recuperate, she’s asked to help the local Garda Síochána identify bones found in a rural luxury hotel.
 

Curiosity-seeking bone gawkers were not the clients Tristan Fontaine anticipated when he took over the Glenncailty Castle restaurant. And a scientist taking over part of
his kitchen
for her lab? He’s having none of it. Yet she’s not backing down…and his pulse won’t stop speeding up when she’s near.

As their attraction flares, Melissa soon discovers why Tristan is so dismissive of the bones—he’s been talking to the ghosts themselves. But the bones aren’t Glenncailty’s only secret, and Tristan is hiding a tragedy in his past more frightening than what’s lurking inside the castle walls.

Warning: Contains a sexy French chef whose gifts aren’t limited to his hands, and a dry-witted scientist with intellect as sharp as scalpels. Delicious doesn’t even begin to cover it.
 

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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The Shadow and the Night

Copyright © 2014 by Lila Dubois

ISBN: 978-1-61921-765-2

Edited by Amy Sherwood

Cover by Valerie Tibbs

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: January 2014

www.samhainpublishing.com