Happy Medieval Monday! We start
a new theme this week, nature. Bambi Lynn is my guest today. Her heroine Kenna
is in for a big surprise that would melt anyone’s heart. Ty sure hope’s so at
least. Enjoy the excerpt.
Excerpt from Mask of the Highlander
It was late afternoon by the time they
arrived at the dilapidated cottage. The door was nearly impossible to find
amidst the overgrowth, even to one who knew where it was. Ty halted his
stallion nearby and helped Kenna down from her own horse.
She eyed him with the suspicion that had been
growing steadily since they passed the first village. She had made no comment
as they skirted the ramshackle huts, but her cheery prattle had diminished
considerably. By the time they passed the second, she had clammed up like a
mute and said nary a word. Since leaving the third village behind them, she had
made no effort to hide her uncertainty.
Ty would have found her wariness endearing
had he not known the source, but at least she did not cower from him in fear.
The hate and loathing she had shown at his homecoming was gone, leaving only
doubt and caution. He could not be more proud than to have a wife of such
strength as Kenna Cleary Vass.
She stood there, looking back and forth from
him to the hidden door. "What are we doing here?"
Her voice trembled. Ty ached to soothe her
concerns, but nothing he could say would accomplish that. Soon enough she would
trust him, and if not sooner, then later.
He smiled and jerked his head toward the mass
of brambles that hid the cottage. "I have something for you…inside."
He reached through the brush and pushed the door open. Without waiting, he went
inside and began lighting candles. By the time she joined him, the room was
bathed in a soft glow that revealed a hideaway very different from the one they
had visited the last time.
Kenna stopped just inside the threshold, a
gasp of surprise the only sound in the small cottage. Ty busied himself
starting a fire in the hearth, giving her time to look around. He squatted
before the fire, staring at the growing flames. He ached to see her face, to
know if she was pleased with what he had done.
He tensed when he felt her behind him. His
body was already so hard for her. His craving surprised him at times. He was
like a man starved, and she the only sustenance that could satisfy him. His
skin tingled when she placed her hand on his shoulder.
"You did this?"
He stood, towering over her and filling the
small room. "Lá breithe shona
dhuit," he whispered.
She frowned at the phrase. "It's my
birthday?" He nodded. She looked around with newfound surprise. "And
all this…is for me?"
'All this' was a complete transformation of
the sanctuary she had escaped to as a child. Gone were the few pieces of broken
furniture, the cobwebs, the decades of dirt and neglect. The place had been
scoured until nary a ball of dust remained, even the tiny window allowed in a
scant amount of the remaining sunlight. The decrepit furniture had been
replaced with a table, two short stools and a bed frame, a fresh inviting tick
nestled inside. A bundle of primroses filled a vase in the middle of the table,
filling the room with a spicy, comforting fragrance that reminded Ty of spring.
He smiled down at her. "I suppose
fairies must have fixed the place up since the last time ye were here." He
took her hand and lifted it to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss to her palm.
"D'ye like it, then?"
Tears sparkled on her lashes, and he could
tell she had trouble speaking. He almost laughed. That must be a first. She
laid her palm against his cheek, smoothing the patch that covered his eye and
staring deep into the other one.
"No one has ever done anything like this
for me. Thank you."
He cocked his eyebrow at her, pressing her
with his most devilish grin. "I hope ye have some other way of showin' yer
thanks?"
Back Cover Copy for Mask of the
Highlander
Kenna dreads her husband's
homecoming like the plague. The man she married is vile and cruel. She has
prayed every day of his absence he would be killed in the fighting, freeing her
from a life of brutal torment and a loveless marriage. But the man on her
doorstep has changed. This man is kind, gentle and sparks a fire in her she
never felt in the early days of her marriage.
Ty is returning home after years fighting in
France. He yearns for the arms of his beautiful wife and to finally meet the
daughter he has never known. But can Kenna forgive the man she married and love
the man he has become?
Buy Links for Mask of the Highlander
Wonderful excerpt, Bambi! :)
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