Felicity Heaton's Blog, page 114
August 13, 2011
Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #4) - Chapter Three
It's time for another chapter of
Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel romance series #4)
as part of my Paranormal Pandemonium 2011 Blog Tour. I'll be posting the first five chapters for FREE. You can find them all by clicking here: Her Guardian Angel chapters
Her Guardian Angel is currently available in e-book direct from my website, Amazon Kindle Stores, and Smashwords. It will soon be available from Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, and also as a paperback from Amazon sites.
Other stories in the Her Angel series are: Her Dark Angel , Her Fallen Angel and Her Warrior Angel . Details of them and where they are available in e-book and paperback can be found at my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebookseries.php?series=Her%20Angel
Her Guardian Angel
Felicity Heaton
A simple mission becomes a fight for survival in this fantastic instalment in the Her Angel series.
A guardian angel dedicated to his duty, Marcus will do whatever Heaven asks of him, but even his loyalty has its limits. When his superior orders him to gain Amelia's trust through seduction, Marcus starts to question his mission and his feelings for the beautiful woman he has watched over since her birth.
Amelia has gone from one bad relationship to another, so when a gorgeous guy moves in next door looking like Mr Right, she hopes he doesn't turn out to be another black knight in disguise. But there's more to Marcus than meets the eye, and when he rescues her from three demonic men, Amelia is thrust into his nightmarish world—a world where God and the Devil exist, and only one angel can save her from death—Marcus, the angel she's falling in love with.
On the run from demonic angels and the Devil himself, aided by Marcus's angel friends and their amazing women, fighting for survival against the odds, Marcus and Amelia discover a love that will last forever.
A love so strong it will shake Heaven and Hell.
ebook price: $3.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 110000 words
rating: sultry
released: July 2011
Book 4 in the Her Angel series
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Guardian%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77776
CHAPTER THREEMarcus was still pondering how to gain Amelia's trust the next evening as he walked back towards his apartment building near the centre of London. The street wasn't affluent or run-down. It sat somewhere in the middle, and was far nicer than the first area Amelia had lived in when she had moved out of her parents house. This was a safe neighbourhood, full of mortals who worked in Central London and were paid well enough to live only a few Tube stops from the office. Cafés, restaurants and shops lined the busy street, mortals coming and going as they went about their business. It was Saturday and, since waking around noon because of the heat, he had passed the entire day wandering the city, watching mortals as they interacted with each other. The local park had produced the most interesting results. The bright sunny summer's day had drawn many couples, both long-term and aspiring, into the lush green park, where they had sat on blankets and talked, amongst more carnal things.
Marcus had sat in a large oak tree, invisible to mortal eyes and shaded from the heat by the thick leafy canopy, surveying them with interest. Given the number of couples that were kissing or looking as though they were going to kiss given an opportune moment and the correct signal from their chosen partner, a picnic seemed too intimate for his requirement but it had given him some ideas about how to gain Amelia's trust, although he wasn't sure if it was necessary for his mission at all. Amelia had allowed him into her home last night. Based on that, he concluded that she already trusted him on some level, and since he had protected her from her ex-lover, proving his ability and strength, when the time came, she might do whatever he had to ask of her.
He only wished he knew what he was going to face during the event they were heading towards. If he knew that, if his superiors would give him more information about what they had seen, then perhaps he would be better prepared to deal with it and complete his mission. There had to be a reason they weren't telling him though, and it was his duty to obey his orders without question. A good soldier did what was asked of him, regardless of what it was.
Marcus blew out a sigh. He could do that because the mission would end if he did and he would be free of Earth and the mortals.
"Hi."
Marcus raised his head and looked at his surroundings, surprised to see that he was back at the old redbrick apartment building.
Amelia stood before him, her hand still raised in greeting, a smile on her face.
"You spacing out?" She bit her lip. "Don't tell me it's lack of sleep. I still feel terrible about last night."
Marcus shook his head and scrubbed a hand down his face.
"Shoot, it is lack of sleep, isn't it? I'm sorry." She nibbled her lower lip again, entrancing him.
It wasn't just her soft mouth that held his attention today. The evening sun shone down on her, highlighting her shoulder-length dark hair with ribbons of gold and warming her skin almost as much as her blush. She was radiant and the trace of shyness in her eyes as she glanced at anywhere but him only added to her allure.
She had always been so confident in the past when he had been watching her. What had her acting so feminine and shy now?
Her grey eyes briefly touched on his and then dropped to the black leather purse she clutched over her shoulder.
Marcus resisted the desire to follow the strap down over her slender bare shoulder and take in her body. The thin cream ribbon of material that sat close to her bag strap hinted at another flimsy dress. It had been hard enough to cope with the feelings her slip had produced in him last night. He wasn't sure how he would react to the sight of her in another revealing item of clothing.
She cleared her throat and his silver-blue gaze drifted back to her face. Her cheeks darkened and she covered her mouth with her hand and then let it fall away and raised her head, locking eyes with him.
"I'm going to buy you a coffee."
Marcus raised a single dark eyebrow at the force in her tone and the command in her words. That was more like the Amelia he knew so well, yet the quaver in her voice gave away her underlying nerves as much as her rapid heartbeat pounding in his skull. Perhaps his superiors were correct in their assumption. Amelia liked him.
Could he use that against her in some attempt to gain her trust?
It felt wrong to do so and nothing at all like the correct behaviour for an angel.
He followed her gaze over his shoulder to the small café a few doors down from their building. There were some couples sitting outside at the tables that lined the pavement close to the wide glass windows, shaded by large pale sun umbrellas.
Marcus considered declining her order but found himself nodding before he could put voice to his refusal.
A bright smile curved her lips and lit her eyes, and his heart thudded hard against his chest.
Amelia breezed past him and his eyes followed her, slowly dropping to the cream summer dress she wore. It hugged her slender figure even more than the slip had, revealing the tempting luscious curve of her waist and flaring out over her full hips. Marcus stared at her backside, riveted by how the pale-pink-flower-spotted material swayed with each step.
An angel.
Or perhaps a demon for tempting him so easily.
He cocked his head to one side and followed her, unable to resist her silent siren's call. She looked back at him as she reached the glass door, the evening light adding to her radiance, and it struck him that she had never looked as beautiful as she did today. The usual warmth in her look had increased until she shone with what he could only conclude was happiness. She radiated it in waves that reached through him, warming him too and bringing a smile to his face. He had never seen her like this. She had been through a lot in life, especially since deciding to leave home at eighteen. A string of bad relationships had followed that, and poor luck with employment and also with her family. She had lost her mother three years ago and even though he hadn't realised it at the time, he had felt for her as he had watched her grieve, had desired to go to her and offer her the comfort she clearly needed. Her family had neglected to give it to her, or perhaps they hadn't seen what he had. Around them, she had put on a brave face, playing the role of the strong daughter and giving comfort to others, taking none for herself.
She deserved so much better than this life that fate had given to her.
If her smile was because of him, if he was the cause of her happiness, then he was glad.
He had never cared much for mortals.
But he was starting to think he cared for her.
He wasn't sure where that would lead though. Their worlds were separate and he had always maintained his belief that they should forever remain that way. Other angels he knew had fallen for mortals and forsaken their position to be with them, but that wasn't something that he could do. His duty was his reason for living. He had been given this existence in order to serve his master, not so he could callously turn his back on his creator and the gift given to him.
Marcus surmised that it was his duty to watch over Amelia and protect her. It was natural that he cared for her because of it. That was all this feeling was. Compassion born of duty.
He cared about her because he cared about his mission.
She crooked her finger and Marcus obeyed, following her into the colourful interior of the café. The scent of coffee filled his nostrils, swirling in his senses, and stirred a curious hunger to taste the liquid that went with it.
He couldn't.
He wouldn't dabble in such substances.
Not again.
"What can I get you?" Amelia said when he reached her at the glass cabinets full of delicious looking pastries beside the counter and he stared at the black boards on the wall, unsure of what any of it meant.
He had studied the mortal realm and knew more than most angels about living on Earth and what things were. Most angels only knew mortal inventions from the regular reports they received. Those fortunate enough to watch over Earth in the pools in Heaven that recorded the history of mortals had learned more about it than others, including languages throughout the ages, and about food too. He had been studying Amelia for her whole life and had come to know her favourite foods, drinks, and all about the technology she regularly used. In his month on Earth, he had learned how to use such modern items too, and had indulged in tasting a lot of human foodstuffs and drinks. Food was a necessity. Angels used vast amounts of energy in the mortal realm, mostly expended on maintaining their glamour, which is why he often opted for the less energy consuming path of putting his wings away and donning mortal clothing.
The couple in front of them at the counter ordered. The female opted for a latte and the male for a cappuccino. He searched for those on the board behind the people serving the coffees and taking orders. Latte and cappuccino fell under the coffee heading. He raised an eyebrow again when a small footnote on the board declared that coffee was also available decaffeinated. Marcus presumed that meant they had removed the stimulant. He turned to Amelia.
"I am not really a coffee drinker. It's the caffeine… it keeps me awake."
Her grey eyes widened and her lips parted. "There's herbal tea."
Tea didn't seem a very manly drink. He frowned.
"Decaffeinated means without caffeine?" It wasn't exactly how he had wanted to find out. Asking her what something meant was bound to make him appear less appealing to her. He didn't know something so basic. How had he missed such things?
He realised that Amelia always drank straight coffee. She had never opted for anything foreign sounding or decaffeinated in all the times he had watched over her. These past thirty years, he had been so focused on her that he had only learned about the things that she liked. Chinese food, Italian cooking, Spanish tapas, and straight coffee. Sometimes a fruity shake, a smoothie they called it, or some frozen coffee drink. Occasionally a glass of wine with friends. Never beer or mead. He grimaced, stomach turning at the memory of what too much mead could do to an angel.
"It's not quite without caffeine. I think they sort of extract it or something. It leaves a hint of it behind." Amelia didn't look sure.
Marcus nodded. "Decaffeinated cappuccino then."
It sounded manly enough and he could handle any effect it might have on him. He hadn't tucked in his white linen shirt today because he had wanted to feel the slight breeze, needing it to cool down in the hot summer sun. The tail hung loose, covering his dark jeans to the apex of his thighs. If the coffee produced any sort of negative effect on him, he would be able to conceal it.
Amelia ordered the drinks for him and even paid. He hadn't noticed in time to stop her, dropping more points in the manly stakes. He had wanted to insist on paying so her trust in him would increase. It seemed to work for the other men in the queue, gaining them smiles from their females.
Chivalry, he supposed. A code of honour he was familiar with. Did it only take chivalry to gain a female's favour?
He caught Amelia looking around the coffee shop. There were a few tables free on the buzzing inside, but some outside too.
"Why don't we sit in the sun?" he said before she could make a decision and then added, "I will pick up the coffees while you find us a table."
She nodded and smiled at him, a brilliant one that drew another hard thump from his heart. At this rate, he wouldn't need even a trace of caffeine to embarrass himself. Whenever Amelia smiled at him, her grey eyes warm with it, he wanted to reach out and brush the straight lengths of her hair from her face so he could take it all in. The feel of her skin beneath his fingers would definitely be too much. When she had touched his hand last night, he had felt the warmth of her caress for minutes after she had released him. In fact, he could still feel it now if he focused hard enough on remembering that moment, as though a ghost of her touch remained.
The man making the coffees pushed two white mugs towards him and said something about decaffeinated. One looked frothy with a sprinkling of chocolate on top and the other was straight white coffee. Definitely their drinks. He took the two mugs and wove through the patrons in the café, heading for Amelia where she waited for him at a table in the sun.
The evening was drawing on but the light was still warm on her face, highlighting her soft features and shattering the momentary control he had gained over his emotions. How was it that she could distract him so easily?
He placed the coffees down on the round dark metal table and took the seat opposite her, studying her face and trying to keep his attention on the conversation and what she was saying. It was impossible as he looked at her, his knuckles throbbing with the memory of how she had iced them for him, and how gently she had held his hand.
Being around her today was different. Was it because of last night? They had never touched before. They had barely spoken a word to each other beyond pleasantries on meeting in the hallway outside their flats. She had rarely looked at him in the past.
But now she was looking right at him, her gaze boring into his with such intensity but such shyness that he couldn't look away. Transfixed. Mesmerised. Bewitched. Three words that sounded so innocent yet felt so dangerous to him.
He couldn't allow things to head in this direction, but he felt powerless to stop them.
Marcus sipped his drink, making appropriate responses whenever he caught what she was talking to him about and enjoying the slight buzz the remaining trace of caffeine gave him. Not enough to cause adverse effects on his body but enough that it created a tingle in all the good places.
Amelia was animated now but the shyness still lingered beneath her layers of confidence, betraying that inside her tough exterior beat the heart of a female, a woman that he was affecting by only sitting and drinking coffee with her. Was this enough to gain her trust? Would it satisfy his superiors or would they demand he took things further?
He wasn't sure how he would respond to such an order. Drinking coffee with her seemed innocent enough. He wasn't seducing her or using her feelings against her. He was merely being friendly and it was forging a stronger connection between them. Every minute that passed, each sip of coffee she took and smile she flashed, she was growing more confident and more at ease around him.
The sun bounced off the shop windows on the opposite side of the street and played on her face and her body, stuttering as cars and red double-decker buses broke the beams of warm light. Amelia didn't seem to notice. She continued to talk about small things such as their neighbours, work and the weather. Idle conversation. He'd had practice in that during previous missions on Earth and also from his time in Heaven when he'd had to speak with angels he wasn't overly familiar with.
Her eyes sparkled as she smiled again, overflowing with warmth and life, gloriously radiant.
Marcus forgot his coffee and just watched her, stealing this moment with her, unable to believe that after all this time he was actually speaking with her directly, talking to her like a mere mortal and not her protector. It was a strange experience. He had never truly spoken to a mortal before and the workings of her mind were fascinating. She bounced around subjects so quickly that he couldn't keep up with the flow of conversation, and whenever he fell behind, she smiled brightly and apologised.
Another thing he had never noticed about her before last night.
He had never seen her apologise so profusely to anyone.
She paused in the middle of her conversation about a news programme she had watched about the upcoming planetary alignment.
"Are you sure last night didn't wreck your sleep?" she said, concern in her eyes as she leaned across the table, affording him a view down her cream dress that he refused to take advantage of.
Marcus held her gaze instead and smiled faintly. "Maybe a little. Have I been… spacing out again?"
That was what she had called it. Spacing out. He presumed that meant he was currently occupying another galaxy. It seemed apt for his behaviour over the past half an hour with her.
"I'm sorry." Amelia reached across the table and took hold of his left hand, her touch jolting him. His gaze leapt down to her fingers. Her thumb softly caressed his knuckles and her fingertips brushed his palm, bringing everything he had felt last night back to a rolling boil inside him. His pulse raced and his breathing quickened.
Desire?
Couldn't be.
But even as he stared at their joined hands he couldn't form a denial.
He inhaled sharply, trying to catch his breath and instead catching her sweet fragrance on the dusty warm air. Blood pounded in his temples and he could only watch the gentle sweep of her thumb across his fingers in abject fascination.
Images of her flashed across his wide eyes, dressed in her satin slip or in the tight summer dress she wore now, twirling and spinning towards him until her hands pressed against his chest and she was smiling right up into his eyes, her lips parting in invitation.
No.
He had never cared about anyone.
Had never desired a female.
He couldn't start now.
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Guardian%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77776
Be sure to come back next week for the next free chapter of this angel romance novel!
Her Guardian Angel is currently available in e-book direct from my website, Amazon Kindle Stores, and Smashwords. It will soon be available from Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, and also as a paperback from Amazon sites.
Other stories in the Her Angel series are: Her Dark Angel , Her Fallen Angel and Her Warrior Angel . Details of them and where they are available in e-book and paperback can be found at my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebookseries.php?series=Her%20Angel
Her Guardian Angel
Felicity HeatonA simple mission becomes a fight for survival in this fantastic instalment in the Her Angel series.
A guardian angel dedicated to his duty, Marcus will do whatever Heaven asks of him, but even his loyalty has its limits. When his superior orders him to gain Amelia's trust through seduction, Marcus starts to question his mission and his feelings for the beautiful woman he has watched over since her birth.
Amelia has gone from one bad relationship to another, so when a gorgeous guy moves in next door looking like Mr Right, she hopes he doesn't turn out to be another black knight in disguise. But there's more to Marcus than meets the eye, and when he rescues her from three demonic men, Amelia is thrust into his nightmarish world—a world where God and the Devil exist, and only one angel can save her from death—Marcus, the angel she's falling in love with.
On the run from demonic angels and the Devil himself, aided by Marcus's angel friends and their amazing women, fighting for survival against the odds, Marcus and Amelia discover a love that will last forever.
A love so strong it will shake Heaven and Hell.
ebook price: $3.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 110000 words
rating: sultry
released: July 2011
Book 4 in the Her Angel series
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Guardian%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77776
CHAPTER THREEMarcus was still pondering how to gain Amelia's trust the next evening as he walked back towards his apartment building near the centre of London. The street wasn't affluent or run-down. It sat somewhere in the middle, and was far nicer than the first area Amelia had lived in when she had moved out of her parents house. This was a safe neighbourhood, full of mortals who worked in Central London and were paid well enough to live only a few Tube stops from the office. Cafés, restaurants and shops lined the busy street, mortals coming and going as they went about their business. It was Saturday and, since waking around noon because of the heat, he had passed the entire day wandering the city, watching mortals as they interacted with each other. The local park had produced the most interesting results. The bright sunny summer's day had drawn many couples, both long-term and aspiring, into the lush green park, where they had sat on blankets and talked, amongst more carnal things.
Marcus had sat in a large oak tree, invisible to mortal eyes and shaded from the heat by the thick leafy canopy, surveying them with interest. Given the number of couples that were kissing or looking as though they were going to kiss given an opportune moment and the correct signal from their chosen partner, a picnic seemed too intimate for his requirement but it had given him some ideas about how to gain Amelia's trust, although he wasn't sure if it was necessary for his mission at all. Amelia had allowed him into her home last night. Based on that, he concluded that she already trusted him on some level, and since he had protected her from her ex-lover, proving his ability and strength, when the time came, she might do whatever he had to ask of her.
He only wished he knew what he was going to face during the event they were heading towards. If he knew that, if his superiors would give him more information about what they had seen, then perhaps he would be better prepared to deal with it and complete his mission. There had to be a reason they weren't telling him though, and it was his duty to obey his orders without question. A good soldier did what was asked of him, regardless of what it was.
Marcus blew out a sigh. He could do that because the mission would end if he did and he would be free of Earth and the mortals.
"Hi."
Marcus raised his head and looked at his surroundings, surprised to see that he was back at the old redbrick apartment building.
Amelia stood before him, her hand still raised in greeting, a smile on her face.
"You spacing out?" She bit her lip. "Don't tell me it's lack of sleep. I still feel terrible about last night."
Marcus shook his head and scrubbed a hand down his face.
"Shoot, it is lack of sleep, isn't it? I'm sorry." She nibbled her lower lip again, entrancing him.
It wasn't just her soft mouth that held his attention today. The evening sun shone down on her, highlighting her shoulder-length dark hair with ribbons of gold and warming her skin almost as much as her blush. She was radiant and the trace of shyness in her eyes as she glanced at anywhere but him only added to her allure.
She had always been so confident in the past when he had been watching her. What had her acting so feminine and shy now?
Her grey eyes briefly touched on his and then dropped to the black leather purse she clutched over her shoulder.
Marcus resisted the desire to follow the strap down over her slender bare shoulder and take in her body. The thin cream ribbon of material that sat close to her bag strap hinted at another flimsy dress. It had been hard enough to cope with the feelings her slip had produced in him last night. He wasn't sure how he would react to the sight of her in another revealing item of clothing.
She cleared her throat and his silver-blue gaze drifted back to her face. Her cheeks darkened and she covered her mouth with her hand and then let it fall away and raised her head, locking eyes with him.
"I'm going to buy you a coffee."
Marcus raised a single dark eyebrow at the force in her tone and the command in her words. That was more like the Amelia he knew so well, yet the quaver in her voice gave away her underlying nerves as much as her rapid heartbeat pounding in his skull. Perhaps his superiors were correct in their assumption. Amelia liked him.
Could he use that against her in some attempt to gain her trust?
It felt wrong to do so and nothing at all like the correct behaviour for an angel.
He followed her gaze over his shoulder to the small café a few doors down from their building. There were some couples sitting outside at the tables that lined the pavement close to the wide glass windows, shaded by large pale sun umbrellas.
Marcus considered declining her order but found himself nodding before he could put voice to his refusal.
A bright smile curved her lips and lit her eyes, and his heart thudded hard against his chest.
Amelia breezed past him and his eyes followed her, slowly dropping to the cream summer dress she wore. It hugged her slender figure even more than the slip had, revealing the tempting luscious curve of her waist and flaring out over her full hips. Marcus stared at her backside, riveted by how the pale-pink-flower-spotted material swayed with each step.
An angel.
Or perhaps a demon for tempting him so easily.
He cocked his head to one side and followed her, unable to resist her silent siren's call. She looked back at him as she reached the glass door, the evening light adding to her radiance, and it struck him that she had never looked as beautiful as she did today. The usual warmth in her look had increased until she shone with what he could only conclude was happiness. She radiated it in waves that reached through him, warming him too and bringing a smile to his face. He had never seen her like this. She had been through a lot in life, especially since deciding to leave home at eighteen. A string of bad relationships had followed that, and poor luck with employment and also with her family. She had lost her mother three years ago and even though he hadn't realised it at the time, he had felt for her as he had watched her grieve, had desired to go to her and offer her the comfort she clearly needed. Her family had neglected to give it to her, or perhaps they hadn't seen what he had. Around them, she had put on a brave face, playing the role of the strong daughter and giving comfort to others, taking none for herself.
She deserved so much better than this life that fate had given to her.
If her smile was because of him, if he was the cause of her happiness, then he was glad.
He had never cared much for mortals.
But he was starting to think he cared for her.
He wasn't sure where that would lead though. Their worlds were separate and he had always maintained his belief that they should forever remain that way. Other angels he knew had fallen for mortals and forsaken their position to be with them, but that wasn't something that he could do. His duty was his reason for living. He had been given this existence in order to serve his master, not so he could callously turn his back on his creator and the gift given to him.
Marcus surmised that it was his duty to watch over Amelia and protect her. It was natural that he cared for her because of it. That was all this feeling was. Compassion born of duty.
He cared about her because he cared about his mission.
She crooked her finger and Marcus obeyed, following her into the colourful interior of the café. The scent of coffee filled his nostrils, swirling in his senses, and stirred a curious hunger to taste the liquid that went with it.
He couldn't.
He wouldn't dabble in such substances.
Not again.
"What can I get you?" Amelia said when he reached her at the glass cabinets full of delicious looking pastries beside the counter and he stared at the black boards on the wall, unsure of what any of it meant.
He had studied the mortal realm and knew more than most angels about living on Earth and what things were. Most angels only knew mortal inventions from the regular reports they received. Those fortunate enough to watch over Earth in the pools in Heaven that recorded the history of mortals had learned more about it than others, including languages throughout the ages, and about food too. He had been studying Amelia for her whole life and had come to know her favourite foods, drinks, and all about the technology she regularly used. In his month on Earth, he had learned how to use such modern items too, and had indulged in tasting a lot of human foodstuffs and drinks. Food was a necessity. Angels used vast amounts of energy in the mortal realm, mostly expended on maintaining their glamour, which is why he often opted for the less energy consuming path of putting his wings away and donning mortal clothing.
The couple in front of them at the counter ordered. The female opted for a latte and the male for a cappuccino. He searched for those on the board behind the people serving the coffees and taking orders. Latte and cappuccino fell under the coffee heading. He raised an eyebrow again when a small footnote on the board declared that coffee was also available decaffeinated. Marcus presumed that meant they had removed the stimulant. He turned to Amelia.
"I am not really a coffee drinker. It's the caffeine… it keeps me awake."
Her grey eyes widened and her lips parted. "There's herbal tea."
Tea didn't seem a very manly drink. He frowned.
"Decaffeinated means without caffeine?" It wasn't exactly how he had wanted to find out. Asking her what something meant was bound to make him appear less appealing to her. He didn't know something so basic. How had he missed such things?
He realised that Amelia always drank straight coffee. She had never opted for anything foreign sounding or decaffeinated in all the times he had watched over her. These past thirty years, he had been so focused on her that he had only learned about the things that she liked. Chinese food, Italian cooking, Spanish tapas, and straight coffee. Sometimes a fruity shake, a smoothie they called it, or some frozen coffee drink. Occasionally a glass of wine with friends. Never beer or mead. He grimaced, stomach turning at the memory of what too much mead could do to an angel.
"It's not quite without caffeine. I think they sort of extract it or something. It leaves a hint of it behind." Amelia didn't look sure.
Marcus nodded. "Decaffeinated cappuccino then."
It sounded manly enough and he could handle any effect it might have on him. He hadn't tucked in his white linen shirt today because he had wanted to feel the slight breeze, needing it to cool down in the hot summer sun. The tail hung loose, covering his dark jeans to the apex of his thighs. If the coffee produced any sort of negative effect on him, he would be able to conceal it.
Amelia ordered the drinks for him and even paid. He hadn't noticed in time to stop her, dropping more points in the manly stakes. He had wanted to insist on paying so her trust in him would increase. It seemed to work for the other men in the queue, gaining them smiles from their females.
Chivalry, he supposed. A code of honour he was familiar with. Did it only take chivalry to gain a female's favour?
He caught Amelia looking around the coffee shop. There were a few tables free on the buzzing inside, but some outside too.
"Why don't we sit in the sun?" he said before she could make a decision and then added, "I will pick up the coffees while you find us a table."
She nodded and smiled at him, a brilliant one that drew another hard thump from his heart. At this rate, he wouldn't need even a trace of caffeine to embarrass himself. Whenever Amelia smiled at him, her grey eyes warm with it, he wanted to reach out and brush the straight lengths of her hair from her face so he could take it all in. The feel of her skin beneath his fingers would definitely be too much. When she had touched his hand last night, he had felt the warmth of her caress for minutes after she had released him. In fact, he could still feel it now if he focused hard enough on remembering that moment, as though a ghost of her touch remained.
The man making the coffees pushed two white mugs towards him and said something about decaffeinated. One looked frothy with a sprinkling of chocolate on top and the other was straight white coffee. Definitely their drinks. He took the two mugs and wove through the patrons in the café, heading for Amelia where she waited for him at a table in the sun.
The evening was drawing on but the light was still warm on her face, highlighting her soft features and shattering the momentary control he had gained over his emotions. How was it that she could distract him so easily?
He placed the coffees down on the round dark metal table and took the seat opposite her, studying her face and trying to keep his attention on the conversation and what she was saying. It was impossible as he looked at her, his knuckles throbbing with the memory of how she had iced them for him, and how gently she had held his hand.
Being around her today was different. Was it because of last night? They had never touched before. They had barely spoken a word to each other beyond pleasantries on meeting in the hallway outside their flats. She had rarely looked at him in the past.
But now she was looking right at him, her gaze boring into his with such intensity but such shyness that he couldn't look away. Transfixed. Mesmerised. Bewitched. Three words that sounded so innocent yet felt so dangerous to him.
He couldn't allow things to head in this direction, but he felt powerless to stop them.
Marcus sipped his drink, making appropriate responses whenever he caught what she was talking to him about and enjoying the slight buzz the remaining trace of caffeine gave him. Not enough to cause adverse effects on his body but enough that it created a tingle in all the good places.
Amelia was animated now but the shyness still lingered beneath her layers of confidence, betraying that inside her tough exterior beat the heart of a female, a woman that he was affecting by only sitting and drinking coffee with her. Was this enough to gain her trust? Would it satisfy his superiors or would they demand he took things further?
He wasn't sure how he would respond to such an order. Drinking coffee with her seemed innocent enough. He wasn't seducing her or using her feelings against her. He was merely being friendly and it was forging a stronger connection between them. Every minute that passed, each sip of coffee she took and smile she flashed, she was growing more confident and more at ease around him.
The sun bounced off the shop windows on the opposite side of the street and played on her face and her body, stuttering as cars and red double-decker buses broke the beams of warm light. Amelia didn't seem to notice. She continued to talk about small things such as their neighbours, work and the weather. Idle conversation. He'd had practice in that during previous missions on Earth and also from his time in Heaven when he'd had to speak with angels he wasn't overly familiar with.
Her eyes sparkled as she smiled again, overflowing with warmth and life, gloriously radiant.
Marcus forgot his coffee and just watched her, stealing this moment with her, unable to believe that after all this time he was actually speaking with her directly, talking to her like a mere mortal and not her protector. It was a strange experience. He had never truly spoken to a mortal before and the workings of her mind were fascinating. She bounced around subjects so quickly that he couldn't keep up with the flow of conversation, and whenever he fell behind, she smiled brightly and apologised.
Another thing he had never noticed about her before last night.
He had never seen her apologise so profusely to anyone.
She paused in the middle of her conversation about a news programme she had watched about the upcoming planetary alignment.
"Are you sure last night didn't wreck your sleep?" she said, concern in her eyes as she leaned across the table, affording him a view down her cream dress that he refused to take advantage of.
Marcus held her gaze instead and smiled faintly. "Maybe a little. Have I been… spacing out again?"
That was what she had called it. Spacing out. He presumed that meant he was currently occupying another galaxy. It seemed apt for his behaviour over the past half an hour with her.
"I'm sorry." Amelia reached across the table and took hold of his left hand, her touch jolting him. His gaze leapt down to her fingers. Her thumb softly caressed his knuckles and her fingertips brushed his palm, bringing everything he had felt last night back to a rolling boil inside him. His pulse raced and his breathing quickened.
Desire?
Couldn't be.
But even as he stared at their joined hands he couldn't form a denial.
He inhaled sharply, trying to catch his breath and instead catching her sweet fragrance on the dusty warm air. Blood pounded in his temples and he could only watch the gentle sweep of her thumb across his fingers in abject fascination.
Images of her flashed across his wide eyes, dressed in her satin slip or in the tight summer dress she wore now, twirling and spinning towards him until her hands pressed against his chest and she was smiling right up into his eyes, her lips parting in invitation.
No.
He had never cared about anyone.
Had never desired a female.
He couldn't start now.
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Guardian%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77776
Be sure to come back next week for the next free chapter of this angel romance novel!
Her Angel romance series books
I'm heading further into the blog tour for my Her Angel romance series so I wanted to blog about the books in this paranormal romance series, showcasing the covers and the blurbs, as well as providing links to the books so everyone know where they are available. At the moment, I'm still waiting for the proof of the Her Guardian Angel paperback to arrive from the US, but in the meantime you can get the paperback of the first three novellas in the series if you prefer paperbacks to ebooks.
Here's a little information about the series...
Her Angel SeriesTheir wings hidden from mortal eyes by glamour, angels walk amongst us on Earth, some here to protect, some to hunt demons, and others to watch and record the history of our world. They are beautiful passionate men who are torn between the orders of their masters and those of their hearts, and they are far from saintly. Their desire and need are intense, and it takes an equally passionate and strong woman to tame them and win the heart of her angel...
Books in this series, in order of first to fourth, although you don't have to read them in order as the series is about the world, not a continuing story arc.
Her Dark AngelFelicity Heaton
An angel without a mission, Apollyon lives trapped in Hell guarding the bottomless pit. Surrounded by endless darkness, he longs to fly free on Earth once more but his master hasn't called him in centuries. When the call finally comes, it's to serve a new master, a beautiful woman he has often watched over, a woman who has always captivated him.
Serenity is shocked when a gorgeous black-winged angel shows up in her city of Paris claiming that she called him when she was only casting a simple vengeance spell. He's no other than the angel of death! When Apollyon offers to obey her and help her have revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend, she can't resist the temptation, but can she resist him? Can an angel as dark as Apollyon ever fall for a mortal woman like her?
Dark, passionate and erotic, Her Dark Angel is a tale of intense desire and deepest forbidden love guaranteed to get your heart racing.
SPECIAL OFFER: Her Dark Angel is only $0.99 until August 28th! (Normally $2.99) Offer only available at Amazon Kindle Stores, my website and Smashwords.
ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 30000 words
rating: sultry
released: August 2010
Book 1 in the Her Angel series
Read an excerpt from Her Dark Angel (Her Angel series #1)
Available in e-book for only $0.99 from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Dark%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00408AQ98/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22429 (use coupon code WG47J at checkout)
Available in e-book at full price from:
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Dark-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011095184/
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Dark-Angel-Her-Angel/mix-IpUY_pcZyka--k8L1kLPkQ/page1.html
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-dark-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000277045
Also available at the Apple iBookstore
Her Fallen AngelFelicity Heaton
Annelie fell for Lukas the moment he walked into her pub three years ago. He's stunning, his vivid green eyes lending to his otherworldly beauty, but he's seriously out of her league. When he tells her that she's beautiful and confesses that he wants her, she can't resist him and his passionate kiss. She unleashes her desire and seizes the moment and Lukas with both hands. But Lukas has a secret, one that will test Annelie's love for him and threaten to tear them apart.
He's an angel.
Annelie can't believe it when Lukas says that their feelings for each other aren't a sin, but she can believe his pain when he tells her the reason he's on Earth. He is fallen, cast out of Heaven as punishment for a crime he didn't commit. Lukas isn't about to give up and accept his fate though. He's determined to prove both his innocence and his love for Annelie, and to show her that the intense passion they share is real.
When Lukas and Apollyon discover who framed him, will he be able to stop them from going after Serenity and Annelie? Will he be able to protect the woman he loves and fly away with her into their forever after?
ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 30000 words
rating: sultry
released: October 2010
Book 2 in the Her Angel series
Read an excerpt from Her Fallen Angel (Her Angel series #2)
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Fallen%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Fallen-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011118494/
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Fallen-Angel-Her-Angel/mix-E8HR8KevVkqhEsSrPJICdQ/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27039
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-fallen-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000299382
Also available at the Apple iBookstore
Her Warrior AngelFelicity Heaton
Einar is one of Heaven's best hunters and he's on a mission to uncover why an angel was working with demons. When he finds the first demon fighting a beautiful woman named Taylor, he intervenes and saves her life. Taylor has spent her whole life protecting London from the lowest demons and she's not about to let an angel waltz into her city and take over her job, and she's certainly not about to fall in love with him, even if he is gorgeous. The reason why she can't is simple—she's half demon.
There is no love in this world more forbidden than that between an angel and a demon.
Sense tells Taylor to get out before she gets her heart broken, but she winds up convincing Einar to partner with her instead. Einar is certain that working with Taylor is a bad idea, and not only because he can't focus when he's around her, but he can't let her go. The mission leads them deep into the city's underworld, where old flames burn Taylor while new flames of passion and fear of the consequences consume them, and the threat of Einar's demons hangs over them both.
Can a love so forbidden ever have a happy ending or are they destined to break each other's hearts?
ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 36000 words
rating: sultry
released: November 2010
Book 3 in the Her Angel series
Read an excerpt from Her Warrior Angel (Her Angel series #3)
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Warrior%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004CFAS06/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B004CFAS06/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004CFAS06/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Warrior-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011180330/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/31060
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-warrior-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000322708
Also available at the Apple iBookstore
Her Dark Angel, Her Fallen Angel and Her Warrior Angel are available in an anthology paperback from:
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1456489836/
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456489836/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/9781456489830/
Her Guardian Angel
Felicity Heaton
A simple mission becomes a fight for survival in this fantastic instalment in the Her Angel series.
A guardian angel dedicated to his duty, Marcus will do whatever Heaven asks of him, but even his loyalty has its limits. When his superior orders him to gain Amelia's trust through seduction, Marcus starts to question his mission and his feelings for the beautiful woman he has watched over since her birth.
Amelia has gone from one bad relationship to another, so when a gorgeous guy moves in next door looking like Mr Right, she hopes he doesn't turn out to be another black knight in disguise. But there's more to Marcus than meets the eye, and when he rescues her from three demonic men, Amelia is thrust into his nightmarish world—a world where God and the Devil exist, and only one angel can save her from death—Marcus, the angel she's falling in love with.
On the run from demonic angels and the Devil himself, aided by Marcus's angel friends and their amazing women, fighting for survival against the odds, Marcus and Amelia discover a love that will last forever.
A love so strong it will shake Heaven and Hell.
ebook price: $3.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 110000 words
rating: sultry
released: July 2011
Book 4 in the Her Angel series
Read an excerpt from Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel series #4)
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Guardian%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77776
Also available at the Apple iBookstore
Here's a little information about the series...
Her Angel SeriesTheir wings hidden from mortal eyes by glamour, angels walk amongst us on Earth, some here to protect, some to hunt demons, and others to watch and record the history of our world. They are beautiful passionate men who are torn between the orders of their masters and those of their hearts, and they are far from saintly. Their desire and need are intense, and it takes an equally passionate and strong woman to tame them and win the heart of her angel...
Books in this series, in order of first to fourth, although you don't have to read them in order as the series is about the world, not a continuing story arc.
Her Dark AngelFelicity HeatonAn angel without a mission, Apollyon lives trapped in Hell guarding the bottomless pit. Surrounded by endless darkness, he longs to fly free on Earth once more but his master hasn't called him in centuries. When the call finally comes, it's to serve a new master, a beautiful woman he has often watched over, a woman who has always captivated him.
Serenity is shocked when a gorgeous black-winged angel shows up in her city of Paris claiming that she called him when she was only casting a simple vengeance spell. He's no other than the angel of death! When Apollyon offers to obey her and help her have revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend, she can't resist the temptation, but can she resist him? Can an angel as dark as Apollyon ever fall for a mortal woman like her?
Dark, passionate and erotic, Her Dark Angel is a tale of intense desire and deepest forbidden love guaranteed to get your heart racing.
SPECIAL OFFER: Her Dark Angel is only $0.99 until August 28th! (Normally $2.99) Offer only available at Amazon Kindle Stores, my website and Smashwords.
ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 30000 words
rating: sultry
released: August 2010
Book 1 in the Her Angel series
Read an excerpt from Her Dark Angel (Her Angel series #1)
Available in e-book for only $0.99 from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Dark%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00408AQ98/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22429 (use coupon code WG47J at checkout)
Available in e-book at full price from:
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Dark-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011095184/
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Dark-Angel-Her-Angel/mix-IpUY_pcZyka--k8L1kLPkQ/page1.html
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-dark-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000277045
Also available at the Apple iBookstore
Her Fallen AngelFelicity HeatonAnnelie fell for Lukas the moment he walked into her pub three years ago. He's stunning, his vivid green eyes lending to his otherworldly beauty, but he's seriously out of her league. When he tells her that she's beautiful and confesses that he wants her, she can't resist him and his passionate kiss. She unleashes her desire and seizes the moment and Lukas with both hands. But Lukas has a secret, one that will test Annelie's love for him and threaten to tear them apart.
He's an angel.
Annelie can't believe it when Lukas says that their feelings for each other aren't a sin, but she can believe his pain when he tells her the reason he's on Earth. He is fallen, cast out of Heaven as punishment for a crime he didn't commit. Lukas isn't about to give up and accept his fate though. He's determined to prove both his innocence and his love for Annelie, and to show her that the intense passion they share is real.
When Lukas and Apollyon discover who framed him, will he be able to stop them from going after Serenity and Annelie? Will he be able to protect the woman he loves and fly away with her into their forever after?
ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 30000 words
rating: sultry
released: October 2010
Book 2 in the Her Angel series
Read an excerpt from Her Fallen Angel (Her Angel series #2)
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Fallen%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Fallen-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011118494/
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Fallen-Angel-Her-Angel/mix-E8HR8KevVkqhEsSrPJICdQ/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27039
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-fallen-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000299382
Also available at the Apple iBookstore
Her Warrior AngelFelicity HeatonEinar is one of Heaven's best hunters and he's on a mission to uncover why an angel was working with demons. When he finds the first demon fighting a beautiful woman named Taylor, he intervenes and saves her life. Taylor has spent her whole life protecting London from the lowest demons and she's not about to let an angel waltz into her city and take over her job, and she's certainly not about to fall in love with him, even if he is gorgeous. The reason why she can't is simple—she's half demon.
There is no love in this world more forbidden than that between an angel and a demon.
Sense tells Taylor to get out before she gets her heart broken, but she winds up convincing Einar to partner with her instead. Einar is certain that working with Taylor is a bad idea, and not only because he can't focus when he's around her, but he can't let her go. The mission leads them deep into the city's underworld, where old flames burn Taylor while new flames of passion and fear of the consequences consume them, and the threat of Einar's demons hangs over them both.
Can a love so forbidden ever have a happy ending or are they destined to break each other's hearts?
ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 36000 words
rating: sultry
released: November 2010
Book 3 in the Her Angel series
Read an excerpt from Her Warrior Angel (Her Angel series #3)
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Warrior%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004CFAS06/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B004CFAS06/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004CFAS06/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Warrior-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011180330/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/31060
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-warrior-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000322708
Also available at the Apple iBookstore
Her Dark Angel, Her Fallen Angel and Her Warrior Angel are available in an anthology paperback from:
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1456489836/
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456489836/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/9781456489830/
Her Guardian AngelFelicity Heaton
A simple mission becomes a fight for survival in this fantastic instalment in the Her Angel series.
A guardian angel dedicated to his duty, Marcus will do whatever Heaven asks of him, but even his loyalty has its limits. When his superior orders him to gain Amelia's trust through seduction, Marcus starts to question his mission and his feelings for the beautiful woman he has watched over since her birth.
Amelia has gone from one bad relationship to another, so when a gorgeous guy moves in next door looking like Mr Right, she hopes he doesn't turn out to be another black knight in disguise. But there's more to Marcus than meets the eye, and when he rescues her from three demonic men, Amelia is thrust into his nightmarish world—a world where God and the Devil exist, and only one angel can save her from death—Marcus, the angel she's falling in love with.
On the run from demonic angels and the Devil himself, aided by Marcus's angel friends and their amazing women, fighting for survival against the odds, Marcus and Amelia discover a love that will last forever.
A love so strong it will shake Heaven and Hell.
ebook price: $3.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 110000 words
rating: sultry
released: July 2011
Book 4 in the Her Angel series
Read an excerpt from Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel series #4)
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Guardian%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77776
Also available at the Apple iBookstore
August 9, 2011
Teaseday - Her Fallen Angel - Her Angel Romance Series
It's Teaseday and this week it's brought to you by HER FALLEN ANGEL. We've already had the first chapter of Her Fallen Angel as a Teaseday, but now it's time for a new teaser for this angel romance book in my Her Angel romance series. We're skipping ahead to chapter three. I can't post chapter two as it's a love scene. You'll have to buy the book if you want to read it...
Read chapter one of Her Fallen Angel at my website
On to the tease...
Her Fallen Angel
Felicity Heaton
Annelie fell for Lukas the moment he walked into her pub three years ago. He's stunning, his vivid green eyes lending to his otherworldly beauty, but he's seriously out of her league. When he tells her that she's beautiful and confesses that he wants her, she can't resist him and his passionate kiss. She unleashes her desire and seizes the moment and Lukas with both hands. But Lukas has a secret, one that will test Annelie's love for him and threaten to tear them apart.
He's an angel.
Annelie can't believe it when Lukas says that their feelings for each other aren't a sin, but she can believe his pain when he tells her the reason he's on Earth. He is fallen, cast out of Heaven as punishment for a crime he didn't commit. Lukas isn't about to give up and accept his fate though. He's determined to prove both his innocence and his love for Annelie, and to show her that the intense passion they share is real.
When Lukas and Apollyon discover who framed him, will he be able to stop them from going after Serenity and Annelie? Will he be able to protect the woman he loves and fly away with her into their forever after?
ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.
ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 30000 words
rating: sultry
released: October 2010
Book 2 in the Her Angel series
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Fallen%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Fallen-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011118494/
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Fallen-Angel-Her-Angel/mix-E8HR8KevVkqhEsSrPJICdQ/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27039
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-fallen-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000299382
Available in paperback from:
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1456489836/
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456489836/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/9781456489830/
EXCERPTIt was morning.
Lukas could feel the sun outside, calling him with false promises of vaulted blue heavens in which he could fly. He couldn't do that anymore. They had even taken that from him. His heart cried in anguish at the thought of never flying again but he buried his pain deep. It wasn't difficult when his head was pounding and sore.
Something touched his back, stroking it lightly and with care. He could feel love in that caress and concern. He tried to gather his scattered thoughts and senses so he could focus on the person behind him. It was impossible. Her fingers felt good against him, soothing his raging head and bringing back memories of last night and being with her. Bliss. Being with her had been nothing short of bliss.
She touched his shoulder blades and his skin shifted and itched.
No.
Lukas focused harder but it was too late. The urge drove through him, brought out by her teasing fingers and tender touch, and he couldn't contain it. He gritted his teeth, tried with all of his might, but she swept her hands over his shoulder blades again.
"Don't." He started to move away from her but wasn't quick enough.
His wings erupted from his back so fast that it hurt and they knocked her off the bed. She hit the floor with a thud.
No.
Lukas scrambled to his knees, naked on the bed, his white wings unfurled and stretching across the room. He grimaced when they caught the lamp on the bedside table and it toppled off and smashed.
Annelie sat nude on the wooden floor, staring up at him with wide eyes, her face ashen.
He made a low noise of frustration and her gaze leapt from his wings to his eyes. She shook her head, scrambled to her feet and bolted for the bedroom door. Lukas reached it first, his head spinning and thumping, and blocked the way, jamming his hands against the doorframe. She tried to pass him, pushing his chest, and he grabbed her wrists to stop her from hitting him.
"Let me go." She snatched her hands back and tried to pass him again. He caught her around the waist from behind and pulled her against him as she struggled. His body got the wrong idea when her soft warm backside brushed his groin. Getting an erection was not going to help matters.
He turned with her so she was back in the bedroom.
She scratched his arm, elbowed him in the ribs, and ran forwards when he released her.
"Annelie." Lukas furled his white wings against his back.
She ignored him, grabbing her clothes and throwing them on. Her black t-shirt was backwards but he didn't think she would appreciate him mentioning it when she was panicking. She clawed her long red hair back into a rough ponytail, eyed him warily and then dashed forwards, ducking under his arm. He grabbed her again, not wanting to frighten her or hurt her, but unwilling to let her go. He couldn't let her walk out of the door. If she did that now, he would never see her again.
"I can explain." Lukas wasn't quite sure what he intended to tell her but it sounded like the right thing to say in a situation that was rapidly going downhill.
"Explain what... that I'm going crazy or that I just slept with an angel?" Annelie gave up trying to get past him and backed away, her legs hitting the end of his bed. She plonked down onto it and stared at him. Her feelings were all over the place. Angels had acute senses but he couldn't tell whether she was angry or petrified. She leaned forwards, rested her elbows on her knees, and buried her face in her hands. "I'm going to Hell."
"No, you won't... Annelie... look at me."
"I'd rather not." She pulled the blue duvet over her head until he couldn't see her.
Lukas sighed and rubbed his face, desperately trying to think of something to say that wouldn't inflame things and would go some way towards repairing the damage the sudden appearance of his wings had done.
"I'm sorry." It was the only thing that came to him. She emerged from the blanket and shook her head, the disbelief still written across her face.
She looked down at her arm and pinched it.
"What are you doing?" He frowned.
"Trying to wake up. This has to be a dream." She pinched herself again and dismay crossed her face when she looked at him. She paled. "God, this is real... the wings are real... you're an angel... and I just blasphemed... and I slept with you!"
His shoulders sagged and he focused through the riot it in his head. It was difficult to concentrate but he managed it and his wings slowly shrank and disappeared into his back. Annelie looked as horrified on seeing them disappear as she had on seeing them appear. Her heart raced in his mind and no matter what angle he looked at it from, the situation showed no sign of improving.
"It is not a dream, and it is not a sin." It was the bane of all his kind that mortals thought they were off limits, saints who couldn't enjoy life in the way a human could. That belief couldn't be further from the truth. They had rules, laws that they had to obey, but all angels were fun and frivolous creatures when they weren't on duty, and many of them had fallen in love with mortals.
Just as he was in love with her.
He hadn't realised it until he had gone away. Before then, he had merely thought that she was pretty, easy to talk to, interesting and someone who eased his loneliness. A friend. Going away had made him realise that he had been falling for her since first setting eyes on her. If he told her that now, would it fix anything? Would she still hate him?
"Annelie?"
She didn't seem to be listening. She was staring at his shoulders, as though waiting for his wings to appear again, her eyes large and mouth open. It was a struggle to keep them away but he had to do it, no matter how much they wanted to come out again and how much his head hurt.
Drinking had been a bad idea.
But then, it had been the only way of erasing his pain, and humans had always seemed to use drink to cope with things. The position he was in right now, another black mark against him probably wouldn't mean much. It would only damage his pride.
He laughed bitterly. "I am not even an angel at the moment... I haven't been since the night we met."
Her dark eyes met his. Confusion shone in them now.
It hurt him to think about the past three years. Annelie had been the one thing that had helped him through his most troubled times and eased his suffering. She had given him friendship and support, and had made his pain bearable, but now he feared that she would leave and he would never see her again, and he needed her more than ever.
Things had never been this bad for him.
She couldn't leave. She was the only good thing left in his life.
"Funny... you have wings like an angel." Annelie stood and stepped closer to him. Her heart still raced, rushing in his head, speaking of her fear. She took another tentative step forwards and cast her gaze over him, from head to toe and back again.
"Wings I cannot use." Saying that made it hit home and his heart hurt, his chest burning with the pain of being denied the one thing that had given him comfort and hope all this time. They hadn't taken his wings from him.
Only now they had.
"I am... fallen... I think you mortals call it." Lukas leaned against the doorframe. He closed his eyes, clenched his jaw and steeled himself against the pain caused by talking about his situation. It ebbed and flowed through him, strong waves that filled him with despair and sorrow, and anger too. "I was banished here three years ago... and three weeks ago I went to appeal against my sentence and make them see the truth."
"The truth?"
He opened his eyes and looked at her, resting his head against the wooden frame.
"I did not commit the crime that I am being punished for." He searched her eyes, wishing that she would show a sign of compassion, or affection, something other than anger and hurt. He needed to see something warm in her, something to give him a thread of hope to hold on to. "I wanted to tell you so many times."
"That you were falsely accused?"
He smiled at her confusion but it lasted only a second. "That I am an angel."
"Why?" Her gaze darted between his eyes and her heart began to calm at last, her fear beginning to fade. He wanted to reach out and touch her, to caress her cheek and know that he hadn't messed everything up between them, but he didn't dare.
"Because... I hate lying to you. I hate hiding things from you." Lukas pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He drew a long breath and sighed, trying to push away his pain and focus on the moment and making things right with Annelie. If that was possible. It had to be. "Because I want you to know me."
"Why?"
Was that the only question she had for him? He deserved her anger, and her disbelief, and he was prepared for it. He had always known it would be impossible to tell her that he was an angel without going through this. Even if he had found a way to break it to her gently, she still would have thought she was going insane and would have struggled to believe what she was seeing.
Lukas opened his eyes and stared at her feet. She had moved closer. Her small bare feet made him smile. They were so delicate. Everything about her was delicate and soft. He loved her for that. He loved her for her smile and how open she was with him, and how she always found time to speak to him.
"I meant what I said last night, Annelie." His gaze met hers again and he stepped away from the door, towards her, closing the gap between them. His head ached but the pain in his heart eclipsed it. He didn't want her to leave, and if baring his soul was the only way of making her stay, then he was willing to go through that. He was willing to risk her breaking his heart. It would be the last straw for him, and he would no longer have a reason not to fall into darkness and live up to the name of a fallen angel, but it was a chance that he had to take. "There is a reason that I come to the pub and sit on that stool and talk to you... and I think you know what that reason is."
Her eyes widened, her cheeks coloured and she dropped her gaze. Lukas hesitated a moment and then gently placed his fingers under her jaw. They shook so much that he was sure that she would notice. So much rested on this touch. If she accepted it, he would take it as a sign that there was hope for him, and for them. If she pushed him away, he wasn't sure what he would do.
She remained still, her gaze downcast, and didn't shirk his touch.
Lukas drew a deep trembling breath and raised her eyes back to his. The look in hers said that she knew all too well what he was talking about and that he hadn't misjudged her feelings. He wasn't the only one who had fallen in love over the past three years. She had never once spoken to him about men, had never been out on dates, had always smiled at him in a way she never did with other men, always laughed and found a way to touch his hands. She was in love with him too.
But there was a barrier between them, one that he couldn't push her to break through. It was her decision. It had to be. He wasn't mortal and she had to accept that. She had to come to understand his kind and his world, and see whether she could still love him or whether she had to move on. All he could do was try to convince her that it would be worth it if she stayed with him, and that he wanted her more than anything.
More than flying?
He wasn't sure of that yet. He had a decision to make too, one that depended on hers.
His wings pushed to break free again but he held them at bay, wrestling for control. It was difficult enough under normal circumstances to hide them. The headache from the drink was making it almost impossible.
Lukas took his hand back and rubbed his eyes.
"I guess now I know why you're such a good listener."
He shook his head. "I am only a good listener for you. I am a lousy listener for others. It wasn't my specialty."
"Angels have specialties? Actually, I don't think I want to know. I still feel as though I'm dreaming all of this."
"What can I do to make you see that this is real, Annelie, and that I mean you no harm?"
A smile touched her lips—shy and sweet. "I don't think you'll hurt me."
"I already did." Lukas's heart beat harder when she met his gaze, holding it, and there was a hint of warmth in her dark eyes and no fear. She wasn't lying. She really did believe that he wouldn't harm her.
"I was just shocked." She lowered her gaze and frowned, raised her hand and turned the neck of her black baby-doll t-shirt inside out, looking at the label there. She smiled at it. "Can I see them again? It might help me believe that I'm not going crazy."
Her eyes crept to his shoulders and she let go of her t-shirt.
His wings?
They were aching to be free.
But he wasn't sure it was a good idea.
She had been gradually calming down since he had put his wings away. If he unfurled them, he could panic her again and undo any progress he had made with her. The soft look in her eyes pleaded him and he relented. He would do anything she asked of him. If she believed that seeing his wings would help her come to terms with what he was, then he would let them out.
He nodded and she stepped back, as though afraid that he would knock her flying with them again. He wouldn't let that happen. This time he was ready and in control. He wouldn't hurt her.
Lukas moved away from her, finding space near the built-in wardrobes and the door to the bathroom. There was nothing there that he could knock over and Annelie was at a safe enough distance.
His shoulder blades itched, the skin shifting as his wings pushed for freedom. He clenched his fists and let his white wings out as slowly as possible, so they didn't frighten Annelie. Her gaze fixed on them as they appeared. They grew larger until they were fully out and furled against his back. The long feathers tickled his bare legs. He stood before her, naked, unashamed of both it and his wings. This was who he was, and if she couldn't accept it, then perhaps it was for the best, even if it was breaking his heart.
"I wish I could have been honest with you," he whispered and her dark brown eyes moved from his wings to his eyes. "Everything has gone horribly wrong and I feel like crap. My head is killing me."
"Are you allowed to swear?" Her eyebrows rose.
He nodded. "I can do most things a human can without any repercussion."
She surprised him by stepping forwards and pressing her palm against his forehead. Her hand was cool, refreshing, and his eyes slipped shut. It felt so good to have her touch him, as though they had taken the first step towards moving past the fact that he was an angel.
"You'll feel better soon. You didn't look so good last night." Her voice was honey and sweetness to him, low spoken and filling him with soothing warmth. Her hand lingered against his brow. "I shouldn't have let you drink so much."
"I have never tasted alcohol before."
"Really? I shouldn't have let you drink at all then. Will you get into trouble?"
He shrugged, opened his eyes and looked into hers. "I would not consider it a perk of being banished. It is not as nice as mortals make it out to be."
"I could have told you that."
The intensity of her smile stole his breath along with the fact that her hand still rested against his forehead. Was this progress? She wasn't trying to run. He had moved away from the door, giving her a clear path, and she had remained with him. She had chosen to touch him and be near him. Was it possible that she could accept what he was and still love him?
She was so beautiful. He could look at her until the end of time and never tire. He had watched her age these past three years and she had only grown more beautiful to him. Her soft features, large dark eyes and rosy sensual lips made her more stunning than any female he had ever seen.
Annelie moved around him and he rolled his eyes closed when she ran a hand down his left wing. He held his groan inside, not wanting to scare her away. The feel of her fingers stroking his feathers was divine.
"They're really real," she whispered and stopped behind him. She ran her hands down both of his wings, teasing his feathers and his senses.
Images from last night danced through his mind. It had been everything that he had thought it would be and so much more. He had wanted to feel her hands on him, to kiss her and touch her, for so long now without truly realising it. He had thought it nothing more than lust, hunger brought about by years of celibacy, but it was more than that. It was love. The alcohol had done one good thing. It had cast his inhibitions aside and given him the courage to make a move on her. He could bear the pain in his head as payment for his glorious night with her.
He shivered when she caressed his lower back with long strokes of her fingers. Her touch was light, tickling, and he could sense concern in her again. What was she looking at that had her so worried?
"What happened?" Her fingertips traced another line across his back and then she stroked his shoulders.
The scars.
He hadn't realised that they were still there. Was that what she had been touching this morning too? The thought that she would still lay her hands on him, would still feel such concern for him, added another slender thread to his hope.
"I was punished." He couldn't bring himself to say any more. They had lashed him to remind him of his duty and the sin he had committed. Sin. He would have laughed at that if it hadn't hurt so much.
"But you said you didn't do it." She came around to stand in front of him, her dark brown eyes wide with confusion.
"I did not do it, but I cannot prove that. There is no evidence to the contrary. I have searched for it, returned to the scene of the crime every other night for the past three years trying to find a clue that would free me of my sin." His heart sunk when he recalled how his hope had faded with each visit to the ruins of the building that remained in the closed lot. He shut his eyes as images of that night flashed across his mind and he could almost feel the heat of the blast, the sting of the cuts as he tumbled along the ground, and the smell of the fire. "I did not do it."
"Lukas?" Annelie's hand was soft against his cheek and, without thinking, he leaned into it, seeking the comfort she offered and taking it. The memory faded again but it would return soon. It haunted him each night, filling his dreams with burning bodies and Heaven's Court and the look of shame on his fellow warriors' faces when the jury had passed judgement on him. "What happened?"
Did she really want to know? He needed to see. He looked deep into her eyes and used her hand against his face to strengthen the connection to her that had always been there. He didn't usually feel humans' emotions so easily. Annelie's were always there for him to read, held barely beneath the surface. She was so open with him.
"There was going to be an event at a factory. My team received an order to go there. I was the first to arrive. When I did, the building exploded, incinerating everything. It transpired that no one knew of the event. It had not been foreseen."
"What does that mean?" Her hand remained against his face, making him strong and able to tell her everything. She had to know. He hadn't spoken about this to anyone but he needed to share it with her.
"Only a supernatural creature can create an event that the Higher Order of Watchers wouldn't see. An angel did it. They planted bombs and destroyed the building, with all of the humans still inside."
Her eyes widened. "Why?"
"I do not know." He stepped back, clenched his fists and jaw and stared hard at the wooden floor of his bedroom. "All I know is that I was there and no-one believes me when I say that I had been assigned to that area. The rest of my team did not receive the order, and there is no record of it. The records state that I was assigned somewhere else."
"Surely there has to be something you can do?"
Lukas laughed bitterly. "There was. I could appeal three years after being sentenced. I did and I failed... I accused my commander of falsifying the records to protect the perpetrator. Not my finest hour. The result is that I am stripped of my wings and most of my powers."
"Can't you appeal again?" Annelie sat on the end of the bed. She seemed comfortable with his wings now, distracted by his plight, but he knew that it wasn't over. She still wasn't his. Would she ever be? He wasn't sure if she would be able to accept him as an angel. Could she accept him as a mortal? Was he brave enough to risk everything for her and her love?
He was the one unsure now. Heaven had turned its back on him but he wasn't brave enough to do the same to it. He still longed to clear his name and return to duty.
"No." He concentrated so his wings disappeared. He could still use a glamour but he preferred not to deceive Annelie by falsifying his appearance. When they were gone, he gathered his clothes and tugged on his boxer shorts and black jeans. "Well... I can when I have waited three hundred years."
She gasped. "What will you do?"
"Wait."
"You can't do that." She frowned at him. "There has to be some way of proving you're innocent."
The force behind those words convinced him that she believed he was as innocent as she said and that she wasn't going to walk out on him. She wanted to help him. It was written in every beautiful line of her face and the tone of her voice.
"Someone must have seen something."
"They did, but Heaven's records don't show the angel involved. No one saw me or the real perpetrator. My kind are not recorded in Heaven's history of Earth. They only saw the explosion happen and then I returned and reported it, incriminating myself." Lukas paused and frowned. Why hadn't he thought of it earlier? "Heaven's records may not record angels but Hell's might."
"Hell?" Annelie looked even more uncertain now. "What are you going to do, walk in there and ask the Devil if he'll take a look for you? I went to Sunday School and I know that he probably won't help an angel, even a fellow fallen one."
She bit her lip when his gaze snapped to her and dropped her chin, her cheeks colouring deeply. He might have fallen but he wasn't Lucifer. She peered up at him through the messy strands of red hair that had escaped her ponytail, her apology in her eyes, and Lukas sighed. He knew she hadn't meant it like that, but being compared to Lucifer had struck a chord deep within him, one that made his hope fade fast. He would never survive three hundred years on Earth waiting for his appeal. He wasn't strong enough to endure such endless pain, not without succumbing to temptation as the Devil had. He had to do something about it, just as Annelie had said.
"I do not need to ask the Devil." Lukas sat beside her on the bed. "There is an angel who will likely help me. Annelie?"
She turned to face him, her eyes meeting his and her expression soft and inviting.
He hesitated. Was he strong enough to say what was on the tip of his tongue? Would she agree or would she leave him? He was moving too fast but he couldn't go without her. He had to take the risk and believe that she wanted to give him a chance, and that she would say yes.
"Will you come to Paris with me?" Those words were some of the most difficult he had ever said. He waited with bated breath, desperate to hear her answer. She said nothing, just stared at him. "Please? Give me time to prove to you that it doesn't matter that I am an angel... that I am still the man you have known these past three years."
She still hesitated.
Lukas swallowed and took hold of her hand, holding it in both of his, caressing the back with his thumbs. She had to agree. She had to come with him and give him a second chance. He couldn't do this without her and he couldn't leave her here. If he did that, he was sure he would never see her again.
"Annelie?"
She finally nodded.
Lukas smiled. "We shall get you some things from your home and then fly straight there."
"I thought you couldn't fly?"
His face fell. This punishment was going to take some getting used to. Even a mention of the fact that he was unable to fly made him ache inside.
"By plane then," he whispered and thought about how difficult it was going to be to travel via human methods. "Do you have an old passport?"
She stared at him, her expression distant, as though she wasn't quite keeping up with him and everything was sweeping her along. He waited for her to catch up. Rushing her would only make her change her mind.
She glanced at his shoulders and then finally nodded again. "What use is that though?"
"I can alter it but we will have to get tickets at the airport so I can be near the terminal to change it there too. I still have that power." Lukas stared at his feet. He would have to get used to seeing floors and pavements. He didn't think he could bring himself to see the day sky until all this was over and he had proven his innocence. He would do it somehow. He would end his punishment and free himself, and make them see that they had accused the wrong angel. He had always put humans before him. He had never harmed them.
He closed his eyes.
Flying was going to be torture. Even if he didn't look, he would know that he was high in the sky, where he longed to be. He would endure it though.
Annelie's hand came to rest against his shoulder. "Why don't we take the train? I've never been through the tunnel before. It'll be much more fun than flying and will give us time to talk."
Lukas smiled and placed his hand over hers. It was kind of her to pretend that she hadn't noticed his pain. It was kind of her to see the suffering his loss of flying caused him and to understand it.
Perhaps there was hope for him. For them.
He would do everything in his power to make things right.
He would prove his innocence.
He would prove his love for her.
Available in e-book from:
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Read more about the Her Angel series at my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebookseries.php?series=Her%20Angel
Read chapter one of Her Fallen Angel at my website
On to the tease...
Her Fallen Angel
Felicity Heaton
Annelie fell for Lukas the moment he walked into her pub three years ago. He's stunning, his vivid green eyes lending to his otherworldly beauty, but he's seriously out of her league. When he tells her that she's beautiful and confesses that he wants her, she can't resist him and his passionate kiss. She unleashes her desire and seizes the moment and Lukas with both hands. But Lukas has a secret, one that will test Annelie's love for him and threaten to tear them apart.
He's an angel.
Annelie can't believe it when Lukas says that their feelings for each other aren't a sin, but she can believe his pain when he tells her the reason he's on Earth. He is fallen, cast out of Heaven as punishment for a crime he didn't commit. Lukas isn't about to give up and accept his fate though. He's determined to prove both his innocence and his love for Annelie, and to show her that the intense passion they share is real.
When Lukas and Apollyon discover who framed him, will he be able to stop them from going after Serenity and Annelie? Will he be able to protect the woman he loves and fly away with her into their forever after?
ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.
ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 30000 words
rating: sultry
released: October 2010
Book 2 in the Her Angel series
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Fallen%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
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Available in paperback from:
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Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456489836/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/9781456489830/
EXCERPTIt was morning.
Lukas could feel the sun outside, calling him with false promises of vaulted blue heavens in which he could fly. He couldn't do that anymore. They had even taken that from him. His heart cried in anguish at the thought of never flying again but he buried his pain deep. It wasn't difficult when his head was pounding and sore.
Something touched his back, stroking it lightly and with care. He could feel love in that caress and concern. He tried to gather his scattered thoughts and senses so he could focus on the person behind him. It was impossible. Her fingers felt good against him, soothing his raging head and bringing back memories of last night and being with her. Bliss. Being with her had been nothing short of bliss.
She touched his shoulder blades and his skin shifted and itched.
No.
Lukas focused harder but it was too late. The urge drove through him, brought out by her teasing fingers and tender touch, and he couldn't contain it. He gritted his teeth, tried with all of his might, but she swept her hands over his shoulder blades again.
"Don't." He started to move away from her but wasn't quick enough.
His wings erupted from his back so fast that it hurt and they knocked her off the bed. She hit the floor with a thud.
No.
Lukas scrambled to his knees, naked on the bed, his white wings unfurled and stretching across the room. He grimaced when they caught the lamp on the bedside table and it toppled off and smashed.
Annelie sat nude on the wooden floor, staring up at him with wide eyes, her face ashen.
He made a low noise of frustration and her gaze leapt from his wings to his eyes. She shook her head, scrambled to her feet and bolted for the bedroom door. Lukas reached it first, his head spinning and thumping, and blocked the way, jamming his hands against the doorframe. She tried to pass him, pushing his chest, and he grabbed her wrists to stop her from hitting him.
"Let me go." She snatched her hands back and tried to pass him again. He caught her around the waist from behind and pulled her against him as she struggled. His body got the wrong idea when her soft warm backside brushed his groin. Getting an erection was not going to help matters.
He turned with her so she was back in the bedroom.
She scratched his arm, elbowed him in the ribs, and ran forwards when he released her.
"Annelie." Lukas furled his white wings against his back.
She ignored him, grabbing her clothes and throwing them on. Her black t-shirt was backwards but he didn't think she would appreciate him mentioning it when she was panicking. She clawed her long red hair back into a rough ponytail, eyed him warily and then dashed forwards, ducking under his arm. He grabbed her again, not wanting to frighten her or hurt her, but unwilling to let her go. He couldn't let her walk out of the door. If she did that now, he would never see her again.
"I can explain." Lukas wasn't quite sure what he intended to tell her but it sounded like the right thing to say in a situation that was rapidly going downhill.
"Explain what... that I'm going crazy or that I just slept with an angel?" Annelie gave up trying to get past him and backed away, her legs hitting the end of his bed. She plonked down onto it and stared at him. Her feelings were all over the place. Angels had acute senses but he couldn't tell whether she was angry or petrified. She leaned forwards, rested her elbows on her knees, and buried her face in her hands. "I'm going to Hell."
"No, you won't... Annelie... look at me."
"I'd rather not." She pulled the blue duvet over her head until he couldn't see her.
Lukas sighed and rubbed his face, desperately trying to think of something to say that wouldn't inflame things and would go some way towards repairing the damage the sudden appearance of his wings had done.
"I'm sorry." It was the only thing that came to him. She emerged from the blanket and shook her head, the disbelief still written across her face.
She looked down at her arm and pinched it.
"What are you doing?" He frowned.
"Trying to wake up. This has to be a dream." She pinched herself again and dismay crossed her face when she looked at him. She paled. "God, this is real... the wings are real... you're an angel... and I just blasphemed... and I slept with you!"
His shoulders sagged and he focused through the riot it in his head. It was difficult to concentrate but he managed it and his wings slowly shrank and disappeared into his back. Annelie looked as horrified on seeing them disappear as she had on seeing them appear. Her heart raced in his mind and no matter what angle he looked at it from, the situation showed no sign of improving.
"It is not a dream, and it is not a sin." It was the bane of all his kind that mortals thought they were off limits, saints who couldn't enjoy life in the way a human could. That belief couldn't be further from the truth. They had rules, laws that they had to obey, but all angels were fun and frivolous creatures when they weren't on duty, and many of them had fallen in love with mortals.
Just as he was in love with her.
He hadn't realised it until he had gone away. Before then, he had merely thought that she was pretty, easy to talk to, interesting and someone who eased his loneliness. A friend. Going away had made him realise that he had been falling for her since first setting eyes on her. If he told her that now, would it fix anything? Would she still hate him?
"Annelie?"
She didn't seem to be listening. She was staring at his shoulders, as though waiting for his wings to appear again, her eyes large and mouth open. It was a struggle to keep them away but he had to do it, no matter how much they wanted to come out again and how much his head hurt.
Drinking had been a bad idea.
But then, it had been the only way of erasing his pain, and humans had always seemed to use drink to cope with things. The position he was in right now, another black mark against him probably wouldn't mean much. It would only damage his pride.
He laughed bitterly. "I am not even an angel at the moment... I haven't been since the night we met."
Her dark eyes met his. Confusion shone in them now.
It hurt him to think about the past three years. Annelie had been the one thing that had helped him through his most troubled times and eased his suffering. She had given him friendship and support, and had made his pain bearable, but now he feared that she would leave and he would never see her again, and he needed her more than ever.
Things had never been this bad for him.
She couldn't leave. She was the only good thing left in his life.
"Funny... you have wings like an angel." Annelie stood and stepped closer to him. Her heart still raced, rushing in his head, speaking of her fear. She took another tentative step forwards and cast her gaze over him, from head to toe and back again.
"Wings I cannot use." Saying that made it hit home and his heart hurt, his chest burning with the pain of being denied the one thing that had given him comfort and hope all this time. They hadn't taken his wings from him.
Only now they had.
"I am... fallen... I think you mortals call it." Lukas leaned against the doorframe. He closed his eyes, clenched his jaw and steeled himself against the pain caused by talking about his situation. It ebbed and flowed through him, strong waves that filled him with despair and sorrow, and anger too. "I was banished here three years ago... and three weeks ago I went to appeal against my sentence and make them see the truth."
"The truth?"
He opened his eyes and looked at her, resting his head against the wooden frame.
"I did not commit the crime that I am being punished for." He searched her eyes, wishing that she would show a sign of compassion, or affection, something other than anger and hurt. He needed to see something warm in her, something to give him a thread of hope to hold on to. "I wanted to tell you so many times."
"That you were falsely accused?"
He smiled at her confusion but it lasted only a second. "That I am an angel."
"Why?" Her gaze darted between his eyes and her heart began to calm at last, her fear beginning to fade. He wanted to reach out and touch her, to caress her cheek and know that he hadn't messed everything up between them, but he didn't dare.
"Because... I hate lying to you. I hate hiding things from you." Lukas pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He drew a long breath and sighed, trying to push away his pain and focus on the moment and making things right with Annelie. If that was possible. It had to be. "Because I want you to know me."
"Why?"
Was that the only question she had for him? He deserved her anger, and her disbelief, and he was prepared for it. He had always known it would be impossible to tell her that he was an angel without going through this. Even if he had found a way to break it to her gently, she still would have thought she was going insane and would have struggled to believe what she was seeing.
Lukas opened his eyes and stared at her feet. She had moved closer. Her small bare feet made him smile. They were so delicate. Everything about her was delicate and soft. He loved her for that. He loved her for her smile and how open she was with him, and how she always found time to speak to him.
"I meant what I said last night, Annelie." His gaze met hers again and he stepped away from the door, towards her, closing the gap between them. His head ached but the pain in his heart eclipsed it. He didn't want her to leave, and if baring his soul was the only way of making her stay, then he was willing to go through that. He was willing to risk her breaking his heart. It would be the last straw for him, and he would no longer have a reason not to fall into darkness and live up to the name of a fallen angel, but it was a chance that he had to take. "There is a reason that I come to the pub and sit on that stool and talk to you... and I think you know what that reason is."
Her eyes widened, her cheeks coloured and she dropped her gaze. Lukas hesitated a moment and then gently placed his fingers under her jaw. They shook so much that he was sure that she would notice. So much rested on this touch. If she accepted it, he would take it as a sign that there was hope for him, and for them. If she pushed him away, he wasn't sure what he would do.
She remained still, her gaze downcast, and didn't shirk his touch.
Lukas drew a deep trembling breath and raised her eyes back to his. The look in hers said that she knew all too well what he was talking about and that he hadn't misjudged her feelings. He wasn't the only one who had fallen in love over the past three years. She had never once spoken to him about men, had never been out on dates, had always smiled at him in a way she never did with other men, always laughed and found a way to touch his hands. She was in love with him too.
But there was a barrier between them, one that he couldn't push her to break through. It was her decision. It had to be. He wasn't mortal and she had to accept that. She had to come to understand his kind and his world, and see whether she could still love him or whether she had to move on. All he could do was try to convince her that it would be worth it if she stayed with him, and that he wanted her more than anything.
More than flying?
He wasn't sure of that yet. He had a decision to make too, one that depended on hers.
His wings pushed to break free again but he held them at bay, wrestling for control. It was difficult enough under normal circumstances to hide them. The headache from the drink was making it almost impossible.
Lukas took his hand back and rubbed his eyes.
"I guess now I know why you're such a good listener."
He shook his head. "I am only a good listener for you. I am a lousy listener for others. It wasn't my specialty."
"Angels have specialties? Actually, I don't think I want to know. I still feel as though I'm dreaming all of this."
"What can I do to make you see that this is real, Annelie, and that I mean you no harm?"
A smile touched her lips—shy and sweet. "I don't think you'll hurt me."
"I already did." Lukas's heart beat harder when she met his gaze, holding it, and there was a hint of warmth in her dark eyes and no fear. She wasn't lying. She really did believe that he wouldn't harm her.
"I was just shocked." She lowered her gaze and frowned, raised her hand and turned the neck of her black baby-doll t-shirt inside out, looking at the label there. She smiled at it. "Can I see them again? It might help me believe that I'm not going crazy."
Her eyes crept to his shoulders and she let go of her t-shirt.
His wings?
They were aching to be free.
But he wasn't sure it was a good idea.
She had been gradually calming down since he had put his wings away. If he unfurled them, he could panic her again and undo any progress he had made with her. The soft look in her eyes pleaded him and he relented. He would do anything she asked of him. If she believed that seeing his wings would help her come to terms with what he was, then he would let them out.
He nodded and she stepped back, as though afraid that he would knock her flying with them again. He wouldn't let that happen. This time he was ready and in control. He wouldn't hurt her.
Lukas moved away from her, finding space near the built-in wardrobes and the door to the bathroom. There was nothing there that he could knock over and Annelie was at a safe enough distance.
His shoulder blades itched, the skin shifting as his wings pushed for freedom. He clenched his fists and let his white wings out as slowly as possible, so they didn't frighten Annelie. Her gaze fixed on them as they appeared. They grew larger until they were fully out and furled against his back. The long feathers tickled his bare legs. He stood before her, naked, unashamed of both it and his wings. This was who he was, and if she couldn't accept it, then perhaps it was for the best, even if it was breaking his heart.
"I wish I could have been honest with you," he whispered and her dark brown eyes moved from his wings to his eyes. "Everything has gone horribly wrong and I feel like crap. My head is killing me."
"Are you allowed to swear?" Her eyebrows rose.
He nodded. "I can do most things a human can without any repercussion."
She surprised him by stepping forwards and pressing her palm against his forehead. Her hand was cool, refreshing, and his eyes slipped shut. It felt so good to have her touch him, as though they had taken the first step towards moving past the fact that he was an angel.
"You'll feel better soon. You didn't look so good last night." Her voice was honey and sweetness to him, low spoken and filling him with soothing warmth. Her hand lingered against his brow. "I shouldn't have let you drink so much."
"I have never tasted alcohol before."
"Really? I shouldn't have let you drink at all then. Will you get into trouble?"
He shrugged, opened his eyes and looked into hers. "I would not consider it a perk of being banished. It is not as nice as mortals make it out to be."
"I could have told you that."
The intensity of her smile stole his breath along with the fact that her hand still rested against his forehead. Was this progress? She wasn't trying to run. He had moved away from the door, giving her a clear path, and she had remained with him. She had chosen to touch him and be near him. Was it possible that she could accept what he was and still love him?
She was so beautiful. He could look at her until the end of time and never tire. He had watched her age these past three years and she had only grown more beautiful to him. Her soft features, large dark eyes and rosy sensual lips made her more stunning than any female he had ever seen.
Annelie moved around him and he rolled his eyes closed when she ran a hand down his left wing. He held his groan inside, not wanting to scare her away. The feel of her fingers stroking his feathers was divine.
"They're really real," she whispered and stopped behind him. She ran her hands down both of his wings, teasing his feathers and his senses.
Images from last night danced through his mind. It had been everything that he had thought it would be and so much more. He had wanted to feel her hands on him, to kiss her and touch her, for so long now without truly realising it. He had thought it nothing more than lust, hunger brought about by years of celibacy, but it was more than that. It was love. The alcohol had done one good thing. It had cast his inhibitions aside and given him the courage to make a move on her. He could bear the pain in his head as payment for his glorious night with her.
He shivered when she caressed his lower back with long strokes of her fingers. Her touch was light, tickling, and he could sense concern in her again. What was she looking at that had her so worried?
"What happened?" Her fingertips traced another line across his back and then she stroked his shoulders.
The scars.
He hadn't realised that they were still there. Was that what she had been touching this morning too? The thought that she would still lay her hands on him, would still feel such concern for him, added another slender thread to his hope.
"I was punished." He couldn't bring himself to say any more. They had lashed him to remind him of his duty and the sin he had committed. Sin. He would have laughed at that if it hadn't hurt so much.
"But you said you didn't do it." She came around to stand in front of him, her dark brown eyes wide with confusion.
"I did not do it, but I cannot prove that. There is no evidence to the contrary. I have searched for it, returned to the scene of the crime every other night for the past three years trying to find a clue that would free me of my sin." His heart sunk when he recalled how his hope had faded with each visit to the ruins of the building that remained in the closed lot. He shut his eyes as images of that night flashed across his mind and he could almost feel the heat of the blast, the sting of the cuts as he tumbled along the ground, and the smell of the fire. "I did not do it."
"Lukas?" Annelie's hand was soft against his cheek and, without thinking, he leaned into it, seeking the comfort she offered and taking it. The memory faded again but it would return soon. It haunted him each night, filling his dreams with burning bodies and Heaven's Court and the look of shame on his fellow warriors' faces when the jury had passed judgement on him. "What happened?"
Did she really want to know? He needed to see. He looked deep into her eyes and used her hand against his face to strengthen the connection to her that had always been there. He didn't usually feel humans' emotions so easily. Annelie's were always there for him to read, held barely beneath the surface. She was so open with him.
"There was going to be an event at a factory. My team received an order to go there. I was the first to arrive. When I did, the building exploded, incinerating everything. It transpired that no one knew of the event. It had not been foreseen."
"What does that mean?" Her hand remained against his face, making him strong and able to tell her everything. She had to know. He hadn't spoken about this to anyone but he needed to share it with her.
"Only a supernatural creature can create an event that the Higher Order of Watchers wouldn't see. An angel did it. They planted bombs and destroyed the building, with all of the humans still inside."
Her eyes widened. "Why?"
"I do not know." He stepped back, clenched his fists and jaw and stared hard at the wooden floor of his bedroom. "All I know is that I was there and no-one believes me when I say that I had been assigned to that area. The rest of my team did not receive the order, and there is no record of it. The records state that I was assigned somewhere else."
"Surely there has to be something you can do?"
Lukas laughed bitterly. "There was. I could appeal three years after being sentenced. I did and I failed... I accused my commander of falsifying the records to protect the perpetrator. Not my finest hour. The result is that I am stripped of my wings and most of my powers."
"Can't you appeal again?" Annelie sat on the end of the bed. She seemed comfortable with his wings now, distracted by his plight, but he knew that it wasn't over. She still wasn't his. Would she ever be? He wasn't sure if she would be able to accept him as an angel. Could she accept him as a mortal? Was he brave enough to risk everything for her and her love?
He was the one unsure now. Heaven had turned its back on him but he wasn't brave enough to do the same to it. He still longed to clear his name and return to duty.
"No." He concentrated so his wings disappeared. He could still use a glamour but he preferred not to deceive Annelie by falsifying his appearance. When they were gone, he gathered his clothes and tugged on his boxer shorts and black jeans. "Well... I can when I have waited three hundred years."
She gasped. "What will you do?"
"Wait."
"You can't do that." She frowned at him. "There has to be some way of proving you're innocent."
The force behind those words convinced him that she believed he was as innocent as she said and that she wasn't going to walk out on him. She wanted to help him. It was written in every beautiful line of her face and the tone of her voice.
"Someone must have seen something."
"They did, but Heaven's records don't show the angel involved. No one saw me or the real perpetrator. My kind are not recorded in Heaven's history of Earth. They only saw the explosion happen and then I returned and reported it, incriminating myself." Lukas paused and frowned. Why hadn't he thought of it earlier? "Heaven's records may not record angels but Hell's might."
"Hell?" Annelie looked even more uncertain now. "What are you going to do, walk in there and ask the Devil if he'll take a look for you? I went to Sunday School and I know that he probably won't help an angel, even a fellow fallen one."
She bit her lip when his gaze snapped to her and dropped her chin, her cheeks colouring deeply. He might have fallen but he wasn't Lucifer. She peered up at him through the messy strands of red hair that had escaped her ponytail, her apology in her eyes, and Lukas sighed. He knew she hadn't meant it like that, but being compared to Lucifer had struck a chord deep within him, one that made his hope fade fast. He would never survive three hundred years on Earth waiting for his appeal. He wasn't strong enough to endure such endless pain, not without succumbing to temptation as the Devil had. He had to do something about it, just as Annelie had said.
"I do not need to ask the Devil." Lukas sat beside her on the bed. "There is an angel who will likely help me. Annelie?"
She turned to face him, her eyes meeting his and her expression soft and inviting.
He hesitated. Was he strong enough to say what was on the tip of his tongue? Would she agree or would she leave him? He was moving too fast but he couldn't go without her. He had to take the risk and believe that she wanted to give him a chance, and that she would say yes.
"Will you come to Paris with me?" Those words were some of the most difficult he had ever said. He waited with bated breath, desperate to hear her answer. She said nothing, just stared at him. "Please? Give me time to prove to you that it doesn't matter that I am an angel... that I am still the man you have known these past three years."
She still hesitated.
Lukas swallowed and took hold of her hand, holding it in both of his, caressing the back with his thumbs. She had to agree. She had to come with him and give him a second chance. He couldn't do this without her and he couldn't leave her here. If he did that, he was sure he would never see her again.
"Annelie?"
She finally nodded.
Lukas smiled. "We shall get you some things from your home and then fly straight there."
"I thought you couldn't fly?"
His face fell. This punishment was going to take some getting used to. Even a mention of the fact that he was unable to fly made him ache inside.
"By plane then," he whispered and thought about how difficult it was going to be to travel via human methods. "Do you have an old passport?"
She stared at him, her expression distant, as though she wasn't quite keeping up with him and everything was sweeping her along. He waited for her to catch up. Rushing her would only make her change her mind.
She glanced at his shoulders and then finally nodded again. "What use is that though?"
"I can alter it but we will have to get tickets at the airport so I can be near the terminal to change it there too. I still have that power." Lukas stared at his feet. He would have to get used to seeing floors and pavements. He didn't think he could bring himself to see the day sky until all this was over and he had proven his innocence. He would do it somehow. He would end his punishment and free himself, and make them see that they had accused the wrong angel. He had always put humans before him. He had never harmed them.
He closed his eyes.
Flying was going to be torture. Even if he didn't look, he would know that he was high in the sky, where he longed to be. He would endure it though.
Annelie's hand came to rest against his shoulder. "Why don't we take the train? I've never been through the tunnel before. It'll be much more fun than flying and will give us time to talk."
Lukas smiled and placed his hand over hers. It was kind of her to pretend that she hadn't noticed his pain. It was kind of her to see the suffering his loss of flying caused him and to understand it.
Perhaps there was hope for him. For them.
He would do everything in his power to make things right.
He would prove his innocence.
He would prove his love for her.
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Fallen%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Fallen-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011118494/
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Fallen-Angel-Her-Angel/mix-E8HR8KevVkqhEsSrPJICdQ/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27039
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-fallen-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000299382
Available in paperback from:
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1456489836/
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456489836/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/9781456489830/
Read more about the Her Angel series at my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebookseries.php?series=Her%20Angel
August 8, 2011
Manday hottie
It's Manday and I have a delicious offering today. I'm not into American Football, heck, I'm British so it's not surprising... but this guy could change my mind and have me tracking down a way of watching it. lol.
Your sweet treat to start another week...
Isn't he delicious?
Your sweet treat to start another week...
Isn't he delicious?
August 7, 2011
Her Dark Angel - Fantastic summer offer!
It's time for another fantastic summer deal from me. I love rewarding readers with special offers or signed swag packs and the like. This time, I'm celebrating the release of Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel romance series #4) and I want to share my excitement and my love for this series with all of you.
To celebrate Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel romance series #4) and my Her Angel series, I'm offering Her Dark Angel (Her Angel romance series #1) for JUST $0.99 until August 28th!
The offer is available direct from my website, at Amazon Kindle Stores, and at Smashwords with the use of a coupon. Ebook formats include epub (Nook, Sony, Kobo), mobi/kindle, pdf and html.
Her Dark Angel
Felicity Heaton
An angel without a mission, Apollyon lives trapped in Hell guarding the bottomless pit. Surrounded by endless darkness, he longs to fly free on Earth once more but his master hasn't called him in centuries. When the call finally comes, it's to serve a new master, a beautiful woman he has often watched over, a woman who has always captivated him.
Serenity is shocked when a gorgeous black-winged angel shows up in her city of Paris claiming that she called him when she was only casting a simple vengeance spell. He's no other than the angel of death! When Apollyon offers to obey her and help her have revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend, she can't resist the temptation, but can she resist him? Can an angel as dark as Apollyon ever fall for a mortal woman like her?
Dark, passionate and erotic, Her Dark Angel is a tale of intense desire and deepest forbidden love guaranteed to get your heart racing.
ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.
SPECIAL OFFER: Her Dark Angel is only $0.99 until August 28th! (Normally $2.99)
This special deal is available from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Dark%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00408AQ98/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22429 (use coupon code WG47J at checkout)
To celebrate Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel romance series #4) and my Her Angel series, I'm offering Her Dark Angel (Her Angel romance series #1) for JUST $0.99 until August 28th!
The offer is available direct from my website, at Amazon Kindle Stores, and at Smashwords with the use of a coupon. Ebook formats include epub (Nook, Sony, Kobo), mobi/kindle, pdf and html.
Her Dark Angel
Felicity Heaton
An angel without a mission, Apollyon lives trapped in Hell guarding the bottomless pit. Surrounded by endless darkness, he longs to fly free on Earth once more but his master hasn't called him in centuries. When the call finally comes, it's to serve a new master, a beautiful woman he has often watched over, a woman who has always captivated him.
Serenity is shocked when a gorgeous black-winged angel shows up in her city of Paris claiming that she called him when she was only casting a simple vengeance spell. He's no other than the angel of death! When Apollyon offers to obey her and help her have revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend, she can't resist the temptation, but can she resist him? Can an angel as dark as Apollyon ever fall for a mortal woman like her?
Dark, passionate and erotic, Her Dark Angel is a tale of intense desire and deepest forbidden love guaranteed to get your heart racing.
ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.
SPECIAL OFFER: Her Dark Angel is only $0.99 until August 28th! (Normally $2.99)
This special deal is available from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Dark%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00408AQ98/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22429 (use coupon code WG47J at checkout)
August 6, 2011
Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #4) - Chapter Two
It's time for another chapter of
Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel romance series #4)
as part of my Paranormal Pandemonium 2011 Blog Tour. I'll be posting the first five chapters for FREE. You can find them all by clicking here: Her Guardian Angel chapters
Her Guardian Angel is currently available in e-book direct from my website, Amazon Kindle Stores, and Smashwords. It will soon be available from Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, and also as a paperback from Amazon sites.
Other stories in the Her Angel series are: Her Dark Angel , Her Fallen Angel and Her Warrior Angel . Details of them and where they are available in e-book and paperback can be found at my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebookseries.php?series=Her%20Angel
Her Guardian Angel
Felicity Heaton
A simple mission becomes a fight for survival in this fantastic instalment in the Her Angel series.
A guardian angel dedicated to his duty, Marcus will do whatever Heaven asks of him, but even his loyalty has its limits. When his superior orders him to gain Amelia's trust through seduction, Marcus starts to question his mission and his feelings for the beautiful woman he has watched over since her birth.
Amelia has gone from one bad relationship to another, so when a gorgeous guy moves in next door looking like Mr Right, she hopes he doesn't turn out to be another black knight in disguise. But there's more to Marcus than meets the eye, and when he rescues her from three demonic men, Amelia is thrust into his nightmarish world—a world where God and the Devil exist, and only one angel can save her from death—Marcus, the angel she's falling in love with.
On the run from demonic angels and the Devil himself, aided by Marcus's angel friends and their amazing women, fighting for survival against the odds, Marcus and Amelia discover a love that will last forever.
A love so strong it will shake Heaven and Hell.
ebook price: $3.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 110000 words
rating: sultry
released: July 2011
Book 4 in the Her Angel series
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Guardian%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77776
CHAPTER TWOThe moment Marcus set foot back in his apartment and closed the door, a bright shaft of light encased him. His wings swiftly emerged, silver-blue feathers warming as the light touched them, and his sweat pants disappeared, replaced by his dark blue loincloth. His armour appeared next. Dark leather boots slowly materialised on his feet, followed by rich blue metal vambraces that covered his forearms and greaves that encased his lower legs. His blue back plate and breastplate melted into existence, protecting his upper torso, moulded into muscles to mimic his body. The raised silver edging on his armour shone brilliantly, reflecting the blinding white light.
When the light faded, an equally bright room surrounded him. Marcus straightened, flapped his wings to bring his feathers into line and then furled them against his back. He noted with annoyance that neither of his weapons had appeared at his hips. It seemed Heaven didn't want him armed for this meeting.
He walked forwards and the brightness dimmed, revealing what most mortals would consider a waiting room. The pale furniture melted into the white walls and floors, making it difficult to distinguish them, and for once the room was empty. He couldn't remember the last time he had reported to Heaven's Court and it had been like this. Normally his fellow guardians were here on some business or another, escorting detainees or sinners, or reporting on missions themselves.
Putting it down to the late hour, he strode towards the white double doors at the opposite end of the room, passing the empty reception desk and armchairs.
He pushed the heavy doors open, revealing the equally white room beyond.
It appeared much like a human court, only everything was white. The benches where those awaiting their hearing would sit, the barrier between them and the area where the judges and jurors sat, and the dock were all so bright that they blended together and made him wonder for what must have been at least the six hundredth time why everything was so irritatingly pale in Heaven.
He looked down at his blue armour.
At least that had colour to it.
The weight of it felt good against him and he ached to beat his wings and feel the wind cut through his feathers. He was so focused on himself that he failed to notice that he wasn't alone until someone spoke.
"Report, Marcus."
Marcus jerked his head up, eyes fixing on his superior, a man with short sandy locks and dark eyes that rarely held any trace of emotion. They were cold now, devoid of feeling as he stared at Marcus with a critical air about him. Marcus calmly walked towards him, opened the white gate, and stepped into the dock directly on the other side.
There were no lawyers in Heaven. Each sinner, detainee or reporter had to stand for themselves. It was even rare to have a jury. Ninety percent of cases were decided by three judges.
His sat before him on a raised platform encased by an elaborate curved white wall that bore a beautiful carving of angels in battle and hid their bodies from their chests downwards.
The two men nearer the back, flanking his superior, were there to oversee his report and to ensure that everything followed the rules of their kind. They were angels from a different division to Marcus and his superior. The dark haired man to his superior's left wore white armour edged with gold and had pure white wings, the sign of a mediator and intervention specialist, and the white-blond haired man to his right wore black armour edged with gold and had raven-black wings, the sign of those affiliated with death. Marcus's own armour and wing colour signified him as a guardian, one of the angels who were responsible for shepherding souls through Heaven for judgement and then leading them to their respective resting place in Heaven or escorting them to Hell. There were watchers who wore armour like his too, and even a faction of the army. He bit his tongue as desire to mention his request to join that army welled up inside him and saluted his superior instead, bowing his head in greeting.
"Am I to be punished?" Marcus said without a trace of fear in his voice.
He wasn't sure what punishment for striking an innocent would entail, but it couldn't be any worse than what he had already suffered because of his sins.
"That is yet to be determined. We are gathered here to review your actions tonight. We withheld punishment in order to see if your actions engendered a positive emotional response that may forge a stronger connection between yourself and the mortal."
Marcus frowned. "And why is there need for a connection?"
His superior didn't hesitate. "So that she might trust you."
Marcus leaned forwards, looking right into his superior's dark eyes, eager to spot some truth in them, some answers to the thousand questions he had asked in the past and they had refused to answer.
"And why must she trust me?" Marcus knew he had pushed too far when a dark look crossed all three men's faces.
"Enough questions, Marcus. Report."
He ground his teeth. Always the same response whenever he pushed them to elaborate on his mission. He hated being left in the dark about everything almost as much as he despised having to live in the mortal realm.
"There was a problem with an ex-lover of the female's. He was causing her fear and emotional harm. He was also causing me to lose sleep. I took it upon myself to forcibly remove him from the premises and deter him from attempting a repeat performance."
"So you might gain more sleep?" His superior didn't look impressed and neither did the two angels flanking him.
"No, so that the female may not come to physical harm."
"You had reason to believe that this male might act in violence towards her?"
"She was afraid. I have watched her for thirty one years. Never once have I witnessed her this afraid. Seeing that the man was bent on violence, I took it upon myself to ensure that he would leave her alone."
"Did the man say anything in his defence?"
Marcus frowned. Had he? He had accused Amelia of a lot of things, all of them false. Nothing the man had said had held any credit.
"No. He was intent on harming her and laying false accusations at her door."
"So you struck him?"
"No!" Marcus leaned forwards. "It didn't happen like that. He turned his foul derision in my direction and attempted to hit me."
"Why did he do such a thing?"
His superior and these two angels were already aware of what had occurred tonight so why were they trying to draw it out of him? Were they hoping to embarrass him or cause him to reveal something? If they believed him attracted to her, then he would have to disappoint them.
"I was accused of being her lover. The man decided to… damage my face… in order to teach both myself and the female a lesson. I believe he sought to render me less attractive to her."
"So you struck him?"
"I acted to defend myself and the female, as per my orders. I eliminated a threat to her."
"And do you concur that the female is attracted to you, as this man believed?"
Marcus stared blankly at the three angels, mind working furiously back over tonight's events as he tried to compute an answer to the question. Did he? Was she?
Amelia had certainly looked upon him with desire darkening her grey eyes and those eyes had lingered on his bare torso more than once. She had been gentle with his hand and had blushed several times during their talk in the aftermath of the event. He had little experience of females and couldn't easily conclude what her reaction had meant, but it had seemed positive.
"I am not sure." Marcus pushed the words out, his mouth and throat dry as he contemplated the answer he had wanted to say. Yes. Yes, the mortal did desire him. He wasn't certain why, but the telltale signs had been there.
"Then we shall not punish you."
Marcus frowned again. "Why not?"
"Because we require that 'pretty face' of yours to remain attractive to the female in order to form a stronger bond between you." There was a definite smirk in his superior's tone although it didn't touch his stony face. "You will return to Earth and continue with your mission as planned."
"When will my mission end?" Marcus wasn't going to give up this time. Things were becoming critical on Earth and his desire to complete his duty there had increased a hundredfold tonight when he had been with Amelia, and a thousandfold just now when his superior had implied that Amelia was attracted to him and they would use that as a means of bringing them closer together. He needed to end this and return to Heaven. It was his heart's desire.
His heart denied that and an image of Amelia flickered across his mind, wearing a plum-coloured shimmering slip that inflamed his desire.
He shoved the vision away and stared at his superior.
"When will it end?" Marcus spat out and the sandy-haired man leaned back in his seat and regarded him with flinty eyes.
"When you have completed it."
"What must I do to achieve that?"
"Be patient. All will be revealed in time."
"Time," Marcus snapped and gripped the white wooden railing that ran around the dock, digging his fingers into it so hard that his bruised knuckles burned fiercely. "It is always the same. I tire of this mission. I demand to know when it will end!"
His superior shot to his feet and the air in the room grew heavy, draining the light from it and leaving it grey.
"It will end when you have completed it! This is your duty, Marcus, and you will obey my orders."
Marcus clenched his teeth and lowered his gaze, staring at his hands where they trembled against the railing, a visible sign of the pressure bearing down on his body. The hot thick air in the room stuck in his throat and stole the breath from his lungs, leaving him wheezing.
His mind turned foggy, thoughts swimming in and out of focus, and he blinked several times, fighting for consciousness. His heavy limbs shook, bones aching as darkness descended on him, the power of his superior too intense to withstand.
A moment later it lifted, the room brightening as it faded away, and Marcus sucked in much needed air as the strain on him eased. His body continued to tremble and he clung fiercely to the railing to remain standing as his legs threatened to give out.
Marcus cursed under his breath. He shouldn't have lost his calm. He had never snapped like this before but the pressure of living in the mortal realm, of having to endure being so close to Amelia, was getting to him. He had been waiting over thirty years for this mission to end and they had always given him the same answer to his questions. It was his duty. He had to obey.
His loyalty was to Heaven, born of faith and his belief that they knew what the future held and what each of his master's servants were destined to do, but when they withheld information from him, when they shut him in the dark and expected him to blindly obey their orders without question, he found his faith wavering. He only wanted answers.
He had tried countless times and in countless different ways but each time they told him the same thing. His duty was to watch over Amelia until a certain point in time. They had never expanded on the nature of his mission or given him any other details. Each time they brought him back to Heaven, they asked the same questions and gave him the same answers.
It wasn't necessary for him to know such information.
It was only necessary for him to obey their orders.
So he obeyed, and every time he left them, he hated his mission a little more.
His shoulder blades tingled where his wings joined them. Amelia had seen the marks there. He hated them too. If it wasn't for them, he wouldn't be in this situation. He would have asked for a transfer and would have been a soldier. It was his fault though and he accepted this mission as punishment for committing sin.
"Have you experienced any difficulties with your wings since living in the mortal realm?"
That softly spoken question came not from his superior but the dark haired man to his left. A mediator. Marcus didn't know him or the other angel, but he could see from the embellishment on their armour that they were high ranking, and clearly they knew of his problem.
"There was one incident and that is all." Marcus couldn't meet the man's eye. He hated talking about this with anyone, even his superior and the medical staff who had assisted him throughout the centuries since the marks had appeared on his back. It made him feel vulnerable and weak, and disgraced.
"Can you recall what you felt in that situation or anything that may have caused the curse to trigger again?" His superior this time.
Marcus risked a glance at him. The concern in his dark eyes surprised him and buoyed his spirits, and Marcus thought about what had happened the last time his wings had failed to appear.
Thankfully he had been on the ground and had only attempted to take off but it was always there at the back of his mind whenever he flew. His wings were unpredictable. There was nothing stopping the curse from triggering mid-flight and sending him plummeting to Earth. He had no desire to hit the ground from a great height. While the fall wouldn't kill him, it would certainly render him unconscious and vulnerable to attack, and it would definitely hurt.
"Nothing particular. I had merely wanted to stretch my wings and fly somewhere new for a change of scenery."
"Report back to us if anything happens. It should not be long now, Marcus. Your destiny awaits."
Before Marcus could ask exactly what that destiny entailed, the light engulfed him again. When it receded, it revealed the low-lit lounge of his apartment.
He looked at the clock on the DVD player in the entertainment centre to his right and frowned at the time. Almost six. He rubbed his eyes and locked the front door, and then trudged wearily across the living room, stifling a yawn as he did so. When he reached his bedroom door, he beat his wings, glad to feel them and sense that they were stable, and then focused so they would disappear. They gradually shrank into his back and when the last feathers were gone, the marks there flushed with heat and then settled again.
Marcus didn't bother to remove his armour. He flopped down on his back on his double bed, enjoying the cool of the covers against his bare skin between his back plate and loincloth and on his arms and thighs. A gentle breeze drifted in through the open window, washing over his head and shoulders, bringing with it the scent of dawn and carrying some of his irritation away. He stared at the ceiling, watching the room brighten with the rising of the sun, his mind racing but not with questions about his mission. He focused on his shoulder blades and the marks there.
When they had appeared five centuries ago, he had thought it was castigation for sinning. He had broken the law that night and had indulged in mead, a heady drink that at the time had been a banned substance for angels due to its alcoholic nature. When he had come around with his head on the verge of exploding and his stomach rebelling, his shoulder blades had been ablaze, burning so fiercely that he had felt as though someone had branded him. He had tried to bring his wings out but they had failed to appear.
When Heaven had called him back to them, Marcus had discovered that it wasn't punishment at all but rather a curse. It took weeks for the medical staff to discover what it meant, and months for it to sink in that it was inerasable. The marks sealed his wings for five hundred years, leaving him stranded in Heaven, only able to do the duty of a watcher.
In the same week that Heaven had assigned him to watch over Amelia, his wings had finally escaped their prison. The medical staff had declared that the bond of the curse was weakening with time but that he might still encounter difficulties. He had been too intoxicated by the thought of flying again to care that there might be future incidents where his wings would refuse to appear.
There were many at first but as time continued to flow, so the curse continued to weaken, and the space between the incidents grew. During his last assessment, the medical team had announced that his problem was no longer the curse but psychological barriers he had constructed. Something about it being his mind causing his wings not to appear.
Marcus had found it difficult to believe since he had no desire to drop from the sky and hit the pavement, but when they had explained it in layman's terms, he had understood their point a little better. If he feared that his wings would disappear, or not appear when he needed them, then he could actually cause such a thing to happen. The power of the mind was frightening.
Since then, he had spent every moment when flying thinking about how wonderful his wings were and that he was glad to have them, and he really didn't want them to go away, and that his curse wasn't in effect anymore.
It seemed to have worked well so far.
There had only been that one incident since coming to the mortal realm, and the incident before that had been almost thirteen years ago when he had come to Earth to oversee Amelia as she moved out of her family's house in the countryside and into her own apartment in London at the age of eighteen. He wasn't sure what had happened then either.
His mind drifted over the past incidents and how his superior had conveniently used each one to deflect his questions and get him off the subject of Amelia's destiny. Skilful old bastard. His superior was ancient in angel terms, reborn almost six thousand years ago, although he appeared no older than Marcus.
Marcus had been reborn in a time of peace two thousand years ago and could only remember that his previous position had been that of a guardian too. Most angels changed roles on their rebirth, with the exception of a few who bore destinies that kept them harnessed into a specific role, but all forgot their past lives. It was common for some to recall main points about themselves and all retained their former appearance, although wing colour changed from role to role.
Marcus couldn't recall ever being something other than a guardian.
He knew angels who had changed roles, dying one day as a guardian and waking the next as a mediator or assistant of death or a hunter.
Death himself, Apollyon by name, had been reborn countless times into the same role, forever a black-winged messenger of destruction, and was a singularity in that he could remember important historical events in which he had been involved. Namely horrific times of devastation such as the flood, and the fall of civilisations, and the punishment inflicted upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
Perhaps Marcus was eternally reborn as a guardian because he had a destiny.
He just wasn't sure what that destiny was.
But he knew it had something to do with Amelia and the event that would occur in the future. His reason for keeping her safe. Once the event occurred, his mission would end. What was her destiny?
Whatever it was, it was important enough that Heaven had assigned him to watch over her as she walked the path towards her fate. Not many mortals had personal watchers. Most angels in the Higher Order of Watchers were assigned to thousands of people at once.
Amelia had her own guardian angel.
Himself.
Why?
Marcus threw his left arm across his face and grimaced when the hard cold vambrace protecting his forearm struck his nose, sending dull pain splintering across his skull. He sighed and focused, using his power to remove his armour, and lay naked on the bed, contemplating what the future held for him and for Amelia.
Heaven hadn't punished him.
His actions tonight had engendered a positive emotional response in Amelia.
He didn't like the sound of that or what his superior had implied.
He tilted his head to his right and stared at the wall that separated his apartment from Amelia's. He couldn't feel her in the bedroom, which meant she was sleeping on the couch, too far away for him to easily sense.
Was she attracted to him?
If she was, could he bring himself to use that against her and forge the connection between them that his superior had mentioned?
He wanted his mission to end.
But he wasn't sure he was willing to pay the price his superior had placed on it.
Marcus had always obeyed his orders and did all in his power to remain a faithful and loyal servant of his master, but he was also a man of principles who followed a code of honour, and using Amelia's feelings against her was wrong. As little as he cared about mortals, he couldn't ensnare her in such a way or gain her trust through manipulation.
He would gain her trust and connect with her, but not as his superior had ordered.
He would do so in a mortal way.
He just had to figure out what that entailed.
This was going to take some research.
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Guardian%20Angel
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Be sure to come back next week for the next free chapter of this angel romance novel!
Her Guardian Angel is currently available in e-book direct from my website, Amazon Kindle Stores, and Smashwords. It will soon be available from Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, and also as a paperback from Amazon sites.
Other stories in the Her Angel series are: Her Dark Angel , Her Fallen Angel and Her Warrior Angel . Details of them and where they are available in e-book and paperback can be found at my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebookseries.php?series=Her%20Angel
Her Guardian Angel
Felicity HeatonA simple mission becomes a fight for survival in this fantastic instalment in the Her Angel series.
A guardian angel dedicated to his duty, Marcus will do whatever Heaven asks of him, but even his loyalty has its limits. When his superior orders him to gain Amelia's trust through seduction, Marcus starts to question his mission and his feelings for the beautiful woman he has watched over since her birth.
Amelia has gone from one bad relationship to another, so when a gorgeous guy moves in next door looking like Mr Right, she hopes he doesn't turn out to be another black knight in disguise. But there's more to Marcus than meets the eye, and when he rescues her from three demonic men, Amelia is thrust into his nightmarish world—a world where God and the Devil exist, and only one angel can save her from death—Marcus, the angel she's falling in love with.
On the run from demonic angels and the Devil himself, aided by Marcus's angel friends and their amazing women, fighting for survival against the odds, Marcus and Amelia discover a love that will last forever.
A love so strong it will shake Heaven and Hell.
ebook price: $3.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 110000 words
rating: sultry
released: July 2011
Book 4 in the Her Angel series
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Guardian%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77776
CHAPTER TWOThe moment Marcus set foot back in his apartment and closed the door, a bright shaft of light encased him. His wings swiftly emerged, silver-blue feathers warming as the light touched them, and his sweat pants disappeared, replaced by his dark blue loincloth. His armour appeared next. Dark leather boots slowly materialised on his feet, followed by rich blue metal vambraces that covered his forearms and greaves that encased his lower legs. His blue back plate and breastplate melted into existence, protecting his upper torso, moulded into muscles to mimic his body. The raised silver edging on his armour shone brilliantly, reflecting the blinding white light.
When the light faded, an equally bright room surrounded him. Marcus straightened, flapped his wings to bring his feathers into line and then furled them against his back. He noted with annoyance that neither of his weapons had appeared at his hips. It seemed Heaven didn't want him armed for this meeting.
He walked forwards and the brightness dimmed, revealing what most mortals would consider a waiting room. The pale furniture melted into the white walls and floors, making it difficult to distinguish them, and for once the room was empty. He couldn't remember the last time he had reported to Heaven's Court and it had been like this. Normally his fellow guardians were here on some business or another, escorting detainees or sinners, or reporting on missions themselves.
Putting it down to the late hour, he strode towards the white double doors at the opposite end of the room, passing the empty reception desk and armchairs.
He pushed the heavy doors open, revealing the equally white room beyond.
It appeared much like a human court, only everything was white. The benches where those awaiting their hearing would sit, the barrier between them and the area where the judges and jurors sat, and the dock were all so bright that they blended together and made him wonder for what must have been at least the six hundredth time why everything was so irritatingly pale in Heaven.
He looked down at his blue armour.
At least that had colour to it.
The weight of it felt good against him and he ached to beat his wings and feel the wind cut through his feathers. He was so focused on himself that he failed to notice that he wasn't alone until someone spoke.
"Report, Marcus."
Marcus jerked his head up, eyes fixing on his superior, a man with short sandy locks and dark eyes that rarely held any trace of emotion. They were cold now, devoid of feeling as he stared at Marcus with a critical air about him. Marcus calmly walked towards him, opened the white gate, and stepped into the dock directly on the other side.
There were no lawyers in Heaven. Each sinner, detainee or reporter had to stand for themselves. It was even rare to have a jury. Ninety percent of cases were decided by three judges.
His sat before him on a raised platform encased by an elaborate curved white wall that bore a beautiful carving of angels in battle and hid their bodies from their chests downwards.
The two men nearer the back, flanking his superior, were there to oversee his report and to ensure that everything followed the rules of their kind. They were angels from a different division to Marcus and his superior. The dark haired man to his superior's left wore white armour edged with gold and had pure white wings, the sign of a mediator and intervention specialist, and the white-blond haired man to his right wore black armour edged with gold and had raven-black wings, the sign of those affiliated with death. Marcus's own armour and wing colour signified him as a guardian, one of the angels who were responsible for shepherding souls through Heaven for judgement and then leading them to their respective resting place in Heaven or escorting them to Hell. There were watchers who wore armour like his too, and even a faction of the army. He bit his tongue as desire to mention his request to join that army welled up inside him and saluted his superior instead, bowing his head in greeting.
"Am I to be punished?" Marcus said without a trace of fear in his voice.
He wasn't sure what punishment for striking an innocent would entail, but it couldn't be any worse than what he had already suffered because of his sins.
"That is yet to be determined. We are gathered here to review your actions tonight. We withheld punishment in order to see if your actions engendered a positive emotional response that may forge a stronger connection between yourself and the mortal."
Marcus frowned. "And why is there need for a connection?"
His superior didn't hesitate. "So that she might trust you."
Marcus leaned forwards, looking right into his superior's dark eyes, eager to spot some truth in them, some answers to the thousand questions he had asked in the past and they had refused to answer.
"And why must she trust me?" Marcus knew he had pushed too far when a dark look crossed all three men's faces.
"Enough questions, Marcus. Report."
He ground his teeth. Always the same response whenever he pushed them to elaborate on his mission. He hated being left in the dark about everything almost as much as he despised having to live in the mortal realm.
"There was a problem with an ex-lover of the female's. He was causing her fear and emotional harm. He was also causing me to lose sleep. I took it upon myself to forcibly remove him from the premises and deter him from attempting a repeat performance."
"So you might gain more sleep?" His superior didn't look impressed and neither did the two angels flanking him.
"No, so that the female may not come to physical harm."
"You had reason to believe that this male might act in violence towards her?"
"She was afraid. I have watched her for thirty one years. Never once have I witnessed her this afraid. Seeing that the man was bent on violence, I took it upon myself to ensure that he would leave her alone."
"Did the man say anything in his defence?"
Marcus frowned. Had he? He had accused Amelia of a lot of things, all of them false. Nothing the man had said had held any credit.
"No. He was intent on harming her and laying false accusations at her door."
"So you struck him?"
"No!" Marcus leaned forwards. "It didn't happen like that. He turned his foul derision in my direction and attempted to hit me."
"Why did he do such a thing?"
His superior and these two angels were already aware of what had occurred tonight so why were they trying to draw it out of him? Were they hoping to embarrass him or cause him to reveal something? If they believed him attracted to her, then he would have to disappoint them.
"I was accused of being her lover. The man decided to… damage my face… in order to teach both myself and the female a lesson. I believe he sought to render me less attractive to her."
"So you struck him?"
"I acted to defend myself and the female, as per my orders. I eliminated a threat to her."
"And do you concur that the female is attracted to you, as this man believed?"
Marcus stared blankly at the three angels, mind working furiously back over tonight's events as he tried to compute an answer to the question. Did he? Was she?
Amelia had certainly looked upon him with desire darkening her grey eyes and those eyes had lingered on his bare torso more than once. She had been gentle with his hand and had blushed several times during their talk in the aftermath of the event. He had little experience of females and couldn't easily conclude what her reaction had meant, but it had seemed positive.
"I am not sure." Marcus pushed the words out, his mouth and throat dry as he contemplated the answer he had wanted to say. Yes. Yes, the mortal did desire him. He wasn't certain why, but the telltale signs had been there.
"Then we shall not punish you."
Marcus frowned again. "Why not?"
"Because we require that 'pretty face' of yours to remain attractive to the female in order to form a stronger bond between you." There was a definite smirk in his superior's tone although it didn't touch his stony face. "You will return to Earth and continue with your mission as planned."
"When will my mission end?" Marcus wasn't going to give up this time. Things were becoming critical on Earth and his desire to complete his duty there had increased a hundredfold tonight when he had been with Amelia, and a thousandfold just now when his superior had implied that Amelia was attracted to him and they would use that as a means of bringing them closer together. He needed to end this and return to Heaven. It was his heart's desire.
His heart denied that and an image of Amelia flickered across his mind, wearing a plum-coloured shimmering slip that inflamed his desire.
He shoved the vision away and stared at his superior.
"When will it end?" Marcus spat out and the sandy-haired man leaned back in his seat and regarded him with flinty eyes.
"When you have completed it."
"What must I do to achieve that?"
"Be patient. All will be revealed in time."
"Time," Marcus snapped and gripped the white wooden railing that ran around the dock, digging his fingers into it so hard that his bruised knuckles burned fiercely. "It is always the same. I tire of this mission. I demand to know when it will end!"
His superior shot to his feet and the air in the room grew heavy, draining the light from it and leaving it grey.
"It will end when you have completed it! This is your duty, Marcus, and you will obey my orders."
Marcus clenched his teeth and lowered his gaze, staring at his hands where they trembled against the railing, a visible sign of the pressure bearing down on his body. The hot thick air in the room stuck in his throat and stole the breath from his lungs, leaving him wheezing.
His mind turned foggy, thoughts swimming in and out of focus, and he blinked several times, fighting for consciousness. His heavy limbs shook, bones aching as darkness descended on him, the power of his superior too intense to withstand.
A moment later it lifted, the room brightening as it faded away, and Marcus sucked in much needed air as the strain on him eased. His body continued to tremble and he clung fiercely to the railing to remain standing as his legs threatened to give out.
Marcus cursed under his breath. He shouldn't have lost his calm. He had never snapped like this before but the pressure of living in the mortal realm, of having to endure being so close to Amelia, was getting to him. He had been waiting over thirty years for this mission to end and they had always given him the same answer to his questions. It was his duty. He had to obey.
His loyalty was to Heaven, born of faith and his belief that they knew what the future held and what each of his master's servants were destined to do, but when they withheld information from him, when they shut him in the dark and expected him to blindly obey their orders without question, he found his faith wavering. He only wanted answers.
He had tried countless times and in countless different ways but each time they told him the same thing. His duty was to watch over Amelia until a certain point in time. They had never expanded on the nature of his mission or given him any other details. Each time they brought him back to Heaven, they asked the same questions and gave him the same answers.
It wasn't necessary for him to know such information.
It was only necessary for him to obey their orders.
So he obeyed, and every time he left them, he hated his mission a little more.
His shoulder blades tingled where his wings joined them. Amelia had seen the marks there. He hated them too. If it wasn't for them, he wouldn't be in this situation. He would have asked for a transfer and would have been a soldier. It was his fault though and he accepted this mission as punishment for committing sin.
"Have you experienced any difficulties with your wings since living in the mortal realm?"
That softly spoken question came not from his superior but the dark haired man to his left. A mediator. Marcus didn't know him or the other angel, but he could see from the embellishment on their armour that they were high ranking, and clearly they knew of his problem.
"There was one incident and that is all." Marcus couldn't meet the man's eye. He hated talking about this with anyone, even his superior and the medical staff who had assisted him throughout the centuries since the marks had appeared on his back. It made him feel vulnerable and weak, and disgraced.
"Can you recall what you felt in that situation or anything that may have caused the curse to trigger again?" His superior this time.
Marcus risked a glance at him. The concern in his dark eyes surprised him and buoyed his spirits, and Marcus thought about what had happened the last time his wings had failed to appear.
Thankfully he had been on the ground and had only attempted to take off but it was always there at the back of his mind whenever he flew. His wings were unpredictable. There was nothing stopping the curse from triggering mid-flight and sending him plummeting to Earth. He had no desire to hit the ground from a great height. While the fall wouldn't kill him, it would certainly render him unconscious and vulnerable to attack, and it would definitely hurt.
"Nothing particular. I had merely wanted to stretch my wings and fly somewhere new for a change of scenery."
"Report back to us if anything happens. It should not be long now, Marcus. Your destiny awaits."
Before Marcus could ask exactly what that destiny entailed, the light engulfed him again. When it receded, it revealed the low-lit lounge of his apartment.
He looked at the clock on the DVD player in the entertainment centre to his right and frowned at the time. Almost six. He rubbed his eyes and locked the front door, and then trudged wearily across the living room, stifling a yawn as he did so. When he reached his bedroom door, he beat his wings, glad to feel them and sense that they were stable, and then focused so they would disappear. They gradually shrank into his back and when the last feathers were gone, the marks there flushed with heat and then settled again.
Marcus didn't bother to remove his armour. He flopped down on his back on his double bed, enjoying the cool of the covers against his bare skin between his back plate and loincloth and on his arms and thighs. A gentle breeze drifted in through the open window, washing over his head and shoulders, bringing with it the scent of dawn and carrying some of his irritation away. He stared at the ceiling, watching the room brighten with the rising of the sun, his mind racing but not with questions about his mission. He focused on his shoulder blades and the marks there.
When they had appeared five centuries ago, he had thought it was castigation for sinning. He had broken the law that night and had indulged in mead, a heady drink that at the time had been a banned substance for angels due to its alcoholic nature. When he had come around with his head on the verge of exploding and his stomach rebelling, his shoulder blades had been ablaze, burning so fiercely that he had felt as though someone had branded him. He had tried to bring his wings out but they had failed to appear.
When Heaven had called him back to them, Marcus had discovered that it wasn't punishment at all but rather a curse. It took weeks for the medical staff to discover what it meant, and months for it to sink in that it was inerasable. The marks sealed his wings for five hundred years, leaving him stranded in Heaven, only able to do the duty of a watcher.
In the same week that Heaven had assigned him to watch over Amelia, his wings had finally escaped their prison. The medical staff had declared that the bond of the curse was weakening with time but that he might still encounter difficulties. He had been too intoxicated by the thought of flying again to care that there might be future incidents where his wings would refuse to appear.
There were many at first but as time continued to flow, so the curse continued to weaken, and the space between the incidents grew. During his last assessment, the medical team had announced that his problem was no longer the curse but psychological barriers he had constructed. Something about it being his mind causing his wings not to appear.
Marcus had found it difficult to believe since he had no desire to drop from the sky and hit the pavement, but when they had explained it in layman's terms, he had understood their point a little better. If he feared that his wings would disappear, or not appear when he needed them, then he could actually cause such a thing to happen. The power of the mind was frightening.
Since then, he had spent every moment when flying thinking about how wonderful his wings were and that he was glad to have them, and he really didn't want them to go away, and that his curse wasn't in effect anymore.
It seemed to have worked well so far.
There had only been that one incident since coming to the mortal realm, and the incident before that had been almost thirteen years ago when he had come to Earth to oversee Amelia as she moved out of her family's house in the countryside and into her own apartment in London at the age of eighteen. He wasn't sure what had happened then either.
His mind drifted over the past incidents and how his superior had conveniently used each one to deflect his questions and get him off the subject of Amelia's destiny. Skilful old bastard. His superior was ancient in angel terms, reborn almost six thousand years ago, although he appeared no older than Marcus.
Marcus had been reborn in a time of peace two thousand years ago and could only remember that his previous position had been that of a guardian too. Most angels changed roles on their rebirth, with the exception of a few who bore destinies that kept them harnessed into a specific role, but all forgot their past lives. It was common for some to recall main points about themselves and all retained their former appearance, although wing colour changed from role to role.
Marcus couldn't recall ever being something other than a guardian.
He knew angels who had changed roles, dying one day as a guardian and waking the next as a mediator or assistant of death or a hunter.
Death himself, Apollyon by name, had been reborn countless times into the same role, forever a black-winged messenger of destruction, and was a singularity in that he could remember important historical events in which he had been involved. Namely horrific times of devastation such as the flood, and the fall of civilisations, and the punishment inflicted upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
Perhaps Marcus was eternally reborn as a guardian because he had a destiny.
He just wasn't sure what that destiny was.
But he knew it had something to do with Amelia and the event that would occur in the future. His reason for keeping her safe. Once the event occurred, his mission would end. What was her destiny?
Whatever it was, it was important enough that Heaven had assigned him to watch over her as she walked the path towards her fate. Not many mortals had personal watchers. Most angels in the Higher Order of Watchers were assigned to thousands of people at once.
Amelia had her own guardian angel.
Himself.
Why?
Marcus threw his left arm across his face and grimaced when the hard cold vambrace protecting his forearm struck his nose, sending dull pain splintering across his skull. He sighed and focused, using his power to remove his armour, and lay naked on the bed, contemplating what the future held for him and for Amelia.
Heaven hadn't punished him.
His actions tonight had engendered a positive emotional response in Amelia.
He didn't like the sound of that or what his superior had implied.
He tilted his head to his right and stared at the wall that separated his apartment from Amelia's. He couldn't feel her in the bedroom, which meant she was sleeping on the couch, too far away for him to easily sense.
Was she attracted to him?
If she was, could he bring himself to use that against her and forge the connection between them that his superior had mentioned?
He wanted his mission to end.
But he wasn't sure he was willing to pay the price his superior had placed on it.
Marcus had always obeyed his orders and did all in his power to remain a faithful and loyal servant of his master, but he was also a man of principles who followed a code of honour, and using Amelia's feelings against her was wrong. As little as he cared about mortals, he couldn't ensnare her in such a way or gain her trust through manipulation.
He would gain her trust and connect with her, but not as his superior had ordered.
He would do so in a mortal way.
He just had to figure out what that entailed.
This was going to take some research.
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Guardian%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005EUJIG8/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77776
Be sure to come back next week for the next free chapter of this angel romance novel!
August 5, 2011
New reviews for Forbidden Blood and Ascension
I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things after my trip to Tuscany and decorating my office. Whilst I've been away and then caught up in painting, I've had a few new reviews come in for my vampire romance book,
Forbidden Blood
, and my urban fantasy romance novel,
Ascension
.
Since my urban fantasy romance book Ascension is my oldest release of the two, I'll start with the two fantastic new reviews it has received:
"I am continuously amazed by Ms. Heaton's writing ability. Her fluid writing style allows me as the reader to 'see' the story unfold before me. The fighting scenes flood my mind as magic swirls around me and spells are cast, pulling me into the story. It's what a reader wants when they pick up a fiction book and Ms. Heaton delivers the goods!... I feel very strongly about this book and loved everything about it! For all paranormal romance readers and lovers and even new comers to the genre, add Ascension to your MUST READ list because it is a story you won't want to miss!" -- Talina, Night Owl Reviews -- 4.75 STARS TOP PICK! --
click here to read the full review
"One word that describes Ascension by Felicity Heaton is, hot! The scenes between Lealandra and Taig are passionate, full of action, and believable... There is nonstop action between love scenes, and fighting scenes. Readers will not want to put the book down because they won't want to miss whatever would happen next. A paranormal romance that could rival all others, Ascension, involves witches, demons, fighting, loving-making, magic, and destiny. Ascension is the first book in a new trilogy by Felicity Heaton and it is hard to wait patiently for the next installment." -- Sarah D, Nocturne Romance Reads -- 4 STARS -- click here to read the full review
And now here's the latest reviews for my vampire romance novel, Forbidden Blood .
"What an awesome book. The author has done a great job putting these two characters together at just the right pace... This book flowed nicely and didn't have any boring parts in it. I highly recommend this book to fans of paranormal and urban fantasy romance." -- Danielle, Romance Book Junkies -- 5 STARS -- click here to read the full review
"I loved this book! I devoured it in like a day, I couldn't put it down. Didn't want to put it down. It was packed full of action, love, betrayal, and emotional turmoil... The final battle is amazing! As with the loving, Felicity creates a great fight scene. She always catches my attention and keeps it. I loved how she described the way her characters powers left their enemies broken and bloodied at their feet. It was great!" -- Madame D, Madame D's Boudoir -- 5 STARS -- click here to read the full review
"This book is filled with romance, danger, action, and mystery that will will leave your heart pounding, your blood boiling, your head reeling and a shocker ending that will leave you gasping for more of the series." -- Paromantasy -- 4.5 STARS -- click here to read the full review
Can't wait to share more fantastic reviews with you soon! It's always great seeing reviewers and readers alike enjoying my paranormal romance books.
Since my urban fantasy romance book Ascension is my oldest release of the two, I'll start with the two fantastic new reviews it has received:
"I am continuously amazed by Ms. Heaton's writing ability. Her fluid writing style allows me as the reader to 'see' the story unfold before me. The fighting scenes flood my mind as magic swirls around me and spells are cast, pulling me into the story. It's what a reader wants when they pick up a fiction book and Ms. Heaton delivers the goods!... I feel very strongly about this book and loved everything about it! For all paranormal romance readers and lovers and even new comers to the genre, add Ascension to your MUST READ list because it is a story you won't want to miss!" -- Talina, Night Owl Reviews -- 4.75 STARS TOP PICK! --
click here to read the full review
"One word that describes Ascension by Felicity Heaton is, hot! The scenes between Lealandra and Taig are passionate, full of action, and believable... There is nonstop action between love scenes, and fighting scenes. Readers will not want to put the book down because they won't want to miss whatever would happen next. A paranormal romance that could rival all others, Ascension, involves witches, demons, fighting, loving-making, magic, and destiny. Ascension is the first book in a new trilogy by Felicity Heaton and it is hard to wait patiently for the next installment." -- Sarah D, Nocturne Romance Reads -- 4 STARS -- click here to read the full review
And now here's the latest reviews for my vampire romance novel, Forbidden Blood .
"What an awesome book. The author has done a great job putting these two characters together at just the right pace... This book flowed nicely and didn't have any boring parts in it. I highly recommend this book to fans of paranormal and urban fantasy romance." -- Danielle, Romance Book Junkies -- 5 STARS -- click here to read the full review"I loved this book! I devoured it in like a day, I couldn't put it down. Didn't want to put it down. It was packed full of action, love, betrayal, and emotional turmoil... The final battle is amazing! As with the loving, Felicity creates a great fight scene. She always catches my attention and keeps it. I loved how she described the way her characters powers left their enemies broken and bloodied at their feet. It was great!" -- Madame D, Madame D's Boudoir -- 5 STARS -- click here to read the full review
"This book is filled with romance, danger, action, and mystery that will will leave your heart pounding, your blood boiling, your head reeling and a shocker ending that will leave you gasping for more of the series." -- Paromantasy -- 4.5 STARS -- click here to read the full review
Can't wait to share more fantastic reviews with you soon! It's always great seeing reviewers and readers alike enjoying my paranormal romance books.
August 4, 2011
A Paranormal Romance Writer's Den
Some of you might have heard me complaining over on
Facebook
or
Twitter
last week about trying to paint over the dark red on my office walls to improve the general feel of my little den where all the magic happens (okay, sometimes the magic happens at coffee shops too, or in my garden). Well, plenty of you asked what colour I was trying to paint over the dastardly dramatic red (don't get me wrong, I loved the red, but it's too aggressive when you've got to sit in the room all day. It was fine when I was only in here a few hours a week because I was working full-time in London), and others asked whether they could see my office. So, without further ado, here's my shiny new office, and a walkthrough by the author herself.
Here's the corner of my office where I do the most work. Excuse the perspective, it was taken with a wide angle lens to fit everything in. As you can see, I've gone for a nice combination of a sort of milky latte colour with a feature wall painted in a lovely dark mulberry. Three of the walls in my office are the latte colour, so there's plenty of light in here now. My office window faces almost due north, so light was an issue when I had dark red walls. My desk is huge, I know, but I love space and neatness. I can't work surrounded by mess. Yeah, there's lots of bits of paper on the desk at the moment, but it's all promotion notes / lists, notepads with to-do lists or story notes to type up. It generally gets tidied away as soon as I'm done with it.
My Lost Boys poster now has a beautiful black wooden frame. I've had this poster for around, oh, 15 years or more, so it was about time it received a little love. Before it was naked on the wall. I had to trim it down a bit to get it into the frame, but it still rocks. My bonsai is looking a bit weedy, but that's because I forgot to get my sister to water it when I went to Tuscany in July, so it got a little parched. It's growing new leaves now. I can't believe I've had it 6 months without killing it. My family bought it for me as a get well present after my ear operation. I also bought a new corkboard to go with my new office. Much bigger so I can pin things to it more neatly. Before my blog tour schedule was flapping over the edges. That's my new beast of a PC in the corner behind my huge monitor. Say hi to it... it helps make the magic happen.
Clustered to the left of my PC, between the speaker and my printer, is my collection of small anime figurines. There's a 00 Gundam, a Tyki Mikk, a VF-25 Messiah, a Sephiroth, and two Allelujahs... plus a kitty I got in Japan because it reminded me of my cat.
In the cupboard beneath my desk is all my book swag. Lots of signed book cover postcards, bookmarks, keyrings, magnets and the like in there. If you ever break in, you know where to look for the swag now. Speaking of swag... here's my new improved bookcase.
I've moved all the CDs that used to take up all the room on my bookcase, so now I have plenty of space for my paperbacks, mostly paranormal romance books. I don't have all my paperbacks out, but do have my series there. I also have a lot of e-books, probably about twice as many as my books, hence the small number on display. Yeah, the top shelf is full of my books. The ones on the right hand side are all for giveaways. Below that are books by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan, Gena Showalter, and a few others. The third shelf down is all manga books. Fourth shelf is Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series along with J R Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and Keri Arthur's Nikki and Michael series, plus others. Fifth shelf down houses my D.Gray-man manga and some Bleach manga. Love them both. It also has some Morganville Vampires books that I'm yet to read. Bottom shelf is yet more manga. Sensing a theme? The books on the shelves with my anime / manga related toys are all my books on writing fiction.
I think that concludes the tour of my office. Now you've seen where I work, it's probably taken some of the magic out of my paranormal romance novels. lol.
If you have any questions about my office... comments are always welcome and I do answer them!
Here's the corner of my office where I do the most work. Excuse the perspective, it was taken with a wide angle lens to fit everything in. As you can see, I've gone for a nice combination of a sort of milky latte colour with a feature wall painted in a lovely dark mulberry. Three of the walls in my office are the latte colour, so there's plenty of light in here now. My office window faces almost due north, so light was an issue when I had dark red walls. My desk is huge, I know, but I love space and neatness. I can't work surrounded by mess. Yeah, there's lots of bits of paper on the desk at the moment, but it's all promotion notes / lists, notepads with to-do lists or story notes to type up. It generally gets tidied away as soon as I'm done with it.
My Lost Boys poster now has a beautiful black wooden frame. I've had this poster for around, oh, 15 years or more, so it was about time it received a little love. Before it was naked on the wall. I had to trim it down a bit to get it into the frame, but it still rocks. My bonsai is looking a bit weedy, but that's because I forgot to get my sister to water it when I went to Tuscany in July, so it got a little parched. It's growing new leaves now. I can't believe I've had it 6 months without killing it. My family bought it for me as a get well present after my ear operation. I also bought a new corkboard to go with my new office. Much bigger so I can pin things to it more neatly. Before my blog tour schedule was flapping over the edges. That's my new beast of a PC in the corner behind my huge monitor. Say hi to it... it helps make the magic happen.
Clustered to the left of my PC, between the speaker and my printer, is my collection of small anime figurines. There's a 00 Gundam, a Tyki Mikk, a VF-25 Messiah, a Sephiroth, and two Allelujahs... plus a kitty I got in Japan because it reminded me of my cat.
In the cupboard beneath my desk is all my book swag. Lots of signed book cover postcards, bookmarks, keyrings, magnets and the like in there. If you ever break in, you know where to look for the swag now. Speaking of swag... here's my new improved bookcase.
I've moved all the CDs that used to take up all the room on my bookcase, so now I have plenty of space for my paperbacks, mostly paranormal romance books. I don't have all my paperbacks out, but do have my series there. I also have a lot of e-books, probably about twice as many as my books, hence the small number on display. Yeah, the top shelf is full of my books. The ones on the right hand side are all for giveaways. Below that are books by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan, Gena Showalter, and a few others. The third shelf down is all manga books. Fourth shelf is Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series along with J R Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and Keri Arthur's Nikki and Michael series, plus others. Fifth shelf down houses my D.Gray-man manga and some Bleach manga. Love them both. It also has some Morganville Vampires books that I'm yet to read. Bottom shelf is yet more manga. Sensing a theme? The books on the shelves with my anime / manga related toys are all my books on writing fiction.
I think that concludes the tour of my office. Now you've seen where I work, it's probably taken some of the magic out of my paranormal romance novels. lol.
If you have any questions about my office... comments are always welcome and I do answer them!
August 2, 2011
Teaseday - Her Dark Angel - Her Angel Romance Series
We've already had a Teaseday for Her Dark Angel before, but now it's time for a new teaser for this angel romance book in my Her Angel romance series.
You can read the first chapter of Her Dark Angel at my website.
Her Dark Angel
Felicity Heaton
An angel without a mission, Apollyon lives trapped in Hell guarding the bottomless pit. Surrounded by endless darkness, he longs to fly free on Earth once more but his master hasn't called him in centuries. When the call finally comes, it's to serve a new master, a beautiful woman he has often watched over, a woman who has always captivated him.
Serenity is shocked when a gorgeous black-winged angel shows up in her city of Paris claiming that she called him when she was only casting a simple vengeance spell. He's no other than the angel of death! When Apollyon offers to obey her and help her have revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend, she can't resist the temptation, but can she resist him? Can an angel as dark as Apollyon ever fall for a mortal woman like her?
Dark, passionate and erotic, Her Dark Angel is a tale of intense desire and deepest forbidden love guaranteed to get your heart racing.
ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.
ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 30000 words
rating: sultry
released: August 2010
Book 1 in the Her Angel series
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Dark%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00408AQ98/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Dark-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011095184/
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Dark-Angel-Her-Angel/mix-IpUY_pcZyka--k8L1kLPkQ/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22429
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-dark-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000277045
Available in paperback from:
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1456489836/
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456489836/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/9781456489830/
EXCERPTSerenity's hazel eyes went wide and she stepped back when the hulking mass of man standing before her drew the sword that hung at his waist, afraid that he had changed his mind and was going to kill her after all. She wasn't sure what to think when he eased himself down onto one knee in front of her, lowered his head, and held his sword out to her, the hilt and tip of the beautiful blade resting on his palms.
"I am yours to command." His French was perfect, making his deep voice so sexy that a shiver tripped over her skin whenever he spoke.
Was she supposed to do something?
People were staring again as they passed. What did they see? They certainly weren't seeing a man offering a sword to her, that was for sure. To them, did he look as though he was kneeling with his hands raised in supplication?
Was he dressed in black and gold armour that didn't leave much to the imagination?
Did he have huge black feathered wings?
She imagined that he didn't. If he did, the people would probably be screaming rather than merely glancing at him as though he had gone insane.
"Erm, okay." Serenity hesitated before touching the sword. The gleaming steel was cold beneath her fingers. She took her hand away, not liking the feel of it. "Thanks."
He stood with grace, his muscles shifting beneath his golden skin, and she tried not to stare at his physique. Either he worked out a lot, or angels were naturally endowed with the body of a god. He was pure perfection as he stood close to her, his broad chest rising and falling, moving the beautifully decorated black breastplate. His stomach was bare, taut muscles delighting her hungry eyes, and the smallest black loincloth in the world protected his modesty.
Something that she was lacking. She lowered her gaze, taking in the toned length of his legs. They were as powerful as the rest of him. Her eyes roamed back up, over the black cuffs that covered his forearms, decorated in gold with images of lions, and over his biceps to his strong shoulders. From there, they wanted to go to his face, but his wings were too fascinating. They were large, casting a shadow across both him and her, tucked against his back.
She wanted to walk around him and investigate every delicious inch of him, taking in that he really was an angel and not a man parading as one.
An angel.
Abaddon.
Her mother had taught her gods, goddesses and mythology. She knew all about him and his kind.
Her eyes finally leapt to his face. He had a smile that could stop hearts and vivid blue eyes with icy flecks in them. They held her gaze, unwavering and strong, and her temperature rose when they narrowed slightly and his pupils widened. What was he thinking in there?
Did he like what he saw as much as she did?
The man was a god.
No, an angel.
And he was beautiful.
Breathtaking.
But he wasn't at all as she had thought an angel would look. Everything about him spoke of darkness, right down to his aura. Whatever power he had, it was strong and it wasn't the sort that resurrected mortals or healed them. It felt as though the opposite would happen if he unleashed it.
Abaddon. The angel of death. Although he had denied that title. What title did he claim as his then?
"So, Abaddon—"
"Apollyon," he interjected with a charming smile that teased his sensual lips and made her heart beat a little faster.
He was an angel. No matter how good he looked and how much he was making her forget her pain just by looking at him, she couldn't think about him like that. It was wrong of her. He had offered his assistance in getting revenge on her bastard ex and she was going to take it. Whatever dark power this gorgeous man had, she was going to let it rip in her ex's direction.
"Apollyon?" She stopped her gaze from dropping down to take him in again. If she told him to put on something a little less distracting, would he be able to do it? She had seen through whatever spell he had used. Could he ever fool her eyes?
"I prefer my true name." He cast a quick glance over her. His eyes lingered in all the places a mortal man's would.
Surely, she was off limits too? Angels were asexual weren't they?
The voice at the back of her mind said that the tall hunk of handsome standing in front of her definitely didn't look asexual. He looked like sin incarnate, not like an angel at all.
"Serenity." She offered her hand to him.
He took it and a jolt ran through her at the feel of his strong warm hand grasping hers. She shook his hand but he didn't let go when she was done. He held it, his thumb resting lightly against hers.
"My mother thought I could bring peace to a chaotic world." Her heart sped when his thumb grazed hers and then he took his hand back, his fingers brushing her palm and sending another shiver through her. "I'm not much good at it."
"At what?" He quirked a dark eyebrow and tilted his head to one side.
Serenity sighed inside. Did he know how good he looked? Could angels be conceited? She supposed they were all beautiful so he probably didn't realise that the reason all the women were staring as they passed wasn't because they thought he was apprehending her or anything of the sort.
They were staring for the same reason she was.
The man was six feet plus of godliness.
"Being peaceful... I'm actually quite chaotic." She shrugged. "Nothing I do comes out right. I mean... I thought I was casting a simple spell for vengeance and suddenly you're here telling me that you heard me calling you. I wasn't asking for an angel."
"You weren't." He placed his palm flat against her chest and she jumped. Her pulse rocketed and she blushed from head to toe at the feel of his wrist against her breasts. "Your heart called me, not your words."
Serenity smiled and nervously took hold of his hand and removed it from her chest before she lost control and threw herself at him.
"So you're good with revenge?"
"Very good at it." He stood taller, straightening to his full impressive height, looking even nobler and handsome. "I am Apollyon, the great destroyer, king of the bottomless—"
"Wait." She cut him off and held her hands up. "Great destroyer? Maybe this isn't such a good idea. I mean, you're an angel and your boss-on-high would probably be a little upset if you blew up half of Paris to fulfil my wish for revenge, and I don't want him dead... just in pain... and I can really take care of this myself. I didn't mean to bother you."
"It is little bother." He frowned. "I will only do as you command. The choice of revenge will be yours and I will exact it."
"What about your boss?" She didn't want to piss God off. She was sure that he was already fairly angry that people like her existed on Earth, those that could use magic and make their own miracles.
Not that she had managed anything like that so far. She was better at lighting candles and the small stuff like love potions.
Serenity glanced up at Apollyon. Would a love potion work on an angel?
She cursed and told herself to get a grip. Angels probably couldn't enter into relationships with mortals and this attraction to him was probably because she was rebounding.
"You are my master now." The serious edge to his expression said that he wasn't joking. "I do as you bid."
Serenity's eyebrows rose and she slowly absorbed the fact that she had her own personal angel.
"Then we should..." She wasn't sure what they should do. Skulk off and plan something horrible to do to her ex because he'd cheated on her? It all felt a little cloak and dagger and not at all like her. She had never sworn revenge on anyone, had always let her anger go and just got on with her life. Not this time though. She wanted him to pay. "Do you drink coffee?"
"I have never tried it." Apollyon smiled. "But I have been told by others that it tastes strangely bitter and sweet at the same time, and has an interesting effect on the body. I would like to try it."
"Coffee it is." Serenity led the way towards the fountains and Apollyon came up to walk beside her.
She really hoped that people weren't seeing him as she was.
"What do you look like to them?" She looked at a few people to make her point.
"A man dressed in a black suit."
"No wings?"
He shook his head. "Do not worry. It is only you who are unaffected by the image I project."
"Can it affect me?"
He stopped and looked at her. The breeze tousled his fine long black hair, teasing the strands of his ponytail.
"You wish not to see me as I am?"
When he said it like that, it made her feel bad. His blue eyes darted between hers, as though he wanted to see the answer in them before she said it.
"No." She stepped towards him. Her heart beat faster again and her palms sweated. She took a deep breath and smiled up at him. "You're fine just the way you are."
The wind blew again, catching her blonde hair and sweeping it across her face. She started when he brushed the strands from her face, smoothing them behind her ear, and his fingertips caressed her cheek as he trailed his hand off her. Did he know what he did to her with that touch? What just looking at him did to her on the inside? She kept telling herself that he was an angel and he was off limits, but her body wasn't getting the message. It burned to feel his hands on her, to feel his lips against hers and have him hold her close.
It was insane. She had only just met him and she wasn't usually the sort who threw herself at men. Her ex, Edward, had pursued her for months before she'd finally given in and agreed to a date with him, let alone anything else.
Now she was ready to throw herself into the arms of an angel and pray that he caught her and kissed her just as she wanted him to.
"He really hurt you," Apollyon whispered.
Serenity blinked and her desire deflated at the thought of what Edward had done to her. She really had to clear her head of whatever ridiculous attraction she felt to Apollyon because it wasn't going to happen.
She started walking again, not waiting for him to follow. She needed a moment to breathe. Since setting eyes on him, her head and heart had been at war and she had to give them both a reality check. Apollyon was here to help her get revenge and that was all. She couldn't throw herself at him, or make a move, or do anything that would only end in her getting her heart broken again or winding up as miserable as Edward had made her.
"I said something wrong?" Apollyon strode beside her, his long lithe legs making easy work of her hurried pace.
She was quiet a moment, lost in her thoughts, her gaze drifting over the white stone buildings that lined the narrow street.
"No." She moved through the crowd at a busy intersection, crossed the road and then walked along another narrow road to the street where her favourite café was. "It just caught me off guard. I mean, I get this sense that you know what you're talking about... as though you... it's silly."
"Can feel it?"
She stopped dead outside the café and looked back at him.
He stood a few paces behind her, his black wings still tucked against his back and the gold decoration on his black armour reflecting the sun.
She nodded.
He walked up to her and looked into her eyes. "I can feel it. It is part of the reason I agreed to help you. You do not deserve such pain. You always seemed so happy until recently."
"You've been spying on me?" It came out louder than she'd meant it to.
A couple of well-dressed dark-haired women sitting at one of the round tables in front of the café looked her way and then started talking in hushed voices.
"I am an ang—" He frowned when she slapped her hand over his mouth. His warm breath bathed her skin, tickling her and sending a shiver dancing up her arm.
Serenity snatched her hand back. "I don't think that's a good word to use in public."
"We all watch. It is what we do."
She grimaced. That had probably sounded even worse. The two women were deep in conversation now, furtively glancing at her and Apollyon. They probably thought she had a harem of stalkers.
Serenity grabbed Apollyon's hand and dragged him into the small café. It was quieter inside, only a few people at the small round wooden tables and in the armchairs. She chose a spot away from everyone, near the window, and sat Apollyon down in a low brown armchair next to a small table.
"Wait here," she said and hoped that he would.
What had she gotten herself into?
Serenity ordered the coffees and looked over at Apollyon while she waited for them to come. He was sitting looking out of the window. Watching the world go by? Did angels really do that? If he said they did, then they probably did all watch over the mortals.
He shifted his shoulders, frowned and then his black wings unfurled, sending a breeze through the room that had people grabbing their papers, napkins and anything else that had tried to escape in the wind.
Serenity stared open-mouthed at the sight of him. He sat with his black feathered wings outstretched behind him, almost reaching back to the other side of the room. How big was his wingspan? Each wing was at least eight feet long.
She grabbed the coffees when they arrived, went back to him, and sat in a daze in the armchair opposite him, staring at his wings.
Apollyon shifted his shoulders and his wings furled again, the longest feathers curling around and grazing his boots.
"I needed to stretch," he said with an apologetic look and then smiled. "It has been a long time since I have had so much freedom. It feels good to stretch my wings."
She bet it did. He looked like the cat that got the cream, smiling ear to ear, a twinkle in his blue eyes.
"What does it feel like to fly?" she said before she could even consider what she was asking.
His smile widened. "Bliss. The wind on my face, the feel of it in my feathers, and the way I can see everything and go anywhere. There is no feeling like it."
"It sounds nice. I've flown... in a plane... but it's still flying, right? Something in common."
"Would you like to fly?"
Was he offering to take her up? The thought made her stomach feel tight but something inside her made her nod.
"I am sure we can do something about it."
He picked up the white mug of coffee and raised a dark eyebrow at it. He sniffed it first, peered at the frothy top, and then took a sip.
His feathers quivered and his eyes widened, darting to hers. "What drug is in this?"
Serenity picked up her own mug of latte and sipped. "It's not really a drug. It's caffeine, a natural stimulant. Humans are addicted to it."
He eyed the mug suspiciously. "A stimulant?"
He looked as though he was going to take another sip and then set it back down on the round table between them. His gaze met hers again and his pupils dilated until his irises were almost as black as them. He shifted uncomfortably and crossed his legs, settling his hands in his lap.
"I do not think I should drink any more. It would be unwise." His voice was tight and the unmistakable spark of desire in his eyes wasn't going anywhere. "I will be having words with my fellow warriors when we next meet. They did not explain the effects well enough."
Effects? She looked down at his hands in his lap and then back into his dark eyes.
Viagra for angels?
"I thought you were all asexual," she blurted and then covered her mouth when he turned horrified eyes on her. She blushed ten shades of crimson and tried to think of a spell that would take back what she'd said. It probably wouldn't work on him anyway. Magic didn't affect gods and goddesses, so it was unlikely to affect other supernatural beings.
"I am not asexual." The way he said it made it clear that he would be happy to prove it to her right now in the coffee shop.
Serenity gulped her drink and kept her focus on it, avoiding the smouldering look he was giving her and wanting to crawl under the table and hide.
"I have not had a woman in many centuries but I am in no way an impotent creature."
Did he have to say it loud enough for the whole coffee shop to hear? She sunk into her chair, trying to avoid the looks she was getting.
"I take it back," she whispered into her mug and peered at him over the rim of it.
He glowered, passion no longer reigning in his eyes. A dark malevolence shone there and the sense that he wasn't exactly a good angel in the way she had imagined them returned.
"Some people say you're the Devil."
He leaned back into his chair and sighed. "First I am the angel of death, and now the Devil? The rumours do spread and stick, don't they?"
"What are you then?" She emerged from her mug, sat forwards on the edge of the armchair seat and looked him over. He was sin made flesh, luscious in every way imaginable, and she was sure that angels weren't supposed to be so tempting.
"I told you. Apollyon, the great destroyer... angel of the Apocalypse, responsible for raining hell down on Earth when everything comes to an end."
That wasn't comforting at all.
"You're not a good angel then?"
He smiled and there was a sexy sort of darkness in his look. "I am good, if by that you mean I do not work for the Devil, but I can be very bad."
She could imagine. She shouldn't be, but she was picturing him in every position possible and he looked wicked from every angle.
"So what does my mistress command?" His smile held. Something about it made her feel as though he was encouraging her to say the things that were raging through her head.
What didn't she want to command? She couldn't though. She was sure that it was wrong to order an angel to commit sin. For now, while her conscience was still functioning and she could resist the temptation sitting across from her, she would focus on getting her revenge.
"Nothing involving death. I want him to suffer. I want him to feel jealous and hurt and unloved... as though he doesn't matter to me."
Apollyon smiled as though he liked the sound of that.
She held his blue gaze. What she was going to propose was crazy, and would shatter what little restraint she had around him, but she was going to do it.
"I have a plan."
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Dark%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00408AQ98/
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Read more about the Her Angel series at my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebookseries.php?series=Her%20Angel
You can read the first chapter of Her Dark Angel at my website.
Her Dark Angel
Felicity Heaton
An angel without a mission, Apollyon lives trapped in Hell guarding the bottomless pit. Surrounded by endless darkness, he longs to fly free on Earth once more but his master hasn't called him in centuries. When the call finally comes, it's to serve a new master, a beautiful woman he has often watched over, a woman who has always captivated him.
Serenity is shocked when a gorgeous black-winged angel shows up in her city of Paris claiming that she called him when she was only casting a simple vengeance spell. He's no other than the angel of death! When Apollyon offers to obey her and help her have revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend, she can't resist the temptation, but can she resist him? Can an angel as dark as Apollyon ever fall for a mortal woman like her?
Dark, passionate and erotic, Her Dark Angel is a tale of intense desire and deepest forbidden love guaranteed to get your heart racing.
ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.
ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 30000 words
rating: sultry
released: August 2010
Book 1 in the Her Angel series
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Dark%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00408AQ98/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Dark-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011095184/
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Dark-Angel-Her-Angel/mix-IpUY_pcZyka--k8L1kLPkQ/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22429
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-dark-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000277045
Available in paperback from:
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1456489836/
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456489836/
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EXCERPTSerenity's hazel eyes went wide and she stepped back when the hulking mass of man standing before her drew the sword that hung at his waist, afraid that he had changed his mind and was going to kill her after all. She wasn't sure what to think when he eased himself down onto one knee in front of her, lowered his head, and held his sword out to her, the hilt and tip of the beautiful blade resting on his palms.
"I am yours to command." His French was perfect, making his deep voice so sexy that a shiver tripped over her skin whenever he spoke.
Was she supposed to do something?
People were staring again as they passed. What did they see? They certainly weren't seeing a man offering a sword to her, that was for sure. To them, did he look as though he was kneeling with his hands raised in supplication?
Was he dressed in black and gold armour that didn't leave much to the imagination?
Did he have huge black feathered wings?
She imagined that he didn't. If he did, the people would probably be screaming rather than merely glancing at him as though he had gone insane.
"Erm, okay." Serenity hesitated before touching the sword. The gleaming steel was cold beneath her fingers. She took her hand away, not liking the feel of it. "Thanks."
He stood with grace, his muscles shifting beneath his golden skin, and she tried not to stare at his physique. Either he worked out a lot, or angels were naturally endowed with the body of a god. He was pure perfection as he stood close to her, his broad chest rising and falling, moving the beautifully decorated black breastplate. His stomach was bare, taut muscles delighting her hungry eyes, and the smallest black loincloth in the world protected his modesty.
Something that she was lacking. She lowered her gaze, taking in the toned length of his legs. They were as powerful as the rest of him. Her eyes roamed back up, over the black cuffs that covered his forearms, decorated in gold with images of lions, and over his biceps to his strong shoulders. From there, they wanted to go to his face, but his wings were too fascinating. They were large, casting a shadow across both him and her, tucked against his back.
She wanted to walk around him and investigate every delicious inch of him, taking in that he really was an angel and not a man parading as one.
An angel.
Abaddon.
Her mother had taught her gods, goddesses and mythology. She knew all about him and his kind.
Her eyes finally leapt to his face. He had a smile that could stop hearts and vivid blue eyes with icy flecks in them. They held her gaze, unwavering and strong, and her temperature rose when they narrowed slightly and his pupils widened. What was he thinking in there?
Did he like what he saw as much as she did?
The man was a god.
No, an angel.
And he was beautiful.
Breathtaking.
But he wasn't at all as she had thought an angel would look. Everything about him spoke of darkness, right down to his aura. Whatever power he had, it was strong and it wasn't the sort that resurrected mortals or healed them. It felt as though the opposite would happen if he unleashed it.
Abaddon. The angel of death. Although he had denied that title. What title did he claim as his then?
"So, Abaddon—"
"Apollyon," he interjected with a charming smile that teased his sensual lips and made her heart beat a little faster.
He was an angel. No matter how good he looked and how much he was making her forget her pain just by looking at him, she couldn't think about him like that. It was wrong of her. He had offered his assistance in getting revenge on her bastard ex and she was going to take it. Whatever dark power this gorgeous man had, she was going to let it rip in her ex's direction.
"Apollyon?" She stopped her gaze from dropping down to take him in again. If she told him to put on something a little less distracting, would he be able to do it? She had seen through whatever spell he had used. Could he ever fool her eyes?
"I prefer my true name." He cast a quick glance over her. His eyes lingered in all the places a mortal man's would.
Surely, she was off limits too? Angels were asexual weren't they?
The voice at the back of her mind said that the tall hunk of handsome standing in front of her definitely didn't look asexual. He looked like sin incarnate, not like an angel at all.
"Serenity." She offered her hand to him.
He took it and a jolt ran through her at the feel of his strong warm hand grasping hers. She shook his hand but he didn't let go when she was done. He held it, his thumb resting lightly against hers.
"My mother thought I could bring peace to a chaotic world." Her heart sped when his thumb grazed hers and then he took his hand back, his fingers brushing her palm and sending another shiver through her. "I'm not much good at it."
"At what?" He quirked a dark eyebrow and tilted his head to one side.
Serenity sighed inside. Did he know how good he looked? Could angels be conceited? She supposed they were all beautiful so he probably didn't realise that the reason all the women were staring as they passed wasn't because they thought he was apprehending her or anything of the sort.
They were staring for the same reason she was.
The man was six feet plus of godliness.
"Being peaceful... I'm actually quite chaotic." She shrugged. "Nothing I do comes out right. I mean... I thought I was casting a simple spell for vengeance and suddenly you're here telling me that you heard me calling you. I wasn't asking for an angel."
"You weren't." He placed his palm flat against her chest and she jumped. Her pulse rocketed and she blushed from head to toe at the feel of his wrist against her breasts. "Your heart called me, not your words."
Serenity smiled and nervously took hold of his hand and removed it from her chest before she lost control and threw herself at him.
"So you're good with revenge?"
"Very good at it." He stood taller, straightening to his full impressive height, looking even nobler and handsome. "I am Apollyon, the great destroyer, king of the bottomless—"
"Wait." She cut him off and held her hands up. "Great destroyer? Maybe this isn't such a good idea. I mean, you're an angel and your boss-on-high would probably be a little upset if you blew up half of Paris to fulfil my wish for revenge, and I don't want him dead... just in pain... and I can really take care of this myself. I didn't mean to bother you."
"It is little bother." He frowned. "I will only do as you command. The choice of revenge will be yours and I will exact it."
"What about your boss?" She didn't want to piss God off. She was sure that he was already fairly angry that people like her existed on Earth, those that could use magic and make their own miracles.
Not that she had managed anything like that so far. She was better at lighting candles and the small stuff like love potions.
Serenity glanced up at Apollyon. Would a love potion work on an angel?
She cursed and told herself to get a grip. Angels probably couldn't enter into relationships with mortals and this attraction to him was probably because she was rebounding.
"You are my master now." The serious edge to his expression said that he wasn't joking. "I do as you bid."
Serenity's eyebrows rose and she slowly absorbed the fact that she had her own personal angel.
"Then we should..." She wasn't sure what they should do. Skulk off and plan something horrible to do to her ex because he'd cheated on her? It all felt a little cloak and dagger and not at all like her. She had never sworn revenge on anyone, had always let her anger go and just got on with her life. Not this time though. She wanted him to pay. "Do you drink coffee?"
"I have never tried it." Apollyon smiled. "But I have been told by others that it tastes strangely bitter and sweet at the same time, and has an interesting effect on the body. I would like to try it."
"Coffee it is." Serenity led the way towards the fountains and Apollyon came up to walk beside her.
She really hoped that people weren't seeing him as she was.
"What do you look like to them?" She looked at a few people to make her point.
"A man dressed in a black suit."
"No wings?"
He shook his head. "Do not worry. It is only you who are unaffected by the image I project."
"Can it affect me?"
He stopped and looked at her. The breeze tousled his fine long black hair, teasing the strands of his ponytail.
"You wish not to see me as I am?"
When he said it like that, it made her feel bad. His blue eyes darted between hers, as though he wanted to see the answer in them before she said it.
"No." She stepped towards him. Her heart beat faster again and her palms sweated. She took a deep breath and smiled up at him. "You're fine just the way you are."
The wind blew again, catching her blonde hair and sweeping it across her face. She started when he brushed the strands from her face, smoothing them behind her ear, and his fingertips caressed her cheek as he trailed his hand off her. Did he know what he did to her with that touch? What just looking at him did to her on the inside? She kept telling herself that he was an angel and he was off limits, but her body wasn't getting the message. It burned to feel his hands on her, to feel his lips against hers and have him hold her close.
It was insane. She had only just met him and she wasn't usually the sort who threw herself at men. Her ex, Edward, had pursued her for months before she'd finally given in and agreed to a date with him, let alone anything else.
Now she was ready to throw herself into the arms of an angel and pray that he caught her and kissed her just as she wanted him to.
"He really hurt you," Apollyon whispered.
Serenity blinked and her desire deflated at the thought of what Edward had done to her. She really had to clear her head of whatever ridiculous attraction she felt to Apollyon because it wasn't going to happen.
She started walking again, not waiting for him to follow. She needed a moment to breathe. Since setting eyes on him, her head and heart had been at war and she had to give them both a reality check. Apollyon was here to help her get revenge and that was all. She couldn't throw herself at him, or make a move, or do anything that would only end in her getting her heart broken again or winding up as miserable as Edward had made her.
"I said something wrong?" Apollyon strode beside her, his long lithe legs making easy work of her hurried pace.
She was quiet a moment, lost in her thoughts, her gaze drifting over the white stone buildings that lined the narrow street.
"No." She moved through the crowd at a busy intersection, crossed the road and then walked along another narrow road to the street where her favourite café was. "It just caught me off guard. I mean, I get this sense that you know what you're talking about... as though you... it's silly."
"Can feel it?"
She stopped dead outside the café and looked back at him.
He stood a few paces behind her, his black wings still tucked against his back and the gold decoration on his black armour reflecting the sun.
She nodded.
He walked up to her and looked into her eyes. "I can feel it. It is part of the reason I agreed to help you. You do not deserve such pain. You always seemed so happy until recently."
"You've been spying on me?" It came out louder than she'd meant it to.
A couple of well-dressed dark-haired women sitting at one of the round tables in front of the café looked her way and then started talking in hushed voices.
"I am an ang—" He frowned when she slapped her hand over his mouth. His warm breath bathed her skin, tickling her and sending a shiver dancing up her arm.
Serenity snatched her hand back. "I don't think that's a good word to use in public."
"We all watch. It is what we do."
She grimaced. That had probably sounded even worse. The two women were deep in conversation now, furtively glancing at her and Apollyon. They probably thought she had a harem of stalkers.
Serenity grabbed Apollyon's hand and dragged him into the small café. It was quieter inside, only a few people at the small round wooden tables and in the armchairs. She chose a spot away from everyone, near the window, and sat Apollyon down in a low brown armchair next to a small table.
"Wait here," she said and hoped that he would.
What had she gotten herself into?
Serenity ordered the coffees and looked over at Apollyon while she waited for them to come. He was sitting looking out of the window. Watching the world go by? Did angels really do that? If he said they did, then they probably did all watch over the mortals.
He shifted his shoulders, frowned and then his black wings unfurled, sending a breeze through the room that had people grabbing their papers, napkins and anything else that had tried to escape in the wind.
Serenity stared open-mouthed at the sight of him. He sat with his black feathered wings outstretched behind him, almost reaching back to the other side of the room. How big was his wingspan? Each wing was at least eight feet long.
She grabbed the coffees when they arrived, went back to him, and sat in a daze in the armchair opposite him, staring at his wings.
Apollyon shifted his shoulders and his wings furled again, the longest feathers curling around and grazing his boots.
"I needed to stretch," he said with an apologetic look and then smiled. "It has been a long time since I have had so much freedom. It feels good to stretch my wings."
She bet it did. He looked like the cat that got the cream, smiling ear to ear, a twinkle in his blue eyes.
"What does it feel like to fly?" she said before she could even consider what she was asking.
His smile widened. "Bliss. The wind on my face, the feel of it in my feathers, and the way I can see everything and go anywhere. There is no feeling like it."
"It sounds nice. I've flown... in a plane... but it's still flying, right? Something in common."
"Would you like to fly?"
Was he offering to take her up? The thought made her stomach feel tight but something inside her made her nod.
"I am sure we can do something about it."
He picked up the white mug of coffee and raised a dark eyebrow at it. He sniffed it first, peered at the frothy top, and then took a sip.
His feathers quivered and his eyes widened, darting to hers. "What drug is in this?"
Serenity picked up her own mug of latte and sipped. "It's not really a drug. It's caffeine, a natural stimulant. Humans are addicted to it."
He eyed the mug suspiciously. "A stimulant?"
He looked as though he was going to take another sip and then set it back down on the round table between them. His gaze met hers again and his pupils dilated until his irises were almost as black as them. He shifted uncomfortably and crossed his legs, settling his hands in his lap.
"I do not think I should drink any more. It would be unwise." His voice was tight and the unmistakable spark of desire in his eyes wasn't going anywhere. "I will be having words with my fellow warriors when we next meet. They did not explain the effects well enough."
Effects? She looked down at his hands in his lap and then back into his dark eyes.
Viagra for angels?
"I thought you were all asexual," she blurted and then covered her mouth when he turned horrified eyes on her. She blushed ten shades of crimson and tried to think of a spell that would take back what she'd said. It probably wouldn't work on him anyway. Magic didn't affect gods and goddesses, so it was unlikely to affect other supernatural beings.
"I am not asexual." The way he said it made it clear that he would be happy to prove it to her right now in the coffee shop.
Serenity gulped her drink and kept her focus on it, avoiding the smouldering look he was giving her and wanting to crawl under the table and hide.
"I have not had a woman in many centuries but I am in no way an impotent creature."
Did he have to say it loud enough for the whole coffee shop to hear? She sunk into her chair, trying to avoid the looks she was getting.
"I take it back," she whispered into her mug and peered at him over the rim of it.
He glowered, passion no longer reigning in his eyes. A dark malevolence shone there and the sense that he wasn't exactly a good angel in the way she had imagined them returned.
"Some people say you're the Devil."
He leaned back into his chair and sighed. "First I am the angel of death, and now the Devil? The rumours do spread and stick, don't they?"
"What are you then?" She emerged from her mug, sat forwards on the edge of the armchair seat and looked him over. He was sin made flesh, luscious in every way imaginable, and she was sure that angels weren't supposed to be so tempting.
"I told you. Apollyon, the great destroyer... angel of the Apocalypse, responsible for raining hell down on Earth when everything comes to an end."
That wasn't comforting at all.
"You're not a good angel then?"
He smiled and there was a sexy sort of darkness in his look. "I am good, if by that you mean I do not work for the Devil, but I can be very bad."
She could imagine. She shouldn't be, but she was picturing him in every position possible and he looked wicked from every angle.
"So what does my mistress command?" His smile held. Something about it made her feel as though he was encouraging her to say the things that were raging through her head.
What didn't she want to command? She couldn't though. She was sure that it was wrong to order an angel to commit sin. For now, while her conscience was still functioning and she could resist the temptation sitting across from her, she would focus on getting her revenge.
"Nothing involving death. I want him to suffer. I want him to feel jealous and hurt and unloved... as though he doesn't matter to me."
Apollyon smiled as though he liked the sound of that.
She held his blue gaze. What she was going to propose was crazy, and would shatter what little restraint she had around him, but she was going to do it.
"I have a plan."
Available in e-book from:
Author's website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Dark%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00408AQ98/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00408AQ98/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Dark-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011095184/
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Dark-Angel-Her-Angel/mix-IpUY_pcZyka--k8L1kLPkQ/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/22429
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-dark-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000277045
Available in paperback from:
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1456489836/
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456489836/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/9781456489830/
Read more about the Her Angel series at my website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebookseries.php?series=Her%20Angel
August 1, 2011
Wallpapers - August features Her Guardian Angel!
Do you want to ogle the lovely Marcus from
Her Guardian Angel
whenever you're at your computer? Well, here's your chance. My desktop wallpaper for August is
Her Guardian Angel
. You can download it in various sizes direct from my website.
Just click on the sample image of the wallpaper below to go to my site and find the size right for you!
If you want wallpapers without a calendar, I have a few available for my books in the Goodies section of my website.
Yummy!
Just click on the sample image of the wallpaper below to go to my site and find the size right for you!
If you want wallpapers without a calendar, I have a few available for my books in the Goodies section of my website.
Yummy!
