January/February appearances and UP FROM THE GRAVE scene snippet
Hi, all! I've heard back from my publisher, and here are the cities I'll be traveling to while celebrating Up From The Grave's release on January 28th. For every store except Malaprops, author Pamela Palmer will be my tour partner as she celebrates the release of Wulfe Untamed.
January 28th Malaprops Book Store in Asheville, NC at 7pm. Event will be live-streamed online; link to follow.
January 30th: Barnes and Noble in Cary, NC at 7pm
January 31st: Laurelwood Books in Memphis, TN at 6:30pm
February 1st: Joseph Beth Book in Lexington, KY. Time to be determined
February 2nd: Books and Co. in Dayton, OH at 2pm
February 4th: Barnes and Noble in Homestead, PA at 7pm
February 15th: Turn The Page book store in Boonsboro, MD at 2pm. (I believe Nora Roberts and other authors will be at this signing, too. Confirmation to come.)
Hope to see some of you there!
Also, I've been promising to post a scene from Up From The Grave, so here you go. Don't worry, there aren't any plot spoilers, which is why it's been hard finding something to post since so many scenes have spoilers. Also, since Ian has a lot of fans, I chose one with him in it :). As a brief setup description, Cat and Bones are staking out someone with important information, and Ian has chosen to tag along. Hope you enjoy!
Copyright UP FROM THE GRAVE by Jeaniene Frost:
***
“We could follow her home, take her there,” I suggested.
“She doesn’t live around here,” a sleep-thickened voice stated from the backseat.
Ian. I’d almost forgotten he was here, probably because he’d been napping the past seven hours while Bones and I staked out the parking garage. Now he sat up in a slouch, sliding his black satin sleep mask up to his hairline.
“She’d live near the pickup point, not the drop-off location,” he continued, blinking at the bright sunlight streaming into our car. “Which one is she?”
“The brunette wearing the UPS uniform,” I said, pointing at her as she walked briskly toward the elevator. From our parked position on top of a hill across the street, we had a good view of the multi-level garage, which was why we’d chosen the spot.
Ian stared until she disappeared inside the elevator. Then he glanced back at me.
“Don’t fret, poppet. I’ll get her.”
“We need to do this discreetly. If I wanted to make a colossal scene, I’d just drag her off kicking and screaming now,” I said, not adding, “dumb ass” only because he was family.
“She’ll come without a fuss,” Ian said with confidence.
“You can’t green-eye her in the elevator, it’ll have video surveillance. So will the garage,” I retorted.
“I don’t need these,” Ian said, flashing emerald in his turquoise gaze for a split second, “when I have this.”
With a casual swipe of his hand, he ripped his shirt open, causing buttons to fly everywhere. Another swipe took his sleep mask all the way off. Finally, he finger-combed his shoulder-length hair and smiled at his reflection in the rearview mirror.
“I am, after all, irresistible.”
I couldn’t contain my snort. “I resisted you just fine the day we met, or don’t you remember me sticking a knife in your chest?”
Ian smiled with lazy wickedness. “I remember, but you seem to have forgotten that you kissed me first. And thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Caught off guard, I flushed. Hey, I’d been celibate for over four years at the time—I hadn't been thinking clearly!
“Ian,” Bones drew out warningly.
He waved a hand. “Stop growling, Crispin. I’m well over my former attraction to your wife, but the point remains that I’m stunning.”
With that, he got out of the car and sauntered off with his open shirt flapping behind him like twin mini capes.
“Get back here,” I hissed, not shouting only because we were still trying to be incognito.
Ian blew a kiss over his shoulder and kept walking, heading down the hill toward the parking garage. Bones stayed my hand when I would’ve yanked the car door open to go after him.
“Let him try, Kitten. Hooks work best when they’re baited.”
They did, but the female courier came off as too shrewd to bite into this particular piece of bait. I only hoped Ian didn’t blow our cover after his bare-chested sashaying failed to sweep her off her feet.
“For the record, I tried to stop this,” I said grimly. Then I turned my attention back to Ian.
The afternoon sun gave his copper-hued hair golden highlights and he made sure that the hard lines of his chest and abdomen were on full display as his pace kept his shirt billowing behind him. Grudgingly, I had to admit that several heads turned, and more than a few cars slowed down as female drivers gave him a second, third, and fourth look. Ian responded by flashing them a dazzling smile, making him appear almost angelic to anyone who didn’t know that he was a conscienceless slut.
As he crossed the street, a downward tug on his waistband had his jeans sitting even lower on his hips. Another couple inches, and he’d be flashing groin cleavage, and from the avid stares aimed his way, that could be met with spontaneous applause.
“Have some dignity, ladies,” I muttered.
Then Ian surprised me by grabbing the nearest bystander who wasn’t gawking at him and yanking the man close enough to kiss. For a second, I wondered what the hell he was doing, but Bones said, “She’s back,” and my gaze snapped to the parking garage elevator again.
The brunette got out on the street level and headed straight to the sidewalk where she’d parked. No surprise to see that the briefcase she’d arrived with was now gone. From her thoughts, she was less watchful since the drop had been successfully made, but she still gave her surroundings a thorough once-over as she walked toward her car.
Which meant she saw Ian the moment he staggered into her path, the stranger he’d accosted now shoving him and ripping at his pants. My brows went up, but then the man snatched Ian’s wallet out of his front pocket and, with a final shove that sent him sprawling, ran off.
“Blasted sod stole my wallet!” Ian shouted.
The brunette paused about a dozen feet away. I was focused on her thoughts, so I knew the moment when her natural—and correct!—wariness was trumped by something else. She stared at Ian, who was on his back with his legs splayed and head bent. Then he flipped his hair back, revealing his face as he sat up so slowly, you couldn’t help but notice the muscles rippling across his chest and abs.
Oh yeah, he was piling it on thick.
“Do you have a mobile?” he asked, his English accent more pronounced. “I should call the police. I’ve just been robbed.”
“Mobile? You mean cell phone?” she asked while Stop STARING, Barbara! flashed across her mind.
Barbara. Now we knew her real name. No one used an alias to talk to themselves.
“Yes,” he said. Then he looked down at his bare chest, as if he hadn’t ripped his shirt open himself.
“What a state I’m in,” Ian continued, actually managing to sound rueful and shaken at the same time. “Bloke near tore my clothes off trying to get my wallet. Drugs, I suspect.”
Caution urged Barbara to leave the gorgeous stranger alone, but she ignored that and came closer anyway. I was both glad and disgusted. Way to blow up Ian’s ego and deflate feminism at the same time, Barb!
Then a cluster of people blocked them from view. I tensed, ready to spring into action, but in the next moment, feminine choruses of “You poor thing!” “Are you okay?” and “Let me help you!” rang out.
Ian’s other admirers had descended on the scene.
“Unbelievable,” I breathed. By merely walking down the street shirtless, he’d managed to round up a harem.
“Ladies, thank you, but I’m well taken care of,” Ian said. Barbara’s thoughts split between logic telling her to leave and pleasure over the handsome man’s confidence in her. When Ian continued to rebuff the other women in favor of her, her indecisiveness crumpled.
“Are all of you deaf?” she snapped, her authoritative voice rising above the others. “Leave, before he calls the cops for harassment, too!”
With a few final grumbles, the would-be harem dispersed, allowing me to see the look of gratitude mixed with sensual promise that Ian bestowed on Barbara.
That did it. She closed the last few feet between them without hesitation, holding out her cell phone. When his fingers curled around hers as he took it, “Cold hands,” drifted through her mind before his gaze locked onto hers and lit up with bright, mesmerizing green.
Oh shit, was her last conscious thought.
“I told you this would be easy,” Ian said, and he wasn’t talking to her.
Bones started the car. I looked away, not needing to see Ian climb into Barbara’s to know that the two of them would soon be following us.
“There’ll be no living with him now,” I said under my breath.
Bones grunted in amusement. “As always, Kitten.”
***
January 28th Malaprops Book Store in Asheville, NC at 7pm. Event will be live-streamed online; link to follow.
January 30th: Barnes and Noble in Cary, NC at 7pm
January 31st: Laurelwood Books in Memphis, TN at 6:30pm
February 1st: Joseph Beth Book in Lexington, KY. Time to be determined
February 2nd: Books and Co. in Dayton, OH at 2pm
February 4th: Barnes and Noble in Homestead, PA at 7pm
February 15th: Turn The Page book store in Boonsboro, MD at 2pm. (I believe Nora Roberts and other authors will be at this signing, too. Confirmation to come.)
Hope to see some of you there!
Also, I've been promising to post a scene from Up From The Grave, so here you go. Don't worry, there aren't any plot spoilers, which is why it's been hard finding something to post since so many scenes have spoilers. Also, since Ian has a lot of fans, I chose one with him in it :). As a brief setup description, Cat and Bones are staking out someone with important information, and Ian has chosen to tag along. Hope you enjoy!
Copyright UP FROM THE GRAVE by Jeaniene Frost:
***
“We could follow her home, take her there,” I suggested.
“She doesn’t live around here,” a sleep-thickened voice stated from the backseat.
Ian. I’d almost forgotten he was here, probably because he’d been napping the past seven hours while Bones and I staked out the parking garage. Now he sat up in a slouch, sliding his black satin sleep mask up to his hairline.
“She’d live near the pickup point, not the drop-off location,” he continued, blinking at the bright sunlight streaming into our car. “Which one is she?”
“The brunette wearing the UPS uniform,” I said, pointing at her as she walked briskly toward the elevator. From our parked position on top of a hill across the street, we had a good view of the multi-level garage, which was why we’d chosen the spot.
Ian stared until she disappeared inside the elevator. Then he glanced back at me.
“Don’t fret, poppet. I’ll get her.”
“We need to do this discreetly. If I wanted to make a colossal scene, I’d just drag her off kicking and screaming now,” I said, not adding, “dumb ass” only because he was family.
“She’ll come without a fuss,” Ian said with confidence.
“You can’t green-eye her in the elevator, it’ll have video surveillance. So will the garage,” I retorted.
“I don’t need these,” Ian said, flashing emerald in his turquoise gaze for a split second, “when I have this.”
With a casual swipe of his hand, he ripped his shirt open, causing buttons to fly everywhere. Another swipe took his sleep mask all the way off. Finally, he finger-combed his shoulder-length hair and smiled at his reflection in the rearview mirror.
“I am, after all, irresistible.”
I couldn’t contain my snort. “I resisted you just fine the day we met, or don’t you remember me sticking a knife in your chest?”
Ian smiled with lazy wickedness. “I remember, but you seem to have forgotten that you kissed me first. And thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Caught off guard, I flushed. Hey, I’d been celibate for over four years at the time—I hadn't been thinking clearly!
“Ian,” Bones drew out warningly.
He waved a hand. “Stop growling, Crispin. I’m well over my former attraction to your wife, but the point remains that I’m stunning.”
With that, he got out of the car and sauntered off with his open shirt flapping behind him like twin mini capes.
“Get back here,” I hissed, not shouting only because we were still trying to be incognito.
Ian blew a kiss over his shoulder and kept walking, heading down the hill toward the parking garage. Bones stayed my hand when I would’ve yanked the car door open to go after him.
“Let him try, Kitten. Hooks work best when they’re baited.”
They did, but the female courier came off as too shrewd to bite into this particular piece of bait. I only hoped Ian didn’t blow our cover after his bare-chested sashaying failed to sweep her off her feet.
“For the record, I tried to stop this,” I said grimly. Then I turned my attention back to Ian.
The afternoon sun gave his copper-hued hair golden highlights and he made sure that the hard lines of his chest and abdomen were on full display as his pace kept his shirt billowing behind him. Grudgingly, I had to admit that several heads turned, and more than a few cars slowed down as female drivers gave him a second, third, and fourth look. Ian responded by flashing them a dazzling smile, making him appear almost angelic to anyone who didn’t know that he was a conscienceless slut.
As he crossed the street, a downward tug on his waistband had his jeans sitting even lower on his hips. Another couple inches, and he’d be flashing groin cleavage, and from the avid stares aimed his way, that could be met with spontaneous applause.
“Have some dignity, ladies,” I muttered.
Then Ian surprised me by grabbing the nearest bystander who wasn’t gawking at him and yanking the man close enough to kiss. For a second, I wondered what the hell he was doing, but Bones said, “She’s back,” and my gaze snapped to the parking garage elevator again.
The brunette got out on the street level and headed straight to the sidewalk where she’d parked. No surprise to see that the briefcase she’d arrived with was now gone. From her thoughts, she was less watchful since the drop had been successfully made, but she still gave her surroundings a thorough once-over as she walked toward her car.
Which meant she saw Ian the moment he staggered into her path, the stranger he’d accosted now shoving him and ripping at his pants. My brows went up, but then the man snatched Ian’s wallet out of his front pocket and, with a final shove that sent him sprawling, ran off.
“Blasted sod stole my wallet!” Ian shouted.
The brunette paused about a dozen feet away. I was focused on her thoughts, so I knew the moment when her natural—and correct!—wariness was trumped by something else. She stared at Ian, who was on his back with his legs splayed and head bent. Then he flipped his hair back, revealing his face as he sat up so slowly, you couldn’t help but notice the muscles rippling across his chest and abs.
Oh yeah, he was piling it on thick.
“Do you have a mobile?” he asked, his English accent more pronounced. “I should call the police. I’ve just been robbed.”
“Mobile? You mean cell phone?” she asked while Stop STARING, Barbara! flashed across her mind.
Barbara. Now we knew her real name. No one used an alias to talk to themselves.
“Yes,” he said. Then he looked down at his bare chest, as if he hadn’t ripped his shirt open himself.
“What a state I’m in,” Ian continued, actually managing to sound rueful and shaken at the same time. “Bloke near tore my clothes off trying to get my wallet. Drugs, I suspect.”
Caution urged Barbara to leave the gorgeous stranger alone, but she ignored that and came closer anyway. I was both glad and disgusted. Way to blow up Ian’s ego and deflate feminism at the same time, Barb!
Then a cluster of people blocked them from view. I tensed, ready to spring into action, but in the next moment, feminine choruses of “You poor thing!” “Are you okay?” and “Let me help you!” rang out.
Ian’s other admirers had descended on the scene.
“Unbelievable,” I breathed. By merely walking down the street shirtless, he’d managed to round up a harem.
“Ladies, thank you, but I’m well taken care of,” Ian said. Barbara’s thoughts split between logic telling her to leave and pleasure over the handsome man’s confidence in her. When Ian continued to rebuff the other women in favor of her, her indecisiveness crumpled.
“Are all of you deaf?” she snapped, her authoritative voice rising above the others. “Leave, before he calls the cops for harassment, too!”
With a few final grumbles, the would-be harem dispersed, allowing me to see the look of gratitude mixed with sensual promise that Ian bestowed on Barbara.
That did it. She closed the last few feet between them without hesitation, holding out her cell phone. When his fingers curled around hers as he took it, “Cold hands,” drifted through her mind before his gaze locked onto hers and lit up with bright, mesmerizing green.
Oh shit, was her last conscious thought.
“I told you this would be easy,” Ian said, and he wasn’t talking to her.
Bones started the car. I looked away, not needing to see Ian climb into Barbara’s to know that the two of them would soon be following us.
“There’ll be no living with him now,” I said under my breath.
Bones grunted in amusement. “As always, Kitten.”
***
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message 1:
by
Meggin
(new)
Dec 07, 2013 01:51PM
Thank you! I can't wait for the book. I'm so excited
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YAY! I love Ian and his witty comments! Love getting more of Cat and Bones too.
OH man! That was a great Scooby snack! Man I love Ian, sexy slutty man-whore that he is!!!! I can't wait for this book!
Just curious if you are going to have any Canadian stops on your tour?? Sorry can't comment on the snippet I always refuse to read any blurbs or hints on a book, I prefer to wait to read the books. Soooo excited to read this book and sad it will be the last.
Groin cleavage. LOLOLOL!! Thanks for the excerpt!!
Oh boy oh boy....I can't wait! LOL! I'm like a kid on Christmas morning! Yeah! I hope I will be able to see you in Asheville, NC! *fingers crossed*
Uhoh...Malaprops Book Store in Asheville has the book signing as taking place on Wednesday, January 29th...which is the correct date? I want to make sure I am off (since I am a nurse and work 12 hours shifts 7a-7p) I want to ensure I am off the correct day. Hmmmm.
Wish you'd come to Wichita, Ks. I'd love to meet you at a book signing, but they're all so far away I've never been able to make it to one.
Can't wait!! Glad it's getting close!!! Ian is funny and annoying! Cracks me up!
It was amazing! I'm so happy that you gave the snippet of a scene with Ian. Can't wait for the book to come out.. I stalled two days to read this snippet..
Glad you are coming close to Louisville, KY. My husband and I both are fans!
When you say Books and Co. In Dayton you mean at The Greene right?
Great scene! Can't wait for the book. See you in Cary :-)
Beautiful interplay between the characters. The visuals in your books are just amazing.
This book is going to be great, can't wait to read the whole thing.
I love this snippet...definitely looking forward to the book...
Thank you for the sneak peek! This was awesome! Ian, oh, Ian...You never fail to put a smile on my face. I can't wait for the book!!!
Thanks for the DOSE!! I was experiencing NIGHT HUNTRESS withdrawals!! I re-read all the books & SS last month to help tide me over until January!!
Can't wait for the book!! IM SO HAPPY & SO SAD AT THE SAME TIME!! Can't believe its the last one!! I have a feeling this one will become my new #1 book of all time!!
