Hope in Love
J. Hali Steele
Book 1 in the Angels in Love series.
The world is changing. Hope is fading. Darkness beckons. And one angel holds the answer.
Tired of death, destruction and mankind’s race to ruination, Ramiel, archangel of hope, finds it harder and harder to care about those he’s meant to help. Now the Fates have decreed that Ramiel must mate with Yael, an exulted human. On his shoulders rides the universe’s only hope for survival, but the ties that bind him to Yael force him to face his own unexpected reckoning.
Yael, elevated to Heaven to live out her days in peace, recoils from the sadness and shadows of death in Ramiel’s eyes. Yet the need to ease the despair haunting him is stronger. During nights of searing sensuality, Yael and Ramiel light an erotic fire between them that will not be extinguished.
As the combined forces of the heavens try to tear them apart, Ramiel must find a way to hold on to the love he finds with Yael or an end will come, so devastating that Heaven will drop to its knees.
An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication
www.ellorascave.com
Hope in Love
ISBN 9781419924125
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Hope in Love Copyright © 2009 J. Hali Steele
Edited by Sue-Ellen Gower
Photography and cover art by Les Byerley
Electronic book publication October 2009
The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.
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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
Hope in Love
J. Hali Steele
Acknowledgments
This book is dedicated to Boz, Gil and Edy, who take me away from it at the right times—I’m glad you’re my sisters. Pat and Nancy—you’re my girls. A special shout out to Kira—thanks for hanging in there on this one. To Sandi and Teirney—your comments were invaluable.
And finally, for Sue-Ellen Gower, my editor, who had faith in me. I’m proud to be a Suzette!
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Gucci: Gucci America, Inc.
Home Depot: Homer TLC, Inc.
JLO: JLO Holding Company, LLC
Vera Wang: V.E.W. Ltd.
Victoria’s Secret: V Secret Catalogue, Inc.
Prologue
Babylon, B.C.
The scorched stench of the three bodies assailed Ramiel’s nostrils. Nothing offended him as much as the smell of burning flesh. There were those in his realm who would glory in this abomination. Not the angel of hope. He’d viewed man’s ruin for too long now. The sight before him would be forever engraved alongside the other scars on his soul.
When had man become so cruel? Hope? There was none left. The angel’s heart ached for them, for all life. He was tired of the death and destruction brought on by mankind. Nothing else could be done for them. Nothing.
Ram watched as Ezekiel raised the three dead bodies, giving them back their lives, and this time he got it right. The idiot responsible for the burning lay unconcerned on a divan nearby. He was the angel of hope’s responsibility and Ram wasn’t feeling hopeful.
Wings spread wide, Ramiel remained invisible to human eyes as he floated to the spot occupied by the reclining despot.
“Say your prayers,” he whispered. The man clutched his throat, air gurgled from his throat and spittle ran down his chin. The last thing he would see was a specter surrounded by white light. Having read his mind, Ram knew the cur could be saved.
“I really don’t give a shit.” The angel of hope was past salvation.
Chapter One
Present day
“You can stop him, please.” Yael’s distress rolled from her in thunderous claps, the sound heard clearly on the Earthly plane below. “I cannot do this.”
“The Fates have decreed it.” Deborah, who’d been given special powers because she was the only female prophet, was Yael’s true friend. She also answered to a higher power. “He is the merciful one. Perhaps if you play to his softer side…”
“He doesn’t have a softer side, we both know this.” Yael thought about the archangel coming to claim her. She often saw Ramiel in Michael’s palace. The angel of hope’s hair was the color of metal, like the gray clouds she’d created. Sinister in its darkness. His eyes carried the color of most angels, blue. But his were cobalt, closer to the Lord’s sapphire than any other heavenly being. They hid secrets no one would ever know, not even God.
Like everyone, she’d been unable to look in his eyes for more than mere seconds. The hopelessness, the pain of the world was so clearly visible there.
And all because of the past bungling of Gabriel and Ezekiel, who had attempted to bring life to the dead but had instead raised bodies that resembled man in looks only, bloodthirsty creatures who would multiply and devastate the lives of so many, she was being forced to participate in this unthinkable deed.
She must mate with an archangel. The girl child she and Ramiel were fated to create would one day save mankind from the blood-lusting night creatures created by Gabriel and Ezekiel.
“He’s the angel of hope. He is not cruel.”
Deborah was the reason she resided in Heaven and the prophetess felt responsible for her well-being. Yael had helped her and the Israelites defeat the Canaanite army by staking Sisera, their leader, in the head. For this, she’d been granted eternal life as an exulted.
“Have you ever looked in his eyes? There is so much death there.” Yael trembled and remembered her last time in the presence of Ramiel.
He’d lounged, disinterested, on a divan and watched as Deborah spoke with Michael and Decima about Gabriel and Ezekiel’s most recent debacle.
Ramiel’s incredible tall frame looked out of place. Sinewy muscles, clearly visible through the filmy white robe, rippled across his abdomen as his chest rose with each breath. His slender fingers drummed out a rhythmic beat on his hard thighs.
Thighs she had envisioned wrapped around her voluptuous body.
Yael always felt this need in his presence. It frightened her even more than his eyes did. She remembered lips, drawn in a thin line, slashed across handsome features. His full lips would be warm and sweet pressed against hers. His smooth, burnt-sienna-colored skin did not have a wrinkle upon it. Except around the eyes.
There, she’d seen the years of despair imprinted. His black, thick, long lashes hadn’t created the shadows under those eyes. It was what he saw each day as he walked the Earth and the pristine halls of his heavenly domain that put the darkness there.
Though Ramiel was the angel of hope, Yael did not feel his compassion for ma
nkind when he stared out at the world with such bleakness. How could she let him hold her, make love to her? She’d remained celibate after her husband’s death over a thousand years ago and she didn’t seek courtship here. But whenever she saw him, he evoked such sensuous pictures in her mind. Things she didn’t even dream of. Even now moisture collected between her thighs.
“It’s the only way,” Deborah said. Come, you need to refresh yourself before his arrival.”
* * * * *
Ram delved into each woman’s mind and hesitated to enter Deborah’s palace upon hearing Yael’s description of his eyes. So much death showed in them lately that he was unable to even hide it from an exulted being. Shit, he was slipping. He didn’t think he’d been that distracted the day she saw him at Michael’s. She was very perceptive. He would need to take better care in her presence.
And he guessed he would have to readjust his approach. He had assumed she would be pleased to be bedded by him. Her body betrayed her, let him feel her excitement. How hard could it be?
He remembered the day Yael spoke of clearly.
Michael and Decima, one of the Fates, had summoned Ram to discuss the destiny of those involved in the unfortunate mess with the undead on earth. He’d known long ago that this day would come and that the Fates had decided that Yael should be the one to help him with his task.
At the time he hadn’t been excited about what measured up to being just another conquest. They were all the same lately. But he thought about her Rubenesque beauty. Her long, gloriously thick hair was sun kissed with coppery highlights. Yael’s almond-shaped eyes rivaled the shade of the most precious amber gems and her full lips were made for kissing.
She stood above average height for a woman and her large, copious breasts rose high over a femininely rounded stomach. Her full hips would fit him well.
Ram didn’t realize until his cock flared to life and became engorged that he thought about her at all. She always seemed to avoid him. Now he knew why.
Yael saw the world’s death in his eyes.
He hadn’t, in fact, known how much he looked forward to their coupling until this moment. Though Michael thought differently, he’d been much too busy lately to satisfy his baser desires with a woman. He’d become a bit too friendly with himself for his liking. The time had come to remedy that situation. He grew harder at the picture of her thick thighs over his shoulders and his hardness deep inside her. I need to stop this line of thought.
But he couldn’t get the swell of her hips out of his mind.
He was shown to the courtyard to await the arrival of Deborah. So, they felt better entertaining the angel of hope and resurrection on the patio. Since when did he engender such fear? He wasn’t like Lucifer. Ram rarely brought death with him, though he saw much of it. He delivered the blow of justice occasionally. Lately, he enjoyed that part of his job far too much.
“Ramiel, I hope you did not wait long?” Deborah asked as she came onto the patio.
Yael entered closely behind her and took the seat across from where he stood. He made note of that. She sat as far away from him as possible. He pulled out the chair he stood by, offering it to Deborah. He moved around the table to sit right beside Yael.
Ram caught the scent of her womanhood as he approached, and sat down quickly to hide his enormous arousal. Her effect on him was unbelievable. It was not as though he was some youngster who hadn’t had the benefit of being with a woman. Here and below, he’d taken what he wanted for thousands of years. This one held magic that was different.
And she didn’t want him.
“I have spoken a little to Yael about the situation below with the undead. She will assist you.” Deborah turned to her friend. “I will leave you two to get to know each other.” Ram waited for her to disappear inside before he spoke.
“May I pour you some wine?” Yael had an aversion to his eyes. He’d agreed to do this and saw no reason to hide anything from her, especially the fact that he read her mind and knew her thoughts. He spoke bluntly. “I know my eyes upset you, it’s like that with many. You don’t have to worry. I will keep the death you see at bay when we must be together.”
“Thank you, I’m sorry.”
“No need to be. I fully understand.” Suddenly Ram wanted her to see more in him. He wished to garner her approval. He wanted her to see him as a man, not an instrument to be used by the higher powers for destruction. He was the angel of resurrection as well as hope, and that’s what he wanted her to see in his eyes. Not death, but life. Shocked as hell, he wanted a chance to get to know her. Since when did he give a shit what a woman he was going to fuck thought about him?
In that instant he decided to have her in his domain for their time together. He didn’t want to couple with her under the prophetess’s roof. This must be handled delicately. But he could barely think with his cock so painfully engorged. He was confused. I want her. He stayed quietly in her mind, his powers too great for her to feel him there.
“Do you understand the reasons we must do this? Gabriel and Ezekiel have created a situation with the damned vampyres, and by coupling, we will help other species to continue their lives.”
Yael hadn’t looked up since her friend left, and her hands were clasped tight in her lap. She still feared his eyes. When she raised her head to look at him, he kept his promise, made sure the gaze he turned in her direction held only his clarity of purpose. Ram couldn’t care less about the unfortunate creatures below right now—he wanted her.
Everything she felt, so did he. Her face was pink with embarrassment. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach and her heart hammered out its beat. A delicious aroma surrounded her and wrapped around his head like a wreath of thorns. Her thighs were already warmed by moisture that collected between them. She would taste so sweet.
Shit, he wanted to dive right into her pussy and work her into a frenzy with his tongue. She’d been so long without sex it would take only minutes to coax her tightness to fill his mouth with honey.
Her next thought caused his body to quiver with lust. She was lonely for the company of a man. Ram intended to fill that gulf in her life. He could provide her what she craved for a little while. He would give her something to make her happy. Satisfied beyond belief. He’d fill her very well. He wished he’d ignored the old-fashioned decorum and worn his earthly clothes because his heavenly robe inadequately served to hide his hard-on.
Then he felt the sadness wash over her at the knowledge that now her name would be linked with a carnal beast like him.
Yael thought he was Heaven’s greatest whore.
Shit.
Chapter Two
“I need only have your child.” Yael stated flatly.
It sounded so crude, not angelic in the least. His kind were not always angels, but is this what it had come to? Bedding an exulted to save mankind from themselves… No, it wasn’t themselves man needed to be saved from. His peers created this bizarre problem.
“You are more important than you know, Yael. Yes, we will have a child together, and it will be a blessed event for those who need her. And I will see to it that you enjoy yourself.”
“What about you, will it be a blessed event for you?”
“The Fates decree it. We must do this.” For the first time ever, Ram was lost for words. He hadn’t expected her to ask that question. He thought he’d prepared for everything, but not that.
“Yes, I understand. You will couple with me. We will create a girl child who will become the savior of those Gabriel and Ezekiel trifled with. This will be a life, a child of my loins, and I will love her more than my own life. Do you understand that?”
“She will be our child. She’ll be raised here, with—”
“Don’t, Ramiel. It’s not necessary. I do understand. I will raise our daughter to be a great woman, and a savior.”
This wasn’t going as planned. He’d continued to read her mind and was even more determined now to get her moved to his palace. He must get her away from thos
e who would fill her with…with what? They were not lies, though some of the stories were embellished. Most were true, but a carnal beast?
She was right. He, like his brethren, took what they desired. Woman, man, whichever. The angels took what turned their fancy at the moment. He’d taken enough to know. Damn her for making him feel like he was no better than a rutting dog.
“You will reside at my palace until our child is born. There is no need to bring anything. I will supply all that you require.” His words were angry, sounded harsh and commanding, when he really meant to be polite and accommodating. Why? Why did it matter what she thought and why did he want her so? Confusion reigned in his mind.
“I will spend this last night in my rooms here. I shall come to you tomorrow.” Standing, she swept her robe closed, fingers knotted in the material. She went down the winding marble stairs and across the impeccably kept lawn.
Ram did not stand. He watched her move with grace, her head held high, down the walkway. He saw the riot of colorful flowers in bloom. He smelled the magnolia. But only because Yael walked among them. What had changed? He’d never noticed these mundane things before. Life held very little beauty for him anymore.
And what would he do with her now that she belonged to him? If only for a short time.
He decided to visit Michael.
* * * * *
“So, my friend, have you worked out the details of your mating with the exulted?” Michael sat at his desk.
Ram was the only person aside from…well, he was the only person who dared enter Michael’s study unannounced.
“The one you speak of has a name.” He fell heavily into a soft chair beside the angel-general’s desk. He leaned his head against the back and crossed his ankles, extremely tired for some reason.
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