“Thank you, Jerry.”
As she crosses the lobby, she wonders if this is some new trick of Bastian’s. Maybe he feels guilty for her abandoning her in the rain. But for that to be the case, he’d have to feel suddenly guilty for fifty-six years of abandoning her whenever she posed a question he couldn’t or wouldn’t answer. The front desk clerk sees her coming, smiles, reaches under the desk and hands her a tiny envelope with her first initial written on the outside. Like so many of the new hires, the clerk has a thick European accent Lilliane can’t quite place.
“Who left this?” Lilliane asks, trying to sound casual.
“I’m not sure, madam. I wasn’t on duty at the time. But I do know that it was weeks ago and we informed her that you were not in residence at the time.”
“Her. Did you tell her I would return?”
“I’m sure we didn’t. That would be strictly against policy. But according to my manager, she didn’t need us to. She was confident that you would be back eventually and insisted that we give it to you the minute you returned.”
“I see. Thank you.”
It’s not in the same cursive as the notes attached to the candles in Bastian’s shop, but it looks vaguely familiar.
There are only twenty-three people who know she stays here on a regular basis—twenty-four if you count a ghost named Bastian Drake—and all of them could get in touch with her by phone. No need to send a mysterious handwritten note and wait weeks for it to be delivered.
In the past, she’s used the hotel for numerous meetings related to The Desire Exchange, so it’s possible an old client is trying to track her down. But former clients are all provided with her contact information as well as phone numbers for several of the other Radiants who oversee applications. The Desire Exchange subsists off the referrals. If former clients had to jump through a dozen hoops to make them, The Exchange’s profit margins would shrink considerably.
Lilliane knows she should wait until she’s comfortably ensconced in her suite. But the Desire Exchange’s recent infiltration by a determined young woman and her Navy SEAL lover has her more than a little on edge when it comes to messages from strangers.
As the elevator rises, she tears open the envelope. Her eyes dart immediately to the unfamiliar phone number written across the bottom of the card inside. The penmanship is another story. At first, it seems only vaguely familiar. Then, recognition; she hasn’t laid eyes on the person responsible for these pen strokes in at least five years.
When she finally looks up from the message written on the card, she realizes the strangers getting onto the elevator are coming from a floor above her own. She’s missed her stop entirely and now she’s hurrying to shove the card where no one else can see its short, blunt message:
THERE’S A WAY OUT, LILLIANE.
THERE’S A WAY FOR US TO LOVE AGAIN.
CALL ME. PLEASE.
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The First Night
by Lexi Blake & M.J. Rose
Turn the page for a full list of the
1001 Dark Nights fabulous novellas...
1001 Dark Nights
Click to purchase
WICKED WOLF by Carrie Ann Ryan
A Redwood Pack Novella
WHEN IRISH EYES ARE HAUNTING by Heather Graham
A Krewe of Hunters Novella
EASY WITH YOU by Kristen Proby
A With Me In Seattle Novella
MASTER OF FREEDOM by Cherise Sinclair
A Mountain Masters Novella
CARESS OF PLEASURE by Julie Kenner
A Dark Pleasures Novella
ADORED by Lexi Blake
A Masters and Mercenaries Novella
HADES by Larissa Ione
A Demonica Novella
RAVAGED by Elisabeth Naughton
An Eternal Guardians Novella
DREAM OF YOU by Jennifer L. Armentrout
A Wait For You Novella
STRIPPED DOWN by Lorelei James
A Blacktop Cowboys ® Novella
RAGE/KILLIAN by Alexandra Ivy/Laura Wright
Bayou Heat Novellas
DRAGON KING by Donna Grant
A Dark Kings Novella
PURE WICKED by Shayla Black
A Wicked Lovers Novella
HARD AS STEEL by Laura Kaye
A Hard Ink/Raven Riders Crossover
STROKE OF MIDNIGHT by Lara Adrian
A Midnight Breed Novella
ALL HALLOWS EVE by Heather Graham
A Krewe of Hunters Novella
KISS THE FLAME by Christopher Rice
A Desire Exchange Novella
DARING HER LOVE by Melissa Foster
A Bradens Novella
TEASED by Rebecca Zanetti
A Dark Protectors Novella
THE PROMISE OF SURRENDER by Liliana Hart
A MacKenzie Family Novella
FOREVER WICKED by Shayla Black
A Wicked Lovers Novella
CRIMSON TWILIGHT by Heather Graham
A Krewe of Hunters Novella
CAPTURED IN SURRENDER by Liliana Hart
A MacKenzie Family Novella
SILENT BITE: A SCANGUARDS WEDDING by Tina Folsom
A Scanguards Vampire Novella
DUNGEON GAMES by Lexi Blake
A Masters and Mercenaries Novella
AZAGOTH by Larissa Ione
A Demonica Novella
NEED YOU NOW by Lisa Renee Jones
A Shattered Promises Series Prelude
SHOW ME, BABY by Cherise Sinclair
A Masters of the Shadowlands Novella
ROPED IN by Lorelei James
A Blacktop Cowboys ® Novella
TEMPTED BY MIDNIGHT by Lara Adrian
A Midnight Breed Novella
THE FLAME by Christopher Rice
A Desire Exchange Novella
CARESS OF DARKNESS by Julie Kenner
A Dark Pleasures Novella
Also from Evil Eye Concepts:
TAME ME by J. Kenner
A Stark International Novella
THE SURRENDER GATE By Christopher Rice
A Desire Exchange Novel
SERVICING THE TARGET By Cherise Sinclair
A Masters of the Shadowlands Novel
Bundles:
BUNDLE ONE
Includes:
Forever Wicked by Shayla Black
Crimson Twilight by Heather Graham
Captured in Surrender by Liliana Hart
Silent Bite by Tina Folsom
BUNDLE TWO
Includes:
Dungeon Games by Lexi Blake
Azagoth by Larissa Ione
Need You Now by Lisa Renee Jones
Show My, Baby by Cherise Sinclair
BUNDLE THREE
Includes:
Roped In by Lorelei James
Tempted By Midnight by Lara Adrian
The Flame by Christopher Rice
Caress of Darkness by Julie Kenner
Dance of Desire
By Christopher Rice
Coming February 23, 2016
From New York Times bestselling author Christopher Rice, comes a steamy, emotional tale of forbidden romance between a woman struggling to get her life on its feet and the gorgeous cowboy her father kept her from marrying years before. The first contemporary romance from Christopher Rice is written with the author’s trademark humor and heart, and introduces readers to a beautiful town in the Texas Hill Country called Chapel Springs.
* * * *
“It’s a terrible idea,” he says.
“Why did she tell you?”
“Because she wants me to stop you.”
“That’s not true. I talked to her this afternoon and she told me she wanted me
to go.”
“Well, she must have changed her mind,” he says.
“Well, I haven’t changed mine.”
“A sex club?” he bellows. “What are you? Crazy?”
“Since when are you so full of judgment, cowboy? I’ve never seen you in church!”
“And I’ve never seen you in a sex club!”
“Have you been to that many? Who knows? I could have a whole secret life you don’t even know about.”
“I know who you are, Amber. I know how you are.”
“And what does that mean?”
“Amber, you stayed a virgin until you were nineteen. That puts you in the, like, one percentile of girls in our high school.”
“How do you know that? I never told you that!”
“I had my sources.”
“You were keeping tabs on my virginity? That’s rich. I thought you were too busy starting fistfights outside the Valley View Mall so you didn’t have to feel anything.”
“And you were too busy tending to my wounds ’cause it gave you an excuse to look at my chest.”
“Get out of my house!”
“Amber—”
“Get out!”
He bows his head. A lesser man would ignore her request, but he knows he’s bound by it.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” Caleb whispers. “I’m sorry.”
He turns to leave.
“You know, I forgave you a lot because you lost a lot. But don’t you pretend for one second that you joined our family with a smile and a thank you and that was that. Those first few years, it was like living with a tornado. You were impossible! An you were nothing like the guy I’d...”
He turns away from the front door. “The guy you’d what?”
“All I’m saying is that even if I’d wanted to…”
“Wanted to what?”
He’s closing the distance between them. Her head wants to run from him. Her soul wants to run to him. Her body’s forced to split the difference. She’s got no choice but to stand there while he advances on her, nostrils flaring, blue eyes blazing.
“Tell me why you really don’t want me to go,” she hears herself whisper. “Tell me why you—”
He takes her in his arms and rocks them into the wall, so suddenly she expects her head to knock against the wood, but one of his powerful hands cushions the back of her skull just in time.
His lips meet the nape of her neck, grazing, testing. It’s hesitant, the kiss he gives her there, as if he’s afraid she’s an apparition that will vanish if he tries to take a real taste.
He gathers the hem of her shirt into his fist, knuckles grazing the skin of her stomach. She’s trying to speak but the only thing coming out of her are stuttering gasps. She’s been rendered wordless by the feel of the forbidden, by the weight of the forbidden, by the power of the forbidden.
It’s the first time they’ve touched since that night on the boat dock, if you don’t include the light dabs of hydrogen peroxide she’d apply to the wounds he got fighting, usually while they sat together in the kitchen, her parents watching over them nervously. Twelve years living under the same roof and they never shared so much as a hug after that night, nothing that might risk the feel of his skin against her own.
And now this.
Now the intoxicating blend of the cologne he wore as a teenager mingling with the musky aroma of his belt and boots. Now the knowledge that he’d asked after her virginity years before, that the thought of her lying with another man had filled him with protective, jealous rage then just as it does now.
She feels boneless and moist. One of those feelings isn’t an illusion.
If this is what it feels like to be bad, she thinks, no wonder so many people get addicted.
“Tell me,” she whispers. “Tell me why you really don’t want me to go.”
“I am,” he growls.
He presses their foreheads together, takes the sides of her face in both of his large, powerful hands. It’s torture, this position. It’s deliberate, she’s sure. It keeps her from lifting her mouth to his. Keeps her from looking straight into his eyes. He’s fighting it, still. Just as she’s fought it for years.
She parts her lips, inviting him to kiss her.
“Please,” he groans. “Just, please don’t go.”
“Caleb…” She reaches for his face.
Welcome to Storm, Texas, where passion runs hot, desire runs deep, and secrets have the power to destroy...
Nestled among rolling hills and painted with vibrant wildflowers, the bucolic town of Storm, Texas, seems like nothing short of perfection.
But there are secrets beneath the facade. Dark secrets. Powerful secrets. The kind that can destroy lives and tear families apart. The kind that can cut through a town like a tempest, leaving jealousy and destruction in its wake, along with shattered hopes and broken dreams. All it takes is one little thing to shatter that polish.
Reading like an on-going drama in the tradition of classic day and night-time soap operas like Dallas, Dynasty, and All My Children, Rising Storm is full of scandal, deceit, romance, passion, and secrets.
With 1001 Dark Nights as the “producer,” Julie Kenner and Dee Davis use a television model with each week building on the last to create a storyline that fulfills the promise of a drama-filled soap opera. Joining Kenner and Davis in the “writer’s room” is an incredible group of New York Times bestselling authors such as Lexi Blake, Elisabeth Naughton, Jennifer Probst, Larissa Ione, Rebecca Zanetti and Lisa Mondello who have brought their vision of Storm to life.
A serial soap opera containing eight episodes in season one, the season premiere of Rising Storm, TEMPEST RISING, debuts September 24th with each subsequent episode releasing consecutively this fall.
So get ready. The storm is coming.
Experience Rising Storm Here… http://risingstormbooks.com
On behalf of 1001 Dark Nights,
Liz Berry and M.J. Rose would like to thank ~
Steve Berry
Doug Scofield
Kim Guidroz
Jillian Stein
InkSlinger PR
Dan Slater
Asha Hossain
Chris Graham
Pamela Jamison
Jessica Johns
Dylan Stockton
Richard Blake
BookTrib After Dark
The Dinner Party Show
and Simon Lipskar
Table of Contents
Book Description
Book Description
About Christopher Rice
Also by Christopher Rice
Author Acknowledgments
Foreword
The Candlemaker
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Also From 1001 Dark Nights
An excerpt from Dance of Desire by Christopher Rice
Rising Storm
Special Thanks
Kiss The Flame: A Desire Exchange Novella (1001 Dark Nights) Page 14
