by Amy Tolnitch
Iosobal sensed the moment Lugh came into the hall. He strode over to the table. When Iosobal looked over at him, his face was grim.
The necklace dangled from his hand like an accusation.
“Tis bad,” he said.
“Aye.” Someone pushed a bowl of water into her hands, and Iosobal looked up, shocked to see Brona. “Help him, my lady,” Brona said, her prior hostility gone.
“What was Branor doing out of the castle?” Lugh asked one of the guards.
“He was, uh, visiting a friend.”
Iosobal gently dabbed water on Branor’s leg. As soon as she cleaned a section, fresh blood coated it once more. He was dying; she knew it in her heart. No one could withstand an injury like this and survive, no matter how many herbs she applied. She glanced around the hall and saw a sea of worried faces. Dear Saint Brigid, had the entire castle come to see what had befallen Branor?
“Iosobal.” Lugh laid a hand on her arm.
She knew what he wanted her to do. Though she cringed inside, she knew it was the only thing to do. She could not allow Branor to die, even if it meant confirming every fear and suspicion Tunvegan’s people already had of her.
So be it, she thought. She intended to leave anyway.
“Iosobal,” Lugh said again. “Hurry.”
She closed her eyes and put both hands on Branor’s leg. Drawing in deep breaths, she forced herself to relax, to put everything from her mind but her task. Warmth sizzled in her veins and images flashed though her mind. Branor playing his lute on the beach, offering—no, insisting upon taking care of Calum for her.
He was a stalwart man, a loyal friend. He did not deserve to die.
A tingling at her fingertips told her that the healing force inside her was flowing into Branor. Focus, she told herself, sensing rather than seeing the torn flesh begin to respond.
Power surged within her, so strong and pure that for a moment Iosobal’s concentration broke. She gathered herself quickly and furrowed her brow, willing Branor’s wounds to heal. Dimly, she heard the sounds of prayers from the castle-folk and suddenly realized that the increased strength of her healing ability came from them, from their worry, their caring for Branor. A tide of emotion battered her, and she swayed on her feet.
She felt Lugh’s strong arms catch her, and hold her close against his warm body.
Iosobal had no idea how much time passed, her only thought to heal, to wrap Branor in the brightness of her magic.
When she finally opened her eyes, such fatigue pressed down upon her that she staggered against Lugh. If not for his supporting grasp, she would have slid to the floor.
It took her a moment to realize that the hall was utterly silent.
From his place on the table, Branor peered up at her, his gaze filled with wonderment. She glanced down and saw that what had been nearly unrecognizable as a human leg was once more whole, with thin red lines the only evidence of his wounds.
Lugh squeezed her shoulder.
Go now, Iosobal told herself. Go, before they begin collecting wood for the pyre. She turned and took a step away from Lugh.
Einar stood in her path. Einar, who had not bothered to hide his alarm over the woman Lugh had brought back to Tunvegan. He was so mistrustful it had taken dire threats from Lugh before he would allow Iosobal to tend his injuries.
Slowly, Einar made a fist and crossed his arm, smacking his fist against his opposite shoulder. “My lady,” he said.
And then, to Iosobal’s utter astonishment, he knelt before her, his head bowed in homage.
One by one, each person in the hall knelt on the rush covered floor, heads bowed.
“What … what are they doing?” she whispered to Lugh.
He smiled at her. “Acknowledging you as their lady.”
She gazed out over the sea of people, overcome at the sight of so many bowing to her. It wasn’t until Lugh turned her face to his that she realized tears poured down her cheeks.
He draped the necklace back over her head with a raw look of possession. “You belong here. Do not think to leave me.”
“But, I … they know now,” she whispered. “They know what I am, that I am not of their world.”
“No,” Lugh said gently. “Iosobal, do you not see? Look around you, at our people. They know that you are the Lady of the Clan MacKeir and that they are blessed to have one with such special talents.
She looked around the hell in wonderment. Could it be? Her necklace warmed against her skin, and she put her hand over it. Gratitude. Honor. Acceptance. All of those feelings and more washed over her.
Lugh smiled and bent to kiss her. “Be a part of my world, Iosobal. Help me make it our world. Forever.”
Branor began clapping, and the hall exploded with the roar of cheers.
Iosobal just clung to Lugh and kissed him through tears of happiness.
And somewhere, in the forgotten mists of time, a finman and his lady smiled.
Don’t miss the next book by Amy Tolnitch from Medallion Press:
I am a part of you now.
The words haunt Piers Veuxfort, and he has only his own recklessness to blame. By touching a magic crystal, he freed the essence of a decidedly wicked Fin Man, who now resides within Piers. If that isn’t bad enough, a surprise for Piers arrives at Falcon’s Craig Castle. A bride. A bride, moreover, who was raised to be a nun, and views him as something just short of the devil. What can he do but send her back?
You are a wicked abomination.
With that condemnation of her “sight”, Giselle St. Germain’s future is irrevocably altered. Her life in the secluded nunnery is over, and she is thrown into the world, a world that includes betrothal to a man who is unrepentantly devoted to his pleasures, and who increasingly displays a dark, troubling side. What’s a girl to do but cling more tightly to what she knows?
The rules have changed. For both of them. And Piers and Giselle are about to discover that sometimes fate delivers a destiny beyond your imaginings. That destiny is theirs to win. Or lose. It will take all the courage that lies within their deepest hearts to seize it, and to find …
A Lost Touch of Innocence
ISBN# 1933836091
ISBN# 9781933836096
Jewel Imprint: Amethyst
www.amytolnitch.com
Coming in 2007
Five years ago, Cain Veuxfort, Earl of Hawksdown, followed duty and broke Amice de Monceaux’s heart. But now he needs her. Desperately.
For Amice has a very special talent. She is a Spirit Goddess, able to help restless souls move on. And Cain has a very restless ghost he wishes fervently would leave his castle. Anxious to regain order in his chaotic life, Cain offers Amice the one thing he’s sure she can’t resist; an Italian villa on the sea in exchange for her unique services.
Although Amice’s wound is deep, and as fresh and painful as ever, she agrees to help her former lover. Life on the Italian coast will be the start of a new life for her. Perhaps then she will finally be able to put the past behind her as well as an importunate Highland lord who wants nothing less that her hand in marriage. But there is more going on at Castle Falcon’s Craig than a simple haunting, and more than one tragic tale of unrequited love. Yet to set things right, for both the living and the dead, Cain must find the courage to shed his mask of indifference, Amice must move beyond her pain to forgive … and long dead, star-crossed lovers must lead them all on the path to …
A Lost Touch of Bliss
ISBN# 1932815260
ISBN# 9781932815269
Jewel Imprint: Amethyst
www.amytolnitch.com
Available Now
R. GARLAND GRAY
FEY BORN
Born with a weak heart and an odd birthmark, Lana is a frail farm girl who never could have imagined being magically fated to become a fey host for the sword spirit, Valor. And now the magical sword is missing, stolen from the vaults of Tara, the faery home. The disturbing wonders altering Lana’s life have only just begun.
Enter Ke
egan, a fearless fey guardian of the waters, who must find the magical sword for his king. Believing only the physically strong deserve life, Keegan never expects to meet his match in the small, spirited beauty he needs to guide him to the sword.
Across dangerous passage tombs beset with enemies, to the shadowy worlds below, through battles of the spirit and body, Lana and Keegan find that destiny has a price. And that even a forbidden and fevered love must be set aside when all the land lies in peril.
As an invading army sweeps Eire’s shores, a sickly girl must find the strength to face her mysterious fate and claim a guardian’s heart. With a passion that, once unleashed, could lead them both into a terrible darkness. Or into the light of a forever love.
ISBN# 1932815821
ISBN# 9781932815825
Jewel Imprint: Amethyst
www.rgarlandgray.com
December 2006
KNIGHT’S
LEGACY
TRENAE SUMTER
On location in Scotland for a film shoot, stuntwoman Cat Terril is waiting to film an action scene when she takes a stroll through the ancient castle that is their set.
Then she meets an old man in black robes who gives her a set of keys and directs her to ….
“Follow your heart …”
Thinking it is a harmless prank designed by fellow stuntmen, Cat follows the old man’s direction to a locked door around which swirls a strange, lavender mist.
Using the set of keys, she opens the door, steps into the mist and falls, literally, into a frigid lake in thirteenth century Scotland.
There was no ‘harmless prank’ involved. Cat is in desperate peril, finding herself suddenly the hostage of vicious, brutal clan leader, Calum Mackay. To obtain clemency from the Scottish king, the renegade Mackay must give his daughter, Brianna, to Englishman Roderic de Montwain in marriage. Brianna, however, in love with another, has run away. And Cat bears a striking resemblance to Mackay’s absent daughter.
It is unbelievable enough to find herself in medieval Scotland. It is beyond comprehension to find herself abruptly married to a stranger. A stranger, moreover, who unlocks a passion and sensuality within her Cat never suspected she harbored. And Roderic, who has vowed to never lose his heart, finds himself falling for the mysterious, flame-haired bride he has taken to his bed. A bride some say is mad … and others claim is an imposter ….
ISBN# 1932815007
ISBN# 9781932815009
Jewel Imprint: Amethyst
www.trenaesumter.com
Available Now
Daria Morgan is a magic practitioner, one of a group of people who uses magic and spells to do their everyday jobs. Her job: A management consultant.
John “Bent” Benthausen is a CEO who, despite every improvement in product and production, can’t get his bottom line out of the Red Sea. He needs a management consultant.
With her special gifts, Daria gets right to the heart of her employer’s problem — crooked employees. Crooked, vicious, employees who are now out to get Daria. Those are just Problems One and Two.
Problem Three: There is an ancient force, an irresistible compulsion, called the soul-mate imperative. It’s known throughout the practitioner ranks for bringing together magic-users and their mates in a lifelong bond. And it won’t be happy until the participants surrender to the inevitable … the Oldest Kind of Magic …
ISBN# 1932815430
ISBN# 9781932815436
Jewel Imprint: Amethyst
www.annmacela.com
Somewhere in the barren, arid wastes of the Arizona Canyon Country on the Navajo Reservation, a little boy is lost. His mother is desperate. And the only person who can help her is Kaine Cloudwalker, the man she has never been able to erase from her heart. The man who must find the son he never knew he had.
Overcoming old wounds, and new pain, Laura and Kaine must journey together deep into the desert canyon mazes. As they trek through the perilous wastes, however, they find that physical hardship and personal estrangement are not their only problems. There are forces other than natural that are determined they will not find their child alive.
But the Navajo gods have a plan.
Before the days of the god, Changing Woman, are over, Laura and Kaine must accept Kaine’s Navajo heritage, renew their love, and join forces as a true family. To save their son, and themselves, they must step into
The Eye of the Dream.
ISBN# 1932815686
ISBN# 9781932815689
Jewel Imprint: Amethyst
www.elizabethsinclair.com
little big heart
dolores j. wilson
today …
Widowed neurologist Dr. Daniel Lucas has a comatose Jane Doe patient. The only thing he knows about her is that she was badly beaten by someone and left for dead. And that he is strangely, inexplicably drawn to her. So drawn, he allows his young son to sit by the woman’s bedside and relate stories of the old west once told to him by his deceased mother.
yesterday …
The abandoned wife of an abusive husband, Cassie struggles to maintain the small Montana ranch she and her young son call home. When drifter Daniel Lucas comes by she hires him on, grateful for both his physical labor and the support he lends against a greedy neighbor who wants her land. And although she is still legally bound to the man who deserted her and her son, Cassie finds a transcendent passion. A doomed passion.
today …
Dr. Lucas’ skill finally brings his Jane Doe back into the world of the living, and her secrets are revealed. Along with a brutal ex-husband who is coming back to finish the job he started. Is Cassie doomed to suffer the same fate twice? Or is love indeed strong enough to transcend time?
ISBN# 1932815414
ISBN# 9781932815412
Jewel Imprint: Amethyst
www.doloresjwilson.com
For more information
about other great titles from
Medallion Press, visit
www.medallionpress.com
Previous accolades for Amy Tolnitch:
A LOST TOUCH OF BLISS:
“Magical, sensuous, funny and touching—a sparkling gem of a book by a superb new author.”
–Mary Lennox, author of “The Moon Runners”
“Readers of paranormal romances will find a new author for their reading lists in Amy Tolnich.”
–Enchanted in Romance
“A LOST TOUCH OF BLISS has everything I could want in a romance, great characterization, a conflicted and heartfelt romance that keeps me reading, a few small mysteries, a bit of sizzle, and really good secondary characters.”
–The Romance Studio
“A tale of star-crossed lovers, tragic pasts, lost loves, and love once again found, makes this book a gem of a story that all paranormal romance readers will love. Ms. Tolnitch is sure to gain many fans, no doubt eagerly looking for her next book. A don’t miss!”
–A Romance Review
“A LOST TOUCH OF BLISS grips readers from page one! Amy Tolnitch mesmerizes readers with strong elements of the paranormal, the heartbreaking loss of a powerful love, and the breathless anticipation that a second chance hovers on the brink of forgiveness.”
–Romance Junkies
OUTSTANDING!
“A LOST TOUCH OF BLISS is a rare treasure. Being a paranormal romance set in 1196, this engaging tale is one I truly loved and hated to see end. Reminiscent of Jude Deveraux’s early historicals, Ms. Tolnitch’s writing will have you wanting to read more. For readers that enjoy a truly wonderful tale of finding love when it seems all is lost, then you need to add A LOST TOUCH OF BLISS to your ‘to buy’ list!”
–K. Ahlers, Independent Reviewer
“Fans of historical and those of otherworldly will appreciate this second chance at love in which the present (that is twelfth century present) and the deceased share so much in common.”
–H. Klausner, Independent Reviewer
“A TOUCH OF BLISS had everything I could want in
any romance, great characterization, a conflicted and heartfelt romance that kept me reading, a few small mysteries, a bit of sizzle, and really good secondary characters.”
–The Romance Studio
“Ms. Tolnitch writes with much passion and wit as you read A LOST TOUCH OF BLISS and highly entertains the reader with her debut novel! This is truly an author to keep your eye on in the coming years as she delivers a heart stirring story told with a passion that weaves a web around the reader and leaves you wanting more. Run to grab A LOST TOUCH OF BLISS and be carried away with a tender romance that delivers all the right touches and hits you on every level.”
–Love Romances
A LOST TOUCH OF PARADISE:
“Fans of Fairy Tales, Historical, and Paranormal Romances will find a new author to add to their shopping lists …
With a blend of fairy tale, medieval, and highland romance, Amy Tolnitch was able to reach out and grab this reader from the opening scene; a witch burning. Brilliant characterization, stunning descriptive ability and a truly romantic hero; A LOST TOUCH OF PARADISE has it all.”
—Romance Designs
DEDICATION:
For Styrling, always.
Published 2007 by Medallion Press, Inc.
The MEDALLION PRESS LOGO
is a registered tradmark of Medallion Press, Inc.
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment from this “stripped book.”
Copyright © 2007 by Amy Tolnitch
Cover Illustration by Adam Mock
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.
