by Karen Kay
“Now you…” He stroked his thumb along her lower lip. “You, Miss Sarah Calhoun, are a different kettle of fish altogether. I’ve been thinking entirely too much about that sassy mouth of yours.”
“You have?” She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. Her body hummed with readiness, poised for whatever he asked of her.
“Yeah.” He cupped her face in his hands, spearing his fingers into her hair. A long blond coil dropped over her shoulder as he dislodged her hairpins. “Sweet Lord, what a sassy mouth.”
“I’ve thought about you, too,” she admitted in a shy whisper. Slowly she raised her hands to his lean waist, massaging the taut muscles.
“I shouldn’t be doing this.”
“I shouldn’t either…” The words dissolved against his mouth.
She’d been kissed before, but never like this. His lips were soft, his touch gentle. His tenderness aroused her faster than hot passion would have done. She pressed closer to him and molded her mouth more precisely over his, shivering with delicious excitement as he held her face in his hands and savored her.
“God.” He broke the kiss, but barely, his mouth hovering within an inch of hers. “I wondered how you would taste.”
She smiled, her gaze drifting to his mouth. “Really?”
“Hell, yeah.” He nuzzled her cheek with his lips. “But we have to stop. I have to think about finding a wife, much as I’d like a tumble with you.”
She stiffened as his words cut through the desire that tangled her thoughts. For a moment she had actually thought— “What did you say?”
“I said I’d sure enjoy a little slap and tickle with you, sassy girl, but my future wife might not like it.”
“You low-down skunk!” Stung to her feminine core, she jerked away from him. “So I’m good enough for a romp in the hay, but not good enough to be on that list of yours? Have you been listening to the gossips, Mr. Donovan?”
“I don’t care about gossip.” He moved to brush a strand of hair out of her face, but Sarah turned from his touch.
“Then why do you consider me good enough to bed, but not good enough to be on your precious list?” Passion flared into anger, all the better to dull the pain in her heart. “I work hard at my newspaper, and I love children.”
He leaned close. “You know good and well why you’re not on the list, Sassy.”
“My name is Sarah.”
“Sassy suits you better. Truth is, you’re prettier than an Arizona sunset, but you’re too ornery for your own good, and you love that damned paper more than you’ll ever love a man. I need a woman who puts me before anything else. Hell, your husband would have to lay down on the printing press just to get your attention!”
She slapped him. Stunned at her own action, she could only stare as he raised a hand to rub his cheek.
“See what I mean?” He smiled, but the derision in his expression seemed directed more toward himself than her. “We mix like fire and oil, sassy girl. That kind of explosion makes for hot loving, but it doesn’t fit into a marriage.”
What a fool! “Good evening, Mr. Donovan. I hope you find what you’re looking for—though I can’t help but pity her.” Without waiting for a response, Sarah left him standing there in the dark.
A tale of sizzling passion in a world consumed by the Civil War.
Love and War
© 2011 by Patricia Hagan
The Coltrane Saga, Book 1
Beautiful and spirited Southerner Kitty Wright is torn between Rebel Nathan Collins and Yankee Travis Coltrane, the dashing Cavalry officer who can melt her heart with desire while sending fury coursing through her veins.
As war erupts, Kitty is abducted and ravished by a war-crazed Rebel. Rescued by Yankees, she is held captive and thrust into the battlefields to help tend the wounded. But from the first moment Travis Coltrane ignites—and satiates—the wild, raw desire in her that she never knew existed, she realizes her heart is imprisoned as well as her body.
Hating Travis for his Yankee loyalty, while loving him despite their different worlds, Kitty struggles with her guilt over Nathan, the Rebel to whom she is promised…all while struggling to survive as the world explodes around them all.
This title was originally published by Avon Books in 1978.
Warning, this sweeping Civil War saga features accurate and graphic descriptions of battlefield wounds, nursing, and the brutality of war.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Love and War
The sky was gray and overcast. Kitty Wright sat in the rocking chair in the main room of the old wooden farmhouse, staring through the window at the stark, brown field beyond. The tatting her mother insisted she labor over lay neglected in her lap. She longed to be outside, anywhere but there in that cold, dreary room, alone with her thoughts.
A sudden, sharp rapping on the door intruded upon her dreamy state. Laying aside the lace-weaving, she moved swiftly across the thin plank floor to yank the door open eagerly.
The crisp, early November air swirled her muslin skirt about her legs as she stared into the anxious face of the old black man, Jacob. Twisting a ragged straw hat in trembling hands, he bowed his graying head slightly and said, “Miss Kitty, you better find your pappy. I heard ol’ Betsy wailin’, and I peeked in the barn, and she looks ‘bout ready to drop that calf. I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout birthin’ no calf, and Fanny, she out helpin’ with Nora Brown’s sick young’uns…”
Kitty nodded, frowning. That calf was important, because it meant meat on the table one day, something they seldom had, In fact, her father was out hunting right then, because a neighbor had stopped by to report wild turkeys feeding near the river. She had even begged to go along, but her mother had reacted angrily, saying it wasn’t fitting for a young lady to take up arms and hunt like a man.
Lena Wright had ranted and raged until John Wright told Kitty they would go together another time. Since she was old enough to tag along behind him, Kitty had loved to go into the woods with her father, but she didn’t pursue the argument any further that day. She and her father both knew only too well that Lena would make their lives miserable for days on end if she were opposed. It was easier to give in.
Kitty motioned to Jacob. “You go to the barn and stay with Betsy. Let me get my shawl, and I’ll be right there.”
“Oh, no, you won’t,” the sharp voice made Kitty snap her head around to find her mother standing just behind her, face pinched with anger. “I’m not going to have you out there groveling in blood and straw like a common farmhand…”
This time, Kitty was determined not to give in to her. She brushed past, moving toward the little lean-to kitchen her father had built onto the house. Lena insisted on attempting to pattern her lifestyle after the rich plantation owners as nearly as possible, refusing to accept the fact that they were but poor dirt farmers. A separate room for cooking had been something she had nagged about until she got it.
“Katherine.” Her mother was right behind her. “Do you hear me, girl? Let Jacob see to that old cow. How do you think it would look to our neighbors? You groveling like a slave…”
Kitty pulled a worn woolen shawl around her shoulders, then turned to give her mother a defiant look. “I can deliver that calf as well, or better, than any farmhand or slave, Mother, and we can’t afford to lose that calf. Betsy is old and might not make it through the birth. Then what would we do for milk and butter this winter? Poppa will be home soon, but I’ve got to do whatever I can till he gets here.”
“Jacob can do what has to be done.” She followed her to the door, stepping back as the sudden blast of cold wind engulfed her. Kitty ran on down the rickety steps into the dirt yard.
“You let Jacob do it, I say!” Lena screamed.
Kitty turned long enough to shout back, “Jacob doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to do, Mother. He isn’t a slave, anymore. He stays because he’s our friend!”
Soaring Eagle’s Embrace
Karen Kay
Written
in the stars…
The Legendary Warriors, Book 4
Kali Wallace has no room in her busy life for marriage. Instead, she is following her father into a photography career, striving to capture the beauty of the Wild West and its vanishing Indian cultures before they both disappear forever.
Montana’s Blackfeet country is everything she could have dreamed—and more. At night a handsome man gently invades her sleep. Their nightly encounters become more and more real until one bright morning, she is startled to find everything has changed.
Lawyer by profession, Blackfeet by blood, Clay Soaring Eagle is determined to do everything in his power—legally and spiritually—to save his people’s way of life. He trusts no one of the white race, and hopes that once Kali’s task is done, she will leave and take temptation with her.
The spirits have their own plan. As their passion burns with a brightness that rivals the stars, Clay and Kali are aware that it can never last…unless they find a way to make their two worlds come together as one.
This book has been previously published.
Warning: Contains soul-stirring dreams, passionate unions, and a mountain-top quest that will leave you hungry to see these two lovers get their happily ever after.
eBooks are not transferable.
They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B
Cincinnati OH 45249
Soaring Eagle’s Embrace
Copyright © 2012 by Karen Kay
ISBN: 978-1-60928-979-9
Edited by Sasha Knight
Cover by Angela Waters
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Original Copyright: June 2003
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: August 2012
www.samhainpublishing.com
