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The Priest

Page 25

by Rowan McAllister


  But harmony has no value if it is easily won, and a crazed gunman and volatile ex might be their end if Jay and Adam can’t learn to trust the strength of their bond.

  Can a pickup line from a stranger completely change the way an ordinary man sees himself?

  Adrian wouldn’t have thought so, but after an ugly breakup where his self-esteem took a serious beating, he’s willing to try just about anything to repair the damage… even return to a secluded bar in rural Maryland and the intriguing stranger whose words have been on his mind since they met.

  Biker, bouncer, bartender, and tattoo artist, Wyatt is a rolling stone. After fifteen years, he is tired of a life on the run, but he isn’t sure he knows how to do anything else or if he has anything besides a physical relationship to offer.

  What’s supposed to be a one-off turns into another and another, and the relationship looks promising until the mob and the FBI come knocking on Adrian’s door.

  Though born into wealth and privilege, Jordan Thorndike can’t keep pretending. He’s never going to become the lawyer his parents hope for… or provide the daughter-in-law and two-point-four grandkids they expect. Faced with an ultimatum—carry on living the lie or get out—Jordan leaves with only what he can pack in his BMW.

  Homeless, jobless, directionless, Jordan heads to one of his mother’s pet charities: Better the Second Time Around Rescue ranch. With his family name and charm, he has the staff eating out of his hand in no time—except for one man.

  Russ has never been handed anything, and he resents the spoiled rich brat using the ranch to live out a fantasy. Though Jordan is determined to prove himself to Russ through hard work, family and old wounds complicate matters. Will Jordan realize that what he sees as an escape is real life for most people? And can Russ accept that Jordan can grow—and that he wants him?

  In Victorian London, during a prolonged and pernicious fog, fantasy and reality are about to collide—at least in one man’s troubled mind.

  A childhood fever left Arthur Middleton, Viscount Campden, seeing and hearing things no one else does, afraid of the world outside, and unable to function as a true peer of the realm. To protect him from himself—and to protect others from him—he spends his days heavily medicated and locked in his rooms, and his nights in darkness and solitude, tormented by visions, until a stranger appears.

  This apparition is different. Fox says he’s a thief and not an entirely good sort of man, yet he returns night after night to ease Arthur’s loneliness without asking for anything in return. Fox might be the key that sets Arthur free, or he might deliver the final blow to Arthur’s tenuous grasp on sanity. Either way, real or imaginary, Arthur needs him too much to care.

  Fox is only one of the many secrets and specters haunting Campden House, and Arthur will have to face them all in order to live the life of his dreams.

  Readers love The Wanderer by Rowan McAllister

  “A riveting story and wonderful characters make this book an excellent fantasy read.”

  —Joyfully Jay

  “…an excellent action/adventure in an exotic setting, and I enjoyed it from beginning to end.”

  —Rainbow Book Reviews

  “It was an absolutely lovely fantasy story and if we are lucky a wonderful indicator of what we will have in store as the story progresses.”

  —Love Bytes

  “Long story short, I absolutely loved The Wanderer and I can’t wait for part two.”

  —Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

  “The Wanderer takes us on the beginning of a journey into a world we have never experienced before. It is a beautiful beginning to a series I eagerly await to see unfold.”

  —The Novel Approach

  ROWAN MCALLISTER is an unapologetically romantic jack-of-all-trades and a sucker for good food, good cocktails, rich fibers, a great beat, and anything else that indulges the senses. In addition to a continuing love affair with words, she likes to play with textiles, metal, wood, stone, and whatever other interesting scraps of life she can get her hands on. She lives in the woods on the very edge of suburbia—where civilization drops off and nature takes over—sharing her home with her patient, loving, and grounded husband, her three rescues, and a whole lot of books, booze, and fabric. Her chosen family is made up of a madcap collection of people as diverse as her interests, all of whom act as her muses in so many ways, and she would be lost without them. Whether her stories have a historical, fantasy, or contemporary setting, they always feature characters who still believe in true love, happy endings, and the oft-underappreciated value of sarcasm.

  Email: rowanmcallister10@gmail.com

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/rowanmcallister10

  Twitter: @RowanMcallister

  By Rowan McAllister

  Cherries on Top

  Feels Like Home

  Green the Whole Year ’Round

  Hot Mess

  Lost in the Outcome

  My Only Sunshine

  Power Bottom?

  A Promise of Tomorrow

  The Second Time Around

  We Met in Dreams

  CHRONICLES OF THE RIFTLANDS

  The Wanderer

  The Priest

  A DEVIL’S OWN LUCK

  A Devil’s Own Luck

  Never a Road Without a Turning

  ELEMENTAL HARMONY

  Air and Earth

  Water and Fire

  Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  Published by

  DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The Priest

  © 2019 Rowan McAllister

  Cover Art

  © 2019 Paul Richmond

  http://www.paulrichmondstudio.com

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.

  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64405-534-2

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-533-5

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2019903597

  Digital published September 2019

  v. 1.0

  Printed in the United States of America

 

 

 


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