Highland Illusion

Since the day his father strung him out as bait for being a tainted magical being, Lance Sheppard has vowed to never use his illusion to harm, thereby proving dear old demented dad wrong. Yet here he is in the middle of a colony of vampires, his magic drawn out and at the ready to strike.

His mission: Convince the largest vampire colony left on earth to join the humans in their fight for survival.  Not to get sidelined by a beautiful headstrong vampire.

Or become another vamp's diversionary plaything. 


How could it all have gone so wrong so fast?

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Guys, I gotta tell ya: Out of all the Highland Sorcery novels this one is a little different than the rest.

First, it's less action and more relationship building than how I tend to write. I love action. About 90 percent of this book takes place in the same building. The Same Building!

Also for a little switch-up, the hero tends to be the damsel-in-distress more so than the heroine. But he's the only human in the midst of a colony of vampires who are all stronger, older, and predatory. Plus there is no hiding anything he is feeling. The heroine--vampire, also stronger and older than him--can sense every nuance of what's going on internally with him so when he's feelin it for her, there's no hiding where the drop in his blood pressure has gone to. 

I also go into religion more in this one. I couldn't help it. In the previous book Highland Son where Lance was first introduced, he is the son of a religious fanatic who preaches that anything with magic is as evil as the monsters running around eating people. Well guess what, Dad? Lance has magic. He can cast illusions, the same illusions that have been saving your butt. So dad tries to kill him. Try coming out of that with an intact love of God and religion. I don't think so.

So who does he become attracted to? A Christian vampire. Yup.

All that said, my editor didn't have any major rewrites for me. Must have been all the focus on romance. She did have a great line for me when I misspelled "monster plague". Mac wrote: "plague (not plaque, though oral hygiene might be important to vampires). Love her. 

Anyhoo, here's a short excerpt from the latest installment of the Highland Sorcery series: 

Lance caught her wrist. “My trousers?”

“Are ruined. I had to cut them off.”

So it had been her. Heat prickled beneath his skin. The image of her…and him…her capable hands… He willed his libido to settle. Not an easy thing with her so close, so— He hitched the blanket tighter around him and chuffed out, “Lance.”

Celestine's brows drew down.

“My name. Since you’ve undressed me, you should at least know my name.”

“Oh.” She seemed a little startled by that, especially since her assessing glance revealed she knew exactly what his body had been focused on instead of his name. “Lance. It’s a nice name.”

“Thank you.” He fished out his cockiest grin to put them back on equal footing.

Which she must have picked up on for she lobbed out one better. “Do not worry, ma petit, your virtue was safe with me.”

That teasing sultry tone nearly destroyed him. So much for equal footing. The blanket around him was suddenly too heavy, too confining. Hell, her clothes were too confining. “Don’t you worry about that, sweetheart. I’m just put out that I wasn’t awake to enjoy it.”

“Hmmm.” She leaned close, smooth cheek sliding against day-old whiskers to whisper near his ear. Her breath was cool, slightly damp. “I enjoyed it enough for us both.”

The groan he emitted came from a place deep down in his abdomen, laced with desire and need, cresting on a rush of adrenaline. Wounded leg? What wounded leg?

Smiling wickedly, Celestine whisked away and began searching through her dresser drawers as though she hadn’t just ramped up his blood to the point of boiling. She thrust a shirt and pair of pants toward him.

Damn, she was something. His grin left half-formed. “I’m not wearing women britches.”

And because I'm in such a good mood to have this book released, I'm giving 3 commenters their choice of one of my ebooks. So get chatting my friends!!!

Hmmm, maybe a topic...If you could travel through time, would you go to the past or the future?