Happy Thursday GLIAS friends! I have a treat for
you today. Wonderful author (and my good friend and critique partner) Nancy
Holland, a several-time GLIAS guest, has a super special release today and
she’s agreed to come back again and share an excerpt with you. It’s not every
day an author gets to publish the book of her heart-but when you read THALGOR’S
WITCH (from Tule Press) you’ll see why this is one of those “heart books” that
was chosen for publication!
Give a big GLIAS welcome back to Nancy Holland!
THALGOR’S WITCH--BLURB
In a land of perpetual war and wandering, warrior
Thalgor not only leads his people in battle, but keeps the hope alive that someday
his displaced tribe can rebuild the kingdom that was lost to the treachery
between witches and men. When he captures a beautiful witch, he knows he cannot
trust her. But to succeed in his quest to find a new home and prevail over his
enemies, he also knows he needs her.
Erwyn might be a slave and feared for her powers and precognition,
but she doesn’t cower when confronted by the feared warrior. Nor does she act
as expected. Thalgor’s kindness confuses her. His flashes of humor confound
her. And the reaction he ignites in her body creates a longing that she cannot
deny.
Neither anticipated falling in love. The stakes are high, but when
Thalgor is mortally wounded, Erwyn realizes she must she must accept help from an unlikely source to save him.
HERE'S AN
EXCERPT FROM THALGOR’S WITCH
[Erwyn
has let Thalgor think her younger sister is her daughter. He asks her why.]
“I
thought motherhood might protect me.”
She smelled the leather of his
breastplate, the subtle aroma of maleness that surrounded him. She smelled and
savored, and hated herself for that as well.
“Protect you from what?”
She pulled free and sat back on the
rock. “From you.”
He walked away and stood with his
back to her.
“You know I cannot take you by force.”
“I did not want you even to think of
me that way.”
He gave a low laugh. “As if I would
take captive a witch and her child if I did not think of her that way.”
“But I have been useful to you.”
“Very useful,” he acknowledged,
turning back toward her. “But I am not certain it has been worth the trouble
you cause.”
“The trouble I cause?” She stood to
face him. “I made an enemy of Batte, I know. But you can handle Batte.
Otherwise I see no trouble I have caused you.”
He took her by the shoulders.
The
delicate trembling in her body began again. The moon behind him shadowed his
face so she saw only the movement of his head as he lowered it toward hers.
“No.” She pushed him away and fled
back to the camp.
Thalgor sat on the rock Erwyn had
abandoned and laughed.
Not caused him trouble! The witch
had done nothing else since he first set eyes on her.
She only troubled his body at first.
So badly he could scarcely think of anything else, could scarcely sleep, could
scarcely look at her without being awash in lust.
The lust had finally overwhelmed all
that was sacred to him, even the memory of his mother’s suffering. His need to
take doubled by the battle lust that day, he’d carried her off to the woods
with every intention of breaking the only vow he ever took.
But she had been so vulnerable, so
empty not only of her power, but almost of herself. Empty because she worked to
save his wounded men, warriors who would not have been wounded if he’d listened
to her warning.
The need to take had died when she fell
asleep in his arms. In its place had grown something he could not name at
first, but now knew was tenderness. A strange and unexpected thing, that
tenderness.
Not that the lust went away. Once
the witch was whole again, it returned double. And grew each day.
So
he avoided her when he could and cursed his weakness for her when he couldn’t.
Tonight
she had confided in him, allowed herself to weep, and he thought perhaps…
She had never been with a man, he
realized with a sudden certainty.
His
body was swept with waves of lust, tenderness, and a need to protect that
fragile body with its great powers.
The Sea Witches gathered their
strength from the sea and from their total devotion. She could not become one
of them if she surrendered to her desire for him.
He never doubted her desire. He had
witch blood enough to see it in her eyes, smell it in the air around her, feel
it in her touch. That would have to be enough. For now.
Rygar waited when he reached the
edge of the camp.
“Trouble?” Thalgor’s hand went to
his sword.
The younger man shook his head.
“Erwyn left the camp. You followed her. She returned alone. I came to make sure
she didn’t turn you into a toad.”
THALGOR’S
WITCH is available now! Here’s how to find it:
Check out Nancy’s fun and engaging contemporaries, too!
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Welcome, Nancy! Thanks so much for coming and sharing "Thalgor's Witch" with us. I'm so excited for this book!!
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt, thank you.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Nancy! I'm really looking forward to reading this!
ReplyDelete