Straight Browsing from the Library: Daughter of Light by Eileen Dreyer

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Eileen Dreyer will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

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He’s had enough…

Harry Wyatt, Earl of Hartley has enough problems trying to keep his estate solvent. What he does not need is yet another lost child showing up on his land looking for the Hartley Fairy Diamond made famous by a recent film. A fairy diamond that is no more than myth handed down by delusional ancestors and responsible for the perilous state of his finances. And yet there is something about this latest visitor, something beside her delicate beauty and troubling familiarity. Something that is compelling him to go against everything he believes to help her. To want her.

She’s on a quest…

Sorcha, daughter of Mab Queen of Fairies is on a quest. Dropped into a cold, alien world, it is her task to recover the great fairy stone that has been lost to the land of mortals, a stone whose absence has upended the balance of nature. If she doesn’t get the stone back, spring will not come. But there is a handsome mortal standing in her way. A mortal she is drawn to like no other man, fairy or mortal. A mortal who claims he doesn’t believe in her, but whose memories and fears say otherwise. A mortal with green fairy eyes. A mortal she could love, if only he weren’t mortal and she fairy.

Note: This title was previously published as Dark Seduction

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Harry saw the confusion in the young woman’s eyes and huffed in frustration. It wasn’t enough that he had another of those damn movie freaks wandering his property. He had one who thought she was actually participating in the film, like a fairy version of a Renaissance Fair. Reality? What is reality? No, no, I’d prefer to live in a fantasy world like the people in the movie.

Well, damn the movie. He wasn’t putting up with it a moment more. Not even when he still couldn’t quite pull himself away from the heart-stopping kiss they’d just shared. All right, then. The kiss he’d just taken.

It hadn’t meant a thing. Surprise. Sudden human contact out on the edge of the moors. A hit on the head. God knows he’d bounced enough down that bloody hill. He’d been stunned. Nothing more. Nothing.

“Did you say it’s, what? Winter?” she asked, looking around.

Bloody hell

He sighed. “Yes. For another four months.”

She stood there, wide-eyed and silent, the rain dripping off those blond curls. Then she looked around. “This is what it looks like without spring?”

She sounded absolutely lost. How could that hurt him? He was probably coming down with pneumonia and already delirious.

“November comes every year, lass,” he said, pulling off his jacket and wrapping the shivering girl in it. “Right on schedule.”

“But spring won’t come,” she said back. “Not unless I recover the Stone.”

That brought him to a dead stop. “Don’t,” he growled, finger in her face. “There is no stone. No fairy diamond. It was a movie, damn it! And no bloody fairies! Fairies don't exist. They never existed, damn it!”

“But of course they do,” she assured him in the most musical voice he’d ever heard as she stood there letting him drape her in his oversize coat. And then, bloody hell if she didn’t smile as if she’d just discovered gold. “Aren’t you the living proof of it, now?”

It was his eyes, green like spring grass in sunlight. Fairy eyes.

MEET THE AUTHOR

New York Times bestselling author and RWA Hall of Fame member Eileen Dreyer and her evil twin Kathleen Korbel have published over forty novels and novellas, and ten short stories in genres ranging from medical suspense to paranormal to romance. She is thrilled to have joined Oliver Heber Books to continue her Drake’s Rakes series about Regency aristocrats who are willing to sacrifice everything to keep their country safe, of which Ill Met by Moonlight is a near relative.

A former trauma nurse, Eileen lives in St. Louis with her husband, children and large and noisy Irish family, of which she is the reluctant matriarch. A seasoned conference speaker, Dreyer travels to research, and uses research as an excuse to travel. Oh, who's she kidding? She doesn't need an excuse. She has the Irish wanderlust and satisfies it as often as she can to the point that she has sung traditional Irish music on four continents. She also had the incredible chance to research Drake’s Rakes by attending the 200th anniversary of not only the Battle of Waterloo, but the Duchess of Richmond ball (in period attire). She has animals, but refuses to subject them to the limelight.

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Straight Browsing from the Library: Daughter of Lore by Eileen Dreyer

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Eileen Dreyer will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

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He doesn’t believe...

Zeke Kendall doesn’t believe in fairies. He’s a scientist; an anthropologist who has spent the last ten years digging in the harsh deserts of the American Southwest. But things look a lot different in the soft green shadows of Ireland. There it is easier to believe that magic exists, especially when Zeke tumbles off a fairy mound and ends up in the arms of the beautiful Nuala, who seems to know everything about him. When she tells him she is a fairy, he actually wants to believe it, even as he knows better.

She can’t believe...

Nuala is daughter of Mab, Queen of Fairies. She has grown up in the twilightland of the fae, fiercely loyal and loving to her people. But she has also been in love with Zeke Kendall ever since she first saw him in her scrying water as a child. To now have him so close is both joy and torture.

For she is the heir to the great crown of the Tuatha de Danann fairy clan. She has no place in Zeke’s world. And he, a man drawn in the sharp edges of his deserts, has no place in hers. Even as passion rises and the love she’d only dreamed of blossoms into reality, Nuala knows that a future for them is impossible. And yet, she can’t find a way to send him back to his own world.

Note: This title was previously published as Dark Seduction

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It was an impulse he couldn’t seem to control. It wasn’t a mountain. Not a bell tower from whose ramparts entire vistas could be viewed. Hell, it wasn’t even a good steep climb. It was just a big pile of loose rocks allegedly collected by the fairies. Even so, Zeke seemed to be suddenly afflicted by the age-old impulse to be King of the Hill. He wanted to stand on top.

There was mist against his face. Salt in the air that crept in from the ocean. Zeke climbed carefully, knowing that although the whole structure was solid, each rock was loose and an invitation to fall butt-first back to the ground.

He was holding his breath. How odd. It was as if, even with the sounds and smells and tastes around him, the world was holding absolutely still. Had stopped spinning on its daily axis just to watch Zeke Kendall climb a fairy hill.

He reached the top just after the sun set. The western sky was a gaudy red that faded to the purple of fuchsia closer to the sea.

Suddenly he caught sight of her. A flash of color, a waterfall of laughter, a scent of cloves and gorse. Not even thinking where he was, only that he had to catch her this time, Zeke spun on his heel. He saw her skip into the deep shadow. He yelled out to her.

He thought she called back. “No!” was what he thought he heard. But that couldn’t be right. So he called to her again.

He didn’t realize that from below him, his cries sounded like those of a man falling. His attention caught by a flash of peacock green in the shadows, Zeke lost his balance and went off the side of the cairn headfirst. He bounced forty feet straight down.

For a moment there was the startled cry of disturbed birds, the crash and rumble of a body falling. The sudden, stricken silence that inevitably followed.

But Zeke didn’t know. He didn’t know, because he was looking up into the most beautiful green eyes he’d ever seen.

He couldn’t take his gaze away from those grass-sweet eyes. “Don’t I know you?”

“You must get up, Zeke,” she said, leaning over him, her eyes anxious and her hands silken-soft as she patted at his cheek. “You have to get away before the queen sees you. It’s your only chance.”

“The queen?” he asked, smiling. Not feeling anything at all but the brush of her satiny fingers against his face.

She reached under his shoulders, trying to push him up. “The queen of fairies.”

“Sounds fun.”

Odd, how she shifted, her colors darkening, her eyes growing almost wild. “No!” she begged, pushing him, harrying him. “You don’t know what you ask. She’ll destroy you.”

But Zeke couldn’t move. “I’d rather sleep, I think. And oh, I should probably tell you...” Already his eyes were closing against the gentle pressure of those wonderful fingers. “I don’t believe in fairies.”

Her voice was so soft it was like a thought in his head. A thought so suddenly dark, he shivered, even lying in her silken arms. “It doesn’t matter,” came her voice, sounding suddenly sad. “They believe in you.”

MEET THE AUTHOR

New York Times bestselling author and RWA Hall of Fame member Eileen Dreyer and her evil twin Kathleen Korbel have published over forty novels and novellas, and ten short stories in genres ranging from medical suspense to paranormal to romance. She is thrilled to have joined Oliver Heber Books to continue her Drake’s Rakes series about Regency aristocrats who are willing to sacrifice everything to keep their country safe, of which Ill Met by Moonlight is a near relative.

A former trauma nurse, Eileen lives in St. Louis with her husband, children and large and noisy Irish family, of which she is the reluctant matriarch. A seasoned conference speaker, Dreyer travels to research, and uses research as an excuse to travel. Oh, who's she kidding? She doesn't need an excuse. She has the Irish wanderlust and satisfies it as often as she can to the point that she has sung traditional Irish music on four continents. She also had the incredible chance to research Drake’s Rakes by attending the 200th anniversary of not only the Battle of Waterloo, but the Duchess of Richmond ball (in period attire). She has animals, but refuses to subject them to the limelight.

Website
Facebook

Amazon

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Straight Browsing from the Library: Head Games by Eileen Dreyer

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Eileen Dreyer will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

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She's seen it all, until…Head Games, a Medical Thriller from Eileen Dreyer —St. Louis, Missouri-Present Day—

St. Louis death investigator and trauma nurse Molly Burke has seen just about everything, until gifts begin showing up on her doorstep—gifts like human eyes and painted bones—the signature of a twisted serial killer.

Complicating the dangerous situation, Molly’s 16-year-old nephew unexpectedly shows up on her doorstep, with problems of his own.

Now, Molly must balance the investigation into the mind of a monster, who’s taking her back to the worst years of her life, while launching a rescue mission for her nephew. The question is, will she survive either?

Publisher’s Note: No one writes medical thrillers better than former Trauma Nurse, Eileen Dreyer. This tight medical thriller contains profanity consistent with the salty speech of crime investigators and does NOT contain sexual content.

“A tensely plotted thriller that compels the reader to the last shocking page…Dreyer deftly displays her droll sense of humor while spinning a tale of taut terror…complex, riveting, funny, and compelling.” ~The Denver Post

“Nearly flawless. The dialogue is witty, yet shot through with verisimilitude. The insights into hospitals, medical examiners’ offices, police departments, and the military are stunning.” ~St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Molly Burke was going to die because of a clown.

And not just any clown. An alien clown. With AIDS.

She really had to quit. It was all she could think as she lay splayed out on the floor of Trauma Room Six with a screaming, two-hundred-pound psychotic sitting on her chest.

"Clowns!" the woman howled from above her, spittle flying across Molly's face like a lawn sprinkler. She was leaning so close Molly couldn't possibly miss the glitter of fresh blood on the butcher knife her new patient wielded in her face. "Big clowns!"

If it hadn't been her own blood Molly was looking at on that monstrous knife, this whole thing would have been really funny. It would be later, she decided, when she told it over drinks at the local watering hole. She'd make sure it sounded funny.

Then she'd come back into work and quit.

If she lasted that long.

She was just getting too old for trauma. Her reflexes had failed her. And without her reflexes, a trauma center was the last place Molly should be working. Especially when she couldn't spot a perfect ten on the crazy meter until it was too late.

"Big clowns with red noses."

Triage had announced a new patient to room six. Shortness of breath and chest pain. Twenty-nine-year-old female. Well, the twenty-nine-year-old female had been short of breath, all right. She'd been short of breath because she'd been holding it. Against contamination from those ADDS-infected clowns—to whom Molly evidently bore a striking resemblance. By the time Molly had caught on to the urgency of the problem, she'd been flat on her back on the floor being held down by a betrayed paranoid schizophrenic in full cry.

With a knife.

"They want the Water Child," the woman intoned in a high, eerie voice as she rocked back and forth on Molly's much-abused sternum. "They want to kidnap him and give him AIDS. They told me."

"The Water Child?" Molly managed on a gasp and a wriggle. Maybe if she could just dislodge that massive knee from her neck...

"Yes-s-s-s-s," the woman hissed, sounding distressingly like Gollum. "Didn't you see them? They're waiting for him."

"I didn't... see anybody. Maybe if I could look."

She was beginning to lose brain cells here. She had to get to the panic button on the wall so she could sound the alarm for the cavalry. She had to figure out what the Water Child was so she could climb inside the delusion and herd this crazy woman into a safety net.

She had to get her butt off this terrazzo floor before her pelvis shattered like an eggshell.

"Please," she begged. "Let me help you."

The patient stared at her. "All right."

And then, as precisely as a debutante, she simply rose to her feet. Molly sucked in her first breath in about ten minutes and scrambled up after her.

"Thank you," she rasped. "Now I can help you look."

That was when she saw the blood on the floor. Clots of it. Right beneath the patient, who Molly now realized was wearing a grimy, full-length oversize raincoat and galoshes, the kind of schizophrenic uniform that made Molly really nervous. Even without the knife.

And then Molly heard the mewling, like a kitten. From one of the big, saggy pockets.

Great, she thought. Knives and animals. All they needed was a few candles and they'd have a scene from Rosemary's Baby.

"Now then," Molly said in a calm, supportive voice. "Clowns, right? We're looking for clowns? How 'bout if I check the hallway?"

"No. Help me offer up the Water Child. He's the protection... his gift will end the AIDS...."

His gift. His gift.

And Molly, shaky and sweaty with adrenaline, couldn't think straight enough to decipher the code.

"What's your name?" she asked gently, taking another small step toward the wall and that big red panic button.

The woman stiffened. "Why, Water Mother, of course."

"Of course..."

Water Mother.

Molly stumbled to a halt. She looked down at the blood. She heard that curious mewling sound again. She finally put the pieces together.

"Holy shit..."

The clowns might have been a delusion. The Water Child wasn't. The Water Child that crazy bitch was about to sacrifice with her big, bloody knife. And she was already reaching into the pocket of that raincoat.

MEET THE AUTHOR

New York Times Bestselling, award-winning author Eileen Dreyer has published 40 novels and 10 short stories under her name and that of her evil twin, Kathleen Korbel in contemporary romance, paranormal romance, historical romance, romantic suspense, mystery and medical forensic suspense. A proud member of RWA's Hall of FAME, she also has numerous awards from RT BookLovers and an Anthony nomination for mystery. She is now focusing on what she calls historic romantic adventure in her DRAKE'S RAKES series. A native of St. Louis, she still lives there with her family. She has animals but refuses to subject them to the limelight.

http://eileendreyer.com/
https://www.facebook.com/EileenDreyer
https://twitter.com/eileendreyer
https://www.instagram.com/eileendreyerauthor/
http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/19012.Eileen_Dreyer
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/eileen-dreyer

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Head-Games-Thriller-Eileen-Dreyer-ebook/dp/B08BX7B4YF/
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/head-games-eileen-dreyer/1137244643
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/head-games-28
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/head-games/id1520717910

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Straight Browsing from the Library: Miss Felicity's Dilemma by Eileen Dreyer

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

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ALL SHE WANTS IS HER OWN HOME

Miss Felicity Chambers is the new teacher of piano and deportment at Miss Manville’s Academy for Superior Girls. There is no reason a duke should contact her. There is certainly no reason she should marry his son. But that is evidently what the duke wants. Felicity should be delighted. But the orphaned schoolteacher has long since stopped believing in fairy tales. If only the duke’s son weren’t so compelling…

ALL HE WANTS IS THIS HOME

Lord Flint Bracken knows just what is behind the duke’s command, and it isn’t an attempt to secure a happily-ever-after for his son. The proposal is one of the duke’s schemes. Flint has no choice but to cooperate, though, or he risks more than his home. He risks national security. So court a penniless schoolteacher he must. He should be furious. But Felicity Chambers isn’t at all what he expected. She might very well be what he wants…

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It wasn't until she heard the door close that she breathed a sigh of relief. Time to escape from under the bed.

“Aren’t you growing cramped under there?” Lord Flint suddenly asked.

Felicity’s eyes flew open to find an upside-down face where the boots had been. Her heart dropped like a stone.

“Not at all,” she said, proud at how composed she sounded. “I am quite petite. But you really should have someone sweep under here. The dust balls are the size of wolfhounds.”

He reached a hand under the bed. For a moment Felicity just stared at it, unable to move. Even in the shadows it was a beautiful hand, with long, elegant fingers and a strong wrist. And she noticed beautiful hands. She was also, after all, the substitute art teacher for Miss Manners Academy for Superior Girls.

“I'm getting a crick in my neck,” Lord Flint growled, wiggling his fingers.

Felicity gave up and took hold. And gasped. It felt as if she'd been rubbing her stockinged feet on the carpet on a cold winter’s day and gotten a shock. She had heard of such a thing, of course, in every Minerva Press novel she had ever secreted under her pillow. But she had always thought it a literary device. A myth.

That was no myth tingling up her arm.

Before she had a chance to do more than stare at the offending member, Lord Flint grasped her tightly and pulled her out from under the bed. She came out in a tangle of arms and legs, dragging dust after her.

How mortifying, she thought, brushing madly at her sensible gray kerseymere skirts.

“Er....”

She looked up and forgot what she was going to say. She forgot her name.

He was beautiful. Tall and lean and russet-haired, with eyes the color of spring leaves and a humorous cant to his mouth. Chiseled features, square shoulders, slim hips. Hard and sharp as quartz.

Suddenly his name wasn’t so funny.

MEET THE AUTHOR

New York Times Bestselling, award-winning author Eileen Dreyer has published 40 novels and 10 short stories under her name and that of her evil twin, Kathleen Korbel in contemporary romance, paranormal romance, historical romance, romantic suspense, mystery and medical forensic suspense. A proud member of RWA's Hall of FAME, she also has numerous awards from RT BookLovers and an Anthony nomination for mystery. She is now focusing on what she calls historic romantic adventure in her DRAKE'S RAKES series. A native of St. Louis, she still lives there with her family. She has animals but refuses to subject them to the limelight.

http://eileendreyer.com/
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/eileen-dreyer
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19012.Eileen_Dreyer
https://www.amazon.com/Eileen-Dreyer/e/B000AQ3F2O/
https://www.facebook.com/EileenDreyer/
https://twitter.com/eileendreyer?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/eileendreyerauthor/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Miss-Felicitys-Dilemma-Drakes-Rakes-ebook/dp/B07WWJSFJW
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/miss-felicitys-dilemma-eileen-dreyer/1133345594?ean=2940163616749
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/miss-felicity-s-dilemma
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/miss-felicitys-dilemma/id1478890709

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Straight Browsing from the Library: Some Men's Dreams by Eileen Dreyer

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Eileen Dreyer will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

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SHE HAS NO TIME FOR LOVE

Dr. Gen Kendall has paid too high a price to let anything get in the way of her dream. In one month she’ll be a full-fledged doctor. She just has to impress her chief of staff, Dr. Jack O’Neill. She impresses him, all right. With one swing of a softball bat she puts him in his own hospital and changes both of their lives forever.

HE HAS NO TASTE FOR LOVE

A widower with a 12-year-old daughter, Jack hopes this move to Chicago will signal a new life for them both. He doesn’t plan on finding himself literally at the feet of one of the most compelling women he’s ever known. He certainly doesn’t expect her to turn his life upside down when she recognizes something in his daughter that could well break his heart. Is love enough to see them through, especially when it means that not just Jack but Gen must face the ghosts of their pasts to save his little girl?

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“You look like hell.”

Gen couldn’t help but laugh. “I hope you don’t expect me to say you look any better.”

She was glad when he closed his eyes. He wouldn’t see her rub her hands along her pants to wipe off the sudden perspiration. He wouldn’t be close enough to hear the sudden staccato of her heart.

Good grief, she thought. He looks like day-old hamburger, and I’m about to swoon. Her hands were tingling all the way to her elbows, and she had done nothing more than push him back into bed. She wanted his teasing. She wanted, ridiculously enough, to settle herself on the side of his bed and just enjoy his company.

A man who was recovering from a head injury. The man she’d single-handedly put in the ICU.

About the Author:

New York Times bestselling, RWA Hall of Fame author Eileen Dreyer has published 31 romance novels in most genres, 8 medical­forensic suspenses, and 10 short stories.

2018 sees Eileen enjoying critical acclaim for her foray into historical romance, the Drake’s Rakes series, which Eileen labels as Regency Romantic Adventure that follows a group of Regency aristocrats who are willing to sacrifice everything to keep their country safe. She is also working on her first non­fiction book, TRAVELS WITH DAVE, about a journey she's been taking with a friend's ashes.

A retired trauma nurse, Eileen lives in her native St. Louis with her husband, children, and large and noisy Irish family, of which she is the reluctant matriarch. She has animals but refuses to subject them to the limelight.

Website -- http://eileendreyer.com
Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/EileenDreyer
Twitter -- https://twitter.com/eileendreyer

Buy Links:

Amazon https://goo.gl/WT5QfF
Nook https://goo.gl/UU7oyD
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iBooks https://goo.gl/bALN6z

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Straight from the Library: A Walk on the Wild Side by Eileen Dreyer writing as Kathleen Korbel

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Eileen will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly chosen winner via Rafflecopter. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour and more chances to win.

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J.P. O’Neill is in the fight of his life. A legendary agent with the DEA, he’s uncovered a conspiracy in his own agency. The only problem is he’s been arrested for the murder of his partner. If he goes to jail, he dies.

There’s only one solution—escape. The only way to do that is to kidnap his defense attorney. Lauren Taylor is a high-priced attorney doing a favor for a friend. Suddenly she finds herself on the run with the most dangerous man she’s ever met. Will she survive with her heart intact?

“Ms. Korbel generates an incredible chemistry between her two immensely appealing lovers that will set your heart on fire.” ~ RT Booklovers

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The room looked tired, heavy under the weight of what it had witnessed. Lauren knew the feeling.

“The chances for bail aren’t very good,” she admitted honestly, eyes back on the file as if memorizing the words she’d already studied. “They have a witness who claims to have seen you shoot Robert Carson—” “I did shoot him.”

She was forced to look up at him again. “Pardon?”

He shrugged, those eyes suddenly, briefly as bleak as death. “My old mother always told me to take responsibility for my actions. Bobby was my partner, so I owe him that much.”

Honor. She wasn’t sure she was ready for that. Lauren realized that her chest was beginning to ache. She wanted to comfort this man, and it frightened her. She nudged her glasses back up onto her nose and clutched her pen as if it were a weapon of self-defense.

“Why did you shoot him?”

The smile she got was as dark as those eyes. Even, strong teeth flashed white beneath the bedraggled mustache. “Because he was going to shoot me, of course.”

Lauren took a look at her reports. “But there was no gun found.”

“Of course not. The last thing they need is to have me sounding legitimate. Which is also why that packet of crack flipped out on the ground when the police were turning out my pockets. It had been planted. Nothing like a dirty narc to turn on his best friend, after all.” Which brought Lauren back to the call she’d received just as she’d been gathering up her briefcase. She set down her pen. She laid her hands on the table and faced her client. And she asked him the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. “Are you a dirty narc?”

This time his smile was wild and delighted. His eyes crackled with a kind of mad glee that had no place in this dingy room. “If I were a dirty narc,” he assured her, “I sure as hell wouldn’t be dressed like this.’’

She nodded. More than that would have been superfluous. Mr. O’Neill went back to mutilating his coffee cup. His eyes were red-rimmed, his manner tense and unpredictable. He was millimeters from taking flight, his long legs almost twitching with the effort to remain still. On almost anyone else, Lauren would have suspected drugs. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t want to think that about this man.

“They,” she echoed his statement. “They who?”

That was what broke his patience. He launched from his chair as if he’d been spring-loaded. Lauren almost flinched, not sure what he had in mind. Wondering not for the first time how close at hand help was.

But he wasn’t focused on her. Hands shoved into the pockets of his battered old peacoat, head down, he paced.

Lauren fought the urge to check her watch. Her stomach was grumbling. She was supposed to meet Phil for dinner tonight. She was going to get there right about the dessert course if this kept up, and she was going to need more than dessert to see her through. Lauren’s stomach was a notorious dictator, and even Mr. O’Neill’s story wasn’t going to quiet its demands.

“Mr. O’Neill.”

His head shot up. He slid to a stop by the door. “J.P.,” he allowed with a quick grin that was actually charming. “I haven’t been called Mr. O’Neill since Sister Roch caught me smoking in the boy’s room in eighth grade.”

Lauren scowled, trying her best not to give in to the urge to smile back. “I’ll bet. Who are ‘they’? Did ‘they’ do that to you?” she asked, pointing to what looked like a new abrasion along his right cheekbone.

“No.” He smiled. “That was nothing more than a quick etiquette lesson by the arresting officers.”

Lauren stiffened. She was hardly a neophyte in the ways of police, but it didn’t make her any happier. “Did you provoke it?”

“Of course. I was found standing over a dead federal agent with a gun in my hand. They had every right to object.”

MEET THE AUTHOR

New York Times bestselling, RWA Hall of Fame author Eileen Dreyer has published 31 romance novels in most genres, 8 medical­forensic suspenses, and 10 short stories.

2015 sees Eileen enjoying critical acclaim for her foray into historical romance, the Drake’s Rakes series, which Eileen labels as Regency Romantic Adventure that follows a group of Regency aristocrats who are willing to sacrifice everything to keep their country safe. She is also working on her first non­fiction book, TRAVELS WITH DAVE, about a journey she's been taking with a friend's ashes.

A retired trauma nurse, Eileen lives in her native St. Louis with her husband, children, and a large and noisy Irish family, of which she is the reluctant matriarch. She has animals but refuses to subject them to the limelight.

Website: http://eileendreyer.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EileenDreyer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/eileendreyer

Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Walk-Wild-Side-Korbel-Classics-ebook/dp/B079Y9PB9D/ref=sr_1_1
BN buy link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-walk-on-the-wild-side-eileen-dreyer/1127971511

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