THE STRANGER I WED Excerpt They were here to watch a football game. “I’m afraid the match has already begun, but we’ll be able to see enough to judge their sportsmanship. I know that’s not on your list, but you can learn a lot from how a man treats his teammates and adversaries,” Camille continued. “Perhaps we can pop over to the public house and watch them after, though that might be pushing things.” It wouldn’t do to have anyone recognize the duchess. Once they heard the sisters’ American accents, their disguises of plain clothes would be quite useless to hide their identities from their prospective suitors. All objectivity would be gone and they would lose their chance to observe them unaware. “Perhaps we can watch for a time,” Cora said. They rounded a corner after a row of tiny houses onto a narrow dirt lane that led to a field. It did appear the game was already in progress with roughly two dozen men on the pitch. Half wore green shirtsleeves while the other half wore yellow. Both wore trousers or pantaloons that would never be white again with all the mud, along with high socks and leather boots,…

Excerpt from Archangel’s Lineage by Nalini Singh   The pathways were filled with angels and senior vampires dressed with immortal grandeur. The sumptuous beauty of it was undeniable. More than one person shot a glance their way, but no one approached them. “Naasir, are you glaring at people?” A silver-eyed look over his shoulder, his expression so austere you’d never know that beneath his skin lurked a playfulness feral and unique. “I’m just looking extremely serious.” Andi, her arm tucked into his, glanced back at them. “He’s being his most grim-faced self.” A whisper. “I am terrified.” Leaning down, Naasir nipped at the tip of her ear with sharp tiger-creature teeth. Andi yelped, then hit him on the chest with no force at all before leaning into him, her hand curled around his biceps. The two were ridiculously adorable, even if Naasir still refused to tell Elena his exact species. Oh, and everyone else thought it was just hilarious that she didn’t know. Ha! “Ellie! Ellie! Up here!” The hail came from one of the houses that lined the edge of the gorge, the voice small and bright. “Teacher Jessamy! You look pretty!” When Elena glanced up to the second…

THE WEDDING BOX – Exclusive excerpt By Toni Blake   A sleek, shiny black sedan glides past us as we stand next to the grave, directly beside one of the twisty, winding cemetery lanes.  I glance up as the car slows down about thirty yards away and eases to a stop, then I return my attention to a yellow gingham ribbon tied to a branch and in need of a little straightening. “Oh my,” Aunt Nan croons softly. I peek over at her, pretty sure she’s not just admiring my bow adjustment, then follow her eyes to the stopped car.  Or, more precisely, to the man who just exited it.  With dark hair and a chiseled jawline, he’s remarkably handsome and clearly well-groomed, but he strikes me as austere.  Wearing a black business suit—as sleek as the car—I find him intimidatingly attractive, even from that distance.  The only soft thing about him is the fact that he’s accompanied by a cute little Yorkie on a hot pink—decidedly not austere—leash.  The cute dog looks out of place with him. I shift my glance to Aunt Nan.  “What?” “He’s a handsome one.” Yeah, I noticed that.  But so what?  “I suppose.” “You…

“Speak!” Kerrol twisted free and raised his hands apologetically. None of his unparalleled skills at reading people were required to understand how close to the edge Evar stood. “I’m sorry for your loss, brother.” “You said you could find her!” Evar snapped, unwilling to let go of the offered hope but also unwilling to believe it. “I needed you to come with us.” Kerrol lowered his gaze. “Couldn’t leave you there for the next skeer that happened by.” Evar wasn’t aware he’d swung for Kerrol until Clovis caught his wrist and pulled the blow aside. “Enough!” She pushed between them. Kerrol stepped back, unruffled, as if he’d anticipated both the attack and their sister coming to his aid. “You don’t even know!” Evar shouted at both of them. “You don’t even know . . .” He jerked his arm free of Clovis’s grip. “Livira was the Assistant!” He tried to stop shouting, tried to steady his voice, but it kept breaking around surfacing emotion. “Her spirit. Her ghost. It entered the Assistant centuries ago. She was trapped in there ever since. The other one, Malar, was trapped in the Soldier. Until . . .” Clovis stepped back, frowning, minute shakes of her head to express her…

The Other Side of the Mirror PROLOGUE   The smoke was everywhere, curling around a framed picture of our family like it would strangle them with those dark tendrils. Just as it was trying to do to us now. The fire had spread too fast, moving too quickly to be real, as though the blaze was a living creature bent on destroying us. I took a deep breath, then coughed harshly as the smoke scorched my throat. Covering my nose and mouth with my sleeve, I started to move down the hallway toward the back door…but my mother grabbed my wrist, pulling me to a stop. The gold that encircled the pupils of her hazel eyes glowed in the light of the flames as she wordlessly dragged me in the other direction, her other hand clenched around my brother’s. Tobias’s eyes were wide as he took in the flames engulfing our home. “We need to help Dad—” “No.” My mother pulled us away from the closest exit and into our living room. “This way.” I struggled as I realized where she was taking us, but her hand was like a steel vise around my wrist. “There’s no way out from…

She was in the largest office she’d ever seen. Not even the Director of the CDC had an office like this. She’d been in the offices of the CEOs of huge pharmaceutical corporations and she’d never seen anything like this. Here, too, like everything else in Black Inc., everything was sleek and modern and high-tech. One wall was covered in thin monitors, there was a conference table bigger than the conference table in the Situation Room of the White House, which she’d been in, a fully equipped kitchen and a living room suite for informal talks. One thing was missing. Though she knew, because she’d read it somewhere, that Jacob Black had been a highly decorated soldier, there was no glory wall. No citations, no photos of him with important politicians or generals, no medals. Nothing. Not one of those items that so fed the egos of important men. It could have been any man’s office, if that man ran one of the largest security corporations in the world and was one of the richest men in the world. The office faced west and it was the moment when the setting sun’s lambent rays hit the eyes full on. The…

(Sylvie is at the gym in her building for a trial session with a trainer named Fielding (Rip).) He started me on the treadmill and worked his way around the room, explaining the purpose of each exercise and the form to maintain for optimal benefit. I found the gray metal architecture of the exercise stations reassuringly solid. Footrests were right where I needed, hand grips where I instinctively reached to brace myself. He instructed me which muscles to focus on, but the machines isolated the correct ones, keeping me on the physical straight and narrow. I could have done without the mirrors lining the walls. I knew they were there so that clients could see if they were doing their exercises correctly, but I couldn’t help feeling they were sitting in judgment. Though Rip kept the weights light and the repetitions few, I worried that if I failed to control the weight on the resistance machines, I would be snapped forward, back, up, or down. “This may sound irrational, but are these machines safe?” “We haven’t crushed any noses or launched anyone butt-first so far. Your muscles will take care of you.” “These? I’ve got less muscle than a lox.”…

The Duchess of Dedham’s husband was dead.   The wretch had expired nearly a year ago, found with a broken neck at the bottom of the stairs. No one was surprised given how poorly his health and how dependent he was upon whiskey and laudanum to get through each day. No secret, that. Perhaps the only surprise was that he had survived as long as he had before plummeting to his death in the midst of a country house party.   Now, as the Dowager Duchess of Dedham, Valencia was free and ready for revelry. Truth be told, she had been ready upon the discovery that she was a widow, but there were rules. So many rules. Rules that she had followed all her life. Not that they had ever served her well. Rules, she found, rarely served women well. And yet those rules had changed now that she was no longer Dedham’s wife. At long last.   She was done with mourning. Done with her widow’s weeds. Done with hiding away in her Mayfair house.   She had made it a year. Eleven months to be precise, but that was time enough not to raise eyebrows. Time enough devoted…

HAPPILY NEVER AFTER Excerpt   Max   I KNOCKED ON the hotel room door and waited. This was my least favorite part. More often than not, the bride who desperately wanted out of her own wedding was an emotional mess afterward, shocked by the end of what she thought would be the beginning of the rest of their lives together. And I was not the reassuring kind. Back pats and handkerchiefs were not my thing. I just needed my money and to get the hell out of there. On a side note, who the hell doesn’t have Venmo or PayPal? I heard a noise just before the door flew open. “The Objector!” A blonde in a Red Hot Chili Peppers T-shirt that went down to her knees grinned at me. “I’m Asha. We talked on the phone . . . ?” Ah, yes. The bride’s best friend and my college roommate’s cousin. “So you’re Tom’s cousin.” “Yes!” She grinned again, and I realized she was totally buzzed. “Come in!” She held open the door, and I followed her inside what was obviously the bridal suite. Huge living room, bedroom to the left that appeared to have rose petals everywhere, and…

Excerpt from WHITE MIST by Jaclyn Reding   She was utterly surrounded by them. Eleanor could feel their frozen gazes on her at all sides, watching her in silent study as she sat with her hands folded, gloved fingers laced together in her lap.  No matter where she looked, no matter how she tried to avoid them, they were there.  If she closed her eyes, she could almost hear them, their voices whispering to her on the flurry of the island wind— Run… Get out now… Before it is too late…  Eleanor’s eyes shot open. A medley of assorted deer, wildcat, and furry pine marten met her gaze, stuffed and mounted on gray stone walls that were unfinished and rose a good twenty feet above her head.  Nearby, a fierce-looking claymore whose scratched and pitted blade had no doubt contended with more than its share of severed heads hung alongside a dagger that looked quite able to gut an ox. Oh dear, she thought to herself.  What in heaven had she just done? Eleanor sat alone, back lamppost straight, knees pressed tightly together, wondering not for the first time what could have possessed her to come there. Perhaps she should…