Exclusive Peek: Revenge by Jaycee Clark

From Jaycee Clark:

As it states on the Samhain site, this book was previously published elsewhere but it has been edited and has a new ending, or rather, a changed and expanded ending to the previous version and there were tweaks throughout. I'm thrilled with the final book and thank the patience of my editor for that.

This book was my first foray into paranormal and world building. Granted any book is its own world and they all must be created. Paranormal though, I learned through writing Revenge, is a different monster all together. I panicked when I was writing this book. I called my dearest friend Mandy, who often talked me down (er, maybe yelled at me a bit) from my hysteric heights. I worried about details, lots of details and if I was doing the whole ‘were’ world right. I still don’t really have an answer, but it’s my were world. This book taught me to think outside the box and I rather like my nice, tidy box. I can say that for me, writing this book was harder than any serial killer contemporary thriller, or historical romantic thriller my brain dreamed up. I greatly respect those who build these ‘other’ worlds so seamlessly and seemingly with such ease because I am not one of them. :)

The characters at times, gave me fits and starts, but over all they were easy to work with. As I stated before, it was the stupid details and the why’s that tangled my muse up in knots. Where the idea came from for this book? I honestly can’t remember. Oh wait! Yes I can, Mandy and Michelle told me we were doing it and the peer pressure was just so horrendous I finally caved.

Exclusive Excerpt:

She licked her full lips and he ran his gaze over her. No one had changed more, and yet changed less than Reya. She still favored long flowing lines of clothes, and they worked well on her willowy frame. Today she wore a dark blue sleeveless tunic pants suit that easily showcased the muscles of her arms. A long pendant hung down and glinted in the sunlight. The stone was dark and familiar.

He grinned as he stared at it, watched her fist it in her hand before he let his gaze run back up to meet her eyes and let her know he remembered exactly where she’d gotten the stone.

Her eyes narrowed.

Apparently, she remembered as well.

Always a contrary woman.

He chuckled. “Been awhile.”

“I’ve been here three years.” Her eyes flickered just a tad, as if she wished she hadn’t said that.

“So you have.” Each had steered the hell away from the other.

He frowned when he realized he was actually, on some level, happy to see the woman. The energy that always followed her—followed them—flowed around the room and over his skin. He took a deep breath and smelled the shampoo he knew she still made herself using rosemary, flowers and a hint of citrus. Some light-as-air perfume that was new. Yet under both was the smell that would always and forever be Reya to him. No other woman, or being, was like her. It was a smell as sultry as the night and just as elusive as moonlight.

Her stubborn jaw jutted out and he knew the frown between her brows would be next. That one there that caused a slight crinkle in the bridge of her nose.

Damn, but he’d missed her.

“Charles Carpenter, please meet an old…friend, Lorenzo Craigen.” Her voice could still melt the ice off the Sangre de Cristos or charm a single flake from the fallen snow. It was silky smooth, yet just a bit throaty.

His gut tightened and he took another deep breath.

She grinned, glanced down, then back up to meet his eyes. He didn’t miss the challenge in the pale depths of hers—a color somewhere between smoke and sky.

An image of what they had looked like clouded with passion jolted through his brain, and he slammed the door shut on that one.

You can read more at http://www.samhainpublishing.com/romance/the-revenge


Summary from Publisher's website:

They believed the evil was destroyed. They were wrong.

A Ghost Cats story.

It took Reya Lynx a long time to learn to live with her animal half, but now she’s perfectly content as a gallery owner in Taos. She’s lived longer, loved more, even died more than most. Enough to have ceased caring what anyone thinks of her, least of all the one man she’s managed to steer clear of—until now. Her mate.

Lorenzo Craigen, leader of the southwest mountain lions, is a cop, and a damn good one. A recent string of murders seems all too familiar, and it’s not something he can exactly share with his colleagues. The last time he faced a killer like this, it was a long time ago. As in centuries. And that’s why he has sought out Reya, whether she likes it or not.

Reya can’t believe the sadistic shaman who left her haunted with brutal memories—and tore her and Lo apart—has come back from the dead. There’s only one way to find out. Bite the bullet and work with him to solve the murders. And try to resist the re-ignited heat between them…while a killer waits for the perfect moment to serve up cold, cold revenge.

This book has been previously published.

Available now from Samhain Publishing (ebook).

Note: This title is included in the list of giveaways for the ongoing contest.