Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Excerptstravaganza! Day Four

...And this will likely be our next-to-last excerpt day! The book is due to be released in 5 days (eep) and has been printed, but I believe it will still be another week before it starts shipping from Amazon and makes it into the stores.

Remember the contest! I'm going to announce the winners on Monday, so hurry and get your entries in! Pre-order! Wish list! Tag! Wheeee!

And here is today's excerpt:

“Is she sleeping?”

Smack. “Whad’ya think? Is she sleeping, ’e says. Don’t she look like she’s sleeping?”

“Yeh.”

“That is a sleeping woman, if ever I saw a sleeping woman,” the second voice continued.

Megan opened her eyes.

The three men standing next to her bed jumped back, their expressions ranging from terror to curiosity.

“She’s awake!” said the one closest to her. She recognized his voice as the second speaker, the one with the strongest cockney accent.

“You just said she was sleepin’, Lif,” said the next one. He was the tallest, with a large nose and scarred, gin-blossomed skin.

They were all big, broad men with small eyes and stubbled chins. They were all dressed in hitman casual: black trousers, black turtlenecks, black rubber-soled shoes, black windbreakers, black knit caps. Gold rings and watches completed the look.

Megan caught only a glimpse of these things before she seized the lamp on her bedside table and held it over her head. The cord refused to come out of the wall. She yanked at it with her left hand, aware not only that she looked silly, but that the men in her room had ample time to attack her while she sorted out her weapon. Their restraint from doing so provided her some comfort, but her heart still pounded in her chest.

“Who are you?” she demanded. Her voice squeaked.

The men glanced at each other, chagrined. The tall one spoke. “M’lady, didn’t—”

“Good morning, gentlemen.” Greyson entered the room, clad in a black suit with creases so sharp Megan imagined he could cut himself on them if he wasn’t careful. He was freshly showered and shaved, and smelled like vanilla and smoke. “Good morning, Megan. Just barely. Doing a little redecorating?”

Megan glanced at the lamp in her hand, glared at him, then looked at the clock. It was 11:30. “Shit!” She set the lamp on the edge of the table and pushed the covers back, ready to leap out of bed.

“Sit down,” Greyson said, holding out his hand. “I called Brian already to make sure you didn’t have to be up for a while yet. The shoot’s not until two.”

“Who exactly are these men and what are they doing in my bedroom?”

“Ah.” Greyson looked at the three, who stood a little straighter under his gaze. “Megan Chase, may I present your bodyguards: Malleus, Maleficarum, and Spud.”

“My what?”

“Your bodyguards. The one on the left is Malleus, the tall one is Maleficarum, and that one is Spud. I’ve assigned them to you.”

Megan glanced at the three men, still standing against the wall like they were in a police line-up. She got out of bed and grabbed Dante’s arm. “I need to talk to you.”

“Excuse us,” Greyson said, as she led him out into the living room and closed the bedroom door.

“Who are they? What the hell do you mean, scaring me like that? How do you think I felt waking up with strange men in my room after last night?”

“I told you who they are. They’re your bodyguards. You need someone with you at all times, and I can’t do it.” He leaned in a little closer. “They wouldn’t have been in there watching you sleep if you’d let me stay, you know. Care to change your mind for the future?”

“No.” Megan was suddenly aware that she only wore a T-shirt. He’d seen her in her bra last night, but somehow that was different. She grabbed the blanket from last night off the couch and wrapped it around her. It wasn’t great, but it was better. “Look, Greyson, don’t think I don’t appreciate your help. I do. And I—I’d like it if you’d keep helping me, because I don’t want to die. But those men... I can’t have those men follow me around. They look like they’re going to kill someone.”

“Only if that someone tries to get in their way,” Greyson said.


More fun stuff on the web:

The fantastic Jackie Kessler's delightful succubus character, Jezebel, managed to sneak an interview with Megan behind my back (the nerve of these characters, I swear) in which Megan said some very unflattering things about me. (I'll show her.) You can read the interview here.

GUD magazine (GoodReads.com) has reviewed Personal Demons and gave it 4 Stars:

"With exciting action scenes and hot, hot passion, this romance-with-a-plot is perfect for snuggling up with by the fire, or for wiping out the tedium of a train or plane journey."

You can read the whole review here, and comment before March 30 to win their PDF review copy.

I am guest blogging about vampires at Jaye Wells's place today--comment and enter to win free downloads of BOTH my EC vampire stories, Blood Will Tell and the Friday release Day of the Dead.

I think that's it.

16 comments:

Robyn said...

Hitman casual. I have such a girl-crush on you.

You know I'm not thrilled with vamp stories but I know I can trust you to give me a great read.

Stacia said...

Aaaw, thanks Robyn! *blush*

Tyhitia Green said...

Very good, December. When I grow up, I wanna be like you! ;*) I love this.

Stacia said...

Oh my gods, you guys are going to make me cry today!

Vicki said...

The book sounds amazing!!!

Hey, just wanted to let you know Julie Leto is doing a great giveaway everyday this week over on the Plotmonkeys Blog

Each day she is giving a chapter of her new book Phantom Pleasure (which will be 7 chapters in all, just enough to make you begging for more) and also each day she is giving away a $20 gift card to Amazon.com

Check it out. :D

Gabriele Campbell said...

Malleus, Maleficarum, and Spud.

Fine, now I have tea on my monitor. :)

Stacia said...

Hey, thanks Vicki! Nice to see you here again! :-)


Hee hee, Gabriele! Then my work here is done.

Charles Gramlich said...

I'm sensing that the three gentlemen callers aren't exactly the brightest facet in the diamond.

BernardL said...

An entertaining preview, as always, D. :)

Stacia said...

Lol, Charles, no, but they're stalwart and true. Wise, more than smart, if you know what I mean. :-)

Thanks Bernard!

kirsten saell said...

They remind me of those two buds/henchmen of Tony Soprano's (I can never remember their names, IRL or their characters, dang it!) you know that musician and that other guy...

Great, now I'm never going to be able to nap! Thanks, D. ;)

Vicki said...

It's good to be back. Life has been crazy so much so I had become more of a lurker than commenting of late. Hopefully, I'm back to normal again. If there is a thing called normal. hee hee

Stacia said...

See, kis, I've never watched The Sopranos. I really want to, but for whatever reason we just never started watching it. And imdb is your friend, don't forget. :-)


Lol Vicki, I don't know about normal either!

Chris Eldin said...

I haven't been on your blog for a while, but I wanted to linky you.
:-)
I'll be back to read your post....

Bernita said...

" Malleus, Maleficarum, and Spud.”
Bet you had to watch that the trio didn't steal the show.

Stacia said...

Hey Chrstine! Whenever you have time to pop in, please do. When you don't, that's okay too. :-)


How did you know, Bernita? Lol. I had to make a deliberate effort in this one, and in the second, to keep them from it. They're just so much fun to write.