BLURB:
Gisla has escaped the clutches of magician, Karli
Olafsson, but can she continue to evade his demands? In desperation she turns
to a handsome young stranger who doesn't believe in magic. His name is
Olli...and luckily he has friends who will help….This exciting story is set in
Ireland and Scotland in AD 1046, a decade after Far After Gold.
EXCERPT:
Thorkel turned his head
and spat on the floor. ‘Enough of this,’ he muttered, and nodded at the man who
held me. ‘Get her to the ship.’
In spite of my
exhaustion, that woke me. I squealed ‘No!’ and threw myself toward Olli, but
weakness made me stumble. The guard caught my plait in one brawny fist and
reeled me in. I yelled and clapped my hands to my head. I heard his laughter as
he hustled me toward the door.
The crowd did not make
a space for him as he expected, but forced him to halt. His back stiffened and
his grip tightened on my arm. Desperate, I hurled words over my shoulder.
‘I cannot marry Karli
now. I have lain with another.’
There was a moment’s
shocked silence and then a sly snigger ran through the crowd as everyone stared
at Olli. Thorkel seemed stunned and stood there with his mouth hanging open.
I hardly dared meet
Olli’s shocked gaze, much less sustain it, but I hoped he would not let me
down. Claiming we had bedded when we had not was a risk, but there was nothing
else I could think of to say that would stop Thorkel taking me back to Karli. I
would apologise to Olli as soon as I could.
Blood rushed into
Olli’s face. Our glances met briefly before he dipped his head and turned
shiftily to meet his foster-father’s considering blue stare. I expected Olli to
be annoyed with me; but he was trying to suppress a smile and seemed both
flattered and embarrassed by my claim. Emer had one hand to her mouth and
slowly shook her head. I hated to have her think badly of him, but the lie was
the only thing that might save me. I could repair the damage with Emer and
Flane later.
Somewhere in the crowd,
a man laughed and a woman called out ‘She’s no good to you now, man. Let her
go.’
Thorkel stood in
frowning silence, as if thinking very slowly. Olli braced himself as if he
suspected it was only a matter of time before Thorkel’s brutes turned on him.
He flexed his shoulders and casually rested his hand on his dagger.
http://tinyurl.com/ovvpmeu for the UK
http://jenblackauthor.blogspot.com
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