Each week on my blog a guest author shares a first meeting between two characters. Today on First Sight Saturday, Laurel O’Donnell , a fellow Love Historicals‘s author, brings an excerpt from her medieval romance The Angel and The Prince. Laurel’s fun fact is that she learned to sword fight when she work at the renaissance faire in Wisconsin. That is a cool skill to have!
SETUP OF THE SCENE: During the One Hundred Years War, Ryen DeBouriez, a renowned French knight, has just captured her adversary, Bryce Princeton, an English knight.
EXCERPT
The cloud of white parted slowly before Ryen as she stepped through the soft, whirling smoke created by the smoldering candles placed around the tent. Quivers of anticipation rippled through her as she saw the whisps swirl around the shadowy shape. She stopped, not wanting the thrill to dissipate from her veins. So often in the past did a man not live up to her expectations that she was afraid she would be sorely disappointed by him, the mightiest of legends. But his shadow beckoned to her and she pushed any doubts aside. She had to know his secrets.
Ryen continued to move through the frosty smoke, the dark blur of his body forming into a solid shape. He had fought to the end, she thought, just as I would have. Lucien said it had taken twenty men to bring him to his knees. Twenty men? She wanted to believe this, but surely Lucien must have been exaggerating. Yet it wasn’t like him to inflate the truth. She moved toward the figure chained to a post in the tent, stepping out of the mists.
His head was hanging down, his long black mane draping over his chest. So he did have black hair! Was it truly hiding horns?
Ryen moved closer, slowly, her gaze appraising him, his body. He was no disappointment there. The urge to touch him was overwhelming. She stretched her fingers toward him and touched the hair on his naked chest, running her hands along his torso, marveling at the size of his muscles. They were hard, sculptured curves of warm flesh. Magnificent, she thought. The smell of him, the heady musky scent of him, enveloped her.
Her prisoner stirred, his head moving slightly from side to side, as if he were struggling to clear his mind. His head slowly lifted. A thrill of anticipation touched Ryen’s spine as his dark eyes, the eyes of midnight, rose like the moon to gleam at her.
“Enjoying yourself?” he asked, his voice low, suggestive.
Through the darkness he wore like a veil, she saw the flash of his white teeth. Ryen pulled her hands away and watched the shadows slide off his features as his face slowly came into the flame’s light. A shiver snaked its way up her spine. The candlelight revealed a sensual mouth with a cynical twist to it, a Spartan chin hewn from an ancient line of warriors.
Ryen realized that she had been holding her breath and released it slowly in admiration. She could not believe the sight that greeted her. This is the man who was born without a heart? The man who is in league with the devil? The most feared barbarian in all of England?
Then how can he be so handsome?
END OF EXCERPT
You can find The Angel and The Prince at the following places:
Amazon – http://amzn.com/B004LGTR1M
B&N – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/angel-and-the-prince-laurel-odonnell/1103283832?ean=9781460902967
If you want to keep up with author Laurel O’Donnell, you can find her here:
Twitter – https://twitter.com/laurelodonnell
Laurel and I would love to have some questions and comments. I hope you’ll return every week for a new First Sight Saturday excerpt from a visiting author.
