HIS TO CLAIM was released yesterday and I’m in the
mood to celebrate! I’m giving away a copy of my newest Black Hills Wolves
story. All you have to do to be entered to win is leave a comment
here or on my blog announcement at the Romance Books ‘4’
Us yahoo group.
***HIS TO CLAIM***
He’s
home to find the truth…
Once he’s over the initial shock of
hearing his father hasn’t been dead for the past twelve years, J.D. Decker
vacillates between joy and anger until he returns to Los Lobos and finds the
man who sent him away threatening Bree Redmond, the only other person he’s ever
cared about as much.
After years of living under a harsh
alpha, Bree Redmond is intent on experiencing everything life has to offer, and
ignoring her family’s wishes that she settle on a mate and help rebuild the Tao
pack. When J.D. Decker jumps out of his truck, and back into her life, she
realizes why she’s never been eager to settle.
They aren’t kids anymore and J.D.
has Bree howling at the moon and questioning her desire for nothing more than a
sexy romp in the woods. He’s a blunt force and rough around the edges, but he
ignites all of her deepest desires with his single-minded determination to make
her his.
Bree’s family isn’t happy about her
budding romance with the son of a man they feel is responsible for the death of
one of their own. Old wounds are reopened and as tempers flare Bree must decide
whether to let a dark secret from the past separate them, or defy her family
and accept J.D.’s claiming.
Excerpt:
Rated: R for Language
An aged,
rust-pitted, light-blue pickup with a black hood and green driver’s side door,
with a dirty, white camper shell covering its bed, turned into the yard. The
thing appeared to be held together with bubblegum and baling wire. The
windshield wipers had swiped a mud-streaked half-moon and must have allowed the
driver to see at least a portion of the road and enough of the yard to stop
before he reached the porch steps.
The driver,
nostrils flaring, barreled out of the truck as soon as the engine died. Bree
glanced at the lean, dark-haired man wearing worn jeans and a clean white
T-shirt, and experienced an unsettling moment of instant recognition. The same
dark, curly lashes surrounded his smoky topaz eyes, but time had carved
cheekbones into the youthful face she hadn’t seen in twelve years.
His mouth worked
for a few seconds, and then he yelled, “What the fucking hell!”
Wherever he’d
been, he’d acquired some interesting vocabulary skills.
His fist still
raised, Ray glared at the interloper, and she knew he didn’t realize who’d
challenged him.
“Jacob Donovan
Decker.” She sounded like a schoolmarm addressing him by his given name instead
of J.D., but she would have done anything to break the tension.
Ray’s glare
withered. He lowered his arm and smoothed his good hand over the wrinkled
placket of his grubby, dirt-brown flannel shirt, but nothing would make it
cleaner or less wrinkled. He opened his mouth. Nothing came out but a short,
shallow hiss. A study in abject misery, he slumped against the battered screen
door and hung his head. His chest heaved in an attempt to stifle a sob.
J.D.’s confused
gaze settled on her for a moment, and he raised one dark brow. “Hello, Briana
Hortensia Redmond. You want to step off of the porch and tell me what the hell
is going on here?”
“We were
discussing the merits of being neighborly. If you want to know anything else,
you’re going to need to ask your father.”
She sidestepped
the hamper, and Ray mumbled, “Take your stuff,” as she passed.
“J.D. can return
the basket when you’re finished. There’s plenty for both of you.”
He slipped
inside the cabin and let the screen door whoosh shut behind him.
Without being
able to focus on Ray, she didn’t have an excuse for avoiding the calculating
gaze of J.D. Decker. Judging by his expression, he hadn’t forgotten how, when
she’d turned twelve, she’d caught him skinny-dipping and stolen his clothes. Of
course, she hadn’t forgotten he’d planted a sign in her front yard declaring
she had freckles on her butt, either. Their war had lasted all summer. By the
time fall had arrived, their childhoods had been swept away by a budding
attraction neither had acknowledged and the reality of how dangerous life in
the Tao pack had become.
“Where have you
been?”
“Wherever I
could find work and someplace to run. Imagine my surprise when Drew Tao tracked
me down and told me my father needed me. Something the man himself has never
bothered to do,” he shouted, loud enough for someone in the next county to
hear.
She glanced at
the door but couldn’t see Ray. “Look, things got bad around here for a long
time. After you left—”
“He sent me
away.” Ray had never explained J.D.’s disappearance, but it had probably kept
him safe during those mad, bad times.
“Then you were
lucky.”
His angular jaw
firmed, and she got a glimpse of how handsome Ray must have been at
twenty-five. “I’ve spent twelve years thinking the only reason he didn’t come
after me was because he was dead. Still think I’m lucky?” His fury simmered
below the surface.
She couldn’t
imagine coping with the pain of losing a parent now, let alone when she’d been
a kid, but he’d missed the point. “Since you’ve been gone, we’ve all learned to
be grateful for every piece of happiness we could manage, so yes, I think
you’re lucky. You still have a father you thought you’d lost, but he needs
help. He isn’t eating, and I don’t think he’s sleeping. I thought I was making
a little headway by getting him to accept an occasional pot of soup or plate of
cookies, but I guess not.”
He frowned, and
his gaze drifted toward the cabin. “How long has he been like this?”
“Since Luna
Sinclair came home.”
“What’s Luna
Sinclair got to do with all of this? Drew would only tell me he had part of the
story, and he wants it all.”
“I suggest you
ask Ray. Without his side, anything I tell you would only be speculation, and I
think he deserves more.”
“Did it occur to
any of you his part of the story might be a place to start?”
“Has it occurred
to you only knowing part of the story might be the problem?”
Available now…
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2JdiQPi
Smashwords: https://bit.ly/2J9uACj
Google Play: https://bit.ly/2HUVVJf
iTunes: https://apple.co/2HC4x9F
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2r3kkop
Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win a copy of HIS TO CLAIM!
Happy Reading!
Paris Brandon
Website: http://parisbrandon.com
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ParisBrandon
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/parisbrandonaut/
Amazon
Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00N3M7EEM
A member
of Romance Writers of America and published since 2009, Paris writes
contemporary, paranormal, erotic and historical romance, throwing in a little
mystery and suspense for good measure. Currently self-published and published
with Decadent Publishing, she like nothing better than getting lost within the
pages of a good book.
When not
dreaming up stories featuring heroes who aren’t intimidated by strong heroines,
she can be found searching through antique and thrift stores for vintage
treasures, or communing with nature, which is code for sitting on the patio
with a cup of tea and a good book.
