In Time for the Highwayman is now up for preorder! It releases on October 12, 2022!Â
ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS IS A HIGHWAYMAN…
When Cassy impulsively books a holiday for her Christmas break, she has no idea what will happen, because before now she didn’t know magic existed, time travel was possible, and roguish highwaymen were great kissers… (Um, yeah, about that last one… What happens in historic England, stays in historic England, right?)
She hadn’t been looking for a happily-ever-after from this holiday, but now all she’s expecting is a broken heart when she returns to her own time.
Is it too much to hope that magic will grant her one more wish?
Note to Readers: Be prepared for a quick fall into romance, a brush with Christmas magic, and a fun jaunt to the early nineteenth century England.
EXCERPT
“Hush, now,” he murmured. “I just mean to offer assistance.”
His fingers danced over her skin, following the trail of gemstones to the back of her neck and the clasp. Her skin tingled with awareness under the light brush of his fingertips. If she leaned into his touch, ever so slightly, who would know? For a highwayman, his hands felt smooth, lacking calluses and the roughness she’d expected. Was he really a gentleman robber? Like Robin Hood? The idea of it made her scoff at her own naivete.
“What are you thinking, my lady?”
As he spoke, his breath fanned over her skin like a caress. He was so very close. All she’d have to do was lift up on her tippy toes and her mouth could brush his. She licked her bottom lip, imagining what his mouth might feel like against hers.
She had imagined having a fling on her holiday, so would it be so very wrong to kiss this stranger? No one would ever know, not even Alice, who was still tucked away in the carriage.
The clasp gave way under the man’s fingers and the necklace, warmed from her skin, slipped lower like a caress. The man caught it before it was lost inside her dress. He tucked it inside his pocket with his other treasures. Even though he now had his prize, he didn’t immediately step away.
“That was not so bad, now, was it?” he whispered. His grin was back. And she realized he didn’t scare her. Perhaps he hadn’t even scared her when all this had first happened. Was her intuition messing with her or was it steering her in the right direction? She wished she knew.
A dark impulse cascaded through her, and she stepped forward, closing the scant distance between them. He watched her but didn’t move to grab her closer nor to evade her.
“You are a bewitching woman,” he muttered, seemingly to himself. “Easily the most unusual woman I have met.”
“You have no idea.” She grinned up at him. The tiny bit of light from the lantern caught on the snowflakes and made them sparkle and dance around them like bubbles in champagne. Her grandmother would have proclaimed it a sign of true Christmas magic. And, for a moment, she wanted to believe in it—that just like time travel was apparently a thing, maybe the magic of Christmas could be real too.
Giddiness erupted through her. Was she really going to do this? Yes. Yes, she was.
Then she did exactly what she’d been tempted to do a few minutes earlier. She rose up and pressed her lips to his. The air between them zinged with energy. His arms closed around her, and it was everything she could have imagined and more. So much more. The world around them seemed to fall away as their mouths and tongues danced together.
She’d never in her life been kissed like this. Was it the hint of danger making it so mesmerizing? Or was it something else?