Paris, New York, London

Christmas book 2013...<div><br /></div><div>I had an idea in the shower this morning and I am sitting here researching and it is now my Christmas 2013 self published book... it is called 'Paris, New York, London'... and is a tale of romance and angst and love, a prince and a working guy...</div><div><br /></div><div>Watch this space for more news... release date early December 2013</div>

Paris, New York, London

Christmas book 2013... I had an idea in the shower this morning and I am sitting here researching and it is now my Christmas 2013 self publi...

+ Read more »

Meredith Russell - William's Heart

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgaq2AyFXwuIsq6ZUrp75KjeR7YJNROo5TolUxBq4k61JkOOitbWb7eVEKe4RH89nxuDEC4Bw95vjo7CXUUNLr6Zl4mlkGpolFn47FSbeUEX9DeTzf-f7Dd_hDGSCBJSSaPUOWZZyTyYM/s1600/William's+Heart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgaq2AyFXwuIsq6ZUrp75KjeR7YJNROo5TolUxBq4k61JkOOitbWb7eVEKe4RH89nxuDEC4Bw95vjo7CXUUNLr6Zl4mlkGpolFn47FSbeUEX9DeTzf-f7Dd_hDGSCBJSSaPUOWZZyTyYM/s400/William's+Heart.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>Love Lane Books is proud to be the publisher for Meredith Russell's short story William's Heart.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>The Book</strong></span><br /><br /><strong>William's Heart by Meredith Russell (LLMR001)</strong><br /><br />Jude is confident, happy, and views his world through the lens of a camera.<br /><br />Brody is a writer, haunted and searching for inspiration in Stratford-upon-Avon. <br /><br />In Jude, Brody finds something his heart longed for—strength, acceptance, and the love and warmth of a man.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Buy Links</strong></span><br /><br /><a href="http://lovelanebooks.co.uk/" target="_blank">Love Lane Books</a> | <a href="https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-william039sheart-1269366-149.html" target="_blank">All Romance E Books</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EMJP9RE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00EMJP9RE&linkCode=as2&tag=rjsc-21" target="_blank">Amazon (UK)</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EMJP9RE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00EMJP9RE&linkCode=as2&tag=rjsc-20" target="_blank">Amazon (US)</a><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Excerpt </strong></span><br /><br /><strong>Chapter 1</strong><br /><br />"Nana, come and see!" The young child tugged at the sleeve of her grandmother's coat and shifted impatiently from one foot to the other. She waved toward the river, excited to see two large swans standing at the water's edge. One of the swans stood to its full height and spread its wings out wide. The elegant bird let out a throaty noise as it flapped its wings, causing a plume of soft, white feathers to fall away and float to the ground.<br /><br />Jude Jennings pointed his Nikon camera at the girl and digitally captured the moment. The young girl was wide-eyed in awe of the oversized birds, and he admired her innocent fascination. Briefly, he dipped the camera and smiled. The world was a magical place when viewed through the eyes of a child.<br /><a name="more"></a><br /><br />Looking through the viewer, he slowly adjusted the focus and zoomed in so her face filled the shot. He guessed she was maybe three or four years old as she was out in the middle of a school day. Short blonde curls hung from beneath her pink sunhat and framed her face. Her blue eyes were bright as she laughed excitedly. She was a sweet little thing.<br /><br />Taking the shot, Jude lowered his camera and looked down at the screen. He took a moment to examine the half-dozen images of the swans, the girl, and her grandmother. The mid-April sunshine provided unique lighting and the warmth of the day radiated from the people within the pictures. April was a strange month for weather and lighting. It was unpredictable at best. In a single month the UK had seen snow, rain, and sunshine. He looked around the park he was sitting in. Today was a brilliant, almost summer-like day, and the weather had brought out an eclectic mix of people.<br /><br />Both locals and visitors filled the large open space adjacent to the River Avon. Scanning the river bank, he tried to guess a little about his subjects. On the grass, lying on two huge blankets was a group of five scantily-dressed teenagers. He figured, like him, they were from the college. Two of the girls in the group were making notes from an oversized textbook, a third was trying to angle an electronic tablet to read in the sunlight, and the two guys they were with seemed far more interested in getting themselves a tan.<br /><br />There were teenagers in school uniforms playing football, an elderly couple walking hand-in-hand through the park, each seasoned line on their faces creasing as they stopped and smiled at each other before sharing a kiss.<br /><br />Jude then spotted a solitary man on a park bench staring out across the water. Against the backdrop of greenery and the reflective surface of the water, the image was stunning. Jude raised his camera and zoomed in, watching the man and grabbing a few shots.<br /><br />There was a quiet stillness about the way he was just sitting there, staring across the water with clear, green eyes. He was stunning. An open journal lay across his lap. A pen was in his hand, though he didn't seem to be writing anything. He seemed lost, deep in thought, and surrounded by an air of sadness that made Jude's heart ache for him. What was the guy looking at?<br /><br />Moving the camera, he focused on the building on the opposite side of the river—the theatre. Jude stared at the theatre thoughtfully. He saw no beauty in the orange brick and metal building. Slowly, he turned to gaze at the man sitting on the bench. He tried to imagine what it was the guy saw that he couldn't. People were inspired by different things, and Jude was most inspired by the people who filled his world. There was so much colour and so many different characters and emotions. He marvelled how a single still image could convey so much. Sometimes it was overwhelming.<br /><br />Adjusting the focus, he snapped a series of images, the last of which left him flustered and hurriedly looking away, as inquisitive, green eyes stared directly down the lens. Did the guy see him? Embarrassed, Jude desperately tried to find something, anything, to look at instead.<br /><br />At the start of his course his tutor had issued a sheet on the legal stuff about taking photos in public places. So long as he wasn't getting in people's faces, harassing them, peering in bedroom windows, or using images for dodgy stuff, then they were all fair game. He started flicking through the sheets of paper and jotters he carried with him. The sheet was somewhere in one of his bags, he was sure of it.<br /><br />Just as quickly as he began his search, he stopped, suddenly aware of the shadow that had fallen over him. Someone was behind him. Shit. Hesitantly, with his hand still inside the first of his bags, he looked over his shoulder at a pair of black trainers, protruding from frayed, wide-legged dark jeans. Damn.<br /><br />Grabbing his things, he quickly scrambled to his feet. "Hi," Jude managed as he juggled his belongings in his arms.<br /><br />Finding a balance, he clutched his bags and camera to his chest and looked apologetically at the guy. "I go to the college." His pathetic attempt at an explanation was met with a raised eyebrow.<br /><br />"I mean I'm a student. I take photos." He was messing this up.<br /><br />Clearing his throat, he awkwardly stuck out his hand from beneath his things. "My name is Jude Jennings and I'm a photography student." There, that was better. "I'm sorry if you felt like I was…" What was the word? "invading your privacy. You see, it's a public place and it means I can take photos here. Of the people, too. Like the students over there or that little girl." He pointed from the half-dressed students to the blonde girl who, at that particular moment, had lifted up her pretty, pink floral dress and was flashing her knickers. Perfect. "But not in a bad way." He was rambling. "No. I'm not a pervert or anything." He waved a hand in the air, before giving up.<br /><br />He realised the guy's expression had changed from curious to completely amazed. He must sound like a complete prat.<br /><br />"Please don't hit me," he added.<br /><br />To Jude's surprise the guy started laughing, and it was a full-on, proper laugh. Jude searched the park for the best exit should this guy turn out to be a complete nut-job. Jude eyed the guy curiously. He was maybe six-foot, blond hair, green eyes, a little older than Jude himself, maybe late-twenties, kind of perfect if someone happened to like that kind of thing. Jude shifted his weight. He did like that kind of thing. He liked his men tall and pretty. He flinched as the guy roughly took his hand.<br /><br />"The name's Brody. Brody Phillips," the guy said, and Jude felt his heart leap in his chest as he heard the guy's American accent and the dirty edge it gave his words.<br /><br />"Jude," Jude said for a second time as Brody released his hand.<br /><br />Brody offered to take one of the two bags Jude was struggling to keep hold of.<br /><br />"Thanks." He let Brody take the bag, though kept his eye firmly on both until he decided Brody wasn't about to run off. "So…" He offered a small smile as he held tightly to his camera. Was the guy going to try and make him delete the photos? He realised Brody was staring at him, waiting for him to continue. What was he supposed to say?<br /><br />"So, you were taking photographs?" Brody asked. "Of people here?"<br /><br />Jude nodded. "Yeah."<br /><br />"Is it a project of some kind? You said you were a student?"<br /><br />"Not a project as such." Brody quirked an eyebrow at Jude's answer. Maybe he should have just said yes. "I'm hoping they could be. I haven't decided yet. It's kind of a practice run." This was his second and final year on the course. He wanted his final project to be something special. He wanted to stand out.<br /><br />"Can I see?" There it was. He was going to want Jude to delete them.<br /><br />Jude hesitated. "I don't usually show people my stuff." It wasn't a lie. Apart from his tutors and his partner on the course, nobody had seen his work.<br /><br />"Oh." Brody looked disappointed. "Okay."<br /><br />Jude chewed on his lip as he tussled with the idea of letting the guy see his photos. His work was a rather personal thing. He considered the man standing in front of him. He didn't know him and somehow that made it okay. "Okay." He figured there was a first time for everything. "No. I mean, yeah, sure, you can look."<br /><br />That kind of felt good. He knelt back down on the grass and lowered his bag to the ground. Dropping back on his ass, he crossed his legs and waited for Brody to join him. "Now these are just the raw images. They still need some work and editing," he insisted as Brody sat down beside him.<br /><br />"Like photoshopping different heads on bodies and things?" Brody asked with a laugh.<br /><br />Jude found himself smiling. "Something like that. Mainly cropping and colouring." Brody nodded. Was he really interested?<br /><br />"So"—Jude leaned forward—"these are today's shots." He started scrolling through the photos of the people who had passed through the park. His hand shook slightly as he held onto the camera. Shifting his weight, he looked at each image with Brody and reminded himself of what he'd seen that had drawn him to each of the people in the pictures—the concentrating student, the innocent child and the wisdom of her grandmother, the victorious goal scorer, a timeless love, and the man lost to his thoughts.<br /><br />He lingered on the final shot of Brody. "You take a good picture." He glanced at Brody and saw the same poignant look haunting his features. "Sorry. I can delete it if you want." Though he hoped he wouldn't have to.<br /><br />Shaking his head, Brody leaned back to rest on his elbows and stretched out his legs. He closed his eyes and lifted his face up toward the warmth of the sun. "They're really good," he said. His words were draped in the rich accent, and Jude was fascinated. "It's obvious you have a passion for it."<br /><br />"I hope to take it further. Maybe a degree course at the university. I should really have applied by now, but it's the money. Tuition fees, accommodation, and all that." He would hardly call himself a mature student, but at twenty-three that's what he was.<br /><br />After leaving school with a single A-Level in business studies, he'd taken a gap year that he had managed to make last three. Sure, he had gotten some life experience, would even say he had found himself, but it was time to follow his dreams. He wanted to be a professional photographer, not just someone who loved taking photos. He wanted to be able to reach out and touch people and make them see the beauty in the world around them.<br /><br />Jude sighed inwardly. Thank God he wasn't saying all that out loud. He watched as Brody stretched out across the grass. His flattering white T-shirt clung to his body, showing all the defining dips and peaks of his muscular torso. With his eyes closed, and the sunlight on his face, Brody looked magnificent, almost peaceful in contrast to the sorrowful expression from before.<br /><br />Jude raised his camera and took a couple of shots. Brody didn't seem to be aware of him. Tilting his head, he continued to observe the guy. Had Brody fallen asleep? He looked Brody up and down, catching sight of the journal beneath his hand. He wondered what was inside.<br /><br />"So, what brings you to sunny Stratford?" Jude decided to break the silence, plus he was curious to discover if Brody was a local or a tourist. He would guess tourist from the undiluted accent, but he could be wrong.<br /><br />Breathing in deeply, Brody opened his eyes and looked across at Jude sitting beside him. He pursed his lips thoughtfully, before answering with, "I'm on kind of an extended vacation." The way his eyes shone as he spoke suggested there was maybe more to the story.<br /><br />"Why here?"<br /><br />Brody turned away and looked out across the water just as he had earlier. "I guess I'm here looking for something." Jude's gaze fell on the theatre with Brody's. "Though I'm not sure what."<br /><br />Pressing his mouth in a thin line, Jude examined the orange brick building. The theatre didn't move him. All he saw was brick and cement. "And you think you can find it here?" He returned his attention to Brody and was greeted with a short nod.<br /><br />"I do." Brody checked his watch. "Say, do you have to be anywhere right now?"<br /><br />Jude rolled his eyes upward and stared thoughtfully at the small wisp of a cloud that had dared to enter the otherwise clear, blue sky. His diary was beyond empty. He shook his head. Brody was charming and Jude quite fancied the idea of spending more time with him. "No. Why?"<br /><br />"Would you like to get something to eat?"<br /><br />Eat? Sure, he could eat. Time had gotten away from him as it always did when he found himself absorbed in his subjects' lives and emotions. He met Brody's eyes with a smile, asking, "What did you have in mind?"

Meredith Russell - William's Heart

Love Lane Books is proud to be the publisher for Meredith Russell's short story William's Heart. The Book William's Heart by Mer...

+ Read more »

Chase The Sun (Sapphire Cay #3)

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCoME3DBslFe5yxzL8YQofKF2weO_PIhnfPzbKjCGoUt8YPdh3MAKypPrsa60viSNT3HTe5OYTKijkCqtsRnvOS9OaE1398jBIHGBFQLmgVr1M7d8AwGgt3t50viE1GBeexbal5PgFIL8/s1600/Chase-the-Sun-600x900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCoME3DBslFe5yxzL8YQofKF2weO_PIhnfPzbKjCGoUt8YPdh3MAKypPrsa60viSNT3HTe5OYTKijkCqtsRnvOS9OaE1398jBIHGBFQLmgVr1M7d8AwGgt3t50viE1GBeexbal5PgFIL8/s640/Chase-the-Sun-600x900.jpg" width="427" /></a></div><b style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Sapphire Cay series</b></span></b><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b></b></span><i>Written with Meredith Russell</i><br /><div><br />Book 1 - <a href="http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/follow-sun-with-meredith-russell-wip.html">Follow The Sun</a><br />Book 2 - <a href="http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/under-sun-with-meredith-russell.html">Under The Sun</a><br />Book 3 - Chase The Sun<br /><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Book</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>Six years ago, Adam broke Scott's heart, but now he's back in Scott's life and Scott is rightly suspicious.<br /><br />Is it a case of second chances? Or will history repeat itself? <br /><br />* * * * * <br /><br />In Chase the Sun, Scott Antonelli is about to get the shock of his life. Six years ago, Adam Ross broke his heart and it was the trigger that set Scott off travelling around the world. For the last few years he has worked at Sapphire Cay with Dylan. On a simple supply run to Marsh Harbour, he is left reeling, as he comes face to face with his first love. Can he trust Adam this time round? <br /><br />Adam Ross was an idiot. Looking for quick and easy cash, he got himself mixed up in the wrong crowd and paid the price - three years in prison and he lost the one person who had ever meant anything to him - Scott. Adam has done his best, tried to turn his life around and is in the Bahamas looking for a second chance. Finding Scott was the easy part. Getting him to trust him again, could be harder than he ever imagined.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Buy Links - eBook</strong></span><br /><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.lovelanebooks.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14&products_id=46" target="_blank">Love Lane Books</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EUAYECG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00EUAYECG&linkCode=as2&tag=rjsc-20" target="_blank">Amazon (US)</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EUAYECG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00EUAYECG&linkCode=as2&tag=rjsc-21" target="_blank">Amazon (UK)</a> | <a href="https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-chasethesun-1271506-149.html" target="_blank">All Romance</a> | <span style="color: #999999;">Barnes & Noble</span> | <span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #999999;">Kobo</span> </span>| <span style="color: #999999;">Sony</span> | <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/352250" target="_blank">Smashwords</a><br /><br /><br /><b style="font-size: x-large;">Reviews</b></div></div></div><br /><a href="http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/chase-the-sun-by-meredith-russell-and-r-j-scott/">MM Good Book Reviews</a> - "....Yes, it is safe to say that the writing in this book is very good, and while the theme in itself is not light, the way it was written made it easy to read, easy to like, and didn’t add any heaviness or steal the escapism purpose from the read...."<div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Excerpt</b></span></div><div><br /><b>Chapter 1</b></div><div><br />“You get Dominiq’s list?” Dylan asked as he walked with Scott and Lucas toward the Lady Liberty.<br /><br />“Yep.” Pulling out Dominiq’s shopping list from the back pocket of his cargo shorts, Scott Antonelli then waved it in the air. “I’d be in a heap of trouble if I forget anything,” he added. Despite the cook’s laid-back Bahamian charm, Dominiq could have a temper on him if anyone dared mess with his ingredients and menu.<br /><br />The three of them walked to the end of the pier and stopped beside the boat. Scott shifted uncomfortably as Lucas slid his hand in Dylan’s. He didn’t have a problem with public affection, far from it, it was just there had been a time he and Dylan had, well, they didn’t, but he’d thought maybe they could have had something. In fact, he was the first man to get Scott interested in anything more than a quick fuck since…<br /><br />Not going there.<br /><br />He distracted himself from the twinge of remembrance of things he shouldn’t think about and the ever-present jealousy in his chest. He had nothing against Lucas. Lucas was damn adorable most of the time and a godsend the rest. The man was good for Dylan. Dylan was a competent boss, but he didn’t have the head for figures Lucas did. He wondered how Lucas put up with the state of the shared office. If you knew the men like he did and really looked, you could easily find Lucas’s personal space in the room—neat shelves on the far wall stacked with labeled file boxes, a bulletin board propped up and covered in receipts and a constantly updated to-do list. <br /><br />Scott met Lucas’s eyes and then looked at Dylan. Both men stared at him expectantly. “What?” he asked. The two men grinned.<br /><br />“Everything okay?” Lucas asked. “You seem a little distracted.”<br /><br />He wasn’t so much distracted as he had itchy feet. Maybe. There was something stirring inside him, and he wasn’t really sure what it was. He hadn’t left the Bahamas or the East Coast in nearly three years. Everyone around him seemed to be settling down and pairing off. Dylan had found Lucas, and then four months ago their prissy-pants wedding planner had found his hot and sweaty dream guy too. And then there had been a dozen or so weddings, several honeymoons, and more vacationing couples than Scott cared to think about. It was enough to turn anyone’s stomach, all that mushy romance crap. Plus all the longing looks and wandering hands and kissing. Gah, the kissing. What he needed was a good fuck. A night of dirty sex and a morning of forgotten names. That would cure him of all these unwanted emotions. He’d learned his lesson a long time ago. He’d fallen hard for someone and learned the hard way that love was for suckers. <br /><br />“Scott?” Dylan pressed.<br /><br />He glanced between the two men. Okay, maybe not suckers. Not if you found the right person. Someone you could trust to love you back just as hard. <br /><br />“Sorry,” Scott said. “When’s Dominiq need all this stuff by?” They had no major events for the next month, and currently the only guests on the island were some rich couple from San Antonio. A stopover in Marsh Harbor might do him some good. <br /><br />“I can check, but I don’t think there’s anything urgent.” Dylan narrowed his eyes and reached out, resting a hand on Scott’s shoulder. “You sure you’re okay?”<br /><br />Scott laughed. Dylan was around the same age as him yet in the last couple of years he had turned into some father figure. Well, more like an older and wiser brother. “I’m fine. If it’s okay with you, I won’t be back until tomorrow.”<br /><br />“Of course it is,” Lucas insisted. Scott smiled. The couple wasn’t quite at the finish-each-other’s-sentences stage, but always seemed to think the same on any decision.<br /><br />“Thanks.” Scott slipped Dominiq’s list back into his pocket and checked he had his wallet. “I’ll call if there’s a problem with anything.” Their supplier at Marsh Harbor had only ever let them down once. Dominiq had not been happy to find there would be no dragon fruit for his so-named dragon fruit cocktail. <br /><br />He jumped onboard and waited as Dylan untied the line and threw it onto the deck. <br /><br />“We’ll see you tomorrow,” Dylan said.<br /><br />Scott started the engine and slid on his sunglasses. <br /><br />“And don’t go gorging yourself on those fudge sundaes again.”<br /><br />Scott raised an eyebrow and looked curiously at Dylan from over the frames of his shades. Who had told Dylan about Scott’s addiction to the cold stuff? It could only be one person—the only one who had experienced Scott falling face first into a sundae as if it were his last-ever dessert. Jamie. It had to be the ex-Marine who had blurted the facts.<br /><br />“Jeez, if you can’t trust a Marine, who can you trust?” Then he had a horrible thought. Dominiq took the health of all his friends very seriously, and horrors of horrors, what if he knew and decided to put Scott on a diet? An automatic reflex had him sucking in his tummy. “Does Dominiq know?” <br /><br />Dylan shook his head. “But you should watch yourself. If he catches you eating that processed crap again—”<br /><br />“Yeah, yeah.” He had been scolded once before for daring to eat something not made from the freshest of meat and vegetables. Apparently, burgers, fries, and fudge sundaes were not a food group in themselves and did not cover the required vitamins, minerals, and all that other healthy-balance stuff Dominiq believed in heart and soul.<br /><br />Deciding what happened at Marsh Harbor stayed at Marsh Harbor, he added a fudge sundae to his mental to-do list. Checking one more time that he had everything, Scott steered away from the pier. He glanced over his shoulder to see Lucas waving and Dylan leaning into his lover. He wasn’t normally a guy to get jealous, but he was scarily close to turning Hulk-green. A bar, a drink, and a guy should settle his mood and get these feelings out his system. At least until the next time. <br /><br />Pushing his sunglasses higher, he then swept his hand back through his dark hair and focused on the landmass in front of him. He had made the trip to Marsh Harbor more times than he cared to remember, but something felt different this time and he wasn’t exactly sure why. His morning had been the same as always. He had joined everyone else for breakfast, chatted, laughed, and been given his list of jobs for the day. His first job had been to clean the filter on the pool and test the chemical levels, then he had the hinges on the launderette door to lift, and before heading on his run to Marsh Harbor, he had started the work of replanting the east garden. <br /><br />Not exactly what he had in mind when he had left Ithaca six years ago, but he had come to accept not everyone got to pick their path—not everyone was destined to get the happy ending they wanted and planned for. Sometimes the direction a person’s life went in was his own fault and sometimes it was somebody else’s. For Scott it was a bit of both. He’d had his eyes opened and it had been the push he had needed to get out of there. Okay, so maybe his folks had thought it more like he was running away, but that wasn’t really it. He’d set his sights on something that had been nothing more than a pipedream. His heart and trust had been broken, and he’d wanted to find a way to fix them. To play out the ultimate cliché of finding himself and a new path. And maybe stop everything from hurting so damn much. <br /><br />Steering the boat, Scott put the coast line on his port side. He hated it when he got like this. He was Scott Antonelli, free-spirited, easygoing, and fun. Lucas was right. He had been distracted this last week. Maybe it was time to move on for a little while. He could head back to Thailand, Malaysia, or Singapore. His time working at the Singapore Botanic Gardens had been one of the most rewarding of his life so far. He actually was able to use his degree and yet still learn new techniques and discover plants so colorful and exotic, he almost considered them to be alien and from another world.<br /><br />Singapore.<br /><br />Leaving was a good idea. He glanced back at Sapphire Cay. Maybe.<br /><br /><br /><br />Marsh Harbor was busy, teeming with traders and tourists and captains of any seafaring vessels available. The Bahamian tourist trade was big business, and Scott was slap in the middle of the chaos. <br /><br />“I’ll collect it in the morning,” Scott said and handed over the list of foodstuffs to the only stall holder Dominiq trusted in the harbor. “That okay?”<br /><br />The man behind the stall read over the list and nodded. “No problem,” he agreed and slipped the list in his shirt pocket. His smile was all teeth and friendly. <br /><br />Scott knew everything would be ready for him to collect. The man was an old friend of Dominiq’s—Claude, Scott remembered. “Thanks,” he said and handed Claude half the money he had been given as a deposit. <br /><br />“See you in the morning,” Claude said. Then he turned to serve another customer.<br /><br />“Yeah,” Scott said, putting his wallet away. He zipped up his pocket and pulled his green T-shirt down over his ass. He checked the time. Still a little early to start drinking alone. Besides, he wasn’t looking to get legless. He just wanted to relax with a couple of beers and some polite conversation. He’d be okay with that. First, he needed to get himself a room, shower, maybe buy himself a decent shirt. <br /><br />Putting on his shades, he turned on his heel to head for the nearest guest house. <br /><br />“Sorry,” he said when he bumped shoulders with someone. <br /><br />“Scott.” <br /><br />The heat of familiarity spread through Scott’s chest when he heard his name. Slowly, he turned around, fearing he might be right. Could it really be…?<br /><br />“Adam.” The man’s name was all Scott managed as he stared into the eyes of his former lover. Adam Ross. It really was him. The only person Scott had ever loved, the same person who had ripped out Scott’s heart and stamped it into the ground. Scott blinked twice to check he wasn’t imagining things.<br /><br />Images flashed in his head. Making love, kissing, smiles, betrayal, cops, crime…every single day of their six months together coalesced into one solid wall of fury.<br /><br />“Hey,” Adam said. His mouth curved into a smile and Scott saw red. <br /><br />Curling his hand into a fist, Scott lashed out, laying a blow to Adam’s jaw. The punch was enough to knock Adam backward and off his feet, and he landed on his ass with a painful grunt.<br /><br />That felt good. Scott shook away the throb of pain from the contact with Adam’s face and squeezed his hand open and shut a few times.<br /><br />“Jesus, Scott,” Adam said as he rubbed at his cheek. “What the hell?”<br /><br />“What the hell?” Scott looked down at Adam and shook his head. “What the hell?” Pinching the bridge of his nose, he backed away and looked around at the curious faces of the market crowds. <br /><br />Great.<br /><br />“You missed me then?” Adam said cautiously. He sat forward and held out his hand. <br /><br />Scott considered Adam’s hand for a moment. He could feel people’s eyes on him, judging him and his actions. <br /><br />Shit.<br /><br />Hesitating, he chewed on his lip. This was some massive joke. He’d knocked Adam to the ground, and Adam should stay on the damn ground. Eventually, Adam got the hint that Scott wasn’t helping him up, and he scrambled to stand on his own. As Adam dusted down the back of his light-colored pants and composed himself, Scott took the opportunity to look the man over. It seemed in six years not a lot had changed. Adam’s eyes still shone all golden brown when he smiled, his jaw was covered in shaped scruff, and his hair stuck up in soft spikes. He looked slimmer, skinnier even, older, but he had the familiar youthful charm in and around his eyes. <br /><br />Damn, he looks good.<br /><br />Emotions Scott had buried a long time ago threatened to reemerge—a mixture of hate, love, and regret. Right now, he hated the fact Adam could reawaken that desire, that love, those feelings Scott hadn’t had for anyone since him. Not like this. Not the same as he’d felt for Adam. Sure he had said the words to a couple of guys, but there was never anything real behind them. Nothing that meant the relationships would last longer than a couple of months, just enough before the itchy feet kicked in and Scott continued with his traveling. <br /><br />“What are you doing here?” Scott asked angrily, stepping back to put a little more distance between them.<br /><br />Adam briefly smiled before he ducked his head and eyed the ground. He seemed nervous. “To the point as always. I missed that.” <br /><br />Scott folded his arms across his broad chest. “Seriously? Do you want me to hit you again?” Yes, he was hostile, but Adam deserved it. Scott still remembered that morning—the cops, the shouting, Adam with one leg out the window. <br /><br />Adam raised his hands in self-defense. “Not necessary.”<br /><br />For a few seconds Scott just stared. His initial temper had subsided and now sat curled inside him, ready for more fighting. He’d finished with Adam. He didn’t need Adam. I loved him so much.<br /><br />Calmly, Scott again asked, “Why are you here?” What wicked trick was Fate trying to play on him? Of all the places in the world, Adam was here. Why? How? He narrowed his eyes and looked Adam up and down. He didn’t believe in coincidences.<br /><br />“A guy can’t go on vacation?” Adam stretched his neck as he rubbed his jaw again. “That hurt, you know. I didn’t think you had it in you.” <br /><br />“You’d be surprised. I’m not the same person from six years ago.”<br /><br />Adam nodded. “Do you want to get a drink?”<br /><br />Scott huffed a laugh. “You’re kidding, right?” So maybe a moment ago he was ready to have a few beers, but now he just wanted to collect Dominiq’s ingredients, sort out the liquor order, and get back to Sapphire Cay. He grimaced as he curled his hand into a fist. And get some ice for his damn hand.<br /><br />Adam worried his lower lip with a tooth. He looked both wary and hopeful. “Thought we could catch up.”<br /><br />“Catch up? With what? Your time behind bars? My time forgetting you?”<br /><br />“Scott, please—” <br /><br />“How long were you in?” Scott ignored Adam’s soft plea. <br /><br />Adam stiffened. “Three years.” He met Scott’s eyes before shying away.<br /><br />The last time Scott had seen Adam, he was being bundled into the back of a cop car. Despite how he had felt about Adam, he hadn’t even been able to bring himself to go to court. He didn’t want to see Adam. As far he had been concerned the young man he’d fallen so hard for was a liar and a criminal and he didn’t want or need to hear exactly what Adam was guilty of. He read about the case online but he never checked the sentencing.<br /><br />“So, why are you here?” Scott pressed.<br /><br />Adam lifted his gaze and had an earnest expression on his face that Scott didn’t believe for one minute. “I told you. A vacation.”<br /><br />“And that’s it?” <br /><br />Adam shrugged. “I have some business to deal with first, but yeah, that’s it.”<br /><br />“Business?” Scott shook his head. “What this time?” He tried to imagine how bad things might be this time around. “You here to steal from the tourists?” The Bahamas suffered from crime as much as anywhere else. Smuggling was the biggest problem in the Bahamas, what with the many uninhabited islands. Exotic animals? Drugs? People?<br /><br />“I’ve changed, Scott,” Adam sounded sad and more than a little resigned. Was he looking for sympathy? Scott huffed a sarcastic laugh. What did Adam expect?<br /><br />“You do remember what happened in Ithaca, right? Your business brought the cops to our door.”<br /><br />“That wasn’t my fault,” Adam claimed instantly. He held up a hand to forestall Scott’s talking. “It was a misunderstanding. I didn’t do what the cops said I did.”<br /><br />“So you were innocent and they put you away for three years for absolutely no reason. I forgot, everyone in prison is innocent.” Scott looked around. Were they really doing this in the middle of the street? People weren’t stopping and staring—no one cared the two men were talking loudly in the street.<br /><br />Scott forged ahead. “You made your choice when you stole that first car. You got involved with all that crap and those men. You got me involved. I had the cops going through my stuff, our stuff. Do you know how that made me feel?”<br /><br />Fuck. He couldn’t do this. Turning around, he shouted to Claude, “Claude, I’ll be back in an hour for everything. That a problem?”<br /><br />Claude looked surprised but shook his head. “One hour.”<br /><br />“I have to go.” Scott looked at Adam. “Enjoy your vacation,” he said and made to leave.<br /><br />“I’m sorry,” Adam called after him. Scott stopped and closed his eyes. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if he really hated Adam. Even after six years, there was still a place reserved for only Adam in his heart. “Please, Scott, I truly am sorry. You were never supposed to get involved.”<br /><br />Slowly, Scott turned around. “You don’t get it, do you? I loved you. Just being with you involved me in what you were doing. I could have lost everything I’d worked for. I trusted you and you lied to me.”<br /><br />“I didn’t lie. I just—”<br /><br />“Didn’t tell me the truth,” Scott finished for him. <br /><br />Adam shook his head. “I’m sorry.”<br /><br />“Me too, sorry I ever met you,” Scott snapped. Then he eyed the red patch on Adam’s jaw where he had hit him. “I’m not sorry I hit you.”<br /><br />“I deserved it,” Adam said softly. He touched the darkening skin with the fingers of one hand.<br /><br />Scott couldn’t stand here any longer. He couldn’t bear to be in the proximity of the man he’d lost his heart to. He would hit him again or kiss him or throttle him or hug him. He had to go.<br /><br />“Goodbye, Adam,” he said finally. He continued to walk away. <br /><br />“I’m staying at the Pelican Landing,” Adam shouted. “Room four-oh-eight.”<br /><br />Scott didn’t stop this time. He couldn’t. Refusing to look back, he headed for the liquor store. Singapore suddenly seemed a hell of a good idea just about now.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Chapter 2<br /><br /><br /><br />Lucas frowned at Scott as he walked up to him. “You’re back?” <br /><br />Scott shrugged as Lucas stated the obvious. He had only just docked a few minutes before and he needed a beer. He’d hoped the bar would be empty but apparently, Lucas and Dylan had the same idea for early evening alcohol and were standing on either side of the Tiki bar, chatting.<br /><br />“Yeah. Change of plan,” Scott said as he slid onto the stool beside Lucas and rested his arms on the edge of the wooden surface. It was a little after six and the sun sat low in the sky, casting a warm orange glow over the pool area.<br /><br />Dylan and Lucas both stared at him, and it was Lucas who finally broke the silence. “Want a cocktail? Dylan’s making us Apple Mojitos.” <br /><br />Scott watched Dylan mix the first drink. It looked disgusting. Evidently, his face showed the doubt he had at going anywhere near the bright green drink. <br /><br />“They’re good,” Lucas assured him. <br /><br />“Sure,” Scott said. “Why not?” He’d get to the beer later.<br /><br />Lucas grinned. “So, how was Marsh Harbor?”<br /><br />I ran into my ex who spent three of the last six years in prison. <br /><br />“Same old.” He glanced at Lucas, who gave him a curious look. “I haven’t unloaded Liberty yet.” <br /><br />Dylan slid a drink toward Lucas. <br /><br />Scott continued, “Was hoping for a hand.” <br /><br />He smirked as Dylan pulled the drink back toward himself, away from Lucas.<br /><br />“Hey,” Lucas half whined.<br /><br />“After we help Scott,” Dylan insisted.<br /><br />Lucas mumbled something Scott didn’t quite make out, but it definitely involved both Scott and Dylan being asses. <br /><br />“Fine,” Lucas said and jumped down from his stool. “Well, come on,” he chivied them to work. “I have cocktails to sip beside the pool. Let’s get to it.”<br /><br />Dylan laughed and fell in behind his fiancé, followed quickly by Scott. The couple held hands as they made their way down to the beach and the pier. Scott pushed his hands in his pockets and smiled as Dylan playfully shoved Lucas forward across the sand. He had only ever felt that at ease with one person. One man. His head and his heart were engaged in a war over Adam about what was and what could have been—what still could be. <br /><br />How could he even think about giving the man a second chance?<br /><br />Because you loved him, you big idiot. Because when you saw him your instinct was to hold him close and never let him go. Because even now grabs your heart.<br /><br />Lucas cried out and Scott stopped, watching the two men run across the sand. Dylan chased Lucas toward the pier, trying to capture him around his waist, only to miss and fall face first in the sand. <br /><br />He thought on Adam and Ithaca, on Dylan and Lucas and Sapphire Cay, and then on Singapore and moving forward. With a sigh, he started walking again. He needed to work stuff out. What had happened today was a wakeup call. The decision to face any or all of it head on wasn’t as easy as he thought. In fact, it was damn hard. <br /><br />After Liberty was unloaded and everything was in the kitchen, it was finally drink time. One Mojito turned into two. The drink numbed the edges and gave him a buzz where his mind was imagining everything was possible. He chased them with beer but when he asked for whisky, Dylan placed a hand over his and stopped him from helping himself.<br /><br />“What’s wrong?” Dylan asked gently. <br /><br />“Nothing,” Scott said. No one needed to know that he was probably in shock. All he needed to do was take the edge off with the alcohol, and life would just go back to normal.<br /><br />Dylan began talking, but he was talking to Lucas, not to Scott. “…the most I’ve ever seen him drink is two beers…”<br /><br />His friend’s voice sounded distant and there was buzzing in his head that made it difficult to concentrate. Scott blinked and looked from Dylan to Lucas then down to his empty glass. They were talking about him as if he wasn’t there, saying he was drunk…or something. <br /><br />“’M’fine,” he said. He deliberately sounded out each vowel in his head but what came out was a slur. “’M’not’fine,” he corrected. “’M’drunk.”<br /><br />“What happened when you were mainland?” someone asked. He thought it was Dylan, but he wouldn’t bet his life on it.<br /><br />“‘S’Adam,” he said. At least the sound of the words in his head were right even if it didn’t come out as careful speech.<br /><br />“Adam who?” Lucas asked. Scott looked over at him, but Lucas wasn’t directing the question to him, he was looking at Dylan for the answer. Hell, Dylan didn’t know anything about Adam. Why would Scott go mouthing off about someone that screwed with his head and left him feeling angry and lost?<br /><br />“I don’t know anything about an Adam,” Dylan answered.<br /><br />“I’m going in to get coffee for us all,” Lucas said quickly. “I’ll be back in five.”<br /><br />Dylan came around Scott’s side and encouraged Scott to sit on the sand with his back against the wooden bar. He pressed a glass of water into Scott’s hand.<br /><br />“Drink this, it’ll dilute the alcohol some.”<br /><br />Scott did as he was told then, and before he felt time pass, Lucas was back and he handed Scott hot black coffee. As it scalded a path down his throat, Scott winced. He was losing the lovely mellow everything-is-fine feeling and was on the way to feeling queasy. He imagined the coffee finding the alcohol in his stomach and threatening it not to come back up. He hoped to hell the alcohol was going to listen. <br /><br />Lucas sat on his right, Dylan on his left, and he waited for one of them to start talking. They were going to ask him all kinds of deep penetrating questions that he had no answer to.<br /><br />“You want to talk?” Lucas asked gently. “I can go if you want to talk to Dylan on your own?”<br /><br />“Dylan’s my best friend,” Scott said brokenly. “You love him.” He knew he wasn’t making sense. He was coming down from the alcohol high and things looked bleak. “I love that you love him and he loves you,” he added with a hiccup.<br /><br />Scott and Dylan had been close for years, ever since Thailand, and Dylan knew all of Scott’s secrets bar one. Adam. Scott could understand why Lucas suggested Scott talk to Dylan alone, but he assumed Dylan would talk to Lucas later anyway. May as well get it all out in one go. He sipped more coffee and for a long while they sat in silence in a row. Finally, he felt able to speak.<br /><br />“I was in the last year of college, sitting through finals, working at the botanical gardens for my experience,” Scott started. He closed his eyes then moved until he could draw up his knees and rest his head on them. He wondered if the two men would be able to hear him as he mumbled into his legs, then dismissed the worry. He needed to hide when he told this story and they would just have to listen hard.<br /><br />“I met this guy when I was in my final year at Ithaca. Young, only nineteen, and he was the life and soul of the party. We just clicked in bed. He only had to take his shirt off and I had him pinned to the mattress or a sofa or up against a wall.” He groaned as he realized how much information was probably too much. Neither Lucas nor Dylan commented. “His name was Adam.”<br /><br />“He was a sophomore then,” Lucas summarized.<br /><br />Scott snorted. “Hell no. He wasn’t in college. Not that he couldn’t, he was so damn clever, but he didn’t have money…you know what it’s like. He worked in Ithaca. I met him at a party, we were together six months.” Nausea rolled in his stomach, and he concentrated on his breathing to quell the need to be sick. “We got to the point…” He paused. “No, I got to the point where I thought we could see where the future took us.” He stopped and lifted his face to the evening breeze. The scent of the sea was as familiar as every other night and it grounded him. “I even thought I was in love with him.”<br /><br />I was in love with him. He was part of me. My future.<br /><br />Lucas rubbed small circles on his back. “What happened?” he asked.<br /><br />Scott snorted. “Well, the future didn’t happen. That’s for sure,” he added. “I knew in my bones that there was something not right, but I really, genuinely had fallen in love and I ignored all the signs.”<br /><br />“Was he cheating on you?” This time Dylan asked the question. Scott wished he could say he knew for certain that Adam hadn’t cheated on him. That he trusted Adam. But when the cops came and took him, Scott lost the last little piece of trust he had. Instead of answering Dylan’s question, he forged ahead with explanation.<br /><br />He sighed heavily. “I don’t know what to tell you. We woke up one morning and there were cops at the door, and when I let them in, Adam was halfway out the window. They arrested him for stealing cars and selling the parts, and I found out today he was given a three-year prison sentence.”<br /><br />“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Dylan offered. He slung his arm over Scott’s shoulder and Scott wasn’t ashamed to lean in for the comfort.<br /><br />“You didn’t know what he was doing?” Lucas asked.<br /><br />Trust Lucas to be the one who asked the question that mattered.<br /><br />“I’d love to tell you, hand on heart, that I didn’t know,” Scott said. “But I was always suspicious. He’d come to my place late, go out early, sometimes he’d just be lying around playing video games for days. He told me he had a legitimate business that he ran alongside flipping burgers, and that he was going places. At first, I was proud that my nineteen-year-old boyfriend had made himself money and thought that one day he would use it to go to college or… I don’t know.” Scott shrugged. “Hell, the sex was awesome.”<br /><br />“So you said,” Lucas said dryly. <br /><br />Dylan took his turn to ask a question that Scott struggled with. “What stopped you from finding out more? What is he doing here? Has he tracked you down? Did you ask him what he was doing?”<br /><br />So many questions Scott wished he had answers to. “I don’t know. We had six months, Dylan, that was all. Just half a year of off-the-charts sex and me in my own head imagining a future based on that alone. We weren’t much beyond the fucking-every-moment-we-got stage. I’d only allowed myself that single morning to say anything out loud that was anywhere close to commitment.”<br /><br />Scott remembered it clearly.<br /><br /><br /><br /><i>“How would you like to come traveling with me?” Scott blurted out. Adam wasn’t the type for post-sex talking; he was more the head-under-the-quilt-and-snoring type. Adam turned on his side to face Scott and gave another wide yawn.<br /><br />“Traveling where?” Adam asked curiously as he stretched.<br /><br />“Like how some European students travel after they have their degrees. I think it sounds kinda cool. Singapore, maybe, Australia? I was thinking of starting in Thailand or something like that? We could work our way around.” Scott wished he sounded more confident in what he was saying. He and Adam were different worlds really, and he didn’t expect Adam to say yes immediately.<br /><br />“I have a life here,” Adam said softly.<br /><br />“It wouldn’t be for long.”<br /><br />“How long?” Adam asked.<br /><br />“Most students go for a year. Do some growing up, see the world, find themselves.”<br /><br />Adam snorted a laugh and rolled onto his back. Reaching sideways, he gripped Scott’s now-flaccid cock. “I can help you find yourself, baby.” He smirked. <br /><br />“I mean it,” Scott insisted. “Take a year out, work our way around the world, well, a bit of it at least, then come back and find somewhere to settle down or something.” The last he added casually, as if he didn’t care what Adam said next.<br /><br />“Settle down?” Adam sounded momentarily wistful. Then he ruined the effect by laughing. “That sounds far too permanent.”<br /><br />“I know you’re only nineteen…” Scott started. He wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence though. <br /><br />“Nineteen with a place of my own I pay rent on and income from a good job.”<br /><br />“Doing what exactly?” Scott insisted. He swallowed. “You have way more money than just flipping burgers. What is your other business?”<br /><br />Adam rolled off the bed on his side and pulled on his jeans. “Jesus, Scott. I’m not staying if you’re going all bad cop on me.”<br /><br />“Why would you say that?” Scott snapped.<br /><br />“Fuck you, Scott. I don’t have to share anything with you.”<br /><br />“I worry about you, Adam.”<br /><br />Adam pulled his T-shirt over his head and scrubbed at his stubbled face with his hands, then pushed them through his spiky, messed hair. He had temper flashing in his eyes. “Don’t worry about me, Brains, I’m doing just fine.”<br /><br />“You don’t seem to have anyone. Friends? Family. I’ve never met anyone. You have money lying around here. I’m not stupid, Adam.”<br /><br />“I never said you were, but this is my life and I don’t need you getting involved.”<br /><br />A knock at the door echoed through the small apartment. Someone was pounding the door. Wait. Not pounding. Pushing something at the door. <br /><br />Adam was scared, his brown eyes wide with sudden fear. He looked terrified and crossed to the window, glancing out at the fire escape.<br /><br />“Adam, what’s wrong?”<br /><br />Adam didn’t answer. He pulled at the catch holding the window shut and tried to lever it upward. He even had a foot out on the sill when the door flew open with force and suddenly everything went to hell. Cops, five, six, two with guns drawn, and Adam was dragged back from the window. One of them was stating Adam’s Miranda rights and when Scott could hear over the noise all he picked up was that Adam was being arrested. What for? What did Adam do? <br /><br />When cuffs clicked around Adam’s wrists he didn’t struggle. He simply stood absolutely still and refused to meet Scott’s eyes. The cops turned to Adam. They were talking at him, something about car theft, parts, cash, laundering, and a cop being shot. Adam was going down and Scott had to stay here and think himself lucky he’d stayed out of it all. <br /><br />Confusion and noise, then suddenly nothing except the promise that Scott would be called in for questioning if needed. <br /><br />Standing in his room in shock, Scott could only think one thing.<br /><br />How could he ever think to love someone he could never really know?</i><br /><br /><br />Scott pulled himself back to the here and now. “Adam told me he did extra stuff. That is how he explained it—stuff—finding things people needed and selling them on. I would see rolls of notes sometimes, and I knew something wasn’t right. “<br /><br />“But you never knew what?” Dylan asked carefully.<br /><br />“Car parts he said. I asked him what kind of car parts? Where did he get them? Why did his customers pay him in cash? All he said was that his customers were rich. I was stupid. Blinded by what I thought was love.”<br /><br />The three men sat quietly for a few minutes, and in that time enough memories whirled inside Scott’s head that he couldn’t stop the flood of embarrassment that made him groan.<br /><br />Dylan snapped his fingers. “Wait. Rewind. He was in prison, and he’s out, so do you think he is in Marsh Harbor specifically looking for you?”<br /><br />Scott shuffled uncomfortably on the hardening sand under his butt. “He didn’t say and I didn’t ask him.”<br /><br />“Then what exactly did you talk about then?”<br /><br />“Less talking, more punching,” Scott admitted. <br /><br />“Jeez,” Dylan murmured. Scott glanced at Dylan, whose eyebrows were raised in surprise at the statement. Scott was the last person to get angry, let alone allow temper to have a physical manifestation, and Dylan knew that.<br /><br />“So, both of you, tell me. What the hell do I do now?”<br /><br />“Is he still at Marsh Harbor?”<br /><br />“He said he was. He gave me his room number at the Pelican Landing.”<br /><br />“That’s a pit,” Dylan said. “Cheap by-the-hour type of bookings.”<br /><br />“Stealing cars can’t pay well then,” Lucas pointed out.<br /><br />“He says he’s done with that,” Scott immediately defended. Then he groaned again and hid his face against Dylan’s T-shirt. What was he doing? Defending someone he’d spent so little time with and who he didn’t really know. The same boy who’d nearly got Scott arrested.<br /><br />“You know what you need to do,” Dylan started. “You need to sleep on it, and in the morning, you need to get yourself to the Pelican Landing and you need to punch him again.” The last he added with a smile obvious in his voice. <br /><br />“Or you could talk,” Lucas said. “Get this all off your chest. See what he wants. Then come back home and drink some more mojitos.”</div></div></div>

Chase The Sun (Sapphire Cay #3)

The Sapphire Cay series Written with Meredith Russell Book 1 - Follow The Sun Book 2 - Under The Sun Book 3 - Chase The Sun The Book Six yea...

+ Read more »

Sanctuary Series Fan Video

<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Wow</b></span><br /><br />A wonderful fan video for the Sanctuary Series by Trisha Harrington... *Loves so much*<br /><br />I've never had a fan video made of my writing before... and I am so blown away<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dcb44WBXTcc?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Page Links to books:</b></span><br /><br /><a href="http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.com/2011/10/guarding-morgan.html" style="background-color: white; color: #ce1111; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Guarding Morgan</a><br /><a href="http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.com/2012/01/only-easy-day-new-cover-art.html" style="background-color: white; color: #ce1111; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">The Only Easy Day</a><br /><a href="http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.com/2012/01/face-value.html" style="background-color: white; color: #ce1111; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Face Value</a><br /><a href="http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.com/2012/03/still-waters-sanctuary-4.html" style="background-color: white; color: #ce1111; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Still Waters</a><br /><a href="http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/full-circle-sanctuary-5.html" style="background-color: white; color: #ce1111; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Full Circle</a><br /><a href="http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-journal-of-sanctuary-one-sanctuary.html" style="background-color: white; color: #ce1111; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Journal Of Sanctuary One</a><br /><a href="http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/worlds-collide-sanctuary-7.html" style="background-color: white; color: #ce1111; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Worlds Collide</a>

Sanctuary Series Fan Video

Wow A wonderful fan video for the Sanctuary Series by Trisha Harrington... *Loves so much* I've never had a fan video made of my writing...

+ Read more »

All The Kings Men

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQm9xS20lQ5vgEJTOgTptEFULT2mqHPsUPWE4k3oOlwRnvltTNYWDw-H0TfuVgrLPraHmVEL3c9pAj9Zlaw39rgHJLsAkEV2Iwkz2GhXh4Sb2pGKV4afgH1bTZRWFQGoSwsz0PlzrsDCg/s1600/All+the+kings+men+4x6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQm9xS20lQ5vgEJTOgTptEFULT2mqHPsUPWE4k3oOlwRnvltTNYWDw-H0TfuVgrLPraHmVEL3c9pAj9Zlaw39rgHJLsAkEV2Iwkz2GhXh4Sb2pGKV4afgH1bTZRWFQGoSwsz0PlzrsDCg/s400/All+the+kings+men+4x6.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cover art by Meredith Russell</b></td></tr></tbody></table><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Book</span></b><br /><b><br /></b><br /><br /><br />When Ryan Ortiz decides to go direct to LA to fight for a second chance with his lover Nathan Richardson he is caught up in the biggest earthquake to hit the city since records began.<br /> <br />LA is destroyed, burning, people homeless, and fires are ignited high in the LA hills above Nathan's apartment. Nathan is trapped and Ryan is his only hope.<br /> <br />It is a race against time and the powerful all consuming destruction of nature for Ryan to find Nathan, trapped in the ruins of his home in the hills, and to get both of them to help before the fire reaches them.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">Buy Links - eBook</span></b><br /><br /><a href="https://www.lovelanebooks.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=36" target="_blank">Love Lane Books</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D4SKYB0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00D4SKYB0&linkCode=as2&tag=rjsc-20" target="_blank">Amazon (US)</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D4SKYB0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00D4SKYB0&linkCode=as2&tag=rjsc-21" target="_blank">Amazon (UK)</a> | <a href="https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-alltheking039smen-1216575-149.html" target="_blank">All Romance</a> | <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-the-kings-men-r-scott/1102959678?ean=2940044565395" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a> | <a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/Books/all-the-king-s-men-5" target="_blank">Kobo</a> | <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/321500" target="_blank">Smashwords</a><br /><b><br /></b><b><span style="font-size: large;">Reviews</span></b><br /><br /><b>4.5 kisses from Top To Bottom Reviews</b> (review of first edition, 2011) - All the King’s Men is a perilous journey that’ll take your breath away as you turn the pages. Often poignant, endlessly entertaining, it will leave you with the faith that hope, perseverance, and the promise of love will always work its magic. <a href="http://top2bottomreviews.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/all-the-kings-men-by-rj-scott/">Read More>></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Rated 4 from Bittersweet Reviews - </b>(review of first edition, 2011). All The King’s Men is still a highly emotive read and the writing is top class, especially with the stark descriptions of the destruction wreaked by the earthquake and the long lasting repercussions. [It] makes for frightening reading, particularly when you consider how this could happen for real at any time in LA, and more or less just did in Japan. <a href="http://www.bittersweetreviews.com/2011/04/all-the-kings-men-by-r-j-scott/">More</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Excerpt</b></span><br /><br /><b>Prologue</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.</div><div style="text-align: center;">All the king’s horses and all the king’s men</div><div style="text-align: center;">Couldn’t put Humpty together again!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</div><br />California is one of America’s most earthquake-prone states.<br /><br />The boundary between the massive Pacific and North American tectonic plates, the notorious San Andreas Fault, runs roughly southeast to northwest through much of California. In addition, a jumble of lesser transverse faults clutters the map of the state.<br /><br />Sides of the San Andreas Fault move in the opposite direction, but at different speeds, causing geologic tension to build. That tension is released in the form of an earthquake. The possibility is always present for associated earthquakes among the nearby transform faults.<br /><br />The U.S. Geological Survey says the state faces a forty-six percent chance of being hit by a Richter Scale magnitude 7.5 or higher earthquake in the next thirty years.<br /><br />Possibly even today.<br /><br /><b>Chapter 1</b><br /><br /><b><i>Thursday 6:52 a.m.</i></b><br /><b><i><br /></i></b><i>I’m coming to you… Early morning flight to LAX… I don’t want to play phone tag anymore… I just want to see you face to face and talk… I miss you, Nate… I’m sorry… I love you.</i><br /><br />Nathan Richardson leaned against the park gates and pocketed his cell after listening to his lover’s voicemail for what must be at least the twentieth time. The message was emotional and Ryan’s voice was choked as he spoke. Still, in the few words Nathan heard he got the message. He and Ryan needed to do one hell of a lot of talking.<br /><a name="more"></a><br /><br />They’d been together two years, Ryan a photographer and Nathan his model. It was the worst cliché ever and surely destined to fail. But not them. They were in love and going strong. Nathan wanted forever, commitment, a place they owned together, hell, even a ring. Ryan, older than Nathan by five years, had too many breakups under his belt to think that a happy ever after was even possible.<br /><br />When Nathan was offered a part in a small independent movie, it had been the beginning of the end. Nathan had used modeling to finance acting classes and he jumped at the chance to join the cast of an independent gay film with a contract for two months’ work and an audition for a soap as a new love interest in some kind of triangle. <br /><br />Nathan expected Ryan to protest—for his lover to tell Nathan he couldn’t live without him and not to go. Instead Ryan grew quieter by the day and merely encouraged Nathan to take the role. Nathan could see what was happening—Ryan was subtly saying he didn’t want a forever kind of thing anyway. Ryan was ending their love affair while he had the chance to be in control of how it ended. They didn’t fight. They drifted apart and Nathan let it happen.<br /><br />That had been two months ago. <br /><br />Two days ago Ryan had texted him. <i>I miss you. So much.</i><br /><br />Nathan didn’t know what to type in return. Ryan wasn’t exactly offering endless love and a ring. But when Nathan read those few words he knew getting over Ryan was unachievable. He loved the man, and always would. His friend Jason wanted him to move on. He could no more move on from Ryan than he could turn straight. <br /><br />Ryan was the other half of him.<br /><br /><i>I love you,</i> Nathan sent in reply.<br /><br /><i>I want forever, </i>Ryan texted back. <br /><br /><i>I can go for that,</i> Nathan replied quickly.<br /><br /><i>I can get a flight.</i> Unspoken was asking if Ryan could visit Nathan. <br /><br /><i>Please.</i><br /><br />Despite staring at the screen for an hour, there were no more messages. <br /><br />Then the voicemail came when Nathan was on his run. Heartfelt and perfect. The two of them could make this real. Not long and his lover would be here, then they could clear the air and maybe he and Ryan could find a way to move on. <br /><br />Ryan Ortiz said he was ready for forever and Nathan wanted that so badly.<br /><br />He had run here, the opposite side of the US, to give Ryan time to think about what he felt and what he wanted. It had killed him not to be calling Ryan every day, but Nathan knew Ryan and knew his best bet was to not pressure his lover. His gaze passed over where he now lived, a place so very different from his and Ryan’s former home in the chaos and noise of New York. <br /><br />A small complex of four apartments, quiet and remote, the peace and solitude suited his frame of mind perfectly. He lived in this two-bedroom apartment in the hills beyond LA, rented from an absentee landlord, and had made it his own with photos of family and even one of him and Ryan in happier times. As much as he wished he could, he hadn’t been able to cut Ryan out of his thoughts, or his life. <br /><br />He stood in the roughhewn park carved out across the road from his home and looked away from his sanctuary to the nature that surrounded him. The park itself was a jumble of trees and rocks, grass and pathways, some steeply climbing higher into the hills, some gently curving and ideal for his attempted runs. The nearest main road was a quarter-mile away, and most people drove past the entrance to the small complex without realizing the road led to people’s homes.<br /><br />Jason and his girlfriend had put an offer on one of the two empty apartments. Having his best friend in LA living next door was a good thing. He needed that connection if he couldn’t have Ryan in his life on a permanent basis. Although…maybe…somehow he and Ryan could make it work?<br /><br />Nathan smiled as a cloud of birds rose gracefully from the oak at the edge of the park, heading skyward at an incredible speed. He loved that he was so close to the peace of nature, and the sight of the birds was both eerie and fascinating. He couldn’t stop looking at it, wishing he had his camera with him, cursing at another amazing photo opportunity lost.<br /><br />Suddenly, he couldn’t wait to share what he’d seen with Ryan.<br /><br />* * * * *</div><div><i><b><br /></b></i><i><b>Thursday 6:59 am</b></i><br /><br />Ryan Ortiz sat forward in the cab as they rounded a corner. He was desperate to get his Nathan into his arms where Ryan could hold him and tell him that he loved him. The cab was moving too slowly and all the driver wanted to do was talk to him.<br /><br />“What brings you to LA?”<br /><br />“My boyfriend lives here.” Nathan.<br /><br />“So you’re not a resident?”<br /><br />“No, I’m here from New York, just for a few days.” Hopefully longer if Nathan will take me back.<br /><br />The questions continued to come. What did he think of the spate of forest fires in the LA hills? Did he think that Lindsay Lohan was for real? Did he have pets? Was he married? Did he want to get married? Was he fighting for equal rights? For the most part, Ryan managed to keep up until he realized that the driver wasn’t actually listening to his answers, and so he was able to subside to a new level of tired grunts in answer to each new question. Still dazed from his early morning flight from New York, his mind limped through thought and memory, attempting to make order out of chaos. The views from the taxi, the vista of the city laid out through the misty smog, were gorgeous, and he itched for his camera. It was a very strange feeling not to have it with him, but the rush to get here, to see Nathan, had precluded organizing his extensive camera equipment. It was the first time in his memory he’d gone anywhere without at least one camera.<br /><br />He missed taking photos of Nate. His gorgeous lover had started as his model for Style and hell, Ryan loved every minute of seeing Nate through the viewfinder. They’d slipped into a relationship, a fiery, intense love affair. Then his beautiful lover had revealed he wanted to try acting and even had a role lined up. Although when that had happened Ryan didn’t know, as Nathan hadn’t told him a thing.<br /><br />“It’s such a cliché,” Ryan told him. “Model turned actor.”<br /><br />He was only teasing but Nathan took him so seriously. “It’s just a dream of mine, and I’m lucky they let me try for it.”<br /><br />“Why didn’t you tell me you had done this?”<br /><br />“I thought they’d laugh me out of the door, I never imagined they’d say yes.”<br /><br />Ryan had pulled Nathan into a hug. “I’m proud of you, babe,” he said firmly. Of course, inside he’d faced the finality that he was losing Nathan. No point in a future when they were separated on opposite sides of the US, and he certainly wasn’t going to hold Nathan back. It had been easier for Ryan to assume they were ending with Nathan’s move to LA.<br /><br />Ultimately Nathan left his position with Style and moved permanently to LA, embracing his burgeoning acting career. The arguments increased at the same rate as the distance between them. Ryan had always been the one who picked the fights. Fucking idiot. Ryan fought insecurity and jealousy and the only way he could do that was to pretend Nathan leaving for a new career meant nothing to him. <br /><br />Nathan got the role in the TV series, up and away from his independent film part, starting with a six-month contract. His picture was emblazoned on page twenty-nine of a teen magazine that Ryan’s assistant left on his desk. The photo was one of Ryan’s, and it was one of his favorites. Nathan, beautiful, shirtless, his lean body stretched with catlike grace, leaning back on his elbows. His jeans were pushed down and his hipbones teased at what was hidden. He was pictured gazing away from the camera thoughtfully, his soft dark hair in disarray around his face. The lighting had been faultless, each coppery highlight in Nathan’s hair picked out in detail. The photo was simply perfect. <br /><br />They had gone home after that shoot and made love and it was the moment Ryan knew he was head over heels for Nathan. They’d exchanged I love you’s and Nathan began to make plans for a future together, a house outside the city maybe, adoption, hell, the whole family thing. Ryan wasn’t sure he was capable of all that, but he’d nodded and listened. Then he saw the damn photo again and he knew at that moment he should never have let his fears stop him from believing in what they had. <br /><br />Ryan didn’t hesitate when he saw that photo. He loved Nathan and they had been apart too long. Sure there was a relationship to save, he texted Nathan and Nathan had answered. Ryan impulsively booked a flight immediately—the first flight he could get to LA. He called Nathan from the airport and left a voicemail when Nathan didn’t answer. Now he sat in the taxi as the driver steered it up into the hills. He needed to push aside his insecurities, drop to his knees, and beg forgiveness of the one person who made him whole. He hoped he wasn’t too late.<br /><br />* * * * *<br /><br /><b><i>7:12 a.m.</i></b><br /><br />After his pathetic, half-hearted stumble-run, Nathan decided he needed to get indoors and get a shower. He wasn’t sure what time Ryan would get here but Nathan wanted to be at least halfway decent when he did.<br /><br />He couldn’t help the excitement that flooded him. He really wanted to see if maybe his ex-lover would want to find some kind of resolution. Maybe they could agree to split their time between the two cities?<br /><br />He was just inside the main door when the floor beneath his feet moved, subtly the first time, slowly, a groaning, a creaking, and a soft shaking. The ground shift left him holding the doorframe. It only lasted a few seconds and was over before he could force a thought about it through the rest of the clutter in his mind. The checklist in his head clicked in automatically before the shaking had stopped. He smiled briefly. That earth movement would be dominating the news today. Hey, maybe today was a good day for him to walk proudly out of the closet! Surely revealing his sexual preferences would never be more newsworthy than an earthquake in Tinseltown.<br /><br />He thumbed to the number of his brother out of state and hit Send. The phone at the other end rang once, twice, a third time, and voicemail kicked in. He decided not to leave a message. No one really needed to know that a minor shock had hit his apartment in the hills above LA. The trembler hadn’t been strong enough to be worthy of hitting the news anywhere outside of California. Nathan had just been trying to be a good citizen, letting a family member know like the government said he should. He made a mental note to charge the damn cell when he finished his shower.<br /><br />Seconds later, just as Nathan pocketed his cell, the earth around him ripped apart with such savagery that it was impossible to stand upright. Nathan scrabbled to hold the side of the doorframe, trying to find his feet. His vision blurred as dust and concrete fell about his head, knocking him to the ground. Before the shaking stopped, before the ceiling joists cascaded down and trapped his legs, he slammed into unconsciousness.<br /><br /><br /><b>Chapter 2</b><br />They were about ten minutes away from Nathan’s apartment when the pre-shock hit. The driver cursed as the car skittered sideways, and Ryan grabbed on to the door and his belt in confusion.<br /><br />“What the hell?”<br /><br />“S’okay, just a small one. We get them all the time out here.”<br /><br />Ryan knew what he meant. Earthquake. He’d never really experienced an earthquake before and it had felt weird, like the whole of the earth beneath the car had slid sideways, stones and loose gravel from the hills above them dropping onto the car in a crashing, rattling rain.<br /><br />Ryan peered out the window at the sweeping vista of LA sleeping below him, wondering how many people woke up to the sound that was like distant thunder and to the shaking of the earth. The car had skidded to the edge of the road, and he shot a quick glance down the slope, thanking God that it hadn’t been a major quake. Smiling ruefully, he sat back in the seat as the driver pulled away and angled back onto his side of the road.<br /><br />A breath-stealing jolt yanked him from his musings.<br /><br />The car was moving; no, the hill was moving…shuddering and falling…pushing the hapless car ahead of it. The rocks, vegetation…the sky tumbled. The car neared the edge, the driver shouting hysterically as it tilted sideways, large chunks of hillside falling to dent the car, beat at the car, push the car to the edge, to the drop, to the shaking and dancing of the moving earth.<br /><br />Ryan clung with both hands to the grab handle over the cab’s door and jerked at every noise, every motion. This wasn’t good, not good at all. He stared out, snatching a quick look down at LA, and what he saw was burned into his mind. Explosions. He thought he saw buildings shattering and imploding, but that had to be his imagination. What the fuck is happening?<br /><br />The car ceased its crazy ride and, for one second, remained poised on the edge, overhanging the drop. Then a final shove of moving dirt sent it careening, tumbling down the rise.<br /><br />The car lodged against a natural outcrop and came to a sudden and bone-crunching stop, the thunder and passion of the earthquake still warring around it, the hill subsiding, plummeting, and falling in a haphazard storm of rocks and debris. The seatbelt saved Ryan’s life. It stopped him from being thrown from the car and crushed under it as it rolled and slid, but it also ultimately trapped him inside the vehicle as the chassis twisted and buckled against the onslaught of the hillside. All too soon the noises around him started to slow, and he was left in the dark surrounded by dust and earth, his eyes burning with fumes. He needed to get out of the taxi now.<br /><br />With a powerful resolution born of a desire to live, he heaved himself out of the belt and pushed at the door with his booted feet, tumbling out as it burst open. He crab-walked away from the compacted car, his eyes taking in what was essentially half a car. The front had been flattened and the driver crushed.<br /><br />He was trapped in a nightmare. The remains of the cab perched precariously on a bed of dirt and rocks of all sizes. Flames licked up leaking fuel, eating at the crushed metal. Ryan knew he could do nothing for the driver. He was gone…crushed…dead…fuck.<br /><br />Stumbling to his feet, he clutched at his forehead, pulling his hand away and staring in a shocked stupor at the blood. A head injury. Crap.<br /><br />The car groaned as the metal heated. Half out of his mind with horror and dread, believing the car would explode, he twisted and scrambled his way up over the remains of the road, feeling the heat on his back as the fire continued to eat away at the mutilated car. The cab wasn’t the only car destroyed. One that had been ahead of them lay crushed so badly no one could have escaped. Another vehicle that they’d passed on the freeway had plowed into an embankment and burst into flames. All of the vehicles had been tossed around like toys in the hands of Nature.<br /><br />Finally he crashed to his knees, his back to the view below. There was nothing he could do for anyone in any vehicle here, and his gaze focused on what was left of the road. Reluctantly, spurred by horrified fascination and the need to face what had happened, Ryan pushed himself to his feet and turned slowly. Shielding his eyes with his hand and coughing, he faced the nightmare vista of LA laid out before him. Fire. He could see fire, drifts of dark gray smoke, and clouds of dust. Debris. The ground still stirred uneasily beneath his feet. This was a living disaster movie, surreal, unbelievable. LA was unrecognizable. Everything had gone eerily silent where he stood above the rage of the distant fires and destruction, the motion of the earth around him having finally faded.<br /><br />The taxi burned brightly, and he shuddered at the thought of the dead driver. Ryan didn’t want to think about a world where death could be a blessing. He could have been trapped in that car, trapped in the flames. Fire: his worst fear, his nightmare.<br /><br />Living, breathing fire tracked steadily on its way up the hillside following a dirty trail of oil and fuel that speeded its path. He really needed to move and now, but for a second, he stopped, dazed, still watching LA shattered by the ground on which it had risen. Jesus, this looks worse than the Northridge quake of ’94. He recalled a spread in National Geographic that said the quake had only lasted thirty seconds, but he remembered it killed about sixty people and injured several thousand. Images of collapsed freeways and fires flashed across his thoughts, quick jumbled images of death and destruction. This looked bad, and this wasn’t just a small part of the city. The entire LA downtown looked to be destroyed.<br /><br />Below him lay LA, and around him, but not too near, he heard sirens and smelled smoke. Nathan was somewhere above him, perhaps hit as hard as he’d been. Maybe he was trapped, possibly dead—Ryan froze and refused to think of the worst scenario any more.<br /><br />Should he try to contact someone? Who? Emergency services? If the situation hadn’t been so horrendous, Ryan might have laughed at the stupidity of his thought. There was no one else that could be right here and now; Nathan had him and him alone to depend upon.<br /><br />He checked his pocket. Fuck, his cell was in the car, along with a hastily packed flight bag.<br /><br />Tensing his muscles one by one, he tested for injuries. Each limb seemed bruised but worked. He was relatively uninjured, and nothing appeared broken. His breathing had become easy and regular. He thanked the heavens for the fact that he went running every day and was fit. Picking his way carefully, he started up the hill. Climbing over piles of stone and tossed trees and foliage, he managed to trace parts of the broken road, breaking into a run when he could. He’d been running for ten minutes when he came to an abrupt stop.<br /><br />“Holy shit.”<br /><br />Mother Nature had destroyed all that Ryan knew as right and normal. The road twisted in on itself, decimated and ripped apart. It was difficult to see where he needed to scramble but as long as he moved uphill, he was going in the right direction. He imagined he was just over two miles from Nathan’s apartment, in normal circumstances about twenty minutes at a steady uphill run. Over the unsettled wasteland he traversed, he knew the trip would last much longer.<br /><br />Nathan could be hurt up there. Over the next rise could be total devastation. Ryan quickened his jog, his heart pounding as he jumped and climbed the fallen hillside. He didn’t pass any other cars that had signs of life in them, just burned, twisted wreckage and bodies he couldn’t stand to look at.<br /><br />As he topped the last hill, to the place where Nathan’s complex had sat, he stopped, horrified. The last time he’d been here, when Nathan first came to LA, the whole area was beautiful—landscaped and artistic design nestled into the hills. But now…<br /><br />He gaped at a scene that looked like something out of a war movie. Everything was flat. Half the mountain had crushed the private entrance. The gates and what had been the parking area were torn in two.<br /><br />“Fuck.”<br /><br /><br /><b>Chapter 3 </b><br /><br /><br />Coughing and moaning pushed Nathan to consciousness, and it took him a few desperate minutes to realize it was him making the noises.<br /><br />Earthquake.<br /><br />A bad one if the destruction around him was anything to go by. He couldn’t see much farther than he could reach. The masonry dust drifted around him heavily, and the ground still shook beneath him, dislodging cement and bricks. He could see light above him, daylight where there should have been another apartment. Shit, this must be bad, really bad.<br /><br />He knew the apartment was empty, had been empty since Christmas, but the sky… That didn’t seem right. It wasn’t right.<br /><br />He reached out with one hand trying to gauge what he could feel, what he could understand of the debris around him, but his movement was limited and the ground was still moving. It was surreal, frightening, and he could feel the edges of panic start to cloud his thoughts as he tested his extremities and realized he couldn’t move his legs. Heavy steel lay across his hip and down past his knees. Breathing slowly and deeply, he pushed at the steel, but he might as well have been pushing a solid wall for all it gave under his attempts. All it did was raise more choking dust.<br /><br />He decided to lie still, very still, until the earth stopped moving and the dust settled, maybe wait for emergency services. They wouldn’t be far. They wouldn’t take long; they’d be here soon. Jason would let them know. His friend and fellow actor was in downtown LA, quite a few miles from here. But he would know that Nathan was up in the hills if he couldn’t get hold of him. <br /><br />So, shit, he needed to let his out-of-state contacts know what had happened so they would stop worrying.<br /><br />His cell. If he could get to his cell in the left pocket of his sweats… He could maybe tell Jason where he was, that he needed help, talk to his brother as well. He pushed his hand down, feeling his way, not even sure how far his hand was from the pocket, just knowing with enough grim determination he would get to the cell.<br /><br />He could feel the cell, feel it in his pocket, the outline of it, but shit. The material was bunched and he couldn’t get it out. Frustration made him whimper. This was not good, and he started pulling at the seam, desperate to reach inside. Picking, pulling, trying to ease the material apart. The ground had stopped shaking, and a sudden peace surrounded him that was unnatural. He heard no noises at all, and he held in a breath in anticipation of any sound at all, not wanting to move and miss it, as if any movement could be the death of him.<br /><br />Nathan had managed to pick his way through to the inner lining of the pocket, cursing Nike for their fucking stitching. The pain in his legs was numbing, and he knew that was a bad sign. He had realized straight away that he couldn’t sit up, and a combination of twisted steel and masonry made the space he was lying in impossibly small. He could still see the daylight, the early morning light spilling in to cast eerie shadows over his limited space. Taking stock of the situation, he knew two things for certain: he wasn’t going anywhere under his own steam and aftershocks were inevitable.<br /><br />There was very little between his fragile human body and the remains of his apartment torn apart by the forces of Nature. He hoped to hell that the shifting earth echoes didn’t dislodge the steel that was holding together his cocoon of safety.<br /><br />He heard his cell ring, the unique ring he had for his brother, Adam. He wanted to shout, “I’m here, I’m okay, someone help me.” He just needed to get to the phone. Ease the threads apart…pull…pull…ease them apart, visualize the seam. His hand slowly made its way in, and he moaned in relief as his cramped fingers closed around his cell. He couldn’t move his arm enough to see the phone, but he keyed speed dial from memory and hit speakerphone. His brother’s voice was instant and threaded with fear.<br /><br />“Nathan, what the fuck, the news… Are you okay?”<br /><br />“Adam.” Nathan knew his voice sounded small. It echoed in the silence around him. He needed to push his voice, use what he knew from acting and project his desperation and need for help.<br /><br />“Nathan, for fuck’s sake—”<br /><br />“Adam, I need help…trapped, man.”<br /><br />“Shit. Fuck. In the apartment?”<br /><br />“Yeah.”<br /><br />“I’m on it, Nathan. Hold on.” He heard Adam talking to his wife.<br /><br />“Nathan, Mary is calling this in. Hang tight, little brother. They’ve added your name and location.”<br /><br />“My cell.” Nathan whimpered softly, hoping no one heard his fear. “I can’t stay—s’battery…”<br /><br />“Nathan, can you tell me what you see, what you know?”<br /><br />“Light, I can see…light…trapped…steel and concrete…I think the rest is gone, Adam. I can see light.”<br /><br />“Okay, man, save the cell, help is on the way.”<br /><br /><i>Soon please, Adam, soon.</i><br /><br />* * * * *<br /><br />Fear thick in his throat, Ryan clambered down broken floors and through smashed glass, his bare skin tearing on exposed masonry and steel. Only a small part of the apartment complex had survived. The top floor had sheared off and lay in pieces. He had already found one body—a young woman, a brunette. She’d looked to simply be sleeping, but clearly she was gone from this world, because he felt for a pulse and found nothing. She was surrounded by photos and linens—life—but there was nothing he could do for her. She was way past any kind of help he could provide.<br /><br />He tried to visualize where Nathan’s apartment had been on the lower south corner facing the garden, but the whole site had slid, crumbling and snapping and tearing as it was swallowed by the hungry earth. There was only a small part of the structure left, buried in mud and debris, and Ryan was hoping for one thing—to find his ex-lover alive and unharmed.<br /><br />He slid the last few meters to a pile of stones and wood—a fireplace. Electric cables twisted and popped as they snaked and touched each other, and carefully he picked his way to the final structure standing. He recognized nothing, no photos, no decoration, nothing that marked this as Nathan’s in any way, but he knew somehow that this was Nathan’s apartment. Knew? More like hoped—prayed.<br /><br />Glass from a smashed window sliced into his hand, and he yelped as it dug and twisted into him. He stopped, pulling the glass out carefully, blood oozing to the surface. Distracted, he wiped it on his jeans, and judging where he stood, he carefully made his way into the sculpture of steel.<br /><br />“Nathan…Nathan.” Come on, man, please be here somewhere. Please still be alive. “Nathan, Nathan, Nathan,” he repeated over and over, pausing in between to hear an answer. He picked his way past doorframes and kitchen cupboards forced open under pressure, spilling cans and crockery onto the floor. It was strangely intimate seeing the contents thrown and smashed around him, imagining them lined up carefully in the cupboard, Nathan putting them away, his gentle touches, his pride in his possessions, all destroyed in seconds. Ryan moved slowly over the broken cupboards, calling Nathan’s name, stumbling, trying not to knock anything that might cause a mini landslide.<br /><br />He stopped, realizing he was making so much noise that he wouldn’t hear if Nathan was there trapped under the rubble. He had to stop panicking. He had to go against his instinct to scream and shout and just stand still.<br /><br />“Nathan? Nathan?”<br /><br />* * * * *<br /><br />Nathan gripped the cell like a lifeline. Adam knew he was trapped; Adam would try and get help for him. He just needed to wait. He coughed; he tried not to, but his throat was lined with dust, and it was getting damned difficult to breathe.<br /><br />“Nathan, Nathan.”<br /><br />Jeez, now he was hallucinating. Ryan’s voice. He wouldn’t be here at this moment. He’d still be on his way from the airport. God, he hoped Ryan was okay. It was stupid that he even began to worry about Ryan over and above all the other things he should be focusing on. Like survival. Like getting out of here to go and find Ryan. He really expected to die here. It was a remote location, time wasn’t on his side, and he had no feeling in his legs. What did it say that this close to death all he could imagine was the panicked voice of his lover? He was seriously losing it big time.<br /><br />He heard the voice again. “Nathan, Nathan.”<br /><br />“Stop it, leave me alone,” Nathan said softly to himself. If he was going to die, it wasn’t going to be with Ryan’s panicked voice and regrets that they had been apart for the last two months. He wanted to focus on their friendship, on the love he had for Ryan, not on the time he had been lonely. He wanted to think about his family.</div>

All The Kings Men

Cover art by Meredith Russell The Book When Ryan Ortiz decides to go direct to LA to fight for a second chance with his lover Nathan Richar...

+ Read more »

How do I get replacement copies of RJ's ex-Silver books?

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6QRue5EmYlxoSgcfQwKlFrq-8DSUUKAE5hECATAI1ZAUmZ0q0UEgOtDRMrZbAnyjIk6FGqQnS5Xhi5yEj8bgwav64dDUQY_YxVbAh39ME-X_u6JY5CnJsjVUGFBr3i9ifCgE010nDsdw/s1600/TCT4x6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6QRue5EmYlxoSgcfQwKlFrq-8DSUUKAE5hECATAI1ZAUmZ0q0UEgOtDRMrZbAnyjIk6FGqQnS5Xhi5yEj8bgwav64dDUQY_YxVbAh39ME-X_u6JY5CnJsjVUGFBr3i9ifCgE010nDsdw/s320/TCT4x6.jpg" width="212" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Replacements?</b></span><br /><br />The following books have been taken back from the old publisher and re-released with new covers by Love Lane Books, which is my self-publishing company:<br /><br />Guarding Morgan (Sanctuary 1)<br />The Only Easy Day (Sanctuary 2)<br />Face Value (Sanctuary 3)<br />Still Waters (Sanctuary 4)<br />Full Circle (Sanctuary 5)<br />The Christmas Throwaway<br />The Heart Of Texas<br />Valentine 2525<br /><br />If you have the old copy and you want the new version in PDF, Mobi or ePub please email rj@rjscott.co.uk and I will send you a copy for free as soon as I can.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZLp7mDiCyTA06FOw0FDnzFi7xwcJKMx3gpTmFpGmFMrntgHQABmUfqBJjgwZnpPaZhkGWowtXQGe4Q_3nhcOnBG9uTHKLHYQuPW54QkxPIoXyF43HU6N756377c9iXSsjgP1m_vPmPlw/s1600/One+Night+4x6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZLp7mDiCyTA06FOw0FDnzFi7xwcJKMx3gpTmFpGmFMrntgHQABmUfqBJjgwZnpPaZhkGWowtXQGe4Q_3nhcOnBG9uTHKLHYQuPW54QkxPIoXyF43HU6N756377c9iXSsjgP1m_vPmPlw/s320/One+Night+4x6.jpg" width="212" /></a>All I ask is that you send me some kind of proof of purchase, a screen print from Amazon, or Silver publishing, or ARe. Most of these you can get by going to the account and seeing the backlist of your orders.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Coming soon to Love Lane Books</b></span><br /><br />All The Kings Men (3 June)<br />Deefur Dog (15 June)<br />One Night<br />Texas Winter & Texas Heat<br />The Gallows Tree<br />Jessie's Christmas<br />Oracle & Book Of Secrets<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>At other Publishers</b></span><br /><br />Back Home & Moments are available from TEB. As these are contracted books I will be unable to pass on replacement copies.<br /><br />

How do I get replacement copies of RJ's ex-Silver books?

Replacements? The following books have been taken back from the old publisher and re-released with new covers by Love Lane Books, which is m...

+ Read more »

RJ's April Blog Tour for Autism Awareness

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRKl-dFJyNh-0wujlvcQw5c5bNithK0GoDhos-AIFb-_zJfNp-TOFP7rtJQoFCpl2zC0y_9URP9SX2tucFkyoyfkLoYWazgkBUR1MADiCSczCghuqcbqP6kMuucrXG3og3EqD8eQBSAw4/s1600/blogstrap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRKl-dFJyNh-0wujlvcQw5c5bNithK0GoDhos-AIFb-_zJfNp-TOFP7rtJQoFCpl2zC0y_9URP9SX2tucFkyoyfkLoYWazgkBUR1MADiCSczCghuqcbqP6kMuucrXG3og3EqD8eQBSAw4/s1600/blogstrap.jpg" /></a></div><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">Sponsored by eXtasy Books, Total E-Bound & Love Lane Books</span></b></div><br />Last year I ran a very successful blog journey for the month of April to support and spread information about World Autism Awareness Day. Each day an author posted an article and at the bottom of each article they added a small key piece of information about autism. Last year authors spoke of how Autism and the spectrum itself affected their lives.<br /><br /><b>This year is a month of blog posts around the subject of prejudice... be it special needs, gender, sexuality. Funny, sad, serious the posts promise to not be too long and each will have a giveaway of some sort. A PDF of a book, or a voucher for Amazon maybe.</b><br /><b><br /></b>We have 30 authors signed up and more still to be added (so we'll have some double days!)<br /><br /><br /><b>Grand Prize - to be drawn on 1 May 2013 - Watch this website for how to enter... Opens 1 April 2013</b><br /><b><br /></b><b>Extasy Books - $25 credits</b><br /><b>Total E-Bound - £30 voucher</b><br /><b>Love Lane Books - £20 voucher</b><br /><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Other prizes to follow...</b></div><br /><br />RJ XXX<br /><b><br /></b><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: large;">Authors involved in the Autism Month Blog, April 2013</span></b></b></div><b><!-- start LinkyTools script --><script src="http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=177327" type="text/javascript"></script><!-- end LinkyTools script --></b><br /><br />

RJ's April Blog Tour for Autism Awareness

Sponsored by eXtasy Books, Total E-Bound & Love Lane Books Last year I ran a very successful blog journey for the month of April to supp...

+ Read more »

Christmas 2013

<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" style="width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"></td><td valign="top">I now have a full diary for 2013 with plans reaching into 2014... Yes, that includes Christmas... I just agreed some dates for delivery late November with TEB and I have also pencilled in a Christmas book from Love Lane Books for 30 November. I can't believe it's February and I am already so excited at the thought of writing my next Christmas book...!<br /><br />The TEB book will be an xmas story for my Ellery series or the Montana Sky series. I'll decide based on what my readers think nearer the time.<br /><br />I updated the WIP page and the red NEW indicates the recent bits and pieces i put on.</td><td valign="top"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNaoj4hY_bqKZ3kCmF33oO_BGHATdsoC5tAbSW3tK-rpWy6PqSX_zf0WNa_6RSdEAO7goXY_Oy8RO863hfv4oj00vSbJMrPCeadXDwsSblGdqq8ExfuJk8SQ0b6yZj5oC6qZLJpStwJ5w/s1600/TCTchurchyardscene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNaoj4hY_bqKZ3kCmF33oO_BGHATdsoC5tAbSW3tK-rpWy6PqSX_zf0WNa_6RSdEAO7goXY_Oy8RO863hfv4oj00vSbJMrPCeadXDwsSblGdqq8ExfuJk8SQ0b6yZj5oC6qZLJpStwJ5w/s640/TCTchurchyardscene.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>

Christmas 2013

I now have a full diary for 2013 with plans reaching into 2014... Yes, that includes Christmas... I just agreed some dates for delivery late...

+ Read more »

News, Links and Texas 4 & Sanctuary 7 news

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD6k9J0JKN0gedUIqr6pGf8L_awVv_-8vsrrP4YR99wXV5768fBD_xoFoiRhMcDYqvMgM8WN7y276zD2xvoK3PeP0SaTC7ESpEuBKeZA3mmcvEGm_YVjLQj8ngxfgs8kOJiM8NDaq7LH4/s1600/TheGuiltyWerewolf6x9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD6k9J0JKN0gedUIqr6pGf8L_awVv_-8vsrrP4YR99wXV5768fBD_xoFoiRhMcDYqvMgM8WN7y276zD2xvoK3PeP0SaTC7ESpEuBKeZA3mmcvEGm_YVjLQj8ngxfgs8kOJiM8NDaq7LH4/s400/TheGuiltyWerewolf6x9.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><b>Hello</b></span><br /><br />It's been a busy February so far for me. After everything that happened in October and November with Silver I have got my head down and written so many words!! Unfortunately it just so happens that the release dates for these books all seem to coincide in February, March and April this year... I know it's probably been a little confusing keeping up with everything what with new cover art, new releases, re-releases of old books... and it goes on. I apologise. At least I am through the other side of the worst and am just waiting for money and for my rights back on the remainder of my books.<br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><b>News</b></span><br /><br />My <b>Supernatural Bounty Hunter</b>'s series with Extasy is now planned to span 6 books, instead of 3. This means I have ample time to build my world of the Glitnir Court, Werewolfs Vampires, Fae and a touch of magic... Book 1 is doing well and has received some really nice reviews which makes me smile. :)<br /><br />My <b>Ellery Mountain</b> series with TEB is now marked to be 6 books, instead of 5. The sixth book is about an ex SEAL who goes to Daniel for help... and ends up spotting a bartender he wants to get to know.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRaMXLbjaTn_s72ZQ9PgRMIsHt2aR1ed7Ht2L4YSX4hgSnoNPADmdXK3pAfZqZUTpqbCMtxteDtXlhjIwVWu5JwQp0-T5YlIxioYX9-cEBuGKKAztNad0RiVe2t33-gQUGxthbmeu_xDU/s1600/Worlds-Collide-600x900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRaMXLbjaTn_s72ZQ9PgRMIsHt2aR1ed7Ht2L4YSX4hgSnoNPADmdXK3pAfZqZUTpqbCMtxteDtXlhjIwVWu5JwQp0-T5YlIxioYX9-cEBuGKKAztNad0RiVe2t33-gQUGxthbmeu_xDU/s400/Worlds-Collide-600x900.jpg" width="266" /></a>In answer to the many emails (thank you guys) I have had to put <b>Texas 4 (Texas Family)</b> on hold. As much as I want to write it I can't all the time that Silver have the rights to Texas 2 (Texas Winter) and Texas 3 (Texas Heat). I should have news for you all soon.<br /><br /><b>Sanctuary 7 (Worlds Collide) </b>has a new available date of 30 March, this is to give me some breathing room to make sure I give Dale and Joseph the best happy ever after I can. I had lovely new art for it this week which I am proudly displaying here! Bitter Grace did an awesome job capturing Dale, Joseph, snow, an airport and I LOVE it.<br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><b>New Publisher's Links</b></span><br /><br />As you all know I have two new publishers that have taken a chance on me. And I want to publicly thank them both for the incredible support and encouragement that they have given me over the past few months.<br /><br /><b>Total E-Bound</b> have my Ellery Mountain Series, starting with The Fireman and the Cop, with The Teacher and the Soldier out in March. They also contracted co-authored books with Amber Kell based around a human detective stuck solving paranormal mysteries, much against his best intentions. My book page at Total E-Bound can be found <b><a href="http://www.total-e-bound.com/authordetail.asp?A_ID=272" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </b>Of course they also have Montanna Sky, which is due to hit an e-reader near you August 2013.<br /><br /><b>eXtasy Books</b> have my six book series, Supernatural Bounty Hunters, which began with the Vampire Contract and continues with The Guilty Werewolf in March. My book page at eXtasy can be found <b><a href="http://www.extasybooks.com/" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </b>They also have a new series from me starting September 2013.<br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><b>Recent New books and Re-releases:</b></span><br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" style="width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="33%"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJadzUyxu5iRC6YpgLJ_xyq6FB4VHIrNAfXcPQx1vDAWCRSZaqGmoslyD1_btZYJzus71rMTvztCj5rs1SJ9eeJKFMVZNKa3xwagnWMUkZKtJ3k4CDZYqVI6i6-Qzhqk993IvtCTWFco/s1600/SpiritBear400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJadzUyxu5iRC6YpgLJ_xyq6FB4VHIrNAfXcPQx1vDAWCRSZaqGmoslyD1_btZYJzus71rMTvztCj5rs1SJ9eeJKFMVZNKa3xwagnWMUkZKtJ3k4CDZYqVI6i6-Qzhqk993IvtCTWFco/s200/SpiritBear400x600.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>NEW</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="34%"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHQqZoCHxefP6Q7rN7GHFCveyS3icWmhUoL2EwD1KR7JZgePHFsxuR3RlW3b-VP3m3fNB3mf_RMJ6qf9BZWeaFlR8v8D1DphID4-G9AaInUSYNXTje_ejt1uXLdrwIPNYEH7kzPcRGMM/s1600/TheFiremanAndTheCop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHQqZoCHxefP6Q7rN7GHFCveyS3icWmhUoL2EwD1KR7JZgePHFsxuR3RlW3b-VP3m3fNB3mf_RMJ6qf9BZWeaFlR8v8D1DphID4-G9AaInUSYNXTje_ejt1uXLdrwIPNYEH7kzPcRGMM/s200/TheFiremanAndTheCop.jpg" width="125" /></a></div>NEW</td><td align="center" valign="top" width="33%"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSrRqdVrX5DXSiN1YiWqSabBO14DqzkwHohlIQf29DAsGmzwhL0AxNG_-mXeWs0IQBt_60wMOEIx7cdI-4nikYoCaoLm_f_A5mo1x-SFgzUWIkyUxhSNc-UFBiWuhpqo-gwwej-GaByG0/s1600/valentine2525_4x6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSrRqdVrX5DXSiN1YiWqSabBO14DqzkwHohlIQf29DAsGmzwhL0AxNG_-mXeWs0IQBt_60wMOEIx7cdI-4nikYoCaoLm_f_A5mo1x-SFgzUWIkyUxhSNc-UFBiWuhpqo-gwwej-GaByG0/s200/valentine2525_4x6.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>NEW</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><b>Spirit Bear</b></td><td align="center" valign="top"><b>The Fireman and the Cop </b><br /><i>Ellery Mountain book #1</i></td><td align="center" valign="top"><b>Valentine 2525</b><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valentine-2525-ebook/dp/B00BG0E96Y" target="_blank"></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://lovelanebooks.co.uk/" target="_blank">Love Lane Books</a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Bear-ebook/dp/B00BFXEQII/" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br /><a href="https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-spiritbear-1060298-145.html" target="_blank">All Romance</a><br /><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/rjscott" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://www.total-e-bound.com/authordetail.asp?A_ID=272" target="_blank">Total E-Bound</a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Fireman-Ellery-Mountain-ebook/dp/B00BEJ16GI/" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br /><a href="https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thefiremanandthecop-1057379-145.html">All Romance</a></td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://lovelanebooks.co.uk/" target="_blank">Love Lane Books</a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valentine-2525-ebook/dp/B00BG0E96Y" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br /><a href="https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-valentine2525-1061651-143.html">All Romance</a></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjep3f2lbkzCNr8LHfxkkbXorl26lhxCvmjHHvXb8uGJr08rkfAGYjpKDz1QnPX_we5U4eNsX3orouPWFK-atEo4SXP9iW3SYvAud5BSIjuvJV4X2H7opbyFWx1QpIkftIAVqbIToYM1DY/s1600/THEVAMPIRECONTRACT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjep3f2lbkzCNr8LHfxkkbXorl26lhxCvmjHHvXb8uGJr08rkfAGYjpKDz1QnPX_we5U4eNsX3orouPWFK-atEo4SXP9iW3SYvAud5BSIjuvJV4X2H7opbyFWx1QpIkftIAVqbIToYM1DY/s200/THEVAMPIRECONTRACT.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">NEW</div></td><td align="center" valign="top"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgUqTMmUnWo8wjQmlobN1cRT2VEBX5NWzZYgnZldmD7EhkXZdVT9MCBxT3wDKTnISgVdzc9HyBfgtluxSzrju7EzraJDWz4Hm1O2yTfW7UdlhhQwV14P1pATSsyqg1QruE1LXWT_r9sJo/s1600/thecaseofthecupidcurse_800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgUqTMmUnWo8wjQmlobN1cRT2VEBX5NWzZYgnZldmD7EhkXZdVT9MCBxT3wDKTnISgVdzc9HyBfgtluxSzrju7EzraJDWz4Hm1O2yTfW7UdlhhQwV14P1pATSsyqg1QruE1LXWT_r9sJo/s200/thecaseofthecupidcurse_800.jpg" width="125" /></a></div><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">NEW</span></td><td align="center" valign="top"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2dytFQmyfUwSOlZNF4C7VVaKS3kd8bSoMUKesnntv1cGAiTsCbinXArS70mQFFicl3UX_uYUcaZpleCMU-u1RHrSs60vU-NGgbG4fN8hWA9M0nRpi7fuwk7qt1zpSoE-g0zZ8fhNAoDY/s1600/The+Heart+Of+Texas+400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2dytFQmyfUwSOlZNF4C7VVaKS3kd8bSoMUKesnntv1cGAiTsCbinXArS70mQFFicl3UX_uYUcaZpleCMU-u1RHrSs60vU-NGgbG4fN8hWA9M0nRpi7fuwk7qt1zpSoE-g0zZ8fhNAoDY/s200/The+Heart+Of+Texas+400x600.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>RE-RELEASE</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><b>The Vampire Contract</b><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Contract-Supernatural-Bounty-ebook/dp/B00BD8ZTI6/" target="_blank"></a></td><td align="center" valign="top"><b>The Case Of The Cupid Curse</b><br /><i>written with Amber Kell</i><i><br /></i><i></i></td><td align="center" valign="top"><b>The Heart Of Texas</b></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://www.extasybooks.com/the-vampire-contract-2/" target="_blank">eXtasy</a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Contract-Supernatural-Bounty-ebook/dp/B00BD8ZTI6/" target="_blank">Amazon</a></td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://www.total-e-bound.com/authordetail.asp?A_ID=272" target="_blank">Total E-Bound</a> (Pre-order)<br />Available to read 15 February)</td><td align="center" valign="top"><a href="http://lovelanebooks.co.uk/" target="_blank">Love Lane Books</a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Heart-Of-Texas-ebook/dp/B00B891PAQ/" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br /><a href="https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-theheartoftexas-1050373-145.html" target="_blank">All Romance</a><br /><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/rjscott" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

News, Links and Texas 4 & Sanctuary 7 news

Hello It's been a busy February so far for me. After everything that happened in October and November with Silver I have got my head dow...

+ Read more »