The release of
B*E*A*S*T OF BURDEN is just a few short weeks away! Here is another short excerpt to tempt you.
~~Rogan Wolfe
~*~
It was dusk. The sun had just set when Rogan saw a structure through the trees not too far away. Was that a house? He couldn't be sure. The cold was finally getting to him. Both he and Marlie needed to warm up--and soon. Marlie was shaking so badly that it was all he could do to keep a grip on her.
"Hold on, honey," he whispered as he cleared the tree line.
It was a house! It seemed as if he'd stumbled upon a small community nestled amidst the trees, away from the main highway.
Slinking toward the houses, Rogan was drawn to a dark one not too far away. He kept in the shadows as well as he could and grinned from ear to ear when he saw his salvation: a For Sale sign.
This house was empty.
Rogan rounded the house to the back yard and rejoiced when he saw that the rear doors to the home were window-paned French doors.
"Can you stand, Marlie?" he asked.
Her face had been pressed into his shoulder. She licked her lips but nodded slowly.
"Only for a moment, sweetheart," he said. "I promise."
He set her gently on her feet before making sure she could indeed stand on her own. She stumbled against the wall of the house but was able to hold her own weight. Without wasting any time, Rogan took the butt of the shotgun and smashed one of the window panes in the door, right near the deadbolt. In mere moments, he'd unlocked the door and it swung wide open.
Rogan once again swept his wife into his arms before entering the house, closing the door behind him. Glancing around the dining room, he grinned. Whoever was selling this house hadn't completely moved out. There were still a few pieces of furniture here and there. Maybe he could find a blanket somewhere. He strode into the living room and set Marlie on the couch.
"Will you be all right?" he asked. "I'm going to go look for a blanket."
Her teeth continued to chatter as she lay there. "Yuh-yes," she answered. "Huh-hurry."
"I will," he said, leaning the gun against the wall.
He checked every closet on the main floor and cursed under his breath when he found nothing. Damn it! Racing up the stairs two at a time, he searched the linen closet in the hall.
"Bingo," he whispered. Folded neatly on the floor of the closet was a down comforter. Taking a deep breath, he could smell only the detergent used to wash it. The comforter was clean. Grabbing it in his arms, he raced back downstairs to Marlie.
"Come on, baby. Let's get you out of these wet clothes," he said, moving the coffee table out of the way as he sat her up on the couch. She didn't fight him while he stripped her out of her jacket and sweater. Even her delicate skin had a bluish cast to it.
He stopped for a moment when he noticed the necklace she wore. Her wedding ring was nestled between her breasts, winking at him in the dim light. A surge of possessiveness pulsed through him, and he had to bite his lip to keep from growling. She hadn't been wearing it when they'd showered together, which meant she must have put it on after their interlude on the bathroom floor that morning.
Rogan was suddenly overcome by the need to make her his once again. He yanked off his own shirt, telling himself that Marlie needed skin-to-skin contact to get warm. Hell, so did he.
"What are yuh-you duh-duh-doing?" she asked.
"We're getting undressed. Our clothes are wet and cold. We need our shared body heat if we're going to get warm."
Marlie tried to unfasten her jeans, but her fingers were too stiff to grab a hold of the zipper. Pushing her hands away, Rogan did it himself, trying to ignore where his thoughts were headed. There was no time for
that.
Marlie watched him as he yanked off her pants, followed by her panties. She still shivered from head to toe, but she gasped whenever his hands touched her. He had a feeling she was thinking exactly what he was.
Looking at her naked before him, he was reminded just how beautiful his wife truly was. On his knees before her, Rogan held her eye contact and unzipped his own jeans. There was no way to hide the effect her gaze had on him as he tugged his pants down over his hips, and he saw Marlie bite her lip as she looked at him.
Once he was as naked as she was, he held his hand out to her. He didn't say a word, but he could tell she knew what he wanted because she took his hand and scooted down to lie on the floor. Rogan lay down next to her and pulled the comforter over them both. When his arm pulled her close to his body, he could feel her shudder, and he shuddered too at the contact of her icy skin on his. But that didn’t stop him from draping his leg over hers in an effort to press her even closer into his warmth.
The closer the better.
He just hoped he'd be able to forget about his lust for five friggin' minutes. But with Marlie wiggling her gloriously naked body against him, that wasn't bloody likely.
~*~
B*E*A*S*T* OF BURDEN, coming February 1st, 2007 to
http://www.ChampagneBooks.com!
