Sweet potato fries, blue cheese burger and one of these... Perfect Saturday night

Padova and her new food dish

Mistress of Malice and Mercy preview

A Mistress of Malice and Mercy preview.  I don't always like it when Duke and Viola fight, truly fight, but it happens in this book and it's pretty spectacular.

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His hand fell away, hung limply by his side. His shoulder throbbed, the lack of power flowing through the link left him feeling itchy, and that terrible blend of anger and fear burned like bile in the back of his throat. “I need to think.”


“Wait.” Viola’s fingertips grazed his elbow. She scrambled over the chair to follow him around the table. “Just wait a minute.”

Duke shrugged into his leather jacket. “I would fight for you with my last breath, sugar. I would lay down my life for yours and the baby’s without hesitation or regrets. I’d do anything to keep you safe and happy.” He straightened the collar, grabbed his keys off the counter. “You’re tying my hands, though, and asking me to be a spectator while you toss your life away. That doesn’t sit well, sugar. I need to process.”
She nodded briskly. Even with him locking her out of his head, she could feel the maelstrom of emotions tearing him up. “I love you.”

He met her eyes briefly, the blue so warm it melted her bones. “Never doubted it, sweetness.” He lifted her chin and pressed his lips against hers in a gentle, chaste kiss. “I love you so much I don’t want to imagine a life without you.”

“Where are you going?”

“Out.” He nodded at Griff and Pip. Wiff raced across the wood floor, scaled Duke’s leg, and burrowed into Duke’s jacket pocket. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Nice surprise on a Saturday

Don't let Viola near this one!

Squirrels... and this time I don't mean zombie ones

Viola would love it... or maybe not.

Early morning showroom visitor

Mistress of Malice and Mercy

Early in the book (release date still pending)
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Duke watched Viola slowly crawl on all fours towards the group of oblivious cat-like demons. He kept one eye on his wife’s wiggling derriere and one on Bert’s face. He was prepared to drive his elbow into Bert’s stomach the second it looked like the older man was paying more attention to Viola than to his poker game.

“Well, hell.” Viola froze in place as a flash of silver on her hands caught her attention. She eyed the still-unaware Chaisans and jumped to her feet.

“What?” His heart skittered to a stop as he performed his customary visual injury check. She wasn’t bleeding and didn’t appear to be in pain. Listening in on her scathing internal monologue only confused him further. “What’s wrong, sugar?”

“I’m a moron. Hold out your hands.”

He obeyed, eyebrow arched in silent demand for an explanation. His other eyebrow lifted when she stood in front of him and stripped off her jewelry. Two pairs of silver hoop earrings followed by a silver watch, charm bracelet, wristlet key ring, silver necklace, silver-and-copper linked belt and five rings filled his hands. He was surprised she could move so quickly weighed down with so much metal.

“Is that all?” he asked dryly.

She bit her lip as she considered the question. Sighing in resignation, she unsheathed the dagger he’d given her for her seventeenth birthday and set it on the tailgate. She still had her gun, but giving it up wasn’t an option.

“Freakin’ kleptos.” She glanced down at Duke’s waist. “You might want to untuck your shirt. One look at that satellite dish you call a belt buckle and you’ll have a pack of Chaisans attached to your jeans.”

What I get to come home to every night