This week's #midweektease is from
Forever Blue
A dark fantasy erotic romance
Claudie loves living in the countryside and
close to the forests. She’s a filmmaker and works for the wildlife trust. One
night she steps onto her patio and sees a man sheltering there. She confronts
him and he runs away.
Jasper has watched Claudie for a year. He fell
in love with her, but he has a secret, one that might mean he can never
approach her.
Will love and fate find a way?
What secret must Jasper hide and what’s the
strange blue dust that turns up on Claudie’s patio?
Read the teaser
When she arrived home, he was in his usual place on the
patio. It was an exceptionally dark night. Dense cloud covered the moon. Rain
fell in huge drops. He heard the Land Rover long before she pulled into her
drive and parked. Jasper enjoyed Claudie’s humming, as she went through her
front door. If she had been to a hide somewhere other than in the local area,
she was home early. Maybe because of the
weather. He listened to the sound of her making a hot drink in her kitchen.
He smiled. He couldn’t stop smiling. The sound of her voice flowed over him. It
trickled into his mind and heart, lifting his spirits, and giving him hope.
Jasper stood silently by the holly tree and close to the
biggest potted trees, near one of them clipped into a ball shape. He liked
that. When the conservatory door opened and Claudie stepped out, he froze in
the darkness and the shadow of the holly. The house security lights had recently
failed on that side of the wall, but she was silhouetted in the glow from the
working lights on the other side of the door.
Jasper watched her sniff the night air. Her expression
worried him. She looked puzzled. Then she was walking toward him. He tried to
melt further into the shadows.
She picked up a garden fork that leaned against the house
wall and held it out in front of her. The row of metal prongs looked lethal.
“I can see you. Who are you? What do you want? You have ten
seconds to beat it, buddy, and then I scream for my husband.”
Jasper’s surprise pinned him to the spot. She can see me. How is that possible? Unless, unless, she is the one.
He saw her hesitate. He knew there was no husband, and now
she must be deciding he’d called her bluff. If she could see him, then maybe
she’d be able to hear him too.
“I’m sorry. I was only taking shelter from the rain for a
few minutes. I don’t mean any harm.” He held out his hands by his sides in a
gesture meant to convey that he was harmless.
She raised the garden fork a little as if his movement scared
her.
He bent his head and his shoulders drooped. “I’m really no threat. I’ll leave, if you let me
pass.”
She put down the garden fork. “What are you doing out here?
There’s nothing around for miles. The road leads nowhere.”
Jasper edged sideways to leave. His thoughts tumbled in his
head. A weight of sadness threatened to force tears from his eyes. He could
only just bear the thought that she was afraid of him. He stuttered. “I … I’m
lost.”
Claudie looked at him intently. A frown creased her forehead.
“I can call you a cab. Where are you going?”
He shook his head. “No. I’ll walk back along the lane to the
road.” Jasper moved, this time more quickly.
Claudie stepped back, but called. “Wait. You’re drenched. I
can’t see anyone just wander off into the night like that.”
Jasper’s heart contracted. He wished he’d met her in the
day, on the road, or somewhere she wouldn’t decide he was a threat. She could
be the one and he loved her. His
stomach ached with sorrow. He turned and in a burst of speed, he fled.
A mist of spruce perfume hit Claudie and she stared after
him.
He stopped at the bottom of the garden and looked back. She
was inside, locking the door and he could see she still held the garden fork
leaning it against her hip in readiness. She’d taken it in for a weapon. He shook
his head. How strange, he’d watched her all summer, and she’d shown no sign of
knowing he was there. What alerted her to
my presence this night? He felt desolate. He leapt the box that hedged the
back of her garden and ran the length of the field.
Copyright Elodie Parkes 2017 Hot Ink Press
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