The balance may hang on the turn of a card…
Lily has her whole life planned out; she’ll live if not happily, then at least ever after. She’s got a great job working with her college sweetheart at his family’s insurance agency, and once she gets her producer license, they’ll get married, take over the agency and start a family raising little insurance agents of their own. But something is missing…
At her best friend’s urging, she decides to do one last wild thing before committing her life to a future of policy endorsements and takes a part time job reading Tarot cards at a local Renaissance Faire theme park. Her long time boyfriend Lucas is completely unimpressed by her fascination with the mystical, but has no doubts she’ll settle down once they’re married. Enter Ian Kelly, mural painter, actor and… witch. He and Lily have a chance meeting at the park, and the attraction is immediate. They have a history… a lot of history. Several lifetimes worth, in fact, and their business together is unfinished.
All three have secrets, one of them deadly. Add in heaping helpings of magic, mayhem, Cuban sandwiches, a dash of Southern charm, one large Irish family and one very demanding feline, and you have a story of love so strong, it takes more than one century to contain it.
Excerpt:
On Wednesday, Ian and Lily decided to try a new Spanish restaurant in nearby Ybor City. After sharing a wonderful dinner of savory paella and arroz con pollo, holding hands with Ian, she enjoyed the salsa band. Ian’s face lit up. “Dance with me,” he begged, tugging her to her feet.
“I’ve never been out dancing before,” she whispered, embarrassment heating her cheeks.
“Come on then, I’ll teach you,” he said, pulling her onto the crowded dance floor.
She giggled as she stumbled against him. “So are the Irish big on dancing?”
“’Course they are,” he scoffed. “Didn’t you see Riverdance?” When she nodded, he gave a self deprecating bark of laughter. “Well, you’ll not be looking for any of that here tonight.”
Putting his arm around her waist, he took her hand in his and she began to move with him. “Relax, darlin’, let me lead you,” he whispered. The music and the other dancers slowly faded away until there was only Ian holding her close, their bodies moving in unison. “Together and apart, forward and back,” he murmured, “it’s just like making love.”
His warm breath against her ear nearly made her knees buckle, his hypnotic voice was so oddly familiar. She closed her eyes and found herself entangled in a wisp of a memory…
…the firelight flickered, and the sensual cotton caressed her thighs as she gathered up her heavy skirts. The drums beat an infectious rhythm in the background and others danced around her, but she saw only the beautiful dark man with the luminous green eyes. He held her close as they swirled, bare feet on the hot sand, moonlight illuminating their faces. “Te amare por siempre,” he whispered to her and she smiled, seducing him, dancing away from him, teasing him to follow her off into the darkness…
…come to me…
Ian gasped as a blaze of heat flared between them. In the instant that followed, he knew two things. One, he wanted her desperately, but it was the second thing that blindsided him…