Blurb:
London
1891. Former criminal Ira Adler has built a respectable, if dull, life for
himself as a confidential secretary. He even sits on the board of a youth
shelter. When the shelter’s landlord threatens to sell the building out from
under them, Ira turns to his ex-lover, crime lord Cain Goddard, for a loan. But
the loan comes with strings, and before he knows it, Ira is tangled up in them
and tumbling back into the life of crime he worked so hard to escape. Two old
flames come back into Ira’s life, along with a new young man who reminds Ira of
his former self. Will Ira hold fast to his principles, or will he succumb to
the temptations of easy riches and lost pleasures?
Excerpt:
“So,”
Goddard said, taking a long sip from his glass. “You never told me why you
decided to contact me after all this time.”
“Well…”
As I searched for the right words, he quietly set his drink on the polished
wood floor. “It’s funny you should—”
The
kiss came as such a surprise that I scrambled backward across the divan and
almost tumbled over its rounded arm. Whiskey sloshed over the rim of my glass,
splashing silently onto the Chinese rug. What remained I belted back in one go
before setting the glass on the floor and wiping my shaking fingers on my
trousers.
It
wasn’t that I was averse to the idea of kissing him, but I really hadn’t
expected it. In fact, if I’d seen him start toward me in the first place—he was
remarkably quick for a man in his mid-forties—I’d have assumed he was going for
my throat.
Goddard
chuckled under his breath. “Sorry. Did I startle you?”
“You
might say that.”
I
was also taken aback by the presumption. I had always liked it when he took
control, and the hard, whiskey-flavored slickness of his mouth had left me
aroused. All the same, I was no longer his plaything. Part of me felt as if he
should have at least asked permission.
I
forgot my objections when he leaned in a second time, slowly, and cupped my
face in his smooth, muscular hands. Now that I was expecting it, the kiss felt
like coming home after a long, unpleasant journey. For just a moment, all of my
troubles dissolved, and nothing existed except his fingers in my hair, the
traces of his jasmine and bergamot cologne, and the smooth, familiar contours
of his mouth.
And
then as suddenly as he had moved in, Goddard pulled back, leaving me confused,
disappointed, and blinking in the gaslight and shadow.
“Why
did you come, Ira?”
“To
ask you for money,” I said.
I
know. I know. But every drop of blood in my head had surged to my cock, and I
found myself incapable of the higher functioning required for either diplomacy
or deceit.
Perhaps
that had been the idea.
Jess will be awarding a
two-book set (paperback) of Turnbull House and its predecessor, The
Affair of the Porcelain Dog to a randomly drawn commenter between this
tour and the NBtM Book Tour, here. So the more you comment, the better
your chances of winning.
June
3: Paranormal Romance and Authors That
Rock
June 10: Deal Sharing Aunt
June 17: Booklover Sue
June 24: Sharing Links and Wisdom
June 10: Deal Sharing Aunt
June 17: Booklover Sue
June 24: Sharing Links and Wisdom
Author Bio and Links:
Jess
Faraday is the author of the Ira Adler mysteries and the standalone steampunk
thriller The Left Hand of Justice. She also moonlights as the mystery editor
for Elm Books.
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