Saturday Sample

Welcome to Saturday Sample. As you may have guessed, today's sample comes from Rest Thy Head which is coming 9/23 from Astraea Press. In this excerpt, Peyton, my heroine, meets Jake, my hero for the first time.

She entered the barn, a big white structure with a center aisle
and stalls on either side. Just inside the door she saw a dark-­haired
man dressed in jeans and a long-­sleeved, plaid shirt brushing a
pretty chestnut mare.

“Hi,” she called.

The man half turned toward her; wow, he had blue eyes to
die for. The blue was so intense that it reminded her of a blue
diamond she’d seen at the jewelry store. Oh, and look at those
shoulders. If there was one thing she loved, it was a pair of nice
shoulders. Yummy. He was just yummy.

 “Yeah?” he asked, his
voice abrupt and snappy.

“I’m Peyton O’Malley. I’m supposed to meet Patrick for a
ride.”

“He isn’t here yet. You can sit on the bench under that tree
outside and wait for him there.”

Instead of leaving the barn, Peyton stepped toward the man.
“What a beautiful … horse.”

The man quickly averted his face, but Peyton had seen the
dreadful red scars that covered the entire left side of his face. They
looked like burns. “I told you to wait outside,” he growled,
scowling at her with the good side of his face. “Get moving.”