Saturday Sample and Weekend Writing Warriors

 Welcome to Saturday Sample and Weekend Writing Warriors.   Today I'm still sharing excerpts from Rest Thy Head. When you finish here you can go to www.wewriwa.blogspot.com to find more excerpts from a talented group of authors. First a blurb, and then an excerpt of ten sentences plus a little more.

Blurb:

Running away from a fiancé who betrayed her, Peyton O’Malley finds employment at a beautiful mountain inn called Rest Thy Head. She didn’t expect to live in the haunted room or to fall for the inn’s owner, a fire-scarred, war veteran who uses the inn to hide away from the world. She didn’t expect her sister to show up at Rest Thy Head either, much less her formidable mother.

Now, thanks to the aid of a friendly ghost, Peyton has a shot at true love, and so does her sister Ashley, provided the guys cooperate of course! 

Excerpt. In this excerpt Peyton meets Jake for the first time.

Running a brush through her hair, she grabbed her sunglasses and made her way to the stables. Rest Thy Head looked as spectacular in the sunshine as it did in the moonlight. She made a mental note to explore the gardens she’d spotted behind the inn. Bet they looked as wonderful as the rest of the place.

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.”

Peyton’s lips pressed together in a thin line. How dare he speak so rudely to her! Anyone would have looked twice when they first saw his scars. She stalked outside without another word.