Eveline's Fall. Sneak Peek!
Ok ya'll, I'm almost ready to send Eveline and Lucas's story to the publisher, so I thought I'd give ya a lil sneak peek.
This book has been a long time in the making, and an absolute pleasure to write, and I'm so exited to share it with you!
So......here we go!
Happy reading!
And please let me know what you think in the comments.
XO Janet
Eveline's Fall
A StoneBrook Series Novel
(Sneak Peak)
Ghostly Visitors
Two years later
Fast asleep, it took me a minute to awaken from the very pleasant dream I was having, and even longer to realize that something was touching my foot.
Turning to my side, I buried my face in the fluffy pillow. “Max,” I said with a muffled groan, “it’s too early.” My lovable little Chihuahua had recently started waking me up before dawn to go outside to do his business. And while I loved my little dude, it was way too early, and much too cold, to leave the warmth of my bed. But I knew my grumpy little man wasn’t gonna be ignored, so I rolled onto my back and put an arm over my eyes to block out the brightness of the moon that filled my bedroom.
Hearing his sweet little cry, I came fully awake, and as I’d done every morning for the past two years, I turned my head on my pillow, my sleepy gaze landing on the framed picture on my nightstand. “Hello, handsome,” I whispered with a drowsy smile.
Daniel’s twinkling brown eyes smiled back at me as I turned onto my side with a stretch. “Okay, little guy,” I sighed, waiting for Max to saunter over and nuzzle my leg. “I’m awake. Let’s get this over with.” I was not looking forward to the bone-chilling air facing me when I opened the back door to let my little dog outside. But I knew he wasn’t gonna wait.
When I reached for my little dog, however, he just hightailed it back under the warm covers. With a glare in his direction for waking me so early, I sat up, flipping the covers off and meandered over to the bay windows that overlooked my modest backyard. Reaching for my long robe on the bench beneath the frosty window, I looked up at the still-shining moon in the Colorado sky as snow flurries swirled in the cold, dark night.
With a resigned sigh, I stared out the window. Hell of a way to wake up after the beautiful dream I’d been having. About Daniel. Always about Daniel. I’d been dreaming about the first time we’d shared this room together. One year after we’d met, when Daniel had carried me over the threshold of his cozy country cottage.
What a perfect night that had been.
“Yeah. It sure was.”
With a shrill scream, I nearly jumped outta my skin and turned back toward the bed.
And there, casually sitting at the foot of it, with my sweet little dog lying blissfully in his lap, was a man who looked exactly like my husband. My dead husband.
“Hey, darlin’,” he said, with just a hint of that Southern accent that I’d loved so much, and that smile on his lips that used to drive me crazy.
My eyes widened with shock, and my heart started pounding. I couldn’t move. I just stood there, staring, my senses reeling. This had to be a dream. So many times in the past two years, I’d dreamed of seeing him again. Of hearing that sensual drawl just one more time. But this was impossible. “Ev?” the voice said, concern evident in his tone. “Eveline? Darlin’.”
And there it was again. That deep, sweet-as-molasses voice that used to make me melt.
Suddenly, I felt my whole body go limp, and as my eyes rolled back in my head, I heard a tiny cry escape from between my lips as my body went completely numb and I fell to the floor.
With a sigh, Daniel looked down at Max, then put his hand on the little dog’s head, giving it a little pat before he stood and walked over to the windows. Shaking his head, he crouched down next to his wife. Smoothing a hand over the hair at her temple, he let his hands fall between his thighs as he stared at her beautiful face. “Yeah,” he uttered. “I was afraid that was gonna happen.”
~
My eyes immediately found Daniel crouched beside me, his lips turned into that mischievous grin that I remembered so well.
I sat up quickly, putting my hands behind me on the carpet to backward-crawl away from him until my back slammed against the wall. Daniel—or the image of Daniel—stayed crouched where he was, his hands dangling between his knees as he watched me try to catch my breath. I couldn’t stop staring. What the hell?!
“Don’t be scared,” he murmured, his deep voice washing over me, and just hearing that voice again sent a familiar tingle all the way down to my cotton-candy-pink-painted toes.
My breath started coming faster. Oh Lord, I was gonna pass out again. My face felt flushed, and I had an odd buzzing in my ears.
Daniel narrowed his eyes at me, the concern on his face oddly comforting as I stared up at him. “Breathe, Eveline,” he murmured.
“Daniel?” I gasped. My voice sounded shaky, and for the life of me, I could swear I heard it echo around my bedroom. Was I hallucinating? Maybe I’d hit my head when I passed out.
Reaching out, I saw Daniel’s hand move to touch my face before he hesitated, then dropped it to his side. “Yeah, baby. It’s me.”
Stunned and still shaking, I could only sit there, my eyes wide with shock. “What… how… this isn’t possible.”
With a heavy sigh, he tilted his head to study me closer. “I know, babe,” he said soothingly. “Just breathe it out. You’ll be okay.”
Standing, he slowly backed toward the bed, and on shaky legs, I lifted myself from the floor, cautiously walking to stand on the other side. Eyeing him warily, I tried to calm my pounding heart. And then it hit me. “I’m dreaming,” I uttered. “Of course.” I started to laugh. “I’m dreaming. This isn’t real. You’re not really here.”
Daniel studied me for a moment with a thoughtful look on his handsome face. “Oh, I’m real, sweetheart,” he assured me. “As real as can be.”
Determinedly, I just shook my head. “No. This is just my subconscious telling me I’ve been working too much.” Frantically nodding, I closed my eyes. “Yeah. That’s all it is. I need a break. Get out more.”
Daniel let out a laugh of his own. “Well, you do need to stop working so much,” he agreed. “Ten-hour days? Really, Ev? It’s not healthy. And you definitely need to get out more. Have some fun, for cryin’ out loud.”
My mouth fell open. How did he know about my crazy work schedule? “How do you…?”
“Because I’ve been watching you,” he stated, just as matter-of-factly as you could be.
Okay, that got my attention. “Watching me?” I asked him, raising a brow. “From where?”
He smiled, showing those carved dimples that I used to think saved his face from being just a little too pretty, then raised his eyes toward my bedroom ceiling. I frowned, then did the same. “My roof?”
With a burst of laughter, Daniel put a hand over his firm belly. At least, I assumed it was still firm. Kinda hard to tell in the loose white shirt he wore with the faded jeans that clung to his very well-formed thighs.
Finally getting his laughter under control, he wiped a hand over his eyes. “Aw, babe,” he drawled with a shake of his head. “I do miss that sense of humor.” Sobering, he put his hands on his hips. “But no. I mean, from up there,” he said, raising a finger to the ceiling once again.
It took me a minute. I had just woken up, after all, and my senses were still reeling from my little fainting spell. But my eyes widened when I realized what he meant. “You mean…?”
“Yep,” he said with a grin. “The big light in the sky. The great beyond. The afterlife crew.”
When all I did was stare, he lowered his head and raised a dark eyebrow. “You know. Heaven?”
Coming out of my delusional trance, I rolled my eyes. “I know what Heaven is, Daniel,” I said drolly.
Raising his other brow at my tone, he turned his head and began to look around the bedroom. And as I watched him look over the things we’d bought together, I debated whether I should grab my cell phone and call 911. Because seriously, if this wasn’t a dream, I had to be losing my mind. And maybe that was it. Maybe my grief had finally sent me over the edge. “So, what? Now I’m supposed to believe I’m standin’ here talkin’ to a ghost?” I asked the image that my subconscious insisted I believe was my dead husband.
Daniel—or, again, Daniel’s image—turned his head toward me and winced. “We really don’t like that word,” he informed me.
“What word?” I said with a frown. “And who’s ‘we’?”
“Ghost,” he explained. “And the ‘we’ would be my fellow…” He hesitated thoughtfully. “Well, let’s just call them…”
His dark brows narrowed as he reached for a word. And I decided, what the hell? Might as well play along until I woke up from this crazy dream. “Spirits?” I suggested.
But he just smiled. “We prefer to call ourselves Celestial beings.”
I let out a droll sigh. “How very modern,” I uttered, still astounded that my subconscious could conjure up such a vivid image right here in my bedroom.
He smiled at my dry tone. “I miss you, Ev,” he said softly.
Hearing my name on the lips of the image of my late husband… yeah, that was a little jolting, and I felt the ache of tears in the back of my throat. Because dream or not, the pain was still there. Swallowing my heartache, I cleared my throat. “And how do you know I don’t get out enough?” I asked my ghostly visitor.
Daniel’s image let his gaze slowly drag over my T-shirt-clad form before he walked toward me. Taking a small step back, I waited to see what he would do, eyeing him cautiously as he stopped right in front of me. With an endearing tilt of his head, he leaned in as close as he could without actually touching me, and dream or not, I could actually feel his soft breath on my neck as he placed his lips close to my ear. “Because I pay attention,” he whispered deeply.
I shivered as his deep, sensual drawl ran all the way through me. Closing my eyes, I let out a sigh. Oh, how I had missed that voice. How many nights had I lain awake in my lonely bed, wishing I could hear that voice… just one more time?
But this was just a dream. Just a product of my overactive imagination. As was the image of the muscled, drop-dead-gorgeous man standing in front of me. And as much as I wanted to believe he was real, no amount of wishing was gonna change that. “This is not possible,” I whispered again. “You died. I buried you.”
“I know,” he said simply.
Opening my eyes, I stared into the gentle brown eyes that looked so very much like my Daniel’s. “We had a service,” I reminded my spectral guest.
“You did,” he replied with a nod of his head. “And it was beautiful,” he said with an engaging smile. “Thanks.”
But I was in no mood for jokes. I was in my bedroom, having a conversation with my dead husband. Either my subconscious was trying to tell me something, or I was losin’ my friggin’ mind. “Why are you here?” I finally demanded. “I don’t understand.”
Taking a deep breath—I actually watched as his broad chest filled with air—he let it out as he stared into my eyes. “I know, baby,” he murmured softly. “But all you need to know is that I’m here to tell you something. Something you need to hear.” His eyes narrowed. “And you need to listen, Ev. It won’t be easy, but you need to listen.”
I took a shaky breath of my own. “Okay,” I rasped. Maybe if I listened to what he had to say… or, more likely, what my subconscious had to say, I’d finally wake up. That was the plan, anyway. “So, uh… what is it you wanna tell me?” I asked cautiously. I didn’t know if I really wanted to hear what he was about to say, because seriously, this was just too freaky. But in for a penny and all that.
When he hesitated, just stood there looking at me with doubt in those damn sexy brown eyes, I got the impression he was struggling to find the words for what he wanted to say. And that was so not like Daniel. Even if he was just a figment of my imagination.
Walking around the bed, I reached out a hand to touch him. “Daniel…”
But before my hand could make contact, he backed away. “No, babe,” he said gently, shaking his head at my attempt.
Sorrow filled his deep brown eyes at the hurt I knew he saw in mine. “I’m sorry, darlin’,” he uttered lowly. “I really am.” His eyes searched my face, and as crazy as it sounded, I could actually feel his gaze on my skin. “I wanna hold you,” he said deeply, his sorrow there in his tone. “So much it hurts. But I’m not very good at holdin’ this energy yet, and if you try and touch me now… well, I might not be able to stay.” Holding my gaze, I watched his throat work as he struggled to get the words out. “And what I have to tell you is important.”
My hand dropped to my side as I tried to hold back my tears. “All right,” I managed to say through the thick swell of emotion in my throat. “So tell me.”
He studied me for a moment, then nodded his head as if a decision had been made.
“In a few days, you’re gonna meet a man named Lucas Stone. From Montana.” He took a breath and let it out slowly. “And you’re gonna marry him.”
I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of Eveline's Fall.
Look for Eveline and Lucas's story, available soon on Amazon and Goodreads.
Congratulations on your new book! Loved the snippet!