The World of Dark Secrets Continues ... Once a medieval knight, Tristan McBreen is now Vampyre. Thriving and hidden in the lush romance of Savannah, Georgia, he has pledged his sword to those of his kind who will not feed on the innocent-though his quiet heart belongs to a fledgling who could well pay the ultimate price for his views.
Excerpt
The manor was stacked stone and roughly hewn timber with a sturdy wall circling the entire structure. Meadow and forest stretched beyond those tall walls as far as the eye could see. Stepping into the courtyard, she breathed the scent of rosemary, ran a hand over the neatly groomed hedges of it as she passed. Lavender, chamomile, comfrey, and coltsfoot… A healer’s garden, she decided, as she carefully dodged a rampant cluster of valerian. And peppermint, white sage, wormwood…
There was magic in bloom all around.
“You once asked me what part of Ireland I call home.”
Katie turned, lifted a hand to the sun’s warm rays, and watched Tristan gather kindling from a pile. Scooping a thick log as if it were no more than a pound of flour under one arm, he strode toward the manor. When she stayed rooted in her tracks, he cast a glance over a shoulder as he nodded at the massive wooden door.
“I could use a bit of help, my lady.”
Darting past him, she fumbled with the rusty metal pull until the door finally swung open. Following him inside, she examined the enormous room as he dropped the makings for a fire in front of the huge hearth. Sturdy furniture carved from solid oak was scattered along the stone floor, elegant tapestries covered the soaring walls, and she would bet her immortal soul not a single electrical switch, nor plumbing was to be found.
“Those things had yet to be thought of when this was last a home,” he murmured as he tended a sputtering blaze.
“Just so I know.” She took the candle he offered, and went around the room lighting candelabras as the looming shadows of dusk slanted into the windows. “Am I in your dream, or are you in mine?”
“Does it matter?” He stood, brushed his hands against the denim stretched over his thighs, and watched her set the room aglow.
“Yes.” Placing the candle in a charming pewter lantern, she gingerly closed the lid. “If I’ve happened to haunt your dream, I’d like to try to remember exactly how I did it.”
“You’ve done so for far too long now.” Those somber eyes held hers as the heat wound through her. “My grandfather had it built for my father when he and my mother were betrothed,” he said glancing around. “My father was twelve, and my mother still a babe on her mother’s knee.”
“An arranged marriage.” She nodded as she stepped closer to a tapestry to admire the brilliance of the needlework. “Being royalty would have required a marriage of state.” Smiling at him over a shoulder, she shrugged. “I paid attention in history class now and again.”
“He often said he never meant to love her. It wasn’t even customary. Marriage was an arrangement, business. A profitable one.”
“But, not theirs?”
“It began that way. My clansmen spent generations bloodying land they haggled for like dogs. It was my mother’s father who finally convinced the king perhaps a handfasting in the future was more advisable than watching good men die each day.”
“And so a woman was offered up to end the bloodshed.” She ran a fingertip over the broken spine of a book of sonnets on a table. “Before she even was one.” He went back to busy himself with the fire. “So, tell me how he came to love her.”
His hand stilled on a log. “He had not seen her since she was a girl.” The fire hissed, and sparks danced on the smoky air as he tossed the log. “He returned from a particularly long battle in the north, and was informed by his father the time had come. He and his men were to fetch his bride. There was already talk my grandfather intended to dishonor an agreement that had kept peace between the clans for years. To do so would have meant certain death to him, and the local battles would resume.” He rose, and turned back to her.
“According to my father, it was the same as certain death to him.”
“He loved another,” she deduced.
“No. He loved many others. As often as he could, or so the tale was told.” He chuckled, when Katie rolled her eyes. “And then he saw her. He swore it was as simple as that. No longer a girl, but the woman who would drive any thought of another from the rest of his days.”
“Did she love him?” she asked hopefully.
“Aye,” he replied with a smile. “So much that they promised their children there would be no handfastings in this house born out of anything but love. My sisters went to honorable men who stole their hearts, and not just their father’s gold.” He frowned, and dug his hands into his pockets as he rocked back on his heels. “I did not know Bram’s wife. By the time he had chosen, I had arranged to die on a battlefield as I probably would have anyway.”
“You let them think you were dead?” She was horrified, imagining what it must have been like for them to mourn him.
“Would it have been kinder for my mother to know her son was a monster, for my sisters to fear for their children, or my brother to look upon his with disgust? My father… I was his firstborn, his heir, so like him my mother would say. I could see the pride in his eyes each time he looked at me. I nearly gave my life to see that look in his eyes time and again. And I would have continued to do so. I did so. For all of us.”
Those he loved might not have been savaged by demons in the night, but they were ripped from him just the same. And like her, he still mourned that cruel fate. “Why did you bring me here, Tristan?”
He reached out to thread his fingers through her hair. “You know.” His hand cupped her cheek, smoothed along her throat. “You know what it is like to long for those you love.” His fingertips trailed over her shoulder, along her arm to the tender skin of her wrist. She shivered even as the heat lapped at her cold heart. When his palm met hers, their fingers twined, and locked. “When you close your eyes you see the moors in autumn, smell the fires of Yule, and see the meadows in spring.” Pressing his lips to her forehead, he lifted his other hand to cradle the back of her neck. “And you know there is healing and magic to be found here with summer’s bounty,” he whispered against her lips.
She rose up, and met his first soft, sweet kiss with want and wonder. His mouth glided over hers, tenderly tasting and gently coaxing. She was sucked under a swirl of sensations. She floated on that shimmering ebb and flow until a wild rush of longing banked inside her. When he lifted his head, she opened her eyes.
What she saw in his eyes made her tremble.
“More, a chroi?” He dragged a thumb across her bottom lip, his eyes glinting in the shroud of shadows.
“How chivalrous of you to give the lady a choice, mighty knight.”
Victor’s hushed voice echoed through the manor as the fire smoldered into ashen coals.
Professional Reviews
Night Owl Romance
Charming characters, excellent dialogue and a captivating plot make Knight Everlasting a true winner for lovers of this genre. Ms. Phillips’ talent for descriptions drags the reader from their comfy chair and slaps them right into the action. Sometimes descriptive passages can be overlong and drag a story down, but this author does them to perfection. Those readers who’ve read the first in this series, Obsession Everlasting, will be happy to revisit Simon and Fallyn while becoming acquainted with new characters, Sidney and Ryder. The ending leads the way to the next in this series. So if you love this genre, pick up both of these and stay tuned for the next.” Working Girl Reviews
“The many colorful characters that intermingle in KNIGHT EVERLASTING make this story enlightening and keep it moving at a good momentum. The journey that Tristan and Katie endure is one that holds fast through everything and lasts forever. Their romance is pure and the reader cannot but become lost in their love for their duty toward each other and their mission. Lisa Philips makes her characters believable as well as likable. The evil ones are really downright malicious, and I found myself rooting for the good guy to get rid of the evil ones. She pens a good story where I could share in Katie’s ache over the loss of her parents as well as her deepening love.” Coffee Time Romance
“Lisa Phillips has penned a great paranormal and a great romance with her novel Knight Everlasting. Her characters will pull you into their world of vampires where bonds of friendship, loyalty, and honor are worth dying for. The story unfolds with intense emotions and action that won’t let you go until the last page. Tristan and Katie will thrill you with their banter as they are constantly at odds with each other, while other charismatic characters will delight the reader with wit and humor in an already riveting story.”
Got Romance Reviews
“Ms Philips weaves a tale of intrigue and beauty that had this reader hooked. I could not put this book down. I read it not knowing this was the sequel, so at first the mass of individuals that were in the first chapter took me by surprise but once I ironed out who was who, I fell in love which each and every character. Characters full of depth and richly crafted. Even the jumping in scenes to multiple points of view didn’t faze me in the least.
Tristan is a hero among ALPHA Heros. He is confidant, gorgeous and knows what he is doing, he was born and breed to be a knight. Katie a couple hundred years younger then Tristan is his fledgling and she is as enchanting and strong as he is… Both are flawed and scared of loving as they have lost so much already. But the secondary characters add so much life and humor to the book you will love them all equally.
I loved the book and can’t wait to get my hands on her first book and have high hopes there are more in this series. ”
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