Please welcome Sarah Ballance as
Her Wicked Sin
The Mystique!
Her Wicked
Sin
Sins of
Salem
Sarah Ballance
Sarah Ballance
Genre:
Historical Romance
Publisher:
Entangled Publishing
Date of
Publication: 9-9-13
ASIN:
B00EMT2D5K
Number of
pages: 147
Book
Description:
Salem, MA
1692
On a
moonless night, he rides into the winter forest on his beast as black as
midnight...
Dashing
stranger, Henry Dunham, comes to Salem on a mysterious errand, but is thrown
from his horse in the dead of night and rescued by the local Puritan midwife,
Lydia Colson.
Haunted by
her past, Lydia is running from her own dark secrets, avoiding intrusive
questions by pretending her dead husband is simply... away. But when she and
Henry are caught in a compromising situation, one punishable by Puritan law, he
saves her from scandal by claiming to be her errant spouse... and claiming her
bed.
Forced to
fake a marriage, Lydia and Henry find their passion overwhelming and their vows
a little too real. As their lies become truths, a witch hunt closes in on
Lydia, threatening not only their burgeoning love, but her life.
Excerpt:
Murder.
Lydia
Colson’s nightmare lived and breathed on these moonless nights. When the
world was at its darkest, remnants of her haunted past seemed to lurk in
every shadow, denying her again and again
the chance
to start anew. No matter how justified the actions of her past, the peace
she had hoped to find in Salem Village escaped her. It was her burden to
bear.
The cruelly
twisted body in her path was not.
Though
stationary, the sight had crept upon her with silent ease, an aberration
on a cold, lonely stretch of road with nothing but the woods to keep
company. Lydia purposefully avoided night travels here, but babies did not
keep time, and Goody Louder’s child had chosen to make entry in the
witching hour. As a physician and midwife, it was Lydia’s purpose to see
to the birth, and what a child he was. Healthy and rowdy, the stout babe
named John had a roar not to be ignored. The first instance of life never
failed to
bring joy,
to make Lydia forget. But now an unsavory reminder of her past misdeed
rested in the dirt, nearly buried in forest litter.
And he was
not alone. A stallion, the same pitch as the night, danced and pawed the earth.
Its capsized rider jerked, his long frame shuddering when the hooves
clipped his torso. Might he be alive?
“Easy,”
Lydia said, fighting for her own control as she edged closer. She placed
her hand on the animal’s rump, her fingers tingling alongside the
quivering flesh. The contact revealed tightly bunched muscles alongside a
tension made visible in the rolling whites of the beast’s eyes. “Easy,
boy.”
At the more
intimate distance, she could see the man’s leg caught in the stirrup and
bent unnaturally to his position on the ground. He’d fallen from his
mount. Had he been dragged? What bit of the path visible in the night
showed little sign of disturbance, though the wind might easily have
stirred the leaves to hide
remnants of
a struggle.
A smell of
sweat mingled with a distant trace of smoke, hinting danger. The horse
snorted and hopped, the strain on the stirrup eliciting a groan from the
prone man. Would he lash out from his pain?
Lydia
bundled her nerves against the perceived threat and scoffed at her
insecurities. This stranger was in no position to cause her harm, but
should he try, the mistake would be his.
She had
killed before, and she would gather within herself to do it again.
About the
Author:
Sarah and
her husband of what he calls “many long, long years” live on the mid-Atlantic
coast with their six young children, all of whom are perfectly adorable when
they’re asleep.
She never dreamed
of becoming an author, but as a homeschooling mom, she often jokes she writes
fiction because if she wants anyone to listen to her, she has to make them up.
(As it turns out, her characters aren’t much better than the kids).
When not
buried under piles of laundry, she may be found adrift in the Atlantic
(preferably on a boat) or seeking that ever-elusive perfect writing spot where
not even the kids can find her.
She loves
creating unforgettable stories while putting her characters through an unkind
amount of torture—a hobby that has nothing to do with living with six children.
(Really.) Though she adores nail-biting mystery and edge-of-your-seat
thrillers, Sarah writes in many genres including contemporary and ghostly
paranormal romance.
Her
ever-growing roster of releases may be found on Amazon , Barnes & Noble, Kobo,
For the Muse Publishing, and
ENTANGLED PUBLISHING.
Website: http://www.sarahballance.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahBallance
5 comments:
Thank you for being here!
Thanks for sharing the great excerpt and the giveaway. Sounds like a wicked good read. evamillien at gmail dot com
Thanks for having me, Mila! And thank you, Eva, for following my tour. :)
Sarah, it has been fun following you on your tour. I hope the book is wickedly successful for you!!!
Thank you, Karen. It's hard to believe it's already over! :)
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