Loons of a Feather is on its way!

Well, my last blog promised I would have a cover reveal and maybe a release date…and I have part of that.  LOL  This is what the cover will look like for my new release, Loons of a Feather…

Yeah!!!  I hope you love it as much as I do…but then I designed and created it myself.  So if you hate it, please don’t tell me.  There are times when remaining in the dark ain’t so bad.  J  On the other hand, if you L-O-V-E it, tell me, tell your mother, tell all your friends…and be sure to tell them they will be able to find it on Amazon.com when it’s released. 

Now…for a release date…hell, I don’t know.  LOL  No, seriously, I don’t know.  I have been playing around over the holidays and not attending to business like I should be.  So…let’s say it’s going to be released by the end of January…okay, let’s say February 1^st.  That sounds like a good date, doesn’t it?  After all, I have to have printed copies in hand for the Chocolate Affaire in February.  So February 1^st is the date I’m going with.  The good news is that I have two more blogs due this month, the last one scheduled for the 31^st…so I have two more opportunities to confirm that release date.  Woo Hoo!

Now that we have that settled, here’s another excerpt for ya…hope you enjoy it.  And like I said before, if you do, be sure you plan to stop by the Romance Writers’ booth on Saturday or Sunday (2/8-9) and say “Hi” and pick up your signed copy…and be sure you bring enough cash for chocolate whatever you want.  The selection is decadent, to say the least.

 

Loons of a Feather  (excerpt…)

Across the street, in the shadows of a recessed storefront, Delta stood with Bubba Ray and Mac at her side.  She’d watched Shannon and Jackson leave the restaurant and round the corner earlier.  Now she waited for Michael to leave as she worked on another plan. 

With a grunt of frustration, she spoke to her brother.  “Bubba Ray, these people are gonna be the death of me.  Why the hell can’t they just roll with the program and realize they can’t make up their own rules?  Destiny has its own plan and so do I.  But they keep screwing everything up.  Just when I get the right two together, another one comes along and horns in.  I’d hate to have to put one of them in the hospital, but it’s damn tempting.”

Bubba Ray stared at her, horror written all over his cherubic face while Mac whined and bumped her leg with his wet nose.

“Yeah, I know, Mac.  It was just a thought.  Guess that’s why they have me.  But I’d much rather be sitting somewhere having a cold beer than standing here in the dark thinking up ways to throw these two together.  Hell, I’ve spent the last two days running ridiculous errands for that tight-wad Fairy just to smooth his feathers out over the fifty thou I requisitioned to cover the damages.  Now I’ve got a cop to get rid of too.  Could these people be any more of a pain-in-the-ass?  And let’s don’t forget about the old bitch that’s rattling her sword over the stupid smoking cat.  I still don’t have a clue how I’m gonna make her go away.  Fairy boy says I can’t kill her off.  Hell, that’d not only fix this case, but it’d make me feel a damn sight better.  She’s really getting on my nerves.”

There was silence as Delta tilted her head and listened to a voice only she could hear.  A moment later, she looked straight up into the dark night sky and snapped, “Oh, shut up!  I’m working myself to the bone down here and I don’t need your smart remarks.  I know performance review time is coming up.  It’ll all be resolved by then.  Just you don’t worry about it.  How’d you get your batteries recharged so fast, anyway?  Don’t you need some bed rest or something?”

A moment later, she froze as her breath hitched in her chest.  The boss had never spoken out loud to her, always just a disembodied voice in her mind, so the soft, deep baritone voice that spoke out loud took her by surprise.  She looked right to see if Bubba Ray had heard it too.  His wide eyes told her he had.  Now, this was downright embarrassing.

“Holy shit, Fairy boy, you did not just proposition me!” 

He had.  The boss had never made any kind of off-color or suggestive remark to her, had never given her any indication he might be interested in her, although it wasn’t uncommon among the fairy god folk.  Working with love matches all day long could be rather…stimulating.  But inviting her to join him in his bed and “recharge his batteries” had proposition written all over it.  Unfortunately, it also had strategic parts of her body at full attention and nodding furious agreement.  It had been a long time.

What the…

Apparently, seven decades was too long for a fairy godmother to go without sex.  She’d have to find a way to remedy that, but not with the boss.

Delta’s brain was scrambled as she searched for some other explanation or some way out.  Bubba Ray was blushing furiously and staring at his feet, refusing to make eye contact.  Hell, even Mac wouldn’t look her in the eye.  What the hell was happening here?  Where’d that come from?  She was absolutely right about what the boss hinted at and she had to find a way to change the subject…fast.  This was downright embarrassing.

Then a thought occurred to her. 

Time to pick a fight. 

With a huff, she stabbed her fists on her hips and scowled skyward.  “Fairy boy, I wouldn’t recharge your batteries if you were the last stinking fairy in the universe.  You meddled with my case.  You threw Jackson in the middle of all this out of the clear blue without a single mention of him in the case recommendations.  You did it because you didn’t know what the hell you were doing and now you’re trying to distract me.  Well, it’s not gonna work.  I’m onto you.”

Again the soft baritone slid over her with the whisper of a soft sheet. 

“Of course I did it, but I knew exactly what I was doing.  You needed a challenge.”

“What?  Challenge?  Delta doubled up her fist and shook it at the sky as her heart fluttered in her chest.  “Why, you double-dealing, sneaky, soot-feathered…”

“You’ve been getting too comfortable in your current role.  It’s time you moved up to the next level and to do it, you need tougher assignments.  The big guy thinks you need more challenge, so I gave you some stretch goals.  Think of it as an…opportunity.”

“You’re damn straight I’ve been comfortable in my current role.  I’ve got it figured out now and I can work it in my sleep.  I don’t want to move up to the next level.  I don’t need any more headaches and I don’t want any more challenges.  I like it right where I am.  Don’t you go screwing up a good thing…and I can tell you where you can put your stretch goals and your opportunity if you need directions.”

The disembodied baritone voice chuckled.  “Well, they don’t call you Bitch Number Two for nothing, that’s for sure.  I always know I can count on you to liven up a boring day.”

Bitch Number Two?

Delta was stunned.  She’d always had top billing.  Who was poaching in her territory?  “What the hell are you talking about, you big flop-footed faggit?  Bitch Number Two?  Oh hell no!  I’m Queen Bitch and you damn well know it.”

“Not any more, you’re not.  After the stunt Bitzy pulled down in Florida, you’ve been bumped.  You’ve got to admit, an alligator in the punch bowl to break up the wrong wedding was a stroke of twisted genius."

“Stroke of genius?  Are you kidding me?  She put two people in the hospital and almost blew her cover with that little stroke of twisted genius.  Shit!  You corporate types are all alike.  Doesn’t matter how many bodies you leave in your wake, as long as the case comes in on time and within budget.”

“Oh, not that tired old song and dance again,” quipped the fairy godfather.  “Give it a rest, Delta.  You’ll understand once you’ve moved to the next level.  Just hang in there, hag, and you’ll get up to speed yet.”

Delta’s temper blazed red-hot.  “Hag?  Who you callin’ Hag, you puffed up pile of horse-feathers!  And for your information, I am not moving up.  I like it here and you can’t make me do it.  So stick that in your pipe and smoke it!  Don’t you have some real work to do—like knitting a sweater for that ugly-ass bald cat of yours?”

Mac barked his agreement.

A split second later, there was a peal of thunder and lightning shot across the clear night sky.

Delta rolled her eyes and cackled as she shouted.  “Yeah, you talk tough for a guy in tights and wings.”  With a glance at Mac, she added, “Whose idea was it anyway to assign a Fairy in tights to the redneck task force?  The big guy must’ve been having a slow day.” 

Mac whined his agreement just as a louder, larger bolt of lightning shot across the sky and struck her Harley parked next to the building changing it into a moped.

Delta stared at the moped for a moment and then cursed under her breath, “Ass!”  With a wave of her fingers, the moped was restored to the Harley she rode in on.

Another bolt of lightning, the moped was back and the back tire was flat.

“Shit!”  Delta glared at the moped.  “I hate working with fairy godfathers.  They’re so damn temperamental.  You’d think after three hundred years, they’d have gotten past all the sensitivity crap.”

~~~

 

 

That’s my story, wacky and wonky, and I’m stickin’ to it.  Hang on tight now ‘cuz we’re gonna go real, real fast!

Love ya,

Kayce