Sample Chapter For LOVE:
AN ANTHOLOGY by Whiskey Creek Press Authors
“A Slender Debt” by Katherine
Smith:
When his ship is run aground, Adrian Keitly, Duke of Northallerton,
does not expect to be plucked from the sea by an angel disguised as
a lovely young woman. Injured and far from home, he discovers that
despite his wealth and title, his privileged life might just be a
farce and he has much to learn from his heaven sent rescuer…
Widowed and lonely, the last thing Sarah wants is to suddenly find
she has to care for a handsome and enigmatic stranger. What is worse,
she is attracted to this dark, mysterious man, trading her future
for a night in his arms and finding an unexpected paradise…
Together, Adrian and Sarah find that social rank does not matter,
but the heart most certainly does…
“Unbounded Love” by Giovanna
Lagana:
There’s a serial killer on the loose and he has targeted policewoman,
Adrienne Wilcox, as his next victim. Regardless of Adrienne’s
rebuttal, the chief assigns the handsome detective, Justin Murray,
to be her stake out. Little does the chief know something happened
between Adrienne and Justin at the Christmas party that Adrienne wants
to forget.
But after getting a direct order, Adrienne accepts having the handsome
detective as her guard. With the sexual tension between her and Justin
at an all time high, will they be able to control their emotions long
enough to nab the killer, or will the killer use their sexual attraction
as an Achilles’ heel and strike when they least expect?
“Remember” by Judith Fox:
Penelope Curtis travels back to Salal Island twenty years after she
lost her true love. She applies for a job tutoring and caring for
a small child. At a majestic mansion on the island, she finds her
love for Brent Eden has not changed. But the barriers she must conquer
for him involve ghost-like memories and murder in the dark lush forests
of the Pacific Northwest.
“A Soldier To Love” by Diane
M. Wylie:
Why did Daddy have to die in this hole of a town in Georgia and leave
me alone and penniless? Christine Lawson is desperate. With no money
and no place to live, that forty dollar enlistment fee to join the
Confederate Army is sounding better and better…too bad she is
a girl.
A surprise attack, one cold night in the Alleghany Mountains, lands
Private Ryan Bishop flat on the ground and thankful to be alive. But
his savior turns out to be someone he never expected and finds he
cannot forget.
“Meant To Be” by Crystal Inman:
Lynn would never learn. Left at the altar by a man she didn’t
love, she jumped into her car and changed her life. The accident scarred
her face, but her new reality scarred her heart. It was her fiancé’s
brother, Max, who Lynn started to care for. But when she went to talk
to him, another woman was there in his bathrobe.
It was easy to listen to Jerry and hear him profess his love for her.
But it never felt right. And when Max walked up to her on the day
of her wedding and told her Jerry wouldn’t be there, she felt
sorry for Max. It was the woman in Max’s bathrobe that left
with his brother.
After the accident, Max took Lynn into his home. But did he feel sorry
for her? Or did his feelings run deeper?
“Of Eros and Psyche” by Marsha
Briscoe:
A Petrarchan sonnet deeply rooted in classical Greek mythology: Just
as Marsha’s novel, A Family Matter, renders the ancient Greek
Phaedra myth encompassing the love triangle of Phaedra, Hippolytus,
and King Theseus in a contemporary setting, so too does this sonnet
“Of Eros and Psyche” draw upon classical mythology and
transport those mythical figures to a modern setting. Marsha’s
two sonnets included in this Love Anthology are taken from her collection
of poems entitled Erato and Euterpe. It is fitting that Erato was
one of the nine Muses and the patroness of Love poetry. Euterpe was
another of the nine Muses and patroness of lyric poetry. Marsha’s
title “Of Eros and Psyche” draws upon the archetypal Eros,
who was called Amor or Cupid by the Romans, and Psyche, the bride
of Eros. To go a bit deeper, Eros was the attendant of Aphrodite and
often inflicted the wound of love upon mortals and deities. When Psyche
was accused of betraying Aphrodite and of keeping the identity of
her lover, Eros, secret, she said something that caused him to flee
and not return. In order to gain Aphrodite’s forgiveness and
to be reunited with Eros, Psyche traveled to the underworld to seek
counsel from Persephone. Eventually Eros and Psyche were reunited
and dwelt together in heaven.
“Effusion of Dawn” by Marsha
Briscoe:
An Elizabethan sonnet rooted in classical mythology that deals with
Aurora, the goddess of the dawn and the lover and seizer of handsome
young men. Known also as Eos, Aurora presents as a charioteer with
two steeds closing off the sky’s darkness by heralding in the
light of dawn. The sonnet’s title word, Effusion, connotes an
unrestrained, overflowing expression, an expression of love.
“The Arrangement” by Crystal
Inman:
Brendan Wardlow is a writer. That translates into questionable sanity
at best. But he really starts to question himself when he finds a
beautiful woman who assures him she is sent for him. Mara declares
she is a Muse. His Muse. And when she’s around, Brendan writes
the story he has always dreamed of writing. But then he finds himself
falling for Mara in a most unexpected way. She not only touches his
writing, she touches his heart. But her term is temporary, and she
will move on to another writer. It is the way of her people.
Brendan wants to keep her in his life. But will he give up his most
cherished dream?
“From the Hand of Guinevere”
by Daniel Wilder:
A contemporary Ballad depicting the early temptation of Lancelot by
Queen Guinevere, wife of King Arthur, Lancelot’s best friend.
The growing love affair between the once chaste and pure Lancelot
and his King’s wife created pandemonium in Camelot. All the
world knows of this forbidden love which eventually leads to Lancelot’s
banishment from Camelot, Guinevere’s fall from grace and her
final days spent in a convent, and the ultimate dissolution of King
Arthur’s Round Table.
“Restoration Of A Broken Heart”
by Barbara Baldwin:
Molly Bonner, a middle-aged divorcee, decides to restart her life
in the small town of River Bluff, where she buys an Ante Bellum mansion
to convert to a Bed and Breakfast inn. Her contractor, Joe Austin,
not only has the knowledge to restore the mansion to its former glamour,
but he has the heart to help Molly regain her self-esteem and learn
to love again.
“Echo Of The Plains” by Kristy
McCaffrey:
Ecacusayet. Lightning flash. The renegade stallion known as Echo has
eluded capture ever since he escaped the Ryan homestead shortly after
birth. Seventeen-year-old Eli Ryan plans to change that. As his search
narrows to the location of the horse’s hideout, Eli nearly runs
down Cassie Callahan in the Texas desert. Although an intriguing diversion,
not even her compelling green eyes will deter him from his goal. But
her stubborn protection of the legendary stallion just might steer
him off course.
“Worthy Hearts” by Janet Mills:
Alicia Cortez lives with three men who watch over her like brothers.
If he can safely navigate the gauntlet of questions Ali’s friends
and family inflict on every potential boyfriend, Trey Whitlock just
might have a chance to win her heart.
“Where the Heart Is” by Barri
Bryan:
When Angela Murray left Paul’s Valley ten years ago in the wake
of heartbreak and rejection, she vowed that no matter how uncertain
her life became, she would never again return to this place. After
all these years of self-imposed exile, the finality of death has done
what the uncertainties of life could not—it has brought her
home once more, to her sister’s funeral and to face her brother-in-law,
Dan, who is the only man Angela has ever loved. Can she hope to mend
a broken past and heal old wounds or has fate conspired with circumstance
to once more snatch happiness from her grasp?