The Groom
Genre: Contemporary Interracial
Romance
Length: Novel (77,500 words)
Summary:
When Lyle
Cummings is left standing at the altar on his wedding day, all of his carefully
composed plans for the future come crashing down around him. The pragmatic
doctor is left questioning his well-ordered existence and wondering if there
isn't more to life than the achievements of wealth and career.
When he meets
Katrina Giordano, a fiery lounge singer with more passion in her pinky finger
than he possesses in his entire body, his mundane life is turned upside down.
In Katrina, he finds everything his life has been lacking. With her, he will
learn that what he thought was love really wasn't at all.
But will
Katrina's dark past threaten the happiness that Lyle has found after so much
heartache? With her life, and now his, hanging in the balance, Lyle will find
himself tested when it comes to how far he will go for love.
Excerpt:
Chapter One
________________
“ROUGH DAY?”
Lyle Cummings glanced up from the surface of
the gleaming bar top and into the eyes of the petite woman moving around behind
it. She was holding a frosted beer mug in one hand and controlling the Miller
Lite tap with the other. Sympathy flashed in her stare, causing Lyle to jerk
his own gaze away as if stung. He didn’t want her sympathy. All he wanted was
peace, and . . .
“Single malt scotch on the rocks with a twist.”
He knew that his request had come out more like
a raspy, barked command but Lyle didn’t care. Today of all days, he had the
right to act like a jackass.
An understanding nod followed, and the
bartender quickly moved to fill his order. She sat the scotch in front of him
and accepted his debit card.
“Would you like me to start a tab?” she asked
as she swiped his card.
“Yes.”
Hell yes. Today was also a day for getting
drunk.
Plastered.
Shit-faced.
Wasted.
He wrapped his fingers around the perspiring
glass and inspected the bruised knuckles of his free hand. Mottled splotches of
blue, purple, and green marred his sun-bronzed skin, and swelling edged the
bruise with a ring of deep red. Lyle’s fingers curled into his palm as he
downed the scotch in a few long gulps, the fire racing through his gut elevating
the adrenaline rush he felt at the thought of smashing Jack Thompson’s face in.
A few drops of blood stained the cuff of his white dress shirt and the sight of
it sent primal satisfaction through Lyle’s gut. It was the only pleasure to be
salvaged from the disaster that should have been the happiest day of his life.
Well that and . . .
“Another,” he rasped, sliding the empty glass
back toward the bartender.
She arched an eyebrow at him while reaching for
a clean glass. “Who’s the unlucky guy?” she asked, nodding toward his bruised
knuckles.
Lyle grasped his newly filled glass. “Nobody.”
She laughed. “Looks like Nobody took quite a
beating.”
That’s not all he took, Lyle thought. The reminder of the
earlier events caused his rage to flash back to boiling point; Jack Thompson
may have been on the business end of his fist, but ultimately the other man had
won. Even now, Jack was riding off into the sunset with his Holly and probably
felt not an ounce of guilt over what he’d done. And why should he? Holly was everything
a man could want in a woman. Jack had lost her once to divorce. It was unlikely
that he was going to be stupid enough to repeat the mistake after winning her
back again.
A frown pulled at the corners of Lyle’s mouth
as he stared down into the contents of his glass. The bartender reached across
the wooden top and clasped his injured hand. Lyle flinched and snatched it
away, glaring at her with narrowed eyes.
“I was just going to offer you some ice,” she
said gently. Lyle felt like an ass when he saw the bundle of paper towels
clenched in her small fist. He tried to offer her a smile as she pressed the
ice-filled towels against his knuckles, but it turned into a grimace as the ice
came in contact with his flaming skin.
“You should stick around,” she said warmly
after he’d taken over with the ice. “We have live music on Saturdays.”
She placed another filled glass in front of him
and Lyle took it, nodding his thanks and looking away, freeing the bartender to
wait on her other customers. He took his time with this drink, the tentacles of
the first two already reaching out through his body with warm intent. He hadn’t
noticed much about his surroundings since arriving, but he took stock of them
now as he drank.
The lighting was dim, which was good because if
someone in the room knew him, Lyle didn’t want to have to deal with that. The
pitying eyes of the bartender were one thing; the probing stares of people who
were expecting to see him with a ring on his finger and a bride on his arm
would be enough to make him want to go somewhere and splatter his brains across
the wall. The bar was long, wrapping in a serpentine pattern around half of the
room. At least three other bartenders worked the gathered patrons, who sipped
beer and munched on peanuts while waiting for the music to start. Conversation
filled the room in a dull buzz.
The other half of the room was filled with
round, cloth-covered tables and wooden chairs. Waitresses bustled in and out of
the crowd in short skirts and white tops, pens in their hair and comfortable
shoes on their feet. Lyle’s stomach rolled and clenched with nausea at the
smell of nachos and greasy hamburgers. He took another sip of scotch and sighed
in relief at the feel of fire burning the nausea away. Just then, he didn’t
care if he ever had another bite of food again in his life. If he could just
crawl into the bottom of the liquor bottle and curl up in the fetal position,
he could die somewhat happy . . . or, at least, numb.
Jutting out from the back wall was a stage
hosting a microphone stand and a couple of speakers. A red velvet curtain
separated the stage from whatever was going on backstage. Lyle tipped his glass
back and stood, deciding that listening to some bartender’s sister’s band sing
the blues was the last thing he wanted right now. Another drink, preferably in
a quieter location, was just what he needed.
“Closing out the tab?” the bartender asked as
he stood and dropped a few dollars in the tip glass. He nodded.
“Yes, thank you,” he said, holding up the
makeshift ice pack. “Have a nice—”
Lyle’s sentence was cut off by a man’s voice. A
burly bouncer in a tight black T-shirt was on stage, announcing the act for the
night. He could barely hear him because of the catcalls and whistles coming
from the audience. Every man in the room seemed to lean forward in anticipation
as the curtains parted to reveal the figure of a woman holding a guitar. She
walked forward with a bright smile, her skin bathed in the glow of the
spotlight as she took a seat on the stool.
Lyle felt frozen in place as she strummed on
her guitar and opened her mouth to sing. Her voice was like velvet, a purr that
wrapped itself around him tightly and squeezed, flooding his insides with
warmth and . . . something else—he wasn’t quite sure what.
He felt himself moving, and somewhere in the back of his mind realized that
he’d backed toward the stool he’d left seconds ago and was sitting down again.
≈≈≈≈
The e-book is on sale at $4.99 for the duration of the tour, normally
$5.99
≈≈≈≈≈
There will be a
tour giveaway with the following prizes:
1st Prize:
Paperback copy of The Groom
2nd Prize: e-Book
copy of The Groom
3rd Prize: $5
voucher to spend in the BDP Shop
≈≈≈≈
Blog
Tour Dates
December 6 - Book Lovin’ Mamas - Interview with Elise
Marion
December 6 - Satin
Sheets Blog - Guest Post - Character Expose
December 7 - A
Little Fiction of Every Flavour - Book Spotlight
December 7 - Close
Encounters of the Night Kind - Author Q&A
December 8 -
AReCafe - Guest Post - Opposites Attract
December 9 - I Am,
Indeed - Spotlight and Review
December 10 - My
Fiction Nook - Guest Post - Elise’s Writing Habits
December 11 - BDP
Blog - Author Spotlight
December 12 - Love
Book Blog - Spotlight and Review
December 13 - Book
Reviews & More by Kathy - Guest Post
≈≈≈≈
Elise Marion is a lover of books and has a special place in her heart for sweet and
sensual romance. Writing about love across all walks of life is her passion, as
is reaching people through the written word. The Army wife and stay-at-home
mother of three spends most of her time taking care of her children. Her second
job includes writing stories about characters that people can fall in love
with. When the Texas native isn’t caring for her family or writing, you can
usually find her with her nose in a book, singing loudly, or cooking up
something new in the kitchen.
≈≈≈≈
A
little about Bottom Drawer Publications
Read whatever you
want, wherever you want, whenever you
want.
Welcome
to Bottom Drawer Publications. Our motto above says it all. Publishing both
e-books plus print-on-demand for our novel-length books means that if you feel
like something to read at any time of the day or night, you can download a
reasonably-priced, quality book within minutes from your choice of booksellers,
including our own digital shop. If you prefer to hold a paperback in your hands,
our print-on-demand printer has presses in the US, UK, Europe and Australia,
meaning shorter delivery times and lower postage costs to you.
We
are an inclusive publisher, believing love is love, which is why you won't see
a separate LGBT genre—we publish hetero and gay fiction in all of our
romance sub-genres:
Contemporary - Historical - Literary Drama - New Adult
- Alternative Lifestyle
Paranormal - Sci-fi - Fantasy - Mystery -Thriller - Steampunk
Paranormal - Sci-fi - Fantasy - Mystery -Thriller - Steampunk
Thanks for hosting Elise today, Mel. Good luck to all your readers in the draw! Suz xx
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