Welcome to my First Kiss Friday blog. Today’s guest truly doesn’t need an introduction but this is one busy author! Please welcome my dear friend Caroline Warfield who has an excerpt from The Price of Glory. You’ll see Caroline again in a couple weeks since she has not one but TWO books releasing this month. Honestly, I don’t know how she does it but anything she writes in a winner in my book. Happy reading, my lovelies, and enjoy!

Richard Mallet came to Egypt with dreams of academic glory. He will be the one to unravel the secrets of the ancient Kushite language. But his journey up the Nile to Khartoum takes him past fabulous ruins. He has enticed his traveling companion, Ana Cloutier to explore Karnak by moonlight. Ana travels for very different reasons. She is a healer with a mission to fulfill, but she  can’t resist the lure of the ruins and the moon. The outcome was inevitable.

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Excerpt:

When he paused next to a massive depiction of Amun-Ra carved into a wall, she leaned her head against his arm. “This place astounds me. Thank you,” she said.

He recalled his earlier thoughts. What did you hope would happen?

Who did he mean to deceive? Of course, he knew the answer. You invited her for this, he thought, turning her to face him, tipping her chin up with two fingers, and caressing her cheek with his thumb. He leaned closer and inhaled her breath as it came rapidly.

“I didn’t come for this,” she whispered, her unconvincing words floating away in the night air.

“No?” He paused, but she didn’t pull away, and he closed the distance touching his lips to hers tenderly. Again, he paused, and wasn’t disappointed when her lips moved to caress his.

He slid the hand at her chin around her neck, ran it up her nape to tangle in her hair, and put his other arm around her waist to bring her closer.

“Aeneas,” she sighed against his mouth and he smiled against hers. Somehow the hated nickname delighted him when it came in her voice. He dove for another quick kiss.

She moved her mouth to his then, lips moving along the seam. His entire body vibrated with the desire he held in check. Not here, not now, he told himself. And yet, with this woman, this moment might be all he had. He ran his tongue across per lips, probing gently, and finding entrance on her sigh. His hand moved to her bottom, pulling her up tight against him and lost himself in the feel of her.

He had no idea how long the kiss lasted, but when her hand came up between them, he eased his mouth back inches from hers.

After a moment, he loosened his hold, caressed her cheek, and tucked an errant curl behind her ear. “If I’m to be Aeneas, you are Sekhmet,” he whispered.

Her eyes peered up into his, and her voice shook with laughter. “Sekhmet? The lion-headed goddess of war?”

“And healing!”

“War and healing?” Her face leaned closer.

“Fierce and powerful,” he murmured, breathing her in.

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About the Book, The Price of Glory

Richard Mallet comes to Egypt with dreams of academic glory. He will be the one to unravel the secrets of the ancient Kushite language. Armed with license to dig, he sets out for Meroë, where the Blue Nile meets the White. He has no room in his life for dalliance or entanglements, and he certainly doesn’t expect to face insurrection and unrest.

Analiese Cloutier seeks no glory—only the eradication of disease among the Egyptian women and children of Khartoum. She has no interest whatsoever in romantic nonsense and will not allow notions about a lady’s proper role to interfere with her work. She doesn’t expect to have that work manipulated for political purposes.

Neither expects to be enchanted by the amorous power of moonlight in the ruins of Karnak, or to be forced to marry before they can escape revolution. Will their flight north take them safely to Cairo? If it does, can they build something real out of their shattered dreams.

Soon on Kindle Unlimited or pre-order for July 7 release.

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B095GR7F96/

About the Author

Award winning author Caroline Warfield has been many things: traveler, librarian, poet, raiser of children, bird watcher, Internet and Web services manager, conference speaker, indexer, tech writer, genealogist—even a nun. She reckons she is on at least her third act, happily working in an office surrounded by windows where she lets her characters lead her to adventures in England and the far-flung corners of the British Empire. She nudges them to explore the riskiest territory of all, the human heart. 

You can learn more about Caroline and her books at her website at https://www.carolinewarfield.com