Hex thinks he’s safe, but he forgot to guard his heart…
Six years ago, Hex arrived at Ravenswood an unruly eleven-year-old, starved of affection. Since then, the prestigious boarding school has become his home. Now in his final year, Hex refuses to think about the future, determined to enjoy the time he has left. This plan unravels on the very first night of term when he breaks curfew and runs straight into Jayce—the infuriatingly calm, frustratingly attractive new security guard.
What begins as mutual irritation soon sparks into something more, something forbidden. Hex knows falling for Jayce is against the rules, yet he can’t seem to stay away. But the closer he gets, the more he senses Jayce holding back. And Jayce isn’t the only one with secrets. As Hex’s world fractures around him, he discovers that Ravenswood is no longer the sanctuary he once believed it to be.
Excerpt
Beyond the rugby pitch, where the north and east walls meet, grows an ancient cedar. Not only is it a doddle to scale with plenty of hand- and footholds, but one of its sturdy branches forms a perfect bridge between the trunk and the top of the boundary wall. We’ve shared many a daring escapade, this tree and I. It has waved me off on countless nights out, kept my secret when I emptied a gut load of Bacardi and Coke into its roots.
With the instinct of long practice, the toe of my trainer finds the first ridge in the bark, and I begin to climb. In a matter of moments, I reach the fork and inch my way along the branch on my belly, fingers grasping for the wall.
Almost there.
“Mr. Reid-Fox?”
I nearly topple head first out of the tree and onto the lane below. Heart pounding, I dig my nails into the brickwork. What to do… Should I make a dash for it, dive over the wall and run? But, no, he used my name. How could whoever it is have recognised me in the dark? He can’t have followed me all the way from Nightingale…can he?
I pull myself upright to sit on the wall. No choice other than to brazen it out. “That’s me. Lovely evening for a walk.”
“A walk.” The statement drips scepticism. Anyone would think he’s never heard of a moonlit stroll before.
His tone catches me off guard. Not hostile, exactly—it’s too calm for that—but several light-years away from friendly. I narrow my eyes, peering into the darkness. I can just make out the solid outline of a figure in the shadow of the tree. Too stocky to be Ryan, and Omar left last year to become a bodyguard to some oil mogul. Besides, I’d recognise their voices. When you’ve spent your school career testing boundaries, you get to know the security guards pretty well.
“Sorry.” I adopt my best dinner-party manners. “I don’t think we’ve met.”
“Indeed. And we’re meeting here, now, half an hour after curfew, because…?”
“Oh. Well, the thing is, I suffer from the most crippling insomnia. Stretching my legs is the only cure.”
“I see.”
Still not so much as a flicker of amusement. If I could see the guy’s face, I’m betting it would be set harder than the bricks beneath me, but his features are a blur in the gloom. I frown. Ryan always chuckles at my attempts to wriggle out of trouble, while Omar treated me with wry exasperation. This new guard, if that’s even who he is, will need more coaxing onto my side.
“Absolutely,” I assure him, all earnest sincerity. “Fresh air and exercise are so beneficial for sleep.”
“And the pub has nothing to do with it, I assume.”
Well and truly busted. Not that I really thought he’d buy my tale of insomnia; I just didn’t expect him to call me out so blatantly.
“The pub?” If only it were daylight, I could dazzle him with the full force of my blue-eyed innocence. “I’m not sure what you mean. No, I like to come and sit up here sometimes…for the view.”
“The view. Right.”
This guy isn’t giving me a millimetre. My evening of drinking and flirting skitters away through my fingers.
Time to try a different tack.
About the Author
Jamie Deacon is an award-winning author of young adult LGBTQ+ fiction with a passion for weaving stories about friendship, falling in love and finding the courage to be true to yourself. Their debut novel, Caught Inside, won two Rainbow Awards and was nominated for a Lammy, a Bisexual Book Award and a Next Generation Indie Book Award.
Jamie was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition that left them registered blind by their mid-teens. Now only able to view their surroundings in light and indistinct shadow, Jamie creates vivid settings inside their head and brings them to life through the magic of words.
Jamie lives with their childhood sweetheart close to the River Thames in Berkshire, England. When not curled under a blanket with a book, they enjoy British comedy, are a huge dog lover, and get way too competitive at family games nights.
Declan Hunt is good at solving mysteries, but cracking the case of his evolving relationship with his new office assistant Charlie Watts is proving to be more challenging than expected.
This four part detective series is filled with emotional twists and turns, secrets, crimes of passion and an unlikely partnership that simmers beneath the surface.
Declan and Charlie's adventures take them from the skyscrapers of downtown Calgary, to the prairies near The Badlands of Alberta and onward to the rugged mountains of The Canadian Rockies.
But will these cases bring them together or tear them apart?
You'll have to read to the very end to find out.
Are the stories standalone or do they have to be read in order?
The first three books CAN be read as standalone, but the final book wraps up the entire plot arc. The series is best enjoyed in order, as the relationship between the central characters evolves.
Cover Artist: Erin Dameron-Hill
Publisher: Pride Publishing/Entwined Publishing/First for Romance
Pairing: MM
Genres: Contemporary Mystery/Gay Detective
Tropes: Hot Detective, Canadian, Slow Burn/Low Heat, Co-workers
Themes: Relationships between gay sons and their fathers
Tense/POV: Multiple POV
Overall Heat Rating:
The first and second books are 3 flames.
The third and fourth book closer to 2 flames.
BOOK DETAILS
BOOK 4 - RECENT RELEASE
Book Title: The Attercop
Length: 249 Pages
Release Date: August 4, 2026
This book is best read after reading the first three books.
No cliffhanger. The door is left open for this duo to solve more cases, but at present there aren’t any other books in this series planned. HFN ending
How far would you be willing to go to keep the one you love?
Blurb
Charlie Watts has found the perfect partner in Declan Hunt, and he hopes that they can spend the rest of their lives together. But when your boss is sexy and talented, sometimes you're not the only one who wants to tie him down.
The Attercop, a clever adversary who is good with disguises, starts to spin a web of lies and deceit to get Declan for his very own. And as the two detectives look into a break-in where nothing is taken, and a random beating at a gay bar, their perfect partnership begins to unravel.
Will Charlie be able to stop the worst from happening, or will The Attercop get his wish and take Declan away from Charlie forever?
An excerpt from The Attercop
He stood naked in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, took a sip of his vodka, and stared out at his view—which, he acknowledged, was courtesy of his father who had essentially paid for it by having the decency of dying and leaving him a healthy inheritance.
The money had come as a great surprise because his father had heartily disapproved of him. Not so much because he was gay—although his father had loudly carped that a queer son wouldn’t produce another generation to carry on the family name. No, the expansive parent–child chasm had grown out of his father’s determination that his son was weak and useless, just like his mother, who had run off with another man. He’d never met the other guy, but he had, after all, only been five when it had happened.
His father had further declared that his son “had no gumption” and that if he didn’t prove he could make something out of himself by the time he was thirty, he would be cut out of his father’s will. In the end it didn’t matter. Fate had intervened and the old man had died just a few days before his son’s thirtieth birthday.
The year surrounding that event had been filled with unexpected surprises, such as the reappearance of his mother. She’d said that she’d been watching him from afar and wanted to help him establish himself. She had used her connections to land him a decent job in a small, financially stable firm. He was all set for success. It looked as if he was going to prove his father wrong after all. But no matter how hard he tried, things never seemed to go his way, especially in his search for love, because nobody really liked him. Every time he thought he’d found ‘Mr Right’, it always turned into ‘Mr Right-Now-But-Never-Again’.
At first, he couldn’t understand why. He was good-looking and intelligent. He was certain he was good in bed. His major flaw, from what he could see, was that he fell in love too easily, and that was something he couldn’t help. He was a giver and, to those he fell for, he gave everything. He became infatuated with them. And what did he get in return? Another view of the curb he’d been kicked to—again and again.
Well, he’d had it with that. He was done with being ‘Mr Nice Guy’. He took another swig of his drink and lay on the carpet by the window. A small spider made its way along the floor and crawled up his naked body, past his carefully groomed pubic hair, slowly working its way toward his navel. He put his hand on his stomach to block its path, but it simply crawled up onto his fingers. Nothing was going to stand in its way.
He held the spider up to his face and watched its tiny legs working in precise synchronicity as it traversed the back of his hand. It was persistent. It had gumption.
Many people would have thrown the spider to the floor or squashed it where it stood. Spiders were repulsive to most—things to be feared, to be reviled. But he liked spiders. They were patient and meticulous and never gave up. Even when people tore down their webs, they started again. He needed to become more like a spider. He needed to decide what he wanted and go after it. And if anyone stood in his way, he would show them what a spider could do. Like the ones in his favourite book The Hobbit, he would ensnare his enemies, keep what he wanted, and make the others feel pain and suffering. ‘Attercop’ was what the character Bilbo had called the spiders. A term that meant ‘poison head’ in old English. It was intended to be an insult, but he liked the description.
He gently lifted his hand to his face. It was time for he and the spider to become as one. He set it on the end of his tongue and swallowed. He knew what his purpose was. It was time to become The Attercop, spinning his web. And soon, he would pounce. He would snare the thing that he wanted most and if anyone got in his way, he’d suck them dry and discard their empty husks. And there was one person in particular he yearned to snare. Declan Hunt would be his.
START THE SERIES
BOOK 1
Book Title: Mann Hunt
Length: 295 pages
Release Date: August 29, 2023
It is the first part of a four part series. It can be read as a standalone.
It is clear that there is more in the series to come, but it doesn’t have a cliff-hanger. HFN
How far would you be willing to go to finish the job?
Blurb
Declan Hunt is having a bad week. His kidnapping case is showing little progress, his office assistant has left him on short notice, and his latest investigation has left him literally battered and bruised. But things change when he hires twenty-four year old Charlie Watts to help out at the office. They form an unlikely partnership trying to solve two seemingly unrelated cases whose threads begin to weave together when the missing person case turns to murder.
The investigation takes them from the dark alleys, gay bars and bath houses of Calgary, to the richest parts of the city during the world-famous Calgary Stampede.
The investigation takes them from the dark alleys, gay bars and bath houses of Calgary, to the richest parts of the city during the world-famous Calgary Stampede.
But will they be able to discover who the killer is before another life is lost? And will Declan be able to solve the mystery of his relationship with Charlie who is clearly attracted to him — especially since it is evident that the attraction is becoming mutual?
BOOK 2
Book Title: Hoodoo House
Length: 253 Pages
Release Date: June 25, 2024
It can be read as a standalone, but is better read as the second book in the series.
It is clear there is more in the series, but it does not end on a cliffhanger. HFN
How far would you be willing to go to keep a secret?
Blurb
When writer Malcolm Tull is discovered dead at his writing desk, all signs point to suicide. But Malcolm' s editor isn't so sure. There' s the matter of the man' s missing computer, a mislaid manuscript and the fact that he didn't seem the type to take his own life.
Declan Hunt and Charlie Watts are called into action and make their way to the mysterious Hoodoo House nestled on the edge of the Badlands of Alberta. Soon they are embroiled in a case involving blackmail, gay tricks and possibly even murder.
As the secrets of Hoodoo House come to light, Charlie discovers that his boss has been keeping a few secrets of his own, secrets that could impact their romantic relationship outside of the office. And before this investigation is done, Charlie will have to get to the truth, even if it means this might be his final case for Declan Hunt Investigations.
BOOK 3
Book Title: The Burnt
Length: 243 Pages
Release Date: August 5, 2025
This book references a case in the earlier books, so it is best to have read books 1 and 2.
How far would you be willing to go to reveal the truth?
Blurb
Finding work-life balance isn't always easy when you’re sleeping with the boss. Charlie Watts is feeling stressed as he studies for his private investigator’s license, starts taking on his own cases and tries to navigate his relationship with Declan Hunt. He thinks he can handle it, but every time their relationship is going well, work always seems to get in the way.
While Charlie investigates a threatening note that appears to be from a boy who mysteriously disappeared ten years ago, Declan tries to find the meaning behind the final words of a man who was brutally murdered. As Declan and Charlie work to solve these mysteries, secrets from the past are exposed, Charlie is haunted by ghostly dreams, and Declan is forced to confront some terrible truths from a hidden past.
Ultimately, the truth will be revealed, but at what cost? And will Declan and Charlie be able to solve the mystery of where they want to go next with their relationship before things at work take a terrible turn?
About the Author
Peter’s first novel, The Woodcarver’s Model was released by Pride Publishing in April of 2022 and was a four time nominee in the Goodreads M/M Romance Readers’ Choice Awards.
Following the success of the first book, Pride Publishing/Entwined Publishing released The Declan Hunt Mysteries series which includes Mann Hunt (nominated for a Goodreads M/M Romance Readers’ Choice Award and translated into German, Italian and Spanish), Hoodoo House, (also a Goodreads M/M Romance Readers’ Choice Award nominee and now available in Italian and Spanish), and The Burnt which came out in August of 2025 in English, Italian and Spanish with Entwined Publishing. The Burnt was also nominated for a Goodreads M/M Romance Readers' Choice Award in the Mystery/Whodunnit category. The fourth and final novel in the series - The Attercop - was released in August of 2026.
2024 also saw the release of the critically acclaimed teen novella Not Not Normal, published by Lorimer Press. This book was also nominated for a Goodreads M/M Romance Readers' Choice Award.
Peter's previous work was focused on writing for the stage, with award-winning productions of The Giant’s Garden, Newfoundland Mary, Bemused, and The Detective Disappears being produced across the country.
All of his novels are proudly set in Canada and are filled with humour and heart.
He spent many years working in palaeontology in remote locations including the Canadian Rockies, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Peter lives in Toronto, Canada with his partner of twenty-five years, Scott White. At heart, he is an incredible romantic.
Eli worked his butt off to earn a spot with the Vermont Trailblazers, and he has absolutely no intention of losing it. Unfortunately, his second NHL season has brought a sophomore slump, an endless parade of team obligations, and the possibility that enthusiasm might not be enough to keep his plates spinning—or keep him from being sent to the minors. So naturally, this is the perfect time for Nolan Madolora—his coach’s son, his sister’s ex, and the man Eli had an impossible crush on a decade ago—to walk back into his life.
Nolan knows a thing or two about not fitting in, which makes getting paid to figure out why the Trailblazers work so well together almost funny—he’s in Vermont to conduct a team culture audit and deliver an objective assessment. What he shouldn’t do is get involved with one of the players, especially when that man is Eli Parker: his ex’s little brother, ten years his junior, and all grown up in ways Nolan is trying very hard not to notice.
When Nolan and Eli stumble across an old set of unsent letters at the arena, amateur sleuthing gives them an excuse to spend more time together—and makes ignoring their growing attraction increasingly impossible to resist. Eli’s old crush has a chance of becoming something very real, while Nolan’s carefully maintained objectivity doesn’t stand a chance against the one person he never thought to look at twice. The closer they get—to the truth and to each other—the harder it becomes to remember all the reasons getting involved is a terrible idea.
99c/99p SALE
Book one in the series, The Best Parts of Him (Vermont Trailblazers 1),
“Okay, wait. Wait-wait-wait-wait.” An hour and a half later, Nolan sat back in his seat and waved his hands, cutting Eli off. “You’re saying that if you had the option to know how you die, you wouldn’t take it?”
Eli’s grin was a little tipsy. Nolan had lost track of the number of beers Eli had consumed to Nolan’s one, but as Eli went to rest an elbow on the table and missed it entirely, Nolan mentally revised tipsy to most of the way drunk.
“Noooooo way,” Eli said, red-cheeked from too much booze but not slurring his words. So there was that. “If I knew how I died, I’d be constantly thinking about the future, just waiting for that day to come instead of living in the moment, and that would suck the joy right out of life. Would you want to know?”
“Yeah. I think so. That way I could avoid the thing that eventually kills me and maybe prolong my life a little longer. Do the things I want to do, accomplish what I want to accomplish, say the things I need to say.”
“But what if the thing that kills you is cancer or some other disease? Can’t avoid that.”
“Maybe not, but I can get screened earlier than I might’ve otherwise and try to catch it early. You really wouldn’t want to know?”
“Absolutely not,” Eli said. “Because what if I die, like, choking on a bagel or something? Then breakfast becomes a high-stakes event for the rest of my life.”
“You could cut the bagel into small pieces,” Nolan offered.
“And engineer my carbs around fate?”
“You could just not eat bagels.”
Eli gasped so hard that Nolan thought he’d choke on his own spit. “Rude, Nolan. Don’t get between a hockey player and his carbs.”
Nolan laughed. “Duly noted.”
“Hey, guys.” Their server appeared between them and placed the bill on the table. “We’re closing in a few minutes, so you can settle up at the bar.”
Nolan checked his watch. Almost midnight. Damn, they’d shut the place down. He hadn’t done that since his university days.
“You can pay.” Eli slid the bill Nolan’s way. “Since you invited me.”
“Sure,” Nolan said, laughing as he stood. “Be right back.”
He’d invited Eli out tonight because Eli was the only person he knew in Burlington aside from his dad. He was friendly with a few of the Trailblazers—had even attended a Trailblazers event or two in the four seasons Dad had been head coach—but he didn’t know them enough to call them up to hang out.
Eli, though? Nolan didn’t know him well enough either, but he had been a familiar face from his past. Nolan hadn’t expected to enjoy getting to know him as someone other than Michelle’s little brother as much as he had. Hadn’t expected to have this much fun or to wish the night would last longer. Hadn’t expected an Eli who was both funny and smart and wiser than Nolan would’ve given him credit for.
About the Author
Amy’s lived with her head in the clouds since she first picked up a book as a child, and being fluent in two languages means she’s read a lot of books! She first picked up a pen on a rainy day in fourth grade when her class had to stay inside for recess. Tales of treasure hunts with her classmates eventually morphed into love stories between men, and she’s been writing ever since. She writes evenings and weekends—or whenever she isn’t at her full-time day job saving the planet at Canada’s largest environmental non-profit.
An unapologetic introvert, Amy reads too much and socializes too little, with no regrets. She loves connecting with readers. Join her Facebook Group to stay up-to-date on upcoming releases and for access to early teasers, find her on Instagram, or sign up for her infrequent newsletter.
“ … it started off by finding a few floaters in the harbour, but that caused a huge amount of attention in the press. It’s only a theory that they’re linked, but we’ve found six men, almost skeletons, in the past seven months dumped in all sorts of places, all with the same ligature marks and signs of abuse on their backs.”
1932, Sydney, Australia, in the height of the Great Depression, Joe Ing, one man among the two-thirds of Australian men out of work, will do anything to put food on the table for his family.
A casual job as a waiter at a private party leads to more opportunities, some of which push his limits and lead him into dangerous waters. The disappearance of his best friend, selling his body in the darkened streets of the city, precipitates a train of events that cause a change in his circumstance; both for better and for worse.
In Depression-era Sydney, jobless Joe Ing will do anything to feed his family. A waiter’s shift at a private party opens doors to risky work, dangerous secrets and a city’s underworld. Then, when his best friend vanishes, Joe is pulled into events that may save him—or destroy him.
Excerpt
“Over here,” the man said, moving to the end cubicle and standing inside it, holding the door open.
“Bit risky,” Joe said, even though he’d already walked across the tiled floor. His penis led him, not his head.
The man chuckled, then moved to one side to allow Joe to go into the cubicle with him. He closed the door.
“Stand on the seat if anyone comes in,” Joe whispered.
“I know what to do,” came the reply, accompanied by a look of amusement and a very cheeky smile. “What do you like?”
Joe shrugged noncommittally, smiling back.
He enjoyed it far more than usual, the man’s head resting on Joe’s shoulder and breathing into the crook of his neck while they worked each other’s cocks. It felt good to have an arm around his back, the smell of the man’s brilliantine in his nose … besides, he was one good-looking coot and he certainly knew what to do, squatting down at the last minute to encourage Joe to spurt into his opened mouth. Joe couldn’t help himself: he arched his back as he was about to spoof and ran his hand behind the man’s neck, giving him the go-ahead to swallow his spunk. He throbbed out four spurts into the man’s mouth, the man looking up into his eyes as he did so.
“Fuck, that was lovely,” the man whispered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Not half,” Joe said with a grin. “Your turn now?”
Joe pulled him to his feet and undid his top trouser button. The man’s strides fell down to his shoes. It wasn’t something Joe did often, but he liked this bloke for some unknown reason and wanted to see whether he had golden hair on his legs; he was a sucker for red-blonds. Joe pulled the man’s underwear down, crouching down as he did so, the man’s cock inches from Joe’s face. It was truly impressive, standing out stiffly from his body, the foreskin stretched back along the shaft, his penis long and sleek and fat. The pale thicket of blond pubic hair was a surprise—Joe had imagined something darker or redder, but he was very aroused by what he saw, even though he’d just let go into the man’s mouth. He felt the familiar temptation, that as-yet unfulfilled desire to run his lips over the head of the man’s cock and then take it in his mouth, wondering yet again for the umpteenth time what it might feel and taste like.
As he squatted, his cock was still hard, throbbing, bouncing on the top of the waistband of his underpants. He spat in his hand, then started off slow, twisting his hand around the man’s shaft, gradually increasing speed. It wasn’t long before Joe noticed the grip and release in the man’s thighs; things were getting close.
Before he could get to his feet, the man groaned softly and spurted onto the wall over Joe’s shoulder, grasping the back of Joe’s neck, then panting softly until his orgasm subsided.
“Thank you,” he whispered, a moment or two later, looking down at Joe.
“No—thank you.”
Joe played with the man’s cock until it softened, something he rarely did, but he really liked the shape, size and feel of this bloke’s penis: it was a knockout. It felt so good in his hand that he was reluctant to let go of it. Even flaccid it was semi-turgid, full of blood and heavy in his hand. It was the manifested form of the fantasy cock that he thought about when he squirted onto his belly in bed at night. Damn, he thought: given half the chance, he could play with it for hours.
When he eventually stood, encouraged by the man’s hand on his shoulder, it was impossible to ignore the fact that he was still hard and he was oozing a bit.
“Want more?” the man asked, smiling and then running his hand around Joe’s erection.
Joe nodded, shrugged again nervously, then watched as the red-blond settled on the toilet seat and then sucked a second load out of him.
Back at the bar, Joe scored the encounter as up there with the best he could remember, and for a moment was tempted to change his mind and accept the offer the man had made to meet up again. He’d vacillated, but hadn’t acted on his second thoughts; it would have been a first had he done so. Instead, as they’d left the gents’, he’d just patted the man on the back and shaken his hand, leaving him to return to the bar with a traditional “Catchyalaydah,” a farewell that in Aussie slang meant something like “See you again perhaps, but don’t hold your breath”.
Maybe he’d regret it, but it was too late to do anything about it now. Joe’s attitude to the blokes he liked and what he did with them was odd. He didn’t understand it himself.
About the Author
From the outback to the opera.
After a thirty-year career as a professional opera singer, performing as a soloist in opera houses and in concert halls all over the world, I took up a position as lecturer in music in Australia in 1999, at the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music, which is now part of CQ University.
Brought up in Australia, between the bush and the beaches of the Eastern suburbs, I retired in 2015 and now live in the tropics, writing, gardening, and finally finding time to enjoy life and to re-establish a connection with who I am after a very busy career on the stage and as an academic.
Dragon history was easy. This particular dragon? Anything but.
Blurb
I was sent to Dragon's Ending to uncover lost dragon history. What I found was Dominic Bedwyr.
The heir to one of Britain's oldest dragon-shifter families, Dominic has a reputation for turning heads and causing trouble in equal measure. He flirts. He provokes. He has an infuriating habit of appearing when least expected and interrupting my research.
And each time I think I've worked Dominic out, he proves me wrong. Because behind the studied indifference, I catch glimpses of someone else entirely. He’s a man born to inherit everything, yet trusted with nothing.
Before long, I catch myself listening for his footsteps. Waiting for him to appear by my side, pretending not to help and somehow making me laugh anyway.
But dragon families are complicated. Dominic’s, most of all.
It's one thing to fall in love with Dominic. It's another to fall in love with the Bedwyr heir.
Excerpt
Dominic tilted his head and met my gaze, amusement in those dark brown eyes, which deepened as I moved my chair away from him slightly.
“Find what you’re looking for yet?” he asked.
I couldn’t be sure, but I felt that was double-edged. I chose to answer the question and ignore any other meaning. Perhaps he was used to guys simply keeling over into his arms whenever he wanted, but I had no interest in being one of them.
“I’m not looking for anything specific,” I told him.
“You’re sure about that?” he asked, and that lazily amused smile was still in his eyes. Which I was going to stop looking into right now.
Unfortunately, I tore my glance away just in time to notice the way he hitched his hip onto the table. Right next to me, making it impossible not to notice his thighs or think about the fluid ease with which he moved. It was as calculated as everything else about him.
“You know,” he said, “I’m sure I could help you out.”
I wasn’t always the quickest to pick up when someone was flirting with me, but there was no mistaking the intent in his voice. It had lost its usual drawl, turning low and smooth.
“Can you read medieval Latin?” I asked him. “Because that would be helpful.”
He just looked at me, his lips tugging slightly at the corners. “Does Welsh work?”
“Oh, God, yes.” Because I’d already discovered the limits of my Welsh. Before I could stop myself, I was reaching for the document I’d had to put to one side earlier. “There’s this whole section here—”
“So what made you decide to start halfway through the records rather than at the beginning?”
My irritation at his interruption evaporated as I realised what he’d said. Surely he couldn’t mean there were even more?
“I haven’t found anything further back than these yet,” I told him.
He shrugged and moved away. To my relief.
“And you’re just hoping something turns up.” He leaned against the shelves like he had every right to be there. Like they’d been put up for that purpose alone.
“That’s the general idea.”
“So what happens when the thing you need to see is actually somewhere else?”
That made me pause. “If you have something to say—”
“I do,” he said, pushing off from the shelves.
Too close again. Deliberately so. My dragon stirred, low and uneasy as he reached out to the ledger in front of me and moved it slightly, just enough to be out of square. It took every bit of willpower not to correct it immediately.
Dominic glanced down at the papers, then back at me, as if weighing whether I was worth the effort.
“Come on,” he said.
I frowned. “Where?”
“You want older than this,” he said.
My attention sharpened despite myself. “What does that mean?”
He watched me for an instant, and I saw that flicker of satisfaction again. He’d got me hooked, and he knew it.
“The castle.”
Phoebe had told me about it over supper. Only she’d said there was hardly anything left. “The ruins?” I checked.
“Unless you’ve found another one.”
“Your father—” I started.
“My father,” Dominic said, very mildly, “isn’t here.”
I hesitated. Rhodri didn’t like information shared without his consent.
“Come if you want,” he added, already turning towards the door. “Or don’t.”
Which was deeply irritating, because he knew I couldn’t resist. I closed my laptop with more force than necessary.
“If this turns out to be a waste of time—”
“You can come back and alphabetise something,” he said over his shoulder.
I stood up, because it was either that or hurl my laptop at his head.
About the Author
Joy Lynn Fielding lives in a small English market town, where she nurtures enthusiasms for vintage aircraft, horses and gardening. An avid researcher for her books, she delights in uncovering unusual facts and sharing them with anyone within earshot. She insists this has never led to anyone hiding behind the furniture.
Joy writes at the pace her health allows, powered by enthusiasm, optimism and, above all, coffee. She hopes her books offer good company to anyone navigating their own winding paths.
