The Earl in My Bed: A Forgotten Princesses Valentine Novella by Sophie Jordan Page B
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Authors: Sophie Jordan
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ground. Growing closer.
I look skyward, my long talonlike fingers flexing open and shut, wings vibrating in barely controlled movement. Instinct urges flight, but I know they’re up there. Waiting. Circling buzzards. I spy their dark shapes through the treetops. My chest tightens. They aren’t going away.
I motion Az to follow me into the thick branches of a towering pine. Folding our wings close to our bodies, we shove amid the itchy needles, fighting the scraping twigs. Holding our breath, we wait.
Then the land comes alive, swarming with an entourage of vehicles: trucks, SUVs, dirt bikes.
“No,” I rasp, eyeing the vehicles, the men, armed to the teeth. In a truck bed, two men crouch at the ready, a great net launcher before them. Seasoned hunters. They know what they’re doing. They know what they’re hunting.
Az trembles so badly the thick branch we’re crouched on starts to shake, leaves rustling. I clutch her hand. The dirt bikes lead the way, moving at a dizzying speed. A driver of one SUV motions out the window. “Look to the trees,” he shouts, his voice deep, terrifying.
Az fidgets. I clutch her hand harder. A bike is directly below us now. The driver wears a black T-shirt that hugs his young muscled body. My skin tightens almost painfully.
“I can’t stay here,” Az chokes out beside me. “I’ve got to go!”
“Az,” I growl, my low rumbling tones fervent, desperate. “That’s what they want. They’re trying to flush us out. Don’t panic.”
Her words spit past gritted teeth. “I. Can’t.”
And I know with a sick tightening of my gut that she’s not going to last.
Scanning the activity below and the choppers cutting across the sky above, I make up my mind right then.
“All right.” I swallow. “Here’s the plan. We separate—”
“No—”
“I’ll break cover first. Then, once they’ve gone after me, you head for water. Go under and stay there. However long it takes.”
Her dark eyes gleam wetly, the vertical lines of her pupils throbbing.
“Got it?” I demand.
She nods jerkily, the ridges on her nose contracting with a deep breath. “W-what are you going to do?”
I force a smile, the curve of my lips painful on my face. “Fly, of course.”
Also by Sophie Jordan
Lessons from a Scandalous Bride
Wicked in Your Arms
Wicked Nights With a Lover
In Scandal They Wed
Sins of a Wicked Duke
Surrender to Me
One Night With You
Too Wicked to Tame
Once Upon a Wedding Night
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from How to Lose a Bride in One Night copyright © 2013 by Sharie Kohler.
Excerpt from Firelight copyright © 2010 by Sharie Kohler.
THE EARL IN MY BED . Copyright © 2013 by Sharie Kohler. All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition FEBRUARY 2013 ISBN: 9780062222466
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062222473
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au/ebooks
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand)
I look skyward, my long talonlike fingers flexing open and shut, wings vibrating in barely controlled movement. Instinct urges flight, but I know they’re up there. Waiting. Circling buzzards. I spy their dark shapes through the treetops. My chest tightens. They aren’t going away.
I motion Az to follow me into the thick branches of a towering pine. Folding our wings close to our bodies, we shove amid the itchy needles, fighting the scraping twigs. Holding our breath, we wait.
Then the land comes alive, swarming with an entourage of vehicles: trucks, SUVs, dirt bikes.
“No,” I rasp, eyeing the vehicles, the men, armed to the teeth. In a truck bed, two men crouch at the ready, a great net launcher before them. Seasoned hunters. They know what they’re doing. They know what they’re hunting.
Az trembles so badly the thick branch we’re crouched on starts to shake, leaves rustling. I clutch her hand. The dirt bikes lead the way, moving at a dizzying speed. A driver of one SUV motions out the window. “Look to the trees,” he shouts, his voice deep, terrifying.
Az fidgets. I clutch her hand harder. A bike is directly below us now. The driver wears a black T-shirt that hugs his young muscled body. My skin tightens almost painfully.
“I can’t stay here,” Az chokes out beside me. “I’ve got to go!”
“Az,” I growl, my low rumbling tones fervent, desperate. “That’s what they want. They’re trying to flush us out. Don’t panic.”
Her words spit past gritted teeth. “I. Can’t.”
And I know with a sick tightening of my gut that she’s not going to last.
Scanning the activity below and the choppers cutting across the sky above, I make up my mind right then.
“All right.” I swallow. “Here’s the plan. We separate—”
“No—”
“I’ll break cover first. Then, once they’ve gone after me, you head for water. Go under and stay there. However long it takes.”
Her dark eyes gleam wetly, the vertical lines of her pupils throbbing.
“Got it?” I demand.
She nods jerkily, the ridges on her nose contracting with a deep breath. “W-what are you going to do?”
I force a smile, the curve of my lips painful on my face. “Fly, of course.”
Also by Sophie Jordan
Lessons from a Scandalous Bride
Wicked in Your Arms
Wicked Nights With a Lover
In Scandal They Wed
Sins of a Wicked Duke
Surrender to Me
One Night With You
Too Wicked to Tame
Once Upon a Wedding Night
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from How to Lose a Bride in One Night copyright © 2013 by Sharie Kohler.
Excerpt from Firelight copyright © 2010 by Sharie Kohler.
THE EARL IN MY BED . Copyright © 2013 by Sharie Kohler. All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition FEBRUARY 2013 ISBN: 9780062222466
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062222473
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au/ebooks
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand)
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