Watchkeeper (Phantom Lovers, Book Three)

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An Excerpt From: WATCHKEEPER

Copyright ? DEBRA GLASS, 2008

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's
Cave Publishing, Inc.

?Bloody damn hell!? A ragged groan tore from his throat
as he collapsed and covered her.

Gwen lay on top of the scattered divorce papers underneath
the man who?d confronted her with them. She was trembling and sated and
flooded with renewed love for him.

She ran her hands over his back, which was misted with
perspiration. His hot breath fanned her ear and she turned her head more
fully toward him as he brushed his mouth against the sensitive shell. He
pressed a kiss there and then propped on one elbow to gaze into her eyes.

Gwen?s stomach tightened at the combination of love and lust
in his expression. She cleared her throat. ?I don?t suppose you plan to
divorce me after this.?

His forehead furrowed. ?Divorce??

Gwen swallowed. ?I can change if you can. I want this to
work.?

?What to work, luv??

?Our marriage.?

He burst into laughter. ?Marriage??

Gwen was stunned?and bruised. Her hand slid from his
shoulder and she swiped at a lock of sweat-dampened hair that had stolen
across her face. ?Yes, our marriage.?

?Marriage?? he repeated incredulously.

Gwen?s eyes narrowed. ?If you still want a divorce after
this, then by all means, you fucking bastard, give me a pen and I?ll sign
the papers.?

He cleared his throat. ?Luv,
how can we possibly divorce when we are not married??

Anger flared. She slapped at his shoulders. ?Get off me
and stop with that fake accent.?

He made no move to get off her. Instead, he endured her
feeble pushing and slapping until she grew weary and stopped. When she was
finally breathless, he said, ?Exactly who, my lovely lady witch, do
you think I am??

Panic surged.

Gwen stared.

He was still semi-erect inside her.

But who was he?

Suddenly, a blast of wind rushed through the room,
rattling the windows and door violently. Roger?s divorce papers swirled
around her while the plantation blinds rattled. The temperature in the room
felt as if it had abruptly dropped twenty degrees.

?Major Stede Bonnet!? a
voice reverberated in the tiny room. The sound of it had an unearthly,
metallic rasp to it.

Gwen gasped. Her gaze riveted to the pale apparition of
a pirate. He stood inches from the bed with his legs braced wide and
his hands on his hips. She froze.

Wearing a cutlass belted to his hip and twin flintlock
pistols jammed into the waistband of his breeches, he was dressed from head
to toe in the eighteenth-century garb of a pirate. A greasy black, braided
beard jutted from his chin, hanging halfway down his chest. His bottle
green coat was so long it nearly concealed his trousers. The coat?s
impossibly wide cuffs were turned up and held in place with big brass
buttons. Thigh-high black leather boots and a ragged, feathered tricorn hat completed his pirate ensemble.

?Edward Teach,? seethed the man who was still embedded
inside her.

Gwen?s gaze flicked back and forth between them. Her
heart beat rapidly. Well?she had wanted to meet a ghost. But this
one looked downright mean.

The sulfurous odor of brimstone permeated the air.

Chills swept her arms and legs despite the carnal heat
of the man on top of her. The voice in her head told her there was no
possibility of life ever going to back to normal. Not after this.

?