Blog Tour Excerpt: The Pauper by May Nicole Abbey

 Welcome to my tour stop for The Pauper by May Nicole Abbey!

The Pauper
(The Fall Series #3)
by May Nicole Abbey
Urban Fantasy, Clean Romance, Adventure
River Valley Publishing (March 27, 2014)
March 27th, 2014 by River Valley Publishing


Summary

A mysterious stranger
A desperate mission
A grueling journey through time and space

Life had always been an exciting adventure to Heather Higgins. Even after the death of her father, the loss of a fortune, and a disappointing proposal, she yet sees the future as bright and full of possibilities. At the miraculous appearance of a mysterious man with piercing green eyes and a powerful intellect, Heather knows she has met her destiny. Whether he likes it or not.

In pursuit of a dangerous mission, Ammon Maharahi doesn’t have time for spoiled, doe eyed beauties. But no matter how hard he tries, he cannot dismiss her. Amidst his frantic travels through time and space in the effort to fix a dark future, his illness wears him down. He must find and stop a fellow time traveler before it is too late and all is lost. Tired, ill and disheartened, he wonders if he is fighting a losing battle when Heather Higgins is thrust into his path, infusing energy and life into his weary heart.

But time is running out. The answer lies with a gifted university professor from the future, as bizarre as she is brilliant. As Ammon and Heather race through time to unlock the puzzle, they know Ammon’s life and the future of all humankind slip closer to catastrophe with every tick of the clock.

Excerpt from Chapter One

     “Will he live, Cuddy?”
     “It ain’t proper, Heather.”
     “Will he?”
     “I don’t know.”
     We stood over the stranger’s still form, the slender body too tall for his weight, his feet hanging off my father’s bed. His eyes still closed.
     “How did ye know he be in the water?” he asked.
     “I saw him fall.”
     “Which boat?”
     I said nothing.
     “The Bulking?”
     I bit my lip. “Leave him.”
     “I’ll send the doctor.”
     I shook my head. “I cannot — pay a doctor.”
     “It ain’t proper now yourn father and brother have gone, and ye with nary a feather to fly with,” he declared. “Ye be alone.”
I looked at the stranger in my father’s bed. “Not any longer.”
     “He can go to the infirmary.”
     “Come, you know as well as I do it would be a sentence of death.”
     Cuddy jutted his chin and stayed put. “Dash it all, Heather! A woman ye be. Ye have grown up, to be sure! Think of Sir Reginald. Ye are young, lovely and alone. Think of yourself!”
     A smile sprang to my lips. I touched his sleeve. “So you marry me, Cuddy.”
     He flushed and shifted his feet. I was not at all serious, and he knew it. But, as was usual, I had shocked him greatly. “Janice might take exception to that.”
     I laughed. I knew Janice. She indeed would. “Trust me, then, dear friend. There is no other way.”
     I waited until I heard the front door close. Alone now with the stranger, I stepped forward and thoroughly inspected him.
     And frowned.
     Sickly, frail, nothing to please the eye. A skeleton was he. Obviously foreign, his skin was mahogany, dark hair cut shorter than fashionable, nearly shorn on the back and sides, a chin sharp and defined, eyes sunken and hollow. Indeed, this man, though young, looked like he had never known health in his life.
     Unusual shirt, buttons all the way up the front, top to bottom, two pockets, stiff collar. I fingered the immaculate stitches at every edge. Amazing. Stitches so small I could hardly see them. His shirt was tucked into his breaches. Gently, I unbuttoned it and frowned as I noticed the defined button holes and the curious workmanship of the garment.
     I had cared for my father who had been ill, especially in the end. But even still, as I moved aside his shirt, the look of his chest made me gasp, concave, every breath he drew a rattling struggle.
     On his wrist was a thick gold bracelet etched with extraordinary drawings, at his neck a lovely square gold necklace, complex and masculine. In his pocket, a strange leather map, new and fresh.
     “Curious. A puzzle,” I murmured. “Can he really be the answer?”
     After I’d changed him into dry clothing, I wrapped the peculiar items into a cloth.
     And hid them safely away.

About the Authors

May Nicole Abbey is actually Caroline Gregory and Shawnette Nielson, sisters on a mission. Their goal is to write clean, adventuresome romance stories, full of lovely characters, personal growth, truth, and hope. Although they live nearly a thousand miles from each other, and are both busy with the daily needs of their respective families, they carve out time each night to put fingers to keyboard and write. Their goal? Twenty completed books. Set all over the world and throughout time, they thrill at the freedom that writing time travel offers them. From Georgian society, to Ancient Egypt, and plans for a western, contemporary, and even a book set in ancient Greece, the possibilities are limitless.


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