A sneaky little WAYS TO BE WICKED excerpt...

Because I hate for my poor blog to languish while I'm doing a thousand other things, here's a sneaky little excerpt of WAYS TO BE WICKED (October will be here any minute!). This scene takes place shortly after the first excerpt from the book on my website, so start reading there, if you'd like...

          Sylvie could scarcely get through the rest of rehearsal without thoughts of what Tom Shaughnessy might do. Would he… “turn ‘er off?” Was that the English expression Rose had used? Would he “sack her” and leave her to her own devices in London? Would she have the nerve to blame The General?

And so when The General gave them leave to go, she lingered, watching the other girls vanish into the dressing room. She saw Molly cast a glance over her shoulder, toss her head away again, murmur something to Lizzy.

And then her heart thumping as surely as if Tom Shaughnessy were marking time with his walking stick, Sylvie made her decision.

She turned and marched stoically toward Tom’s office.

            He was shaking off his coat when she appeared in the doorway. He froze mid-motion, one arm in a sleeve, one arm out, when he saw her. His cravat had already been tossed over the globe in the corner, as though he’d entered the office and violently ridded himself of a noose at once.

            It occurred to her then, very suddenly: he wears a costume, too. The man she saw leaning over his desk at night, shirtsleeves rolled up, two buttons open to free  his movements, the stripped to essentials Tom: this was the real Tom Shaughnessy.

They stared at each other, frozen in an indecipherable moment, trying in vain to ascertain what the other was thinking.

            “I saw you.”

They both said it at once, in a rush. Both faintly accusatory. Faintly apologetic.

Tom’s face was difficult to read. He turned from her and finished getting out of his coat, draped it over his chair carefully. Absently unbuttoned the cuffs of shirt, then rolled them up. She watched every motion, and watching him reveal his arms seemed somehow as intimate as watching him undress completely. It wasn’t at all what a gentleman would have done in front of her during the day.  She could not for a moment imagine Etienne rolling up his sleeves in front of her, though she had of course seen every inch of Etienne uncovered.

Tom looked down. He fumbled with the papers on his desk, then appeared to realize he was fumbling and stopped. He let his eyes wander over to the window, over to the bookshelves, back to the desk.

In other words, to anywhere she wasn’t.

“Well, then. Did you come to see me for a reason, Sylvie?” Stiffly said, and formally. It sounded like a foreign language coming from him.

She watched him, unfamiliar with whatever this mood happened to be. She sensed he was unfamiliar with it, too.

“Are you…angry?” It was at least a place to begin asking questions.

He looked toward the bookshelf and appeared to consider this. As though he was having difficulty deciding precisely what he was.

“No,” he finally said. To the bookshelves, not to her.

            An awkward silence.

            “All right,” she said softly. “I’ll go.”

            “There’s no money in it.” He said quickly. Abruptly. Almost as though trying to convince himself of something.

She remained where she was.

            Which was when he did finally look at her. He nearly blinked when their eyes met, as though receiving a tiny shock. His expression was oddly…defiant.  Uncertain. As though, for heaven’s sake, he was being required to defend himself and didn’t know quite how to go about it.

In short, Tom Shaughnessy was for some reason decidedly uncomfortable.

Not angry. Not glib. Not amused.

Not even flirting.

Sylvie stared at him, fascinated. She’d watched him gracefully and adeptly field highwaymen and earls and frightened women and incensed husbands with scarcely a ripple in his authority and good humor. And now…

Me, she thought. I did this to him. With her dancing, her own form of brilliance, she’d shifted his balance. She’d made Tom Shaughnessy feel…

Vulnerable. Ah, yes, that was it.

It pleased her inordinately.  Particularly since this was a man who had made the ground beneath her feet feel nearly as wobbly as the deck of that ship that brought her across the channel. From the very moment she’d clapped eyes upon him.

She suspected her eyes began to glow a bit, because that’s when his eyes went dark and something like firm resolve crossed his face. He took two decisive steps toward her.

Which made her suck in an audible breath, and take an almost imperceptible step back.

Which made his mouth twitch just a little.

It took every bit of her courage to hold her ground as he slowly closed the distance that remained between them, until he stood so close that the heat of his body and the singular scent of him wound her in a cocoon. She should have known a man this wicked would smell like paradise: tobacco and soap and some hint of spice. Sweat, just a little. Clean linen.

And the unmistakable, most singular, subtle scent of all: desire. She knew the scent. For she was not, as he had guessed right from the start, an innocent.

It was the first time, however, that she had gloried in this.

Words. I need words. Words to parry with and to build a net of safety with. “Do you see something on my cheek, Mr. Shaughnessy?”

The words were, unfortunately, a nearly breathless rush of sound. Her speeding heartbeat was making her blood ring in her ears.

It didn’t appear as though he’d even heard the question.

“I believe I mentioned that I’m not obliged to play fair, Sylvie.” He said it softly, his voice low and level. It was a warning. An apology.

And a dare.

And it was the last that made her determined to stand her ground.

Even with her speeding heart sending the blood whooshing in her ears and all but freezing her lungs. Even as the intent became very clear in the set of his jaw, in the heat of his eyes. Even as the want in her rose so fiercely that she thought she would simply die if this time he didn’t…if he didn’t…

And now he was so close she could see the facets of silver in his eyes, the fine creases at the corners of them, like the rays of stars.

But when his lips touched hers she saw nothing more:  Her eyes closed as the kiss detonated in her.

So very nearly painful in its sweetness. As though she’d been cracked gently open, only to discover she was full of nothing but brilliant light.

And then it was over. Her eyes fluttered open to discover why.

She saw that Tom had taken a step back from her. His silver eyes had gone pewter-dark, stunned. For an instant, they were motionless together. Assessing. Reassessing.

For with one near-chaste kiss both had been managed to strip themselves of pretense and combat and flirtation and all the other little things they used to defend themselves against each other. They were suddenly equal. And equally uncertain.

A moment later, one of them became certain, and naturally it was Tom.

He stepped swiftly toward her; his hands came up, held her face lightly. A statement of intent.  And like this, for the span of several breaths, he waited. Not obliged to play fair, he’d said to her. And even now, she knew he wasn’t playing fair: for he was forcing her to choose.
(and that's the end of the excerpt, but oh BOY does it get juicy from there...)
By 9 pm. EST, Friday the 18th, I'll choose a winner (at random!) of a signed copy of either BEAUTY AND THE SPY or TO LOVE A THIEF from commenters below!  So go to town, kittens. :)

Comments

[Jennifer Y.]

OOOH...can't wait to read this one!

[Haven Rich]

All I can say is hehehehe. Really, this is an awesome scene and a wonderful book. I highly recommend buying it the second it comes out..no wait, hound the stakers to put it out early for you. I pormise its that good.

A very happy Haven, who is actually happy about turning 30.

[Cheryl S.]

Oh . . . .WOW!! I'm hooked!

[Teresa Henson]

Oh my, I can hardly wait to read it all!!!

[Crystal B.]

Wow! Great excerpt. I can't wait to read it.

[Courtney Crowely]

This is a great teaser! I have read the all excerpts for Ways to be Wicked and have already fallen in love with the characters. I can't wait to read it all.

[Isabel]

Very nice, Julie Anne :)
This particular story sounds like nothing I've read before so I'm definitely looking forward to reading more.

[Julie Anne Long]

Let me just pipe in to say: Happy 30th, Haven! 30 is a fabulous year! :) Everyone gets EVEN better looking at 30!! (Or, that's a rumor I'd like to start, anyway. LOL.) I do hope you guys like the whole book when it's out. I'm getting excited!! October will be here like any minute.

I'll probably blog something fascinating (ha!) tonight or tomorrow, but anyone who feels like winning a book can keep posting here. I'm going to recruit my sis to choose a winner on Friday night. :)

[Marie]

Sounds great :) Looking forward to read it.

[Haven Rich]

Can we include shameless begging? Perhaps bribing? I know where I can find some awesome chocolate hehe j/k.

Thank you Julie. My bday isn't until Sunday but my mom came down so we had fun.

I can't rave enough on this book to be honest. I've told Isabel the moment I finished it that she had to buy it the moment it was released.

Oh almost forgot. About the rumor you just started. I'm not so sure its true. On my website I have 3 pics on my bio page. One when I was 24 hours old haha. One of me at 15 and one of me at 25...these two look almost the same.

[Zara]

Oh, I am loving the excerpts! I've been waiting for this one since reading Beauty and the Spy. It sounds amazing!

Happy early Birthday to Haven! I hope you have a fabulous one!

Hugs, Zara

[Sanjay S]

Looking forward to reading it, Julie! Have fun.

[Donna S.]

I've heard wonderful things about this book, Julie. I'm really looking forward to it!

[Kathy N.]

Fascinating excerpt. This sounds like an exceptional read!

[Kim C.]

This is my first time at your site. I love reading excerpts! Can't wait for this to come out!

[Ranurgis]

Wow! and Wow! What a word-painter, poet you are. I loved that passage about Sylvie's dance. Prima ballerina! Awesome. I could see every move she made.

I'm a real ballet freak though I haven't had much of a chance during the time I've been back in Canada. Stuttgart, where I lived close to most of my 10 years in Germany had a world-class company. And for students, they sold off any tickets that weren't picked up by a certain time for about $2. A wonderful way to see ballet.

Now I have to read this one.

Hmm. Yummy, definitely yummy. I could never even attempt to write like this, Julie. I really do have to get at your books. Great writing and atmosphere.

[Ranurgis]

Do your books go in the order you wrote them? I still haven't found "The Runaway Duke". Are you sure he wants to be found?

[Julie Anne Long]

Well girls, I tried to post the name of our winner -- TWICE! -- because my sis did her sisterly duty and chose one, but Typepad ate my post twice. So I'll try to do it here in the comments field: The winner of our contest is....(sound the trumpets)....

Courtney Crowely! Everyone say YAY Courteney! And Courtney, send me an email with your address and let me know which book you'd like to receive, TO LOVE A THIEF or BEAUTY AND THE SPY! If I dont' hear from you this weekend, I'll send you a note to let you know you won.

And thanks so much, everyone, for stopping by and saying such lovely things about the excerpt! I really do hope you guys enjoy the book. I've been hearing very flattering things about it from various ARC readers, which always makes my cheeks go warm. :) And I'm getting nervous and excited and distracted, all the usual symptoms of impending book birth. LOL. October will be here any second. :)

I'll have more sneaky contests in the near future, because it's just so darn much fun to give stuff away—I love getting happy emails from the winners. LOL. Check my home page or peek back here every so often. I might even give away my own ARC of WAYS TO BE WICKED...hmmm...

Meanwhile, have a grand weekend, everyone! I've been such a good little workaholic that I might go to the movies. I'm torn between "Little Miss Sunshine," "Monster House" (because I'm just a sucker for animation), and this documentary about Leonard Cohen, whom I love passionately. But I kind of feel like laughing this weekend. Anyone have any recent recommendations?

Hope you guys laugh a lot this weekend, too. :)

[Teresa Henson]

Congrats to Courtney!

[Ranurgis]

Oh, I love Leonard Cohen too. He's Canadian, I'm Canadian. Guess where and by whom I got introduced to him. By an American from the Pittsburgh area who married a German theologian-archivist and who taught English at a Lutheran boarding school in Germany.

I had no idea there was a film out about him. Did you ever read any of his books? "The Favorite Game" 1963, "Beautiful Losers" 1966, "Selected Poems 1956-1968" and "Book of Mercy" 1984. Is it just titled "Leonard Cohen"? I know when I was in university he was considered somewhat naughty. That would have been after his first book came out. It seems to me that there has been something of a revival of his music lately. I can't tell too well since I'm listening to neither radio nor TV these days.

[Julie Anne Long]

Ranurgis, the documentary about Leonard Cohen is called "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man." Here's a link, but I'm not sure it'll get you directly to the review -- click on the name of the movie in the left column, if not.
http://www.sfgate.com/eguide/movies/playing/

Leonard Cohen is just amazing. His poetry and songs are so penetratingly gorgeous and cutting they...stun me motionless. Really. Love the man. And his birthday is the day after mine. :) LOL.

Canada gave us Joni Mitchell, too, didn't they??

[Courtney Crowely]

Thanks. I'm so excited. I'll email with further information but I just wanted to thank you and your sister.

[Kathy K]

I've been hooked since the beginning ~ "The Runaway Duke" ~ and can NEVER wait until the next book is released. Man, October won't be here soon enough. "Ways to be Wicked" sounds to be another Outstanding read; I'm going to have to fill the time re-reading BATS - almost good enough! And then I'll have to wait for Sabrina's story... I must keep reminding myself: Patience is a virtue!

Keep up the Awesome writing!

Kathy

[Kathy K]

Oh and Yes... Joni Mitchell is a Canadian artist... and a fellow Albertan! She was actually born in the same town my father moved to (at the age of 6 in '42) and grew up in ~ Fort Macleod, AB ~ so one more connection - Yay! Ahem...

[Phyllis N. Crabtree]

I love your stories and can't wait to read this one. It looks to be great just like your others.