Welcome to Sara Walter Ellwood’s Sneak Peek Sunday! Today we’re taking another peek at A Touch of Camelot, a lighthearted historical western with a Camelot twist.
Gwin and her ten-year-old brother Arthur are the only survivors of the murder of their troupe after playing a tent revival in San Francisco. They’ve fled California in fear for their lives but have since been apprehended by the authorities.
Cole Shepherd is a brand new Pinkerton detective. His first assignment? Escort the beautiful con artist and her precocious little brother across country by train to testify. His only directive? Don’t “misplace” his wily charges along the way…
Day two aboard the Union Pacific Express 840 en route to California has come to an end. Thus far, Cole has thwarted three creative escape attempts, one of which involved awakening in the middle of the night shackled to his berth with his own handcuffs.
He’s not amused.
Tonight there will be a change in sleeping arrangements. Cole has just ordered Arthur to take the top berth and Gwin to take the bottom, where Cole will be joining her in exactly two minutes.
*
Gwin searched Cole’s face for any sign that he might be bluffing. There was none. “But what about my reputation?” she asked.
“Which one? Horse thief? Or cardsharp? ”
“That’s not funny. You know what I’m talking about.”
“Well, if you weren’t such an all-fired pain in the—” He caught himself, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened his eyes again. He began in a calmer tone. “You proved to me last night that you cannot be trusted sleeping alone. Fine. Tonight we sleep together. Now, thanks to you, I’m about dead on my feet, so shut up and get your pretty little bottom in there before I put it in there for you.” He pulled out his pocket watch. “Your two minutes starts now.”
“I can’t believe you’re doing this! What are people going to think?”
“If anybody asks, we’ll tell them we’re married. We sure as hell act like it. One minute, forty-eight seconds.”
*
The sacrifices this guy won’t make for his job, hmm? 😉
For more fun sneak peeks, hop on over to SNEAK PEEK SUNDAY HERE!
Ack, still loving the peeks at this story. The banter is just too much fun. This one’s going to the top of the to-read pile for indulging as soon as I finish the editing I’m supposed to be doing.
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Thanks, MQ! I’m so glad you stopped back to take a peek. I hope your editing goes well. Me? I’m supposed to be writing this afternoon, but I’ve taken a couple breaks to check out some great sneak peeks, including yours. Fun!
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I’ve been taking sneak-peek breaks myself. Shhh! Don’t tell my editor! 😉
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Oh it’s getting bettere every week, Delynn! Love the excerpt.
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Thanks, Nancy! This story was a particularly fun one to write as these two kept trying to get the best of each other.
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Love the banter especially that last line of dialogue….LOL
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Thanks, Sara. Ha! Yes, probably every person on the planet who’s ever been married or lived with a partner for any length of time would get that. For these two, it’s taken just a few days to get to that point. They’re clearly made for each other. 😉
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I’m loving these snippets!! So much so, I had to grab this one for my Kindle.
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Wow, thank you so much, Karen! I hope you enjoy the story!
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Very nice! Love the cover too, btw 🙂
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Thanks, Nikki! And I’m thrilled with the cover, too. It conveys the tone of this story. perfectly. Credit for that goes to Hot Damn Designs.
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I really love these two. You are so good at humor. Can you throw some of that talent my way?
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Thanks so much, Karen! But I think you already got that humor thing. Your snippet made me smile today. 🙂
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You can feel his frustration. This is a man on a short tether 🙂
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Hi Shelley! Oh, my, yes, yes… I think depriving a man of his sleep will do that. 😉
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This was such a fun book. So many great parts! I really did love the section when they were traveling on the train.
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Hi Ava! Those train scenes were a lot of fun to write, too. Especially the handcuff-in-the-middle-of-the-night scene … 😉
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