Hot For The Holidays with Em Woods

UPDATE: THE WINNER OF A COPY OF "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" IS LAURA!! CONGRATULATIONS!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS and...

Welcome to the Clandestine Classics Hot for the Holidays celebration!

Total-e-bound, with great wisdom and savvy, has chosen to "open the bedroom door" on several of the established classics with which we are all familiar. These romances have had a lot of spice added to them and we hope you enjoy the new flavor.

 Please be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, along with being entered to win a $50 TEB gift certificate! Wouldn't that be an awesome Christmas gift for yourself?

Have you ever read one of the classics and wondered was happened behind those doors, curtains, trees? Yeah, us too. We've brought you the likes of JANE EYRE, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, NORTHANGER ALLEY, and others with those thrilling bits included. Well, get your favorite holiday drink and kick back to enjoy a taste of our Clandestine Classics.

Of course today I'm going to talk about my own...A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Scrooge has long been a source of enjoyment for me, but I've always been curious about what made Scrooge like he was. A let me tell you, I found out a whole lot once I started digging! That surly bugger was hiding a big ol' secret. His partnership with Marley turned out to be so much more than it appeared, and an old flame came roaring back to life...

Here's the blurb:

Love at first sight is a beautiful thing, but sometimes, true love waits a lifetime to shine…and then needs a little help from the Three Ghosts of Christmas.

 As a young man, Ebenezer Scrooge felt the sharp pain of loss and resolved to protect his heart from all others, taking solace in his gold and silver. Years of discarding his own emotions, and those of anyone around him, has turned Scrooge cold.

When deceased lover and partner Jacob Marley pays miserly Scrooge a late night visit, pride and disbelief buoy Scrooge's courage. As the fabled Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet-to-Come arrive to show Scrooge the error of his ways, they also give him brief glimpses of a love so strong it has stood the test of time.

In an inspiring tale of change, a deep-seated need flares to life, leaving Scrooge without a doubt that love and family are what really matter at Christmas.

And how about a little teaser to get to know Scrooge and Alex better?

“I was just about to take my leave and give some peace to my niece and nephew here.”

“Oh.” Alex frowned. “I have arrived too late.”

“Or just in time, I say.” Fred swept an arm around his lovely, smiling wife, pointing at Scrooge with his other hand. “He shan’t be going to bed any time soon, and I would wager he could use the escort home.”

Scrooge nodded enthusiastically. A toddy would suit them both just fine in this cold, blustery weather. “We could pass the time reasonably enough.”

Alex agreed and the pair were off, walking the dark streets on the path to Scrooge’s house. Small pleasantries came easily, and soon it came to light they knew much of the same townsfolk, yet none enough to share gossip or news of the other, had Scrooge been one for gossip at all. They kept to themselves, not willing to share their melancholy with strangers, nor servants, though Alex still held a pleasant disposition, whereas Scrooge had found himself in need of intervention.

The eve was cold, nipping at their noses as though Jack Frost scurried a’fore them, tossing his icy magick merrily over his shoulder. Scrooge stuffed his hands in his coat sleeves to keep them busy on their walk, lest he reach for Alex’s hand and ruin the grand time they were having.

“Where did you go, Ebenezer?”

The question took Scrooge against his guard. Where had he been, indeed. After he’d travelled home that winter with his beloved sister, he’d gone to work, and he said as much. He espoused greatly on his apprenticeship, some less regarding Dick, mentioned Marley, though the man warranted more than a passing spark in a conversation. “An’ you, good sir? What’s a dapper gentleman such as you had to hold his attentions?”

As piercing a glance as Scrooge had ever witnessed passed his way from his walking companion. Alex returned his gaze to the path before them. “What have I done with myself? I suppose I have kept busy. Built my business, cultivated a friendship or two—your nephew among them. What has held my attentions these many years? Nothing, save the memory of a lost boy who needed me as much as I needed him.”

The road beneath Scrooge’s feet rose, conspiring to tumble him to the ground with Alex’s brazen utterance. A firm grip prevented the worst of it, for Scrooge’s hands were tangled within his sleeves and wouldn’t have stopped the terrible crash that surely would have followed.

“Watch careful, Ebenezer. Shan’t have you damaged before I deliver you to your residence.”

“And after?”

Though Scrooge’s heart nearly stopped altogether at the simple slip, the corner of Alex’s mouth, supple and promising, curled upward. “Yet to be seen, my good man.”

It was the fastest of ten minutes that followed Alex’s declaration, and Scrooge’s cock filled to hurting in the short length of time it took to reach his door. As he reached for the lock, he paused to peek at the knocker, which remained naught but a simple knocker.

“Second thoughts?”

Scrooge started, his key clacking in the lock. “Not one. Just, well, just a story for another time, perchance.”

“I look forward to it.”

Alex nudged him with a thigh and Scrooge opened the door. In the living room there burned a low fire, warming the lower level of his home, welcoming him. A brandy snifter sat glistening to the side on a small mahogany table that the maid  dug out of the storage nook for the holidays.

Warm breath sent a shiver along his spine despite the heated air around them, and Scrooge revelled in the simple touch. It had been too long, dreams of a youthful boy crushed by his own ambition and greed. Another year would not pass without his contribution to his family and neighbours.

“You were so obedient as a child. Has that changed, I wonder?”

So, what do you think? Intriguing?


You can find A CHRISTMAS CAROL here: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P_ID=1940 

And you can find me here: http://authoremwoods.com


Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered to win a copy for yourself, or a gift certificate! And make sure you come back from now until Christmas Eve to see what we have in store for you. :) 

December 18   Em Woods 

December 19   Ranae Rose 

December 20  Lynne Connolly 

December 21  Sierra Cartwright 

December 22   Lily Harlem 

December 23  Wendi Zwadek 

December 24   Desiree Holt