Carolina Montague

My snake-handler/faith-healer meets erotic bluegrass fiddler is released by Champagne Books. The logline, blurb, and an excerpt are below.

Log line:

His Gift can be deadly; her secret can ruin her, and when the two fall in love they risk Armageddon.

Blurb:

Laney Parker has a secret. She is completely devoted to her church, but to support herself and her disabled child, she plays the fiddle in an erotic bluegrass band. The women wear overalls and are completely naked underneath. The lead singer wears a codpiece, an item that grows in size as he sings. No way can she let anyone know what she has to do for a living!!

Jesse Murdoch has a secret too. Born with a Healing Gift, Jesse serves
in his father’s church. However, Jesse’s gift has a price; its use
requires him to experience extreme sensual experiences. When this cost becomes deadly,
he flees his parents and becomes Pastor of Laney’s church. No way can he let anyone know what he must do to appease his Gift!!

Worlds collide when Jesse meets Laney. He must hide his Gift’s price
and she must hide the fact that she plays the fiddle onstage with
barely a stitch of clothing. When a Hollywood agent discovers the
up-and-coming Tennessee Tussle band, and Jesse’s Gift makes greater
demands for its use, the jig is up.

Excerpt:

“Alida, get out of there!” Laney stretched to see
around the bushes. “Someone’s coming.” She smoothed her
hair and skirt.

Alida slid out of the door and was under the police
tape before Laney could finish her second sentence.

“Why, Pastor Jesse.” Alida put her arm around Laney’s
back and pinched her. “Laney was just showing me the
damage the old ghostie made.”

“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Jesse glanced over
Alida’s shoulder but turned to Laney. “Ms. Parker.”

“Laney,” Alida corrected him. “I know those rules.
You’ve had your date, so you’re on first name terms now.”
She leaned way over the police tape and stared into the
shadowed office. “Did that brother of hers behave himself?”

“He didn’t eat anything but a handful of raspberries.”

“Well of course he wouldn’t eat! He’s still Johnny Reb
until after Gettysburg.” Alida’s mouth set in a straight line.
“Then he’ll be going back to his woman, and… Yow!” Alida
jumped back. “Lane!” Her face had turned green-gray and
her fingers dug into Laney’s arm.

“It’s okay, Lida. The ghost never comes out here.”
Laney tapped Alida’s death grip on her arm where her skin
was purpling underneath Alida’s nails. “Come on now. That
hurts!”

“But Lane, I can see him!” Alida let go but jumped
behind Laney. “And he’s lookin’ at me!”

Jesse reached for Laney’s arm and trailed his fingers
over her bruised and dented skin, leaving a path of teal light
and a liquid melting inside her middle that was so sweet it
fair curled her toes. Laney startled and glanced at Alida, but
her friend was looking away from her, still staring at the
church office doorway.

“Can’t you see him there?” Alida’s voice had a ragged
huskiness to it. “Tell me I’m not just seein’ things.”

Jesse squinted at the doorway and pointed to the top
left corner. “Right there. Either he’s floating, or he’s over
seven feet tall.” He pulled the police tape up over his head
and motioned the two women to step inside the perimeter.

“B-but the police…”

“It’s my church.” Jesse took Laney’s arm, but no glow
formed where he touched. “What?”

“It’s not happening because Alida’s watching,” Laney
whispered as she stepped underneath the tape. She turned
to face Alida. “Come on now, Alida. Remember Ghost Patrol?
No ghostie’s a gonna get me,” she lilted.

“That was a movie, Laney.” Alida stepped from foot to
foot, but finally ducked under the tape. “What’s the ghost’s
name?”

“If the accounts are accurate, we’re dealing with a
single entity, the late Pastor Blackstone.”

“He won’t bust me up like he did the room, will he?”
Alida hung back while Laney and Jesse moved forward. “Hey,
I’ll just keep a lookout here,” she hollered.

“Oooo. Cold spot right here in the doorway.” Laney
chafed her hands together and blew on them. “It’s so cold I
can see my breath.”

“You’d better stay back, Laney.”

“Why?”

“The ghost is looking at you in a way I don’t like.”

“And just what way is that?”

“Have you had an experience with this entity before?”

“He stole my slip once.”

“What!” Jesse swiveled in place until he was standing
in front of her. “Your slip?”

“We’d all changed into Christmas costumes. I was
Mary Magdalene that year, and my slip showed under the
costume.” She shrugged. “When I came back it was gone.”

“Was it ever found?”

“Nope.”

Jesse stared at her. “Anybody else could have taken it.
Maybe a boy who liked you took it, or someone did it on a
dare.”

She reached up to smooth her hair, avoiding his eyes.
“No sir. The room was locked during the ceremony and Mrs.
Downing had the key. Later on, I felt this cold spot in the
corner where he’s standing.” She glanced at the apparition.
“It was the ghost.” The good Pastor Blackstone looked sad.
“Jesse, he doesn’t seem mean or anything. Maybe he just
wants to be noticed.”

“I’ve dealt with this kind of thing before and I still
don’t like the way he’s looking at you.” Jesse’s eyes
narrowed. “He destroyed the property of this church and
either directly or indirectly caused the deaths of several men.
I intend to do something about that.”

Jesse looked down and took a breath, one huge
inhalation. Laney thought he’d never stop, but once he did,
he blew the air out fast. When he finished exhaling, he
looked up. His midnight blue eyes had gone flat and an
electric current ran all around his form tinting the edges of
his arms and hands with clear blue light. “Pastor Blackstone.”
His voice was quiet, but commanding, and it had a ringing to
it that reminded Laney of when she’d used a wooden stick to
strike the brass bowl Alida had gotten when she’d gone
through a Buddhist phase back in high school.

Laney looked back at Alida. Her friend made the
cuckoo sign around her ear, but Laney shook her head.

Jesse pivoted back to face the destruction of his office.
“Come out where I can see you better.”

The ruined desk rattled and the door bowed inward.
Alida squeaked and grabbed at the police tape.

“I said show yourself.” Jesse took another deep breath
and exhaled again. “Now!”

A Bible Jesse had used for sermons before the ghost
had destroyed the office floated into the doorway. Pages in it
turned until it came to a stop and stayed there, floating in
the air.

Laney looked back. Alida was right behind her now,
breathing on her shoulder in quiet little moans. “Quiet, Lida.
You wanted to see this.”

“I didn’t know it was like, for real.”

“Shhhh.”

Jesse stepped forward into the room. “Do you know
Who I represent?”

The Bible stilled, but tipped so the page could be seen.
Jesse didn’t pause. He reached for the Bible and plucked it
out of the air. “It appears to be smudged over a passage.”
His thumb worked at the dirt that covered the page. “It’s
Acts 2:17a. ‘I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.’”

Laney jumped, her elbow jabbing behind her, hitting
Alida.

“Ow!”

“Lida, I’m sorry.”

“S’okay.” Alida looked up at Jesse. “What does it
mean?”

Laney tried to look at Jesse, but couldn’t meet his flat,
all-seeing eyes. Anyway, he just looked at the Bible, a line
forming between his brows. Laney tugged Alida back toward
the police tape and whispered, “It’s from the Book of Acts. I
think it was Peter’s words. At the time of the Pentecost.”

“The whatacost?” Alida poked her. “Remember I’m
some kind of dumb about the Bible and just tell me what it
means.”

Jesse looked up and closed the Bible, but recited,
“‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will
pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh…’”

Laney shivered and completed the verse, “‘and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young
men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream
dreams.” So there was the context of her Scripture Box
verse. She shivered but looked right into Jesse’s eyes now.
He stared at her but she thought he wasn’t seeing her.

Alida shoved Laney aside and passed her hand right in
front of Jesse’s face and he didn’t blink; he just kept staring.
“Oh, man, this is too end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it, Laney.
Will he be okay? Can’t we just, you know, leave him here?”

“You stay right where you are, Alida Johnson.” Laney
grabbed her friend’s arm. “Is it possible that this ghost came
to my house, Jesse?” Laney trembled and made sure Alida
was watching when she touched Jesse’s arm.

He stirred. “Don’t worry. It’s not end of days, Ms.
Johnson.” When he looked Alida full in the face, Laney felt
her friend’s arm slacken. “Not yet.” He caught Laney’s gaze.
She couldn’t look away.

“The ghost can’t leave the place where the old church
stood.” His words were reassuring, but his eyes weren’t. She
could see a roiling in their depths, a black cloud so deep that
it should have seemed cold.

But it wasn’t. Heat reached out from his eyes and
seared Laney.

“Oh, Lord.” She had to use her fingers to force her
eyelids down, evading his blazing eyes. “Send him to his
rest, Pastor Murdoch. He just needs to go home. Please?” A
swift touch on her arm and a rustling noise told her Jesse
had turned.

She kept her hands over her eyes but peeked out from
under them. Jesse was looking away from her, at the
transparent figure of a man dressed in garments from well
before the Civil War: a long coat, brocade waistcoat and tight
pants of fine cloth. This was no poor country parson. Laney
took her hands away from her eyes and moved toward Jesse.
“Give him some peace, Pastor.” She touched his arm again.

Jesse looked back into her face. She caught the edge
of the seeking heat of his eyes, but he only said, “For you I
will do this,” and turned to the ghost.