Memorial Day. It began as a time for remembrance, for appreciation for service given in the line of duty, and to honor our dead heroes. And it remains a time for all of that and more. Most of us not only decorate and honor the soldiers, sailors, and other servicemen who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country along with those who served in both war and peace. We remember our loved ones, family members and friends. We put out flags and flowers. Many folks will gather for family reunions and share the old stories, made into near legends with the telling. The poignant strains of Taps will waft over many cemeteries as ceremonies get underway in small graveyards and national cemeteries from Arlington across the country.
For many, since the observance became a three day holiday weekend, it's also an unofficial kickoff for summer. People go on trips, head for the beach or their favorite lake, up into the mountains or out into the prairies. They go to baseball games, amusement parks, barbecues, concerts, and other attractions. They dust the cobwebs off the boat after a long winter or take the motorcycle out for a spin. There's nothing wrong with some fun in the sun or some down time as long as we do take a moment or more to remember the true meaning of the observance.
Between visiting several cemeteries, I hope to find a little bit of down time to read. If you, like me, have some reading in the plan, I hope you'll consider my two historical romances from Rebel Ink Press. They're selling May 23-26 at the sharp discount of just 99 cents each, down from the usual $5.99 each at Amazon.com. I chose these two titles because both heroes, Guy Richter and Pvt. Benjamin Levy are military men. Guy's a former World War flying ace dealing with some major PTSD issues postwar and Benny Levy is a World War II soldier far from home. In The Shadow of War is set in the small town where I now live, Neosho, MO, home to Camp Crowder, better known to most people as Camp Swampy from Mort Walker's well-known comic strip, Beetle Bailey. Guy's Angel takes place in 1925 in my hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri.
Here's the details, blurb, cover, etc. for both and the discount links but hurry - the sale lasts through Sunday:
For many, since the observance became a three day holiday weekend, it's also an unofficial kickoff for summer. People go on trips, head for the beach or their favorite lake, up into the mountains or out into the prairies. They go to baseball games, amusement parks, barbecues, concerts, and other attractions. They dust the cobwebs off the boat after a long winter or take the motorcycle out for a spin. There's nothing wrong with some fun in the sun or some down time as long as we do take a moment or more to remember the true meaning of the observance.
Between visiting several cemeteries, I hope to find a little bit of down time to read. If you, like me, have some reading in the plan, I hope you'll consider my two historical romances from Rebel Ink Press. They're selling May 23-26 at the sharp discount of just 99 cents each, down from the usual $5.99 each at Amazon.com. I chose these two titles because both heroes, Guy Richter and Pvt. Benjamin Levy are military men. Guy's a former World War flying ace dealing with some major PTSD issues postwar and Benny Levy is a World War II soldier far from home. In The Shadow of War is set in the small town where I now live, Neosho, MO, home to Camp Crowder, better known to most people as Camp Swampy from Mort Walker's well-known comic strip, Beetle Bailey. Guy's Angel takes place in 1925 in my hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri.
Here's the details, blurb, cover, etc. for both and the discount links but hurry - the sale lasts through Sunday:
Her great-granddaughter wants to know if Bette remembers World War II for a school project and her questions revive old memories….
Small town school teacher Bette Sullivan's life was interrupted when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941 but her world changed forever when she met Private Benny Levy, a soldier from the Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York stationed at Camp Crowder, the local Army base.
Their attraction is immediate and mutual but as their relationship grows their love and lives are shadowed by World War II. As the future looms uncertain the couple comes together with almost desperate need and a powerful love they hope can weather anything, including the war.
Excerpt:
“I missed you, doll,” he said afterward. “God, I missed you.”
Warmth blossomed within her chest and she smiled at him. “I missed you too, Benny. Saturday seemed so long and I didn’t know if you could come this morning. I worried you might not make it.”
“Me, too,” he said. “I almost missed the bus anyhow because the company sergeant griped us out because the barracks weren’t neat enough to suit him. Yesterday turned out lousy, all day.”
“Why?” she asked. “What happened?”
“What didn’t?” he said. “Jeez, they made us go on a long hike through the back country, for hours in the heat. I picked up every tick and chigger in the world, I think, got mosquito bit, and worn out. Two of the guys fell out with heat exhaustion and ended up at the post hospital. My feet and ankles itched me like crazy. Even the darn Army boots didn’t help me from getting eaten by the insects. I swear the buggers crawled into my boots.”
“Aw, honey, I’m sorry,” Bette said, using the endearment for the first time. “Do the bites still itch?”
“Not so bad,” he said. “Back in barracks, some of the guys said to soak my feet in bleach water so we begged some from the laundry. It helped. Then after dinner they called me over to the motor pool to fix a jeep and I got to bed late just before final lights out. I’m beat and that’s a fact.”
Bette paused and faced him. “Would you rather go rest or something?”
“Naw, sugar, I’m fine. I need some Joe and I’m hungry, too. I just got a couple of hours so let’s go eat and spend a little time together, okay?”
“It’s fine with me,” she said.
They ate at a different café and she introduced him to biscuits and gravy, something he vowed he’d never eaten before but said he liked. Afterward, with time passing too fast, he suggested they walk down to Big Spring Park again but she had another idea.
“You look so tired,” Bette said. He did with dark smudges beneath both eyes. “If you want we can go sit in the porch swing at Aunt Virgie’s or in the front room.”
Benny shook his head. “I’ll catch a nap later this afternoon, if I’m lucky. I’d like a few more kisses and I doubt your parents would like us spooning out on the porch.”
“I forgot they’re there,” she replied. “So, okay, let’s go to the park.”
Another couple beat them to the grotto, so they wandered around the park until they found a vacant bench in the shade. A few kids played on the teeter-totter and swings, their happy babble setting a bright mood. Benny put his arm around her and Bette snuggled against him with a contented sigh. For a few minutes they sat, comfortable with the pose and content with each other. She’d already come to associate his scent with security and she inhaled it, saving it up for when she’d be alone. As they rested in easy silence she savored the harmony and as they lingered Bette noticed their breath came in tandem, in and out with the same rhythm as if they were one, not two.
Just as she opened her mouth to remark on it Benny took her face and turned it toward him. With slow deliberation he kissed her, unhurried with such sweetness she forgot to breathe for a few seconds. His lips caressed her mouth with a fine light touch, as soft as hair blown across her face with a gentle breeze. Such tenderness evoked the same within and yet triggered desire, too. Benny cherished her mouth with his, his lips sending shivers through her body despite the hot day, little spirals of chill strong enough to make goose pimples erupt on her flesh.
Bette responded with her mouth, a hankering for something deeper and more intimate rising in her with the force of a rising wind. She sensed how great it would be to lose her consciousness by drowning in her senses, by molding her body into his. Bette, virgin as the mother of God, ached now for the pleasures of the flesh. Every old wives tale ever heard about sex being dirty or painful or nasty evaporated faster than snow in March and for the first time in her life, she decided sex could be wonderful.
His kisses stirred Bette’s body even as they induced emotion, too sweet to be sinful. Her body responded to his mouth the way a good corn crop ripened beneath the sun’s warmth. As her limbs relaxed she leaned into him, one hand holding tight to his arm so she wouldn’t lose balance to tumble from the park bench onto the grass. The kiss lasted forever, but not quite long enough when Benny paused so they could both breathe again.
“Oh,” she said with wonder. “Benny, that’s nice.”
“Nice, she says,” he responded with mock outrage. “Just nice? I call it splendid, fantastic, superb, supreme…”
Specially priced through Sunday at just 99 cents – on Amazon.com!
When a young woman really believes the sky is the limit, amazing things can happen….
Lorraine Ryan wants to fly airplanes so she heads for the local airstrip in 1925 to make her dream come true. Most of the flyboys think she’s cute but a woman’s place is in the home, not the cockpit. When Guy Richter steps up and offers to teach her to fly, she’s captivated with both Guy and flight. He nicknames her “Angel” and takes her up into that wild blue yonder. Before long, they’re deep in love.
Love, however, isn’t always enough……
Guy, a former World War I flying ace, is haunted by his past. His demons include his war service, the death of his only brother in an accident the previous year, and the Valkyries that he evaded in France who trail him in the hopes that they can complete his destiny. But his dreams lie with Angel and as they grow closer and closer, he soon realizes that if anyone can save him, it’s his Angel.
Excerpt:
Angel longed for Guy. He’d make her feel better, she thought, just by being there. If she could just inhale his masculine scent, feel the solid comfort of his arms around her then maybe she could sleep. She crushed out her smoke and with an unexpected impulse crept into the bedroom and retrieved a dress. In the darkness, she stripped out of her gown and dressed, slipping on shoes without stockings. She didn’t stop to pick up her purse and paused long enough only to tuck her pillow beneath the sheet so it might pass for her sleeping form if Mama woke.
Like a fugitive she crept down Poulin, crossing each block with furtive speed all the way down to North Second. She turned the corner and moved toward Mamie Stafford’s house where Guy, along with other young men, rented the spare rooms. Angel moved with haste but kept to the darkest of the shadows although she saw no one but a stray cat. When it emerged out of the night, she bit down on a scream and moved on. She really didn’t know what she might do when she got there although she knew which window belonged to Guy. Some half-baked idea she might toss a pebble if she could find one, at the glass was in her mind but when she came closer, she noticed the fiery glow of someone’s cigarette on the deep porch. Long before she could see the person’s face she knew it was Guy and she moved toward it, like a river turtle moving back to the water.
Angel said nothing. She came to a halt in front of the house and stood, her light colored dress visible out in the night. Guy drew on his cigarette and she saw his tired face, ravaged in the dimness. He smoked it down as far as he could and moved forward to pitch it. She knew the moment he spotted her because he stiffened, startled, before his face lit up with recognition.
She couldn’t remember moving but one moment she stood on the cracked sidewalk and the next Guy held her in his arms. He didn’t kiss her at first but stood and gazed into her eyes. Guy took one finger and ran it down the curve of her cheek then outlined her lips.
“You came,” he whispered. “I was thinking about you, Angel, wishing you were here and you came.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” she answered. “I got so lonesome and blue, Guy, so I left the house to come here. I needed you.”
“Still scared about what happened today, baby?”
She nodded. “I am but that’s not the only reason why I beat it over here. I just missed you and I wanted to be with you.”
“That’s how I felt, standing out here smoking,” he said, stroking strands of hair back from her face. “I needed you like I need air to breathe and then I looked up to see you standing there, like an answer to prayer.”
Guy kissed her, his mouth soft and sweet against her lips but urgent too, his need fueling his passion. Without discussion they moved onto the porch proper, a wide veranda with some older wicker furniture. They settled onto a wicker bench with a high back and he kissed her with such yearning her insides turned into mush. His hand crept up her bare leg, tickling and yet moving into what most girls would call forbidden territory but Angel didn’t complain. She liked it too much.
When he passed her knee and moved up her thigh, Guy forged ahead and fingered her bare muff. When she dressed, Angel hadn’t bothered to put on any undergarments and so he touched flesh. Against her other leg, she could feel his male hardness and when he shifted her so half sprawled on the settee, Angel adjusted her bottom to allow him to enter with ease.
With quiet purpose, Guy settled onto her and slid into her inner sanctum. The sensation sent ripples of pleasure through her and to keep from making any outcry, Angel put her fist into her mouth. He snaked in and out of her body, each time building the pressure to a new level until very soon, their bodies bucked together in a dance dating back to the Garden of Eden.
She adored the look on his face, the intent concentration and the flush of pleasure visible even in the shadowed recesses of the porch. He made no sound but she felt the rush of his orgasm and the slight shudder as he finished. Guy lay against her, spent but satisfied as she basked with the still pulsating culmination of their love.
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