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    A Scorpion's Heart: Four Twisted Tales of Love and Lust
    A Scorpion's Heart: Four Twisted Tales of Love and Lust
    A Scorpion's Heart: Four Twisted Tales of Love and Lust
    Ebook64 pages53 minutes

    A Scorpion's Heart: Four Twisted Tales of Love and Lust

    By Tammy Salyer

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Be warned. Inside these pages the darker, seamier side of human relationships is laid bare and raw…

     

    Prepare to discover—

     

    What lengths a struggling writer is willing to go to experience the thrill of success, and who he will sacrifice.

     

    That the heart can be a deadly plaything, even to a squeamish, cutthroat pirate.

     

    Whether the indulgences of lust are strong enough to overcome a woman's horror at her lover's gruesome and grisly secret.

     

    And that even a cold and calculating predator cannot help but fall prey to her own emotions.

     

    These twisted and chilling tales of romance will leave you lying rigid next to your soul-mate at night, wondering what their heart conceals.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTammy Salyer
    Release dateAug 20, 2020
    ISBN9780985319205
    A Scorpion's Heart: Four Twisted Tales of Love and Lust

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      Book preview

      A Scorpion's Heart - Tammy Salyer

      A Scorpion’s Heart

      A Scorpion’s Heart

      Four Twisted Tales of Love and Lust

      Tammy Salyer

      False face must hide what the false heart doth know. ~ William Shakespeare, MacBeth

      Contents

      Introduction

      The Price of Success

      Brigand’s Lament

      Indulgence

      A Scorpion’s Kiss

      Afterword

      Also by Tammy Salyer

      About the Author

      Introduction

      Hello, Dear Readers, and thank you for being here!

      Be warned. Inside these pages the darker, seamier side of human relationships is laid bare and raw. Prepare to discover: what lengths a struggling writer is willing to go to experience the thrill of success, and who he will sacrifice; that the heart can be a deadly plaything, even to a squeamish, cutthroat pirate; whether the indulgences of lust are strong enough to overcome a woman’s horror at her lover’s gruesome and grisly secret; and that even a cold and calculating predator cannot help but fall prey to her own emotions. These twisted and chilling tales of romance will leave you lying rigid next to your soul-mate at night, wondering what their heart conceals.

      Not enough books on your to-read list yet? Get a handful of novellas and short stories FOR FREE. Sign up for my Reader Group newsletter and get A KNIGHT’S CALLING, prequel to the Shackled Verities series, and CONVICTION, prequel to the Spectras Arise series. More details at the end of this book.

      On Hearts and Scorpions

      Four Twisted Tales of Love and Lust

      Copyright © 2012 by Tammy Salyer.

      All rights reserved.

      ebook ISBN: 978-0-9853192-0-5

      The Price of Success

      Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn’t.

      Mark Twain

      Jenn scrubs furiously at the grout, aggravated by how much grime has deposited itself into the cracks since last time she did this. It frustrates her endlessly, how fast it builds. But what’s worse is the fact that she’s the only one who ever seems to notice when the house starts to get dirty, when mold grows like a second skin on the tiles, or when the windows are too smudged and dust-riddled to see through anymore. Reflecting on this infuriating reality fuels the violent swipes she now makes with the tile brush. All Tom does is work, then disappear to his man cave every night to waste more time on his failed novel.

      Gritting her teeth as she sprays the shower with another gout of bleach, she almost revels in the acrid stench assaulting her nostrils. She’ll probably have a headache tonight from all the fumes. Isn’t that just great? She does all the work and suffers from chemical sensitivities.

      The front door opens, and she hears his footsteps on the kitchen linoleum—freshly mopped, he better not have any mud on his shoes—and then the latch as he closes the coat closet.

      Hello!

      She doesn’t say anything and continues scrubbing.

      Jenn? You home?

      Upstairs.

      He doesn’t respond, probably assuming she’ll drop everything and rush down to greet him and ask him how his day was. Well, she won’t. She’s busy. As she begins rinsing the shower walls, unfamiliar sounds come from the kitchen. Pots banging, cupboards opening, the sink running.

      Finally done with the bathroom, she bundles the cleaning fluids into a plastic bucket and puts them away beneath the sink. She washes her hands and rubs scented lotion over them, hoping to get the smell of bleach out of her skin. But she never really can, not for hours; the scent just nests in the creases of her knuckles like a bad memory, usually making it hard for her to sleep. She catches her face in the mirror, the dark bags under her eyes, her paler-than-usual skin. Is she coming down with something? That would be just fantastic. Only a month left before their vacation to Tuscany, and she’s getting sick.

      She walks to the stairwell and jolts to a stop at the unexpectedly delicious odors rising from downstairs. Lasagna? Fettuccini? Something Italian and irresistible. What’s he up to?

      She steps into the kitchen and Tom turns around, smiling broadly at her, a smile he hasn’t worn since before his latest manuscript rejection.

      Hi, honey. I got you a present. He nods toward a ridiculously oversized flower bouquet sitting on the breakfast table. Red roses, white gardenias, and lavender. And I brought home Bel Ami, the best in town.

      She stands

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