Promise Me Tonight Excerpt Featuring Mho Fho

Did you know before Sara Lindsey created James Sheffield, the hero in Promise Me Tonight, she actually decided to use Mho Fho as the one Isabella longs for?

Don't believe me? Well, Sara has given me an exclusive excerpt as proof! I give you:

An excerpt from Promise Me Tonight, revised by The Author to please a Certain Sheep

Sir Mho assisted Isabella into his carriage and then clambered in after her. So as not to damage the velvet upholstery with his sharp hooves, he bent his legs and launched himself sideways at the seat, managing to land with his woolly head in his disgruntled lover’s lap.

She looked pointedly down at him, and then pointed at the vacant bench opposite, totally dismissing the Herculean effort it had taken for him to get up there.

Mho shook his head. The action caused Isabella to shriek in outrage, but Mho was certain he’d caught a flash of pleasure in her eyes.

“Get off me, you overgrown carpet,” she growled.

Mho looked up with eyes he hoped were at once pitiful and charming. (He had never mastered the quirky half-smile his fellow heroes seemed to come by so easily, but that might be for the best. The ladies tended to have rather unhappy reactions to his teeth.)

“I dislike riding baaaaaa-ckward,” he claimed. Damn that bleat. Even after all the years he’d worked to control his speech, extreme emotions like lust and, well, lust never failed to have him baa-ing like a kid.

“Then it is fortunate I have no such problem,” Izzie responded, scooting out from under his head and moving to the empty seat.

Mho sighed. “We would be warmer sitting together.”

She grumbled something that sounded like, “We would be warmer if we had sheared you and made a nice afghan.”

“I beg your pardon!” Mho exclaimed. Surely she couldn’t have suggested shearing! His masculine self would feel quite naked and, er, sheepish.

“I said that I am perfectly comfortable, thank you.”

And with that, she buried her face in one of the novels he’d bought her for the journey. Perhaps they hadn’t been such a wise purchase after all. Mho wanted Isabella focused on him, not on some ruined castle wherein ruinations took place. Well, the ruination bit was all right. He considered picking up a book himself, but a) he didn’t particularly want to read, and b) he couldn’t actually pick up a book. Well, damn.

After five long, torturous minutes of silence, Mho could stand it no longer. “What book are you reading?”

Without looking up, Isabella replied, “The third installment of The Orphan of the Rhine.”

“Oh.”

He let another small eternity pass.

“What’s it about?”

Her face tightened with annoyance. “The plot is quite complicated. I’m certain the first and second installments are around if you wish to read them.”

Perhaps she could prop the book open in front of him, Mho thought. “Is there ruination? I won’t bother unless you assure me the novel contains some truly good ruination.”

“Is there such a thing as ‘good ruination’?”

“If memory serves, you enjoyed yours thoroughly. As did I.”

She glared at him with such vehemence that he resolved to remain quiet. His resolve, he found, only lasted about ten minutes.

“Are you still reading The Orange in the Rind?”

“Something like that.”

“And has our poor, dear orange been ruined lately?”

Isabella slammed the book closed. “Yes. It was painfully eviscerated and ingested by the orphan of the Rhine.”

“Quite right, quite right,” Mho agreed, though he hadn’t the foggiest notion what she was talking about.

“Have you given any further thought to your own ruination, my dear?”

“I don’t wish to speak on it.”

“What would you like to talk about?”

“I don’t want to talk. I want to read!”

Lord, but it was fun twitting her. Besides, an exasperated response was better than no response at all.

“Why don’t you read aloud to me?” he suggested. “Then you can talk and read.”

Oh, if looks could kill . . .

“I am actually rather sleepy.” Isabella made a great show of stretching and yawning. “I believe I shall take a nap. You should do the same.” She let down the shades, nestled against the plush squabs, and closed her eyes.

“Don’t be such a spoilsport,” Mho chided.

She pretended not to hear him.

“Isabella, there is no way you could have possibly fallen asleep so soon.”

She attempted a snoring sound, but the noise she produced sounded more like a wild boar snuffling for truffles. His belly rumbled. Come to think of it, he wouldn’t mind a little roadside foraging himself. No, he berated himself. He couldn’t let himself get distracted by food. There was a woman to be won over!

“My, you must be having some interesting dreams!” Mho mused aloud.

Isabella’s jaw was clenched so tightly that he had to fight to keep from laughing. Isabella had many talents, but acting was certainly not among them.

“Come, Isabella, enough of this farce. We both know you’re not sleeping.”

She squeezed her eyes closed more tightly in response, and Mho had to wonder whether she had ever actually observed a sleeping person before.

“Perhaps I was wrong, my dear, and you truly are asleep,” he murmured.

Her body relaxed against the squabs. Did she really think he was going to give in that easily?

“But,” he continued, “as the sound of my voice doesn’t seem to baaaaa-ther you, there doesn’t seem to be any reason why I shouldn’t continue amusing myself.”

She tensed right back up, stiff as a board again.

“I guess it would be selfish to entertain only myself, though,” he went on. “Perhaps you can hear me in your dreams. In that case, I should try to make your dreams as pleasurable as possible. It is my duty as your ovine lover. Ah, I know just the thing! I will recount one of my dreams—one of my very pleasurable dreams—to you. Now, how does it begin? Oh, yes, it starts out with the two of us alone in a carriage—a carriage much like this one, in fact—but rather than sitting opposite each other as we are now, you are next to me, no—not next to me—you are in my arms.”

From the utter stillness of Isabella’s body, Mho could tell she was listening intently. He swallowed hard, damning his valet for tying his cravat so tightly. Now, he wondered, how far would she let him take this little fantasy?

My dear Babblers,

I hope you enjoyed this somewhat revised scene from my debut historical romance, Promise Me Tonight. I am a longtime Mho fangirl, so it was great fun to write him into the book. As you may have guessed, the person in the carriage with Isabella in Promise Me Tonight is not actually Mho, but rather the hero of the book, James Sheffield. As to how far Isabella lets him go, you’ll just have to read for yourself. *g* (And for those of you who have read Courtney Milan’s brilliant debut, Proof by Seduction, the mention of the eviscerated orange in this scene is a deliberate reference to the wonderfully inventive fortune telling methods employed by her heroine.)

Happy Reading!
Sara Lindsey

Mho and Sara's first date

Don't forget about Olivia's story (Isabella's sister) Tempting the Marquess coming June 1st from Signet Eclipse.

Synopsis: While Olivia Weston loves matchmaking and romantic novels, she intends to make a suitable match. But first she wants an adventure, and when given the opportunity to visit a reclusive widower living in a haunted castle, Livvy can’t possibly resist.

After his wife’s death, Jason Traherne, Marquess of Sheldon, shut his heart to everyone but his son, and until now he has succeeded in maintaining his distance. But there’s something about Livy an her unique blend of sweetness and sensuality that tempts him beyond all reason.

Though there’s nothing suitable about the feelings he inspires in her, Livvy can’t help falling for the marquess. But can she persuade him to let go of the past and risk his heart again?