Teaseday – Her Fallen Angel – Her Angel Romance Series

It’s Teaseday and this week it’s brought to you by HER FALLEN ANGEL. We’ve already had the first chapter of Her Fallen Angel as a Teaseday, but now it’s time for a new teaser for this angel romance book in my Her Angel romance series. We’re skipping ahead to chapter three. I can’t post chapter two as it’s a love scene. You’ll have to buy the book if you want to read it…

Read chapter one of Her Fallen Angel at my website

On to the tease…

Her Fallen Angel
Felicity Heaton
Annelie fell for Lukas the moment he walked into her pub three years ago. He’s stunning, his vivid green eyes lending to his otherworldly beauty, but he’s seriously out of her league. When he tells her that she’s beautiful and confesses that he wants her, she can’t resist him and his passionate kiss. She unleashes her desire and seizes the moment and Lukas with both hands. But Lukas has a secret, one that will test Annelie’s love for him and threaten to tear them apart.

He’s an angel.

Annelie can’t believe it when Lukas says that their feelings for each other aren’t a sin, but she can believe his pain when he tells her the reason he’s on Earth. He is fallen, cast out of Heaven as punishment for a crime he didn’t commit. Lukas isn’t about to give up and accept his fate though. He’s determined to prove both his innocence and his love for Annelie, and to show her that the intense passion they share is real.

When Lukas and Apollyon discover who framed him, will he be able to stop them from going after Serenity and Annelie? Will he be able to protect the woman he loves and fly away with her into their forever after?

ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.

ebook price: $2.99
paperback price: $9.99
genre: paranormal angel romance
length: 30000 words
rating: sultry
released: October 2010
Book 2 in the Her Angel series

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Fallen%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Fallen-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011118494/
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Fallen-Angel-Her-Angel/mix-E8HR8KevVkqhEsSrPJICdQ/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27039
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-fallen-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000299382

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1456489836/
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456489836/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/9781456489830/

It was morning.

Lukas could feel the sun outside, calling him with false promises of vaulted blue heavens in which he could fly. He couldn’t do that anymore. They had even taken that from him. His heart cried in anguish at the thought of never flying again but he buried his pain deep. It wasn’t difficult when his head was pounding and sore.

Something touched his back, stroking it lightly and with care. He could feel love in that caress and concern. He tried to gather his scattered thoughts and senses so he could focus on the person behind him. It was impossible. Her fingers felt good against him, soothing his raging head and bringing back memories of last night and being with her. Bliss. Being with her had been nothing short of bliss.

She touched his shoulder blades and his skin shifted and itched.

No.

Lukas focused harder but it was too late. The urge drove through him, brought out by her teasing fingers and tender touch, and he couldn’t contain it. He gritted his teeth, tried with all of his might, but she swept her hands over his shoulder blades again.

“Don’t.” He started to move away from her but wasn’t quick enough.

His wings erupted from his back so fast that it hurt and they knocked her off the bed. She hit the floor with a thud.

No.

Lukas scrambled to his knees, naked on the bed, his white wings unfurled and stretching across the room. He grimaced when they caught the lamp on the bedside table and it toppled off and smashed.

Annelie sat nude on the wooden floor, staring up at him with wide eyes, her face ashen.

He made a low noise of frustration and her gaze leapt from his wings to his eyes. She shook her head, scrambled to her feet and bolted for the bedroom door. Lukas reached it first, his head spinning and thumping, and blocked the way, jamming his hands against the doorframe. She tried to pass him, pushing his chest, and he grabbed her wrists to stop her from hitting him.

“Let me go.” She snatched her hands back and tried to pass him again. He caught her around the waist from behind and pulled her against him as she struggled. His body got the wrong idea when her soft warm backside brushed his groin. Getting an erection was not going to help matters.

He turned with her so she was back in the bedroom.

She scratched his arm, elbowed him in the ribs, and ran forwards when he released her.

“Annelie.” Lukas furled his white wings against his back.

She ignored him, grabbing her clothes and throwing them on. Her black t-shirt was backwards but he didn’t think she would appreciate him mentioning it when she was panicking. She clawed her long red hair back into a rough ponytail, eyed him warily and then dashed forwards, ducking under his arm. He grabbed her again, not wanting to frighten her or hurt her, but unwilling to let her go. He couldn’t let her walk out of the door. If she did that now, he would never see her again.

“I can explain.” Lukas wasn’t quite sure what he intended to tell her but it sounded like the right thing to say in a situation that was rapidly going downhill.

“Explain what… that I’m going crazy or that I just slept with an angel?” Annelie gave up trying to get past him and backed away, her legs hitting the end of his bed. She plonked down onto it and stared at him. Her feelings were all over the place. Angels had acute senses but he couldn’t tell whether she was angry or petrified. She leaned forwards, rested her elbows on her knees, and buried her face in her hands. “I’m going to Hell.”

“No, you won’t… Annelie… look at me.”

“I’d rather not.” She pulled the blue duvet over her head until he couldn’t see her.

Lukas sighed and rubbed his face, desperately trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t inflame things and would go some way towards repairing the damage the sudden appearance of his wings had done.

“I’m sorry.” It was the only thing that came to him. She emerged from the blanket and shook her head, the disbelief still written across her face.

She looked down at her arm and pinched it.

“What are you doing?” He frowned.

“Trying to wake up. This has to be a dream.” She pinched herself again and dismay crossed her face when she looked at him. She paled. “God, this is real… the wings are real… you’re an angel… and I just blasphemed… and I slept with you!”

His shoulders sagged and he focused through the riot it in his head. It was difficult to concentrate but he managed it and his wings slowly shrank and disappeared into his back. Annelie looked as horrified on seeing them disappear as she had on seeing them appear. Her heart raced in his mind and no matter what angle he looked at it from, the situation showed no sign of improving.

“It is not a dream, and it is not a sin.” It was the bane of all his kind that mortals thought they were off limits, saints who couldn’t enjoy life in the way a human could. That belief couldn’t be further from the truth. They had rules, laws that they had to obey, but all angels were fun and frivolous creatures when they weren’t on duty, and many of them had fallen in love with mortals.

Just as he was in love with her.

He hadn’t realised it until he had gone away. Before then, he had merely thought that she was pretty, easy to talk to, interesting and someone who eased his loneliness. A friend. Going away had made him realise that he had been falling for her since first setting eyes on her. If he told her that now, would it fix anything? Would she still hate him?

“Annelie?”

She didn’t seem to be listening. She was staring at his shoulders, as though waiting for his wings to appear again, her eyes large and mouth open. It was a struggle to keep them away but he had to do it, no matter how much they wanted to come out again and how much his head hurt.

Drinking had been a bad idea.

But then, it had been the only way of erasing his pain, and humans had always seemed to use drink to cope with things. The position he was in right now, another black mark against him probably wouldn’t mean much. It would only damage his pride.

He laughed bitterly. “I am not even an angel at the moment… I haven’t been since the night we met.”

Her dark eyes met his. Confusion shone in them now.

It hurt him to think about the past three years. Annelie had been the one thing that had helped him through his most troubled times and eased his suffering. She had given him friendship and support, and had made his pain bearable, but now he feared that she would leave and he would never see her again, and he needed her more than ever.

Things had never been this bad for him.

She couldn’t leave. She was the only good thing left in his life.

“Funny… you have wings like an angel.” Annelie stood and stepped closer to him. Her heart still raced, rushing in his head, speaking of her fear. She took another tentative step forwards and cast her gaze over him, from head to toe and back again.

“Wings I cannot use.” Saying that made it hit home and his heart hurt, his chest burning with the pain of being denied the one thing that had given him comfort and hope all this time. They hadn’t taken his wings from him.

Only now they had.

“I am… fallen… I think you mortals call it.” Lukas leaned against the doorframe. He closed his eyes, clenched his jaw and steeled himself against the pain caused by talking about his situation. It ebbed and flowed through him, strong waves that filled him with despair and sorrow, and anger too. “I was banished here three years ago… and three weeks ago I went to appeal against my sentence and make them see the truth.”

“The truth?”

He opened his eyes and looked at her, resting his head against the wooden frame.

“I did not commit the crime that I am being punished for.” He searched her eyes, wishing that she would show a sign of compassion, or affection, something other than anger and hurt. He needed to see something warm in her, something to give him a thread of hope to hold on to. “I wanted to tell you so many times.”

“That you were falsely accused?”

He smiled at her confusion but it lasted only a second. “That I am an angel.”

“Why?” Her gaze darted between his eyes and her heart began to calm at last, her fear beginning to fade. He wanted to reach out and touch her, to caress her cheek and know that he hadn’t messed everything up between them, but he didn’t dare.

“Because… I hate lying to you. I hate hiding things from you.” Lukas pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He drew a long breath and sighed, trying to push away his pain and focus on the moment and making things right with Annelie. If that was possible. It had to be. “Because I want you to know me.”

“Why?”

Was that the only question she had for him? He deserved her anger, and her disbelief, and he was prepared for it. He had always known it would be impossible to tell her that he was an angel without going through this. Even if he had found a way to break it to her gently, she still would have thought she was going insane and would have struggled to believe what she was seeing.

Lukas opened his eyes and stared at her feet. She had moved closer. Her small bare feet made him smile. They were so delicate. Everything about her was delicate and soft. He loved her for that. He loved her for her smile and how open she was with him, and how she always found time to speak to him.

“I meant what I said last night, Annelie.” His gaze met hers again and he stepped away from the door, towards her, closing the gap between them. His head ached but the pain in his heart eclipsed it. He didn’t want her to leave, and if baring his soul was the only way of making her stay, then he was willing to go through that. He was willing to risk her breaking his heart. It would be the last straw for him, and he would no longer have a reason not to fall into darkness and live up to the name of a fallen angel, but it was a chance that he had to take. “There is a reason that I come to the pub and sit on that stool and talk to you… and I think you know what that reason is.”

Her eyes widened, her cheeks coloured and she dropped her gaze. Lukas hesitated a moment and then gently placed his fingers under her jaw. They shook so much that he was sure that she would notice. So much rested on this touch. If she accepted it, he would take it as a sign that there was hope for him, and for them. If she pushed him away, he wasn’t sure what he would do.

She remained still, her gaze downcast, and didn’t shirk his touch.

Lukas drew a deep trembling breath and raised her eyes back to his. The look in hers said that she knew all too well what he was talking about and that he hadn’t misjudged her feelings. He wasn’t the only one who had fallen in love over the past three years. She had never once spoken to him about men, had never been out on dates, had always smiled at him in a way she never did with other men, always laughed and found a way to touch his hands. She was in love with him too.

But there was a barrier between them, one that he couldn’t push her to break through. It was her decision. It had to be. He wasn’t mortal and she had to accept that. She had to come to understand his kind and his world, and see whether she could still love him or whether she had to move on. All he could do was try to convince her that it would be worth it if she stayed with him, and that he wanted her more than anything.

More than flying?

He wasn’t sure of that yet. He had a decision to make too, one that depended on hers.

His wings pushed to break free again but he held them at bay, wrestling for control. It was difficult enough under normal circumstances to hide them. The headache from the drink was making it almost impossible.

Lukas took his hand back and rubbed his eyes.

“I guess now I know why you’re such a good listener.”

He shook his head. “I am only a good listener for you. I am a lousy listener for others. It wasn’t my specialty.”

“Angels have specialties? Actually, I don’t think I want to know. I still feel as though I’m dreaming all of this.”

“What can I do to make you see that this is real, Annelie, and that I mean you no harm?”

A smile touched her lips—shy and sweet. “I don’t think you’ll hurt me.”

“I already did.” Lukas’s heart beat harder when she met his gaze, holding it, and there was a hint of warmth in her dark eyes and no fear. She wasn’t lying. She really did believe that he wouldn’t harm her.

“I was just shocked.” She lowered her gaze and frowned, raised her hand and turned the neck of her black baby-doll t-shirt inside out, looking at the label there. She smiled at it. “Can I see them again? It might help me believe that I’m not going crazy.”

Her eyes crept to his shoulders and she let go of her t-shirt.

His wings?

They were aching to be free.

But he wasn’t sure it was a good idea.

She had been gradually calming down since he had put his wings away. If he unfurled them, he could panic her again and undo any progress he had made with her. The soft look in her eyes pleaded him and he relented. He would do anything she asked of him. If she believed that seeing his wings would help her come to terms with what he was, then he would let them out.

He nodded and she stepped back, as though afraid that he would knock her flying with them again. He wouldn’t let that happen. This time he was ready and in control. He wouldn’t hurt her.

Lukas moved away from her, finding space near the built-in wardrobes and the door to the bathroom. There was nothing there that he could knock over and Annelie was at a safe enough distance.

His shoulder blades itched, the skin shifting as his wings pushed for freedom. He clenched his fists and let his white wings out as slowly as possible, so they didn’t frighten Annelie. Her gaze fixed on them as they appeared. They grew larger until they were fully out and furled against his back. The long feathers tickled his bare legs. He stood before her, naked, unashamed of both it and his wings. This was who he was, and if she couldn’t accept it, then perhaps it was for the best, even if it was breaking his heart.

“I wish I could have been honest with you,” he whispered and her dark brown eyes moved from his wings to his eyes. “Everything has gone horribly wrong and I feel like crap. My head is killing me.”

“Are you allowed to swear?” Her eyebrows rose.

He nodded. “I can do most things a human can without any repercussion.”

She surprised him by stepping forwards and pressing her palm against his forehead. Her hand was cool, refreshing, and his eyes slipped shut. It felt so good to have her touch him, as though they had taken the first step towards moving past the fact that he was an angel.

“You’ll feel better soon. You didn’t look so good last night.” Her voice was honey and sweetness to him, low spoken and filling him with soothing warmth. Her hand lingered against his brow. “I shouldn’t have let you drink so much.”

“I have never tasted alcohol before.”

“Really? I shouldn’t have let you drink at all then. Will you get into trouble?”

He shrugged, opened his eyes and looked into hers. “I would not consider it a perk of being banished. It is not as nice as mortals make it out to be.”

“I could have told you that.”

The intensity of her smile stole his breath along with the fact that her hand still rested against his forehead. Was this progress? She wasn’t trying to run. He had moved away from the door, giving her a clear path, and she had remained with him. She had chosen to touch him and be near him. Was it possible that she could accept what he was and still love him?

She was so beautiful. He could look at her until the end of time and never tire. He had watched her age these past three years and she had only grown more beautiful to him. Her soft features, large dark eyes and rosy sensual lips made her more stunning than any female he had ever seen.

Annelie moved around him and he rolled his eyes closed when she ran a hand down his left wing. He held his groan inside, not wanting to scare her away. The feel of her fingers stroking his feathers was divine.

“They’re really real,” she whispered and stopped behind him. She ran her hands down both of his wings, teasing his feathers and his senses.

Images from last night danced through his mind. It had been everything that he had thought it would be and so much more. He had wanted to feel her hands on him, to kiss her and touch her, for so long now without truly realising it. He had thought it nothing more than lust, hunger brought about by years of celibacy, but it was more than that. It was love. The alcohol had done one good thing. It had cast his inhibitions aside and given him the courage to make a move on her. He could bear the pain in his head as payment for his glorious night with her.

He shivered when she caressed his lower back with long strokes of her fingers. Her touch was light, tickling, and he could sense concern in her again. What was she looking at that had her so worried?

“What happened?” Her fingertips traced another line across his back and then she stroked his shoulders.

The scars.

He hadn’t realised that they were still there. Was that what she had been touching this morning too? The thought that she would still lay her hands on him, would still feel such concern for him, added another slender thread to his hope.

“I was punished.” He couldn’t bring himself to say any more. They had lashed him to remind him of his duty and the sin he had committed. Sin. He would have laughed at that if it hadn’t hurt so much.

“But you said you didn’t do it.” She came around to stand in front of him, her dark brown eyes wide with confusion.

“I did not do it, but I cannot prove that. There is no evidence to the contrary. I have searched for it, returned to the scene of the crime every other night for the past three years trying to find a clue that would free me of my sin.” His heart sunk when he recalled how his hope had faded with each visit to the ruins of the building that remained in the closed lot. He shut his eyes as images of that night flashed across his mind and he could almost feel the heat of the blast, the sting of the cuts as he tumbled along the ground, and the smell of the fire. “I did not do it.”

“Lukas?” Annelie’s hand was soft against his cheek and, without thinking, he leaned into it, seeking the comfort she offered and taking it. The memory faded again but it would return soon. It haunted him each night, filling his dreams with burning bodies and Heaven’s Court and the look of shame on his fellow warriors’ faces when the jury had passed judgement on him. “What happened?”

Did she really want to know? He needed to see. He looked deep into her eyes and used her hand against his face to strengthen the connection to her that had always been there. He didn’t usually feel humans’ emotions so easily. Annelie’s were always there for him to read, held barely beneath the surface. She was so open with him.

“There was going to be an event at a factory. My team received an order to go there. I was the first to arrive. When I did, the building exploded, incinerating everything. It transpired that no one knew of the event. It had not been foreseen.”

“What does that mean?” Her hand remained against his face, making him strong and able to tell her everything. She had to know. He hadn’t spoken about this to anyone but he needed to share it with her.

“Only a supernatural creature can create an event that the Higher Order of Watchers wouldn’t see. An angel did it. They planted bombs and destroyed the building, with all of the humans still inside.”

Her eyes widened. “Why?”

“I do not know.” He stepped back, clenched his fists and jaw and stared hard at the wooden floor of his bedroom. “All I know is that I was there and no-one believes me when I say that I had been assigned to that area. The rest of my team did not receive the order, and there is no record of it. The records state that I was assigned somewhere else.”

“Surely there has to be something you can do?”

Lukas laughed bitterly. “There was. I could appeal three years after being sentenced. I did and I failed… I accused my commander of falsifying the records to protect the perpetrator. Not my finest hour. The result is that I am stripped of my wings and most of my powers.”

“Can’t you appeal again?” Annelie sat on the end of the bed. She seemed comfortable with his wings now, distracted by his plight, but he knew that it wasn’t over. She still wasn’t his. Would she ever be? He wasn’t sure if she would be able to accept him as an angel. Could she accept him as a mortal? Was he brave enough to risk everything for her and her love?

He was the one unsure now. Heaven had turned its back on him but he wasn’t brave enough to do the same to it. He still longed to clear his name and return to duty.

“No.” He concentrated so his wings disappeared. He could still use a glamour but he preferred not to deceive Annelie by falsifying his appearance. When they were gone, he gathered his clothes and tugged on his boxer shorts and black jeans. “Well… I can when I have waited three hundred years.”

She gasped. “What will you do?”

“Wait.”

“You can’t do that.” She frowned at him. “There has to be some way of proving you’re innocent.”

The force behind those words convinced him that she believed he was as innocent as she said and that she wasn’t going to walk out on him. She wanted to help him. It was written in every beautiful line of her face and the tone of her voice.

“Someone must have seen something.”

“They did, but Heaven’s records don’t show the angel involved. No one saw me or the real perpetrator. My kind are not recorded in Heaven’s history of Earth. They only saw the explosion happen and then I returned and reported it, incriminating myself.” Lukas paused and frowned. Why hadn’t he thought of it earlier? “Heaven’s records may not record angels but Hell’s might.”

“Hell?” Annelie looked even more uncertain now. “What are you going to do, walk in there and ask the Devil if he’ll take a look for you? I went to Sunday School and I know that he probably won’t help an angel, even a fellow fallen one.”

She bit her lip when his gaze snapped to her and dropped her chin, her cheeks colouring deeply. He might have fallen but he wasn’t Lucifer. She peered up at him through the messy strands of red hair that had escaped her ponytail, her apology in her eyes, and Lukas sighed. He knew she hadn’t meant it like that, but being compared to Lucifer had struck a chord deep within him, one that made his hope fade fast. He would never survive three hundred years on Earth waiting for his appeal. He wasn’t strong enough to endure such endless pain, not without succumbing to temptation as the Devil had. He had to do something about it, just as Annelie had said.

“I do not need to ask the Devil.” Lukas sat beside her on the bed. “There is an angel who will likely help me. Annelie?”

She turned to face him, her eyes meeting his and her expression soft and inviting.

He hesitated. Was he strong enough to say what was on the tip of his tongue? Would she agree or would she leave him? He was moving too fast but he couldn’t go without her. He had to take the risk and believe that she wanted to give him a chance, and that she would say yes.

“Will you come to Paris with me?” Those words were some of the most difficult he had ever said. He waited with bated breath, desperate to hear her answer. She said nothing, just stared at him. “Please? Give me time to prove to you that it doesn’t matter that I am an angel… that I am still the man you have known these past three years.”

She still hesitated.

Lukas swallowed and took hold of her hand, holding it in both of his, caressing the back with his thumbs. She had to agree. She had to come with him and give him a second chance. He couldn’t do this without her and he couldn’t leave her here. If he did that, he was sure he would never see her again.

“Annelie?”

She finally nodded.

Lukas smiled. “We shall get you some things from your home and then fly straight there.”

“I thought you couldn’t fly?”

His face fell. This punishment was going to take some getting used to. Even a mention of the fact that he was unable to fly made him ache inside.

“By plane then,” he whispered and thought about how difficult it was going to be to travel via human methods. “Do you have an old passport?”

She stared at him, her expression distant, as though she wasn’t quite keeping up with him and everything was sweeping her along. He waited for her to catch up. Rushing her would only make her change her mind.

She glanced at his shoulders and then finally nodded again. “What use is that though?”

“I can alter it but we will have to get tickets at the airport so I can be near the terminal to change it there too. I still have that power.” Lukas stared at his feet. He would have to get used to seeing floors and pavements. He didn’t think he could bring himself to see the day sky until all this was over and he had proven his innocence. He would do it somehow. He would end his punishment and free himself, and make them see that they had accused the wrong angel. He had always put humans before him. He had never harmed them.

He closed his eyes.

Flying was going to be torture. Even if he didn’t look, he would know that he was high in the sky, where he longed to be. He would endure it though.

Annelie’s hand came to rest against his shoulder. “Why don’t we take the train? I’ve never been through the tunnel before. It’ll be much more fun than flying and will give us time to talk.”

Lukas smiled and placed his hand over hers. It was kind of her to pretend that she hadn’t noticed his pain. It was kind of her to see the suffering his loss of flying caused him and to understand it.

Perhaps there was hope for him. For them.

He would do everything in his power to make things right.

He would prove his innocence.

He would prove his love for her.

Available in e-book from:
Author’s website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebooks.php?title=Her%20Fallen%20Angel
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Amazon Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0046ZRNEG/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Fallen-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/2940011118494/
Kobo Books: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Her-Fallen-Angel-Her-Angel/mix-E8HR8KevVkqhEsSrPJICdQ/page1.html
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27039
Sony Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/felicity-heaton/her-fallen-angel-her-angel-romance-series/_/R-400000000000000299382

Available in paperback from:
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1456489836/
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456489836/
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Her-Angel/Felicity-Heaton/e/9781456489830/

Read more about the Her Angel series at my website: http://www.felicityheaton.com/ebookseries.php?series=Her%20Angel