REVIEW Staking a Claim by Ciana Stone

 

 

 

Staking a Claim by Ciana Stone

The Whisperers, Book One

 

 

Synopsis~

 

Lust was a horse he could ride. Love? He didn't believe in love. Until she walked into his life and changed everything.

Come take a ride with Jed Nash in Book One of The Whisperer Series .. Staking a Claim

Jed Nash had a few simple rules in life. (1.) Family always comes first, (2.) Know when to keep it in your pants, (3.) Don’t mix business and pleasure, and (4.) Don’t believe in love. All it brings is misery and heartache.

He had no trouble following his own rules. At least not until the new trainer on his ranch shows up. He was expecting a man. What he got was a woman who had him battling attraction that was hot and wild. Sure as sunshine, if she stayed he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her.

Mik isn’t looking for anything but a place to stay and a paycheck. She sure isn’t expecting to wind up on a ranch run by true Whisperers. Or a man who God had to have created solely as temptation.

They’re both set on ignoring the attraction. It can only lead to trouble.
If only that were the only trouble they had to face. Evil is gathering around them, evil that cursed the Nash family two hundred years ago and fully intends to see every Nash man wiped from the face of the earth. And heaven help anyone who tries to stand in its way.
Some say love conquers all. Does that hold true for Whisperers who have been cursed to fail at love? They’re about to find out.

 

 

Rachel's 5 Star Review~

Staking a Claim really is 5 star worthy!  It's wonderfully well written and you can recommend it to ANYONE that likes a good romance novel.  It's got everything....a little sexy, a little suspenseful, a touch of paranormal...

This is my first book by Ciana Stone, so I didn't really know what to expect.  There was that hot little synopsis on amazon and goodreads, but nothing else, so I started reading...and reading....and reading...

Once I started I really didn't want to stop.  She has a wonderful way with words and character development.  She makes you WANT to keep reading.  The storyline is awesome as well.  A 200 year old curse, history showing just how serious the curse really is...hot cowboys, 3 sisters, an evil stepmother, a dash of spice, a pinch of curse, and an all around great story! 

 

 

 



 



 

Excerpt 1

 

Mik put the bags she carried on the small kitchen table and turned to face Jed as he placed the rest of the bags on the table. "Least I can do is offer you a beer," she said. "I appreciate you running me by the store."

"Sure," Jed agreed. "Let me help you get this stuff put away."

It was clear that Jed knew the kitchen. Within minutes, all of the supplies were put away and she was pulling two beers from the six-pack. She twisted the first open and a geyser of beer hit her chest.

Mik yelped, holding the foaming beer away from her as she headed for the sink. Behind her, Jed chuckled. She held the beer over the sink, turning to face him. "Yeah, yuk it up. You can open the other one."

"I think I’ll wait," he said with a smile that faded as his eyes moved from her face to her chest.

The white tank top she wore was emblazoned with the words "if it can’t be done in the saddle it ain’t worth doin’." Thanks to the beer, the black lettering was the only part of it that wasn’t damn near transparent.

"Oops." She refused to be embarrassed. So what, she had breasts. Surely, he’d seen breasts before. "Guess I should get out of this."

Jed was hanging onto his determination not to get involved with Mik until she uttered those words. Then reason fled, leaving in its wake a searing hunger that had his body in motion before his mind could protest.

Mik’s backside pressed against the cabinet and the beer in her hand dropped, making a loud clunk in the sink as he walked up to her. Jed put his hands on the counter on either side of her, trapping her between his arms; the motion bringing his face more in line with hers as he leaned forward.

"You and me got a problem, Mikayla Morgan."

"Do we now?" Her eyes met his and held. "And what might that be, Jed Nash?"

"This."

At the same moment the word came from his lips, he reached behind her with his left arm and pulled her against him. Her breath came out in a small rush a moment before his lips closed on hers.

Jed’s arm tightened around her as she pressed into him, not only accepting the kiss but returning it with enough passion to have everything but the feel and taste of her flee his mind.

It was a lusty battle of tongues and teeth, hands gripping and roving, bodies straining into one another. Jed growled in protest when she pushed back from him. "I tend to be blunt, Jed and I’m not for shit at playing games so I’m gonna be straight up. You affect me like a drug and right now there’s nothing I want more than to get you out of those clothes and inside me. But—"

She raised both hands and pressed them against his chest when he moved to pull her back to him. "But—I work for you and as much as I want you, having you could make the working relationship difficult."

"No problem. You’re fired."

"But—"she kept the pressure on his chest, looking up at him. "Aw, fuck it. Fine."

With that, her hands fisted in his shirt and yanked him to her. And in that moment civility vanished.

There was nothing gentle in his lips as they staked a claim on hers. Teeth nipped and tongues clashed, breath coming fast and hard. He gave no care to the damage to her clothing as he pulled, tug, and tore anything that barred his hands from her flesh. His hand moved between her legs, meeting with swollen folds and a wetness that clearly spelled her desire.

She was no less impatient. Her hands were sure and strong as they stripped his shirt off then started on his jeans. By the time his Levi’s were bunched around his knees he was past the point of caring about anything except sinking deep inside the liquid silk between her legs that was becoming more wet with each stroke of his fingers.

Pressure built inside her, the herald of release. Mik tore free from Jed’s mouth as his fingers stroked inside her faster. Her fingers dug into the top of his shoulders, her breath a series of pants. She was so close.

"Let it go, baby."

His lusty croon was all that was needed to send her tumbling over the edge. Her sex clenched to the accompaniment of a low throaty moan she made no attempt to silence.

"In me," she panted before the climax could subside.

Excerpt 2

Jed saw Mik trying to slow Thrasher and the way the horse was fighting her. But she was making some headway. Apache’s hooves were eating up the distance separating them. He urged Apache for more speed, keeping his eyes locked on Mik.

Twenty yards was her guess. Twenty yards to the fence. "Come on, Thrasher," she coaxed, pulling on the reins. "Come on, buddy. It’s okay. It’s okay."

Then Jed was there, on the left side of Thrasher, extending his hand. It was crazy. No way he’d be able to pull her onto the horse with him at this speed. She shook her head.

"Trust me," he yelled.

Without giving herself time to think she released the reins, gripping tight to the saddle with her knees and reached across her body with her right hand for him, locking her hand around his wrist as he did the same. Suddenly she was airborne, swinging toward Jed’s mount.

Mik felt like her arm was about to pop loose from the shoulder socket. She slammed into the side of the horse, the impact knocking the wind out of her. Jed was already reining in the horse and he held her, dangling against its side.

No sooner had the horse come to a stop, he was off, holding her crushed against him. Mik couldn’t find the will to do more than lean limply against him, her chest still heaving to try and fill with air.

"Can’t breathe," she gasped.

Jed loosened his hold enough to draw back and look down at her. "You okay?"

She nodded, drawing in a deep breath. "Thank you."

Suddenly his hands were on her shoulders and he was shaking her, his face suffused with blood and his eyes blazing. "I should stomp the shit outta you. That was a damn stupid thing to do, Mik. You could’ve been killed."

His rage had her pulling back in alarm then immediately tensing as her own anger set in. "I’d have been just fine if some fool hadn’t spooked him. Besides what difference does it make? You can find another trainer. And another fuck buddy."

Jed suddenly released her and she stumbled, still not quite feeling steady. "You want to run that by me again?"

"You heard me." She slammed her hands on her hips and met his flinty eyes.

"That’s what this is about? You pull some crazy stunt because you think I see you like a—a fuck buddy?"

"Well that’s the truth isn’t it?"

"Hell no. I told you, Mikayla. I’ve never fucked you." His voice rose to a near shout.

"Then what do you call it?" she yelled right back.

"I call it love, you dip shit."

Suddenly the world went totally silent. Oceans emptied, mountains crumbled and stars fell from the sky. Or so it seemed. It was cataclysmic and took not only the wind out of her sails, but the strength out of her legs. She buckled at the knees and Jed caught her.

"Love?" she asked, hating the tremble in her voice.

"Love," he echoed and pulled her to him, wrapping her securely in his arms. "Damn you, Mik. I didn’t want to and probably still don’t because I’m scared it’s doomed to end bad for both of us but I do love you."

There was nothing she could do in that moment but hold onto him, burying her face against his broad chest, and fighting the tears that threatened. It was all she wished for and all she feared and here it was. Jed loved her.

Buy Links~
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Staking-Claim-Whisperers-Ciana-Stone-ebook/dp/B00I1OJ5US/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404398137&sr=1-3&keywords=staking+a+claim

BN:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/staking-a-claim-ciana-stone/1118399748?ean=2940045607773

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20638564-staking-a-claim?from_search=true