About The Book
Author: Melissa Jarvis
Genre: Historical Time Travel Romance
A race against time, to save the world.
Derek Massey is the enigmatic head of the time travel agency The Lineage. He makes the difficult choices, ones that have isolated him from everyone. Sarah James is an experienced Lineage agent, the one others look to for help. She hides her secrets and past well. Only one man has ever caused her to lose her temper.
But when the timeline is betrayed, Sarah will have to work with Derek to solve the biggest anomaly of all, one that threatens to destroy not just the Lineage, but the world itself. Their journey will take them to the last days of Pompeii and to Renaissance Italy, to a familiar traitor and a pocket watch that could be the key to everything. Sarah and Derek also discover each other’s vulnerabilities, behind the confident agent and the inscrutable leader. Danger ignites the passion between them.
When the truth is finally revealed, both Sarah and Derek’s secrets, about their past, their families and their own feelings will come to light. Each has to make a terrible decision. Can a new love stand against years of duty? Or will one of them choose the ultimate sacrifice? Only time will tell.
Excerpt
Slowly, Sarah sat up, muscles sore but able to do duty in a fight or run-for-your-life scenario. Which she was tempted to do just to escape the inquisitive gazes of those little winged monsters. She slid a foot out onto the floor. It was never-seen-the-sun pale and bare. With a start, she realized she was no longer covered in mud, or ash, or grime from the Arno River. In fact, she was barely covered at all. Perhaps it was meant to be a robe, or a nightgown, or undergarment of some sort, but it failed miserably in that it barely covered her bust, stopped at midthigh, and was see-through. Those cherubs did have something to smile about.
The wooden floor creaked as she stood up. One of the painted wall panels swung open, revealing a stern-looking man with familiar gray-black hair and storm-raged eyes.
Derek was dressed in a long, forest-green brocade robe trimmed with fur that flared out behind him when he started walking toward her. It added grace to his movements, a physical representation of the air of authority he always carried with him.
Her mind sifted through emotions, one thought clearer than the rest. Do I remember the kiss? If she feigned ignorance, as her friend Alex had once done with her later husband, it would give him an out, a return to the easy alliance they’d formed in Pompeii. If not…did she want his regrets? Did she want to be kept at arm’s length, recipient of cold stares and uncomfortable silences? No. She needed something solid, something to hang on to.
“I thought I’d lost you.” The words came unbidden, as did the emotion behind them. Derek closed his eyes, ever so briefly, before he was across the room, his arms around her in a violent squeeze, pent-up terror and frustration behind it.
“I thought the same. Sarah—I.” He broke off, unable to say the words, though she could see them in his face. Despair. Fear. Longing.
“I searched the Ponte Vecchio for days, mad, tried every Transport out of this city. But they were all blocked,” Derek grated. “I even attempted Victoria’s trick of using the Transport to move across distances rather than time.”
He had not let go of her, she noticed, as her arms went numb. She didn’t care. His heat chased away the last of the river’s icy embrace. “It’s been days?” She paused. Even minutes without him had sent her into a panic. “It was only a moment. Just…I turned around, and you were gone. I remember a body, hell, not even that anymore. Some poor soul who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” She winced. Derek must have felt it, for he immediately dropped his arms. A flush crept up his cheeks, but he didn’t move away from her.
“And you still made the leap. Unbelievable.” Derek shook his head.
“You taught me well.” She wanted to say more, needed his arms around her again.
“You should be in bed.”
At first her befuddled mind took it as an invitation then she saw him pull back, gathering his robe and dignity around him like armor. He still couldn’t let himself go, be vulnerable. She understood, even though she wanted him naked beside her, both figuratively and literally.
“Did you stay in bed? Where are we anyway?” The questions put her back in familiar territory as she pushed away the clingy Sarah, the one she’d banished long ago. Not far enough apparently.
Genre: Historical Time Travel Romance
A race against time, to save the world.
Derek Massey is the enigmatic head of the time travel agency The Lineage. He makes the difficult choices, ones that have isolated him from everyone. Sarah James is an experienced Lineage agent, the one others look to for help. She hides her secrets and past well. Only one man has ever caused her to lose her temper.
But when the timeline is betrayed, Sarah will have to work with Derek to solve the biggest anomaly of all, one that threatens to destroy not just the Lineage, but the world itself. Their journey will take them to the last days of Pompeii and to Renaissance Italy, to a familiar traitor and a pocket watch that could be the key to everything. Sarah and Derek also discover each other’s vulnerabilities, behind the confident agent and the inscrutable leader. Danger ignites the passion between them.
When the truth is finally revealed, both Sarah and Derek’s secrets, about their past, their families and their own feelings will come to light. Each has to make a terrible decision. Can a new love stand against years of duty? Or will one of them choose the ultimate sacrifice? Only time will tell.
Excerpt
Slowly, Sarah sat up, muscles sore but able to do duty in a fight or run-for-your-life scenario. Which she was tempted to do just to escape the inquisitive gazes of those little winged monsters. She slid a foot out onto the floor. It was never-seen-the-sun pale and bare. With a start, she realized she was no longer covered in mud, or ash, or grime from the Arno River. In fact, she was barely covered at all. Perhaps it was meant to be a robe, or a nightgown, or undergarment of some sort, but it failed miserably in that it barely covered her bust, stopped at midthigh, and was see-through. Those cherubs did have something to smile about.
The wooden floor creaked as she stood up. One of the painted wall panels swung open, revealing a stern-looking man with familiar gray-black hair and storm-raged eyes.
Derek was dressed in a long, forest-green brocade robe trimmed with fur that flared out behind him when he started walking toward her. It added grace to his movements, a physical representation of the air of authority he always carried with him.
Her mind sifted through emotions, one thought clearer than the rest. Do I remember the kiss? If she feigned ignorance, as her friend Alex had once done with her later husband, it would give him an out, a return to the easy alliance they’d formed in Pompeii. If not…did she want his regrets? Did she want to be kept at arm’s length, recipient of cold stares and uncomfortable silences? No. She needed something solid, something to hang on to.
“I thought I’d lost you.” The words came unbidden, as did the emotion behind them. Derek closed his eyes, ever so briefly, before he was across the room, his arms around her in a violent squeeze, pent-up terror and frustration behind it.
“I thought the same. Sarah—I.” He broke off, unable to say the words, though she could see them in his face. Despair. Fear. Longing.
“I searched the Ponte Vecchio for days, mad, tried every Transport out of this city. But they were all blocked,” Derek grated. “I even attempted Victoria’s trick of using the Transport to move across distances rather than time.”
He had not let go of her, she noticed, as her arms went numb. She didn’t care. His heat chased away the last of the river’s icy embrace. “It’s been days?” She paused. Even minutes without him had sent her into a panic. “It was only a moment. Just…I turned around, and you were gone. I remember a body, hell, not even that anymore. Some poor soul who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” She winced. Derek must have felt it, for he immediately dropped his arms. A flush crept up his cheeks, but he didn’t move away from her.
“And you still made the leap. Unbelievable.” Derek shook his head.
“You taught me well.” She wanted to say more, needed his arms around her again.
“You should be in bed.”
At first her befuddled mind took it as an invitation then she saw him pull back, gathering his robe and dignity around him like armor. He still couldn’t let himself go, be vulnerable. She understood, even though she wanted him naked beside her, both figuratively and literally.
“Did you stay in bed? Where are we anyway?” The questions put her back in familiar territory as she pushed away the clingy Sarah, the one she’d banished long ago. Not far enough apparently.
About the Author
We all have two sides...Melissa Jarvis is a mild-mannered publicist by day, and action-packed writer by night. She writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy, and cites Anne McCaffrey, Robert A. Heinlein and Robert Asprin among her influences. Melissa lives in celebrity-friendly Southern California with her husband and son. A native of Texas, you might hear the word “y’all” a lot from her, and watch out, it’s catching.
For over 15 years, she has also worked in the public relations industry, with clients ranging from the Playboy Jazz Festival to the Los Angeles Mission to JVS, as well as indie film directors and comic writers. She’s won numerous awards from the Public Relations Society of America LA Chapter for her efforts. And she’s survived with most of her mind intact!
When not writing or trying to convince her family to let her have a pet dragon, she loves antiquing, crafting, and of course, reading.
Links
http://www.melissajarvis.net/
http://www.bookstrand.com/book/time-on-her-hands
For over 15 years, she has also worked in the public relations industry, with clients ranging from the Playboy Jazz Festival to the Los Angeles Mission to JVS, as well as indie film directors and comic writers. She’s won numerous awards from the Public Relations Society of America LA Chapter for her efforts. And she’s survived with most of her mind intact!
When not writing or trying to convince her family to let her have a pet dragon, she loves antiquing, crafting, and of course, reading.
Links
http://www.melissajarvis.net/
http://www.bookstrand.com/book/time-on-her-hands
Interview with the Author!
BORN WITH A PEN IN HAND, OR HOW I GOT STARTED WRITING
Melissa Jarvis
Ernest Hemingway once said about writers “Let them think you were born that way.” One early May morning, a baby was born with a pen in her hand, and a story about an exciting adventure through a tunnel…just kidding.
My journey to becoming a writer started with dragons. It was seventh grade, and I was in love with Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series. No one had really heard of fan fiction back then, but my friend and I started writing a story based on that world. We had dreams. Big dreams. We’d send it to Anne, she would love it, and it would get published. Looking back, I think she would have had one of her dragons flame it to ashes. And send a cease and desist letter. And lots of lawyers.
But that little bastardized story stayed with me, and morphed. I continued to read, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, until I was an adult with a major in Mass Communications. However, I didn’t like reporting the truth. I liked making it up. So, like how many good stories are started, so did mine with the age old question, “What if?”
That “what if” that eventually resulted in the Lineage series started with the book The Scarlet Pimpernel. I loved Sir Percy, but wow, Marguerite was an oblivious wimp, to put it nicely. However,most ladies of the time were. I wanted a heroine equal to Sir Percy, and I created one. She kicked ass, literally and figuratively. Yet how could that type of character ever work in that time period?
The answer was staring me in the face, and from the beloved pages of sci-fi novels. Time travel. Only I didn’t want it to be a story about a woman who picks up an antique cameo and poof, she’s in Regency England or the Wild West. No, there had to be a plan. A design. Lots of sci-fi jargon I’d have to research. Did I mention I got a “D” in what was affectionately called “math for poets” in college?
Thus the Lineage time travel agency was born, and that kick-ass heroine, Alex, got her own book, Past Her Time. Set during the French Revolution, I gave my own twist to the hero, now Lord Gabriel, and someone who could match him in secrecy, swordplay and adventure. Many rejections, tears, and revisions later, it was accepted for publication.
Of course I couldn’t just do all this world building and give y’all one book, could I? In His Own Time starred a secondary character from the first, along with a heroine more like myself, new to the Lineage, time travel, and eager to prove herself. I set it mostly during California’s Gold Rush, but from the perspective of the Ranchos and native Californios. My husband’s family, who are Spanish, provided lots of material, and fortunately, most of them haven’t read the book since I’m still invited to family functions.
Which brings us to the third Lineage book, Time on Her Hands. You don’t have to have read the other two to enjoy this book. Like a good little author, I gave enough backstory to get anyone caught up on what they need to know. I may not have been born with pen in hand, but I think I disagree a little with old Ernest. I was born to write.
Melissa Jarvis
Ernest Hemingway once said about writers “Let them think you were born that way.” One early May morning, a baby was born with a pen in her hand, and a story about an exciting adventure through a tunnel…just kidding.
My journey to becoming a writer started with dragons. It was seventh grade, and I was in love with Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series. No one had really heard of fan fiction back then, but my friend and I started writing a story based on that world. We had dreams. Big dreams. We’d send it to Anne, she would love it, and it would get published. Looking back, I think she would have had one of her dragons flame it to ashes. And send a cease and desist letter. And lots of lawyers.
But that little bastardized story stayed with me, and morphed. I continued to read, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, until I was an adult with a major in Mass Communications. However, I didn’t like reporting the truth. I liked making it up. So, like how many good stories are started, so did mine with the age old question, “What if?”
That “what if” that eventually resulted in the Lineage series started with the book The Scarlet Pimpernel. I loved Sir Percy, but wow, Marguerite was an oblivious wimp, to put it nicely. However,most ladies of the time were. I wanted a heroine equal to Sir Percy, and I created one. She kicked ass, literally and figuratively. Yet how could that type of character ever work in that time period?
The answer was staring me in the face, and from the beloved pages of sci-fi novels. Time travel. Only I didn’t want it to be a story about a woman who picks up an antique cameo and poof, she’s in Regency England or the Wild West. No, there had to be a plan. A design. Lots of sci-fi jargon I’d have to research. Did I mention I got a “D” in what was affectionately called “math for poets” in college?
Thus the Lineage time travel agency was born, and that kick-ass heroine, Alex, got her own book, Past Her Time. Set during the French Revolution, I gave my own twist to the hero, now Lord Gabriel, and someone who could match him in secrecy, swordplay and adventure. Many rejections, tears, and revisions later, it was accepted for publication.
Of course I couldn’t just do all this world building and give y’all one book, could I? In His Own Time starred a secondary character from the first, along with a heroine more like myself, new to the Lineage, time travel, and eager to prove herself. I set it mostly during California’s Gold Rush, but from the perspective of the Ranchos and native Californios. My husband’s family, who are Spanish, provided lots of material, and fortunately, most of them haven’t read the book since I’m still invited to family functions.
Which brings us to the third Lineage book, Time on Her Hands. You don’t have to have read the other two to enjoy this book. Like a good little author, I gave enough backstory to get anyone caught up on what they need to know. I may not have been born with pen in hand, but I think I disagree a little with old Ernest. I was born to write.
