The Talisman

Abby Sanders returns to her beloved Scotland after a long absence, seeking peace after a terrible tragedy. A chance detour reunites her with Ian Mackenzie, the love she left behind four years ago. Their attempt to rekindle their romance along the shore of Loch Ness is cut short when Abby vanishes. After a desperate search for the woman he's spent four years trying to forget, Ian is forced to believe the unbelievable: he must travel through the mists of time to find Abby. But finding her is just the beginning. Trapped four hundred years in the past, Abby and Ian must find a way to end a bitter clan feud or sacrifice their return to the present and their future together.

England, 1605

When Lord Arik, a druid knight, finds Rebeka Tyler wandering his lands without protection, he swears to keep her safe. But Rebeka can take care of herself. When Arik sees her clash with a group of attackers using a strange fighting style, he's intrigued.

Rebeka is no ordinary seventeenth-century woman-she's travelled back from the year 2011, and she desperately wants to return to her own time. She poses as a scholar sent by the king to find out what's killing Arik's land. But as she works to decode the ancient runes that are the key to solving this mystery and sending her home, she finds herself drawn to the charismatic and powerful Arik.

As Arik and Rebeka fall in love, someone in Arik's household schemes to keep them apart, and a dark druid with a grudge prepares his revenge. Soon Rebeka will have to decide whether to return to the future or trust Arik with the secret of her time travel and her heart.

92,000 words

After a few moments Katherine broke the heavy silence. “Ah, Alexander, is this not a glorious view? I feel as if I could stay here forever just looking at all the beauty about me.”

He agreed, his eyes never leaving her face. “Aye, lass, ‘tis the most enchanting sight I’ve ever seen.” Lifting the heather he’d picked, he smiled and handed them to her. He stroked her face gently and whispered, “These bonnie flowers should be with the others you’ve gathered.” Just as I should be with you.

Leaning closer, he felt her breath touch his face with the gentleness of a butterfly’s wings. “Lass, I fear you’ve put me under your spell. I want naught but you whenever I’m near you.”

Her face turned a bright pink, and she toyed silently with the flowers in her hands.

He frowned slightly at the necessity of leaving the hilltop paradise and the tranquil moment, not wanting it to end. But Monique was concerned about her daughter’s whereabouts. Reluctantly, he stood and reached down to help Katherine to her feet.

He pulled her up beside him, gazed into her eyes and drew a ragged breath in a futile attempt to clear his head. He watched in fascination as she smiled and closed her eyes, her thick dark lashes fanning out over her cheeks.

Hell, Monique could wait.

Alexander wrapped his arms around Katherine, pulling her close, and then slowly took possession of her lips. They were warm, soft. With a gentleness he hadn’t realized he possessed, he teased her mouth, ran feather-soft kisses over her closed eyelids, down her face and the side of her neck. He nuzzled the crook of her shoulder, drinking in her scent. Then he traced the line of her throat with his tongue, and covered the moist trail with kisses. She trembled in his arms and murmured a throaty sigh.

That tremulous moan sent his emotions reeling skyward. He ran a hand through her hair, past her shoulders to the velvet expanse of skin just above the neck of her gown. The silky softness of her skin felt warm to his touch.

The shrill cry of a red tailed hawk jolted him out of his reverie. Startled, he glanced up at the sky. Och, not yet, you bugger. But the answer of its mate, somewhere in the distance, reminded him of his responsibilities. Alexander released Katherine reluctantly and his desire plummeted back to earth. He frowned at the sky. “‘Tis late, lass. We’d best return to the castle now.”

He burned with need for her. If they didn’t leave soon, he’d not be able to control his emotions. “Your mother is worried about you. If I don’t return with you soon, the whole clan will be out looking for you.”

Taking her hand, he led her over to where Tursachan stood grazing. God, he wanted her. Just one more kiss. He thrust his fingers into the golden waves of her hair, leaned closer and bent his head toward hers. Another shrill screech nearly sent him tumbling on his arse. “Have you ever tasted roast hawk, lass? I’m told ‘tis a delicacy if done correctly.” With a smile, he lifted her to his saddle and silently swung up behind her, nudging his stallion toward home.

On New Year’s Eve, she tumbles 700 years back in time--and into the bed of a darkly handsome knight.

Sir Gaston de Varennes wanted a docile bride who would fit into his plans for vengeance and justice, but a trick of time finds him married to a thoroughly modern American lady who turns his castle, his life, and his heart upside down. Will her desperate secret tear them apart after only a few bittersweet weeks of stolen passion--or will they conquer mistrust, treachery, and time itself to discover a love that spans the centuries?

Winner of the National Readers Choice Award: Best Historical Romance of the Year

"Irresistible, right down to the surprise at the end... One of the best romances of the year." -The Detroit Free Press

A Desert Isle Keeper. Touching, ingenious... I love this book. I've read it time after time, and even if I haven't waited quite long enough between readings to forget all the details, I always get drawn back into the story so intensely that I can't put it down. Grade: A (highest rating).” -Ellen Hestand, All About Romance

“Moving, riveting, magical. Forever His is destined to become an all-time favorite in medieval and time-travel romances.” -The Mediaeval Chronicle

A full-length novel of 125,000 words
Adult content: explicit love scenes
Originally published by Avon Books

This Author's Preferred Edition e-book includes bonus content: “The Making of Forever His: The Story Behind the Story,” plus excerpts from upcoming Shelly Thacker books.

The Stolen Brides Series: One falls through time and finds herself married to a dark stranger... one may never reach her royal wedding if she can’t resist her rugged protector... one is abducted by a mysterious swordsman and swept away to a secret island paradise. Three regal brides are about to discover that falling in love with a warrior is the most dangerous adventure of all.
 

In Falling In Time, aspiring writer Lindy Lovejoy knows all about happy endings. But when she travels to Scotland to research Celtic myth and lore, she never expected a chance to live her own storybook romance, until a stop at mystical Smoo Cave whisks her back in time and into the arms of Rogan MacGraith, a Highland hero who’d burn up the pages of the steamiest Scottish romance novel.

Falling in Time originally appeared in the Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance / 2009 / Running Press.

Scotland 1502. Akira Neish has been raised as a peasant, her belly often empty and her family subject to the cruel whims of her clan's laird. To the clans children, the horned shaped birthmark she bears means she is a witch. But she is neither peasant nor witch—and now the man who knows the truth has returned to claim her for his own.

Marcella Conner loves her high school students. They fill the days of loneliness after tragedy visits and a marriage fails. She escapes the present when teaching England's noted authors such as Shakespeare, and Chaucer. She is fascinated by the verses of Scotland's poet laureate Robert Burns. Her wish is that perhaps one day she can visit Burns' homeland to roam the hillsides where he received the inspiration to pen the words that brought him national fame. Why not? After a difficult year, she needs a vacation.

Robert MacKerra's peaceful outing of fishing at the loch is rudely interrupted when a young woman suddenly appears from the ruins of a castle to ask for directions back to her home. She seems addled and is dressed in a garb like he has never seen. He has no idea where Florida is and assures her it is nowhere in his region near the banks of Scotland's Loch Doon.

Marcella is torn between locating the portal to return her to her century or remaining in the 17th century because of the attraction to the handsome Scot. Robert worries daily at any moment the forces that brought her to him will as quickly snatch her away. But, lest we forget, fate has the final word.