Win a Kindle 3 at this St. Patrick’s Day Blog Hop!

So, welcome to the St. Patrick’s Day Blog Hop!  Make sure you leave a comment at the end for a chance to win the Kindle 3–as well as a bunch of books, including FATED.  This time, the organizers of the blog sent out a list of words and a challenge for us to incorporate them in our stories.  I’ve made the important words green for easy counting.  🙂

The Mark of the Leprechaun

“Why is it green?”  Emily asked, leaning forward from her comfortable chair to peer at Jordan’s nipple.  He’d stormed inside, interrupting what should’ve been a relaxing afternoon by the fire.

He let out a low growl.  “The damn leprechaun marked me with a shamrock shape.  Last night at the tavern.  When I find that little monster, I’ll take my leather boot to his head.”

“Okay.  We can figure this out.  Don’t get your knickers in a bunch.”  Her mind spun.  Green.  Not the green marking.

 The smile he flashed was all teeth.  Pure, pissed off vampire.  “I don’t wear knickers.”

No.  He didn’t.  The damn man went commando, actually.  “Okay.  Let’s keep calm here.”  She tugged on her earlobe, forgetting once again about the nervous habit.  “So.  We need to leave Dublin and ride out to the Blarney Stone.  Legend has it if you kiss the stone, you won’t turn entirely green.”  Probably.  A green vampire.  Interesting.  She just couldn’t tell people she was in love with a green vampire.  They had to fix this.

“I’m not kissing the Blarney Stone.”  Jordan reached for the sidetable to pour a whiskey.  He downed it in one gulp.  His tongue darted out to lick his lips and she fought a groan.  Sexy.  Even facing certain greenhood, the vamp was sexy.

“Yes you are.”  She leapt to her feet, dislodging the book from her lap.  Damn him.  She knew what he planned.  “You can’t seriously think to outsmart a leprechaun.”

“Don’t need to outsmart him.”  Jordan glanced at the fireplace.  “I hid his pot of gold.  If he wants it back, he’ll remove the marking.”

Emily chewed her fingernail.  “If you make him mad, he’ll never take away the marking.”

“You don’t cuddle a leprechaun, sweetheart.  You take his gold and kick his ass.”

She stood.  “I took the pot of gold out from behind the fireplace and hid it.”

The air shifted.  Jordan’s golden eyes flashed.  “Excuse me?”

 Fire flashed down to her toes and her breath caught.  She struggled to concentrate.  “You took the gold because he sent me that pretty silk scarf with the large shamrock on it.  You were being silly.  So I planned to give him back his pot of gold.”  Honestly.  A vampire jealous of a leprechaun.

“Is that a fact?”  Jordan’s voice lowered to a rumble that echoed along her skin.  “Well then.  We’ll take him his gold, he can remove this marking and then I’ll make good use of the silk scarf.”

She smiled.  Now that was a plan.

Here are the words and point values:

love 1
smile 1
kiss 1
tongue 1
cuddle 2
nipple 2
earlobe 2
fingernail 2
green 3
fireplace 3
book 3
whiskey 3
ride 4
Dublin 4
shamrock 4
knickers 4
silk scarf 5
leather boot 5
Pot of Gold 5
Blarney Stone 5
“Why is it green?” 10