Curse of the Purple Delhi Sapphire
The Temple of Indra MYSTERY Series
Rachael Stapleton
FREE through 6/19
Publisher: Solstice Publishing
Date of Publication: February 3rd, 2015
ASIN: B00SNAF018
Print Length: 215 pages
Word Count: 66, 400
Cover Artist: Rebecca Boyd
Book Description:
Sophia Marcil hasn’t escaped her destiny or the mad-man hunting her but she’s doing her best to evade both and making a life in Ireland with Cullen—the one person she can count on to pull her out of deep water. There’s just one problem, despite his connection, she hasn’t told him the truth of her time travel and her reality comes crashing down as he proposes with the very sapphire that’s cursed her. Before she knows it, she’s wandering the hallway of an old Victorian house in the body of her great aunt. Unfortunately, her nemesis has also reincarnated in 1920—as one of her family members and she struggles to locate the Purple Delhi Sapphire in time to prevent the deaths of those she loves. When she fails and returns to her present-day life, she’s forced to confront the fact that her killer’s soul will always be tied to the sapphire and in every life she has, he will be resurrected as someone close to her. Her biggest question—who is he now? She doesn’t have to wonder for very long before she finds evidence that has her questioning everything she thought she knew.
Available at Amazon BN CHAPTERS
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Dublin, Ireland
Today I would tell Cullen the truth. I swirled the champagne
in my glass in an agitated fashion. I would not allow myself to be distracted.
I looked down in early defeat and noticed the dark limp waves cascading past my
shoulders. Who was I kidding? I couldn’t even get ready for a dinner party
without being distracted. All that work curling it, and then Cullen had walked
in, glimpsing my lacy black bra, and poof, my hair was flat again.
Twirling a strand around my index finger, I attempted to bring it back to life.
If only the jewels could work their magic on my hair.
I spotted Cullen a couple of feet away, making his way over
to me. He looked handsome in his sport jacket and tailored shirt. His hair, a
coppery red with streaks of blond that looked almost golden in the sunlight,
was slicked back so the ends curled at his neck.
I should be over-the-moon happy right now. I was sipping Dom
Pérignon in an elegant restaurant surrounded by rustic stone walls, as a soft
and whimsical Irish fiddle played in the background in honor of our one-year
anniversary. It wasn’t technically our anniversary. He had playfully called it
that when he’d invited me out to dinner with his family, but what he’d meant
was that it had been one year since we’d met. Since that ill-fated day on the
Lerins Island, half a mile off shore from Cannes, when I’d rejected the
marriage proposal of that egotistical lunatic Nicholas Bexx and endured his
wrath. Lucky for me, Cullen had been looking up from the deck of his family’s
yacht and had seen Nick push me off the cliff. Cullen dove in and pulled me to
safety, and subsequently into his life.
It was hard to believe that in a full year I couldn’t bring
myself to tell him the truth: that the fall had sent me to another time and
place and into the body of a nineteenth-century princess. But what sane person
would believe what had been only seconds underwater to them had been another
lifetime to me? I was the owner of the Purple Delhi Sapphire. I had time
traveled into my past life and uncovered my destiny—had done so repeatedly—and
was always reborn, only to be murdered by the same obsessed spirit, again and
again.
“Sophia, ye all right?” Cullen asked, appearing suddenly at
my elbow.
“No,” I said automatically and pushed away the bothersome
thoughts.
“Gah. It’s the restaurant. It’s too fancy, isn’t it? I said
so, but ye know Móraí.”
“What? I love this place.” The room buzzed with mixed
conversation. “I just didn’t hear what you said.”
“Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth. I asked if ye
were all right and ye said no.”
“I’m fine. I’m just soaking in the atmosphere. It’s so
romantic in here.”
That was the truth. The place was intimate. A combination of
comfortable leather and floral high-backed chairs surrounded the long table,
and almost all of them were now full with Cullen’s family.
“It is getting loud in here. I thought this was just dinner,
but it looks like you rented out the whole restaurant. Will this place hold
your entire family?”
“Like that’d matter. Loud-mouthed arses. Let’s skedaddle and
we can celebrate alone.”
I laughed as Cullen pretended to boot one of his cousins in
the rear.
His eyes met mine, and it was just like that first day in
the hospital after I’d awoken from the fall. There was no denying the
attraction and it wasn’t just pheromones. It was as if my soul recognized his,
which was exactly why I needed to be honest about the curse. I was giving
myself an ulcer and all for what? I knew he felt the same way. For heaven’s
sake, I’d overheard him tell his brother of his dreams, and they sounded suspiciously
familiar. There were other clues. He shared a birthmark with Graf Viktor
Ferdinand of Württemberg, who’d rescued me on three separate occasions when I
was the princess, and of course his ancestor had been the one to sell the
Purple Delhi Sapphire to my family.
Cullen bent his head toward me, his lips brushing mine, but
at the last moment I turned my cheek.
“Cullen, your grandmother has arrived with your parents and
she’s staring at us. It’s probably this dress.”
“Well now, she can be after findin’ her own frock, can’t
she? ’Cause ye look bloody deadly in that one.”
He playfully tugged at the clasp centered between my
breasts. He’d been the one to choose this low-slung, emerald-green dress. He
said it reminded him of a shamrock, but I knew he really liked it because it
provided a pretty little peek-a-boo if I moved just the right way. Truthfully,
it was a little racy for this evening, but you only lived once. Well, maybe
some people did.
His mother, Lucille, rushed across the polished wooden
floor, playfully elbowing him out of the way in order to hug me.
“Ye best be behavin’ yerself, boy.”
She was a fine-boned woman with beautiful brown eyes and
curly auburn hair. When they stood side by side it was easy to see he took
after her with his ruddy locks, and lucky for him because she had great genes.
His father—orDa, as they called him—wasn’t too bad himself. He had a
charisma that both his sons carried.
“Sophia…”
My name was said in a strange, low whisper, and for a moment
I froze as hands fell on my shoulders.
“Look at ye, lass.”
I smiled and turned to see Cullen’s brother with his dark,
whiskey-colored eyes and raven’s-wing hair. A touch of gray at the temples made
him look dignified. “Liam, I’m so glad to see you.” I hugged him back. He lived
fairly close and was over for dinner at least twice a week.
“Aren’t ye a fine bit of stuff! For the life of me, I can’t
be figurin’ why ye’re still with that gobdaw brother of mine.”
“Did ye hear that, Cullen?” One of the cousins, Ewan, called
out. “Liam’s after ye’re wan.”
“Go ’way from her ye bloody jealous maggot, always after me
scooter growin’ up too,” Cullen called back.
“Oh, here we go,” I said, preparing myself for their playful
banter, most of which was lost on me.
Liam drew me in for a kiss on the cheek and lowered his
voice, practically whispering into my ear. “I saw ye first.”
I smiled at the harmless peck. They were always teasing,
although I couldn’t help but think sometimes Liam took it too far, especially
for a priest. He let go and looked back at Cullen, who finished hugging his
aunt on the other side of the table and strutted toward us.
“Hold tight. I’m on my way to rescue ye, luv.”
“No rescue necessary,” Liam said, grinning. “I’m a man of
the cloth.”
“Bit of a holy joe is more like it,” Cullen slung back.
Ewan, the youngest of the three, jumped to his feet and
pretended to step between them. Both Cullen and Liam gave their cousin a
friendly shove, then gave each other a loving pat on the back as they hugged.
Cullen turned to me. “Ye sure ye’re all right, luv?”
“I’m perfect,” I said, finally beginning to relax. I’d made
up my mind. I was going to tell him tonight, come hell or high water.
“Brilliant.” He kissed my forehead, his lips soft and warm
on my skin. “I’ll miss ye next week. Ye gonna keep busy?” He fiddled nervously
with his jacket pocket. It wasn’t like Cullen to fiddle; I gave his hand a
squeeze. He was traveling to London tomorrow on business. He would only be gone
four days, but he was never home long before he had to jet off again.
“I thought maybe I’d go to that fundraiser—see if one of
your cousins wanted to tag along—and of course the bridal shower is the next
day.” Maybe that was why he was so jittery. He knew I didn’t like being without
him, and he’d mentioned once or twice the guilt he felt over leaving.
Someone clinked their fork off a glass and the musical
tinkling made me look up.
“O’Kelley Clan, can I get yer attention up here for a
moment?” Da called.
A champagne bottle opened with a satisfying pop.
“If ye haven’t noticed already, there’s a bit of the bubbly
being passed about, so set aside the whiskey and grab one.”
The table quieted and we took our seats.
“I’d like to propose a toast to the lovely lass sitting at
Cullen’s side.” Da raised his glass, and all eyes turned to me.
“Here here,” Cullen said. “To my Sophia.”
My glass clinked against his. “What’s going on?” I
whispered.
He’d switched out my glass as the tray went by and now gave
me his best I-have-no-idea look, extending an arm around my shoulders and
pulling me in tight.
“T’was a year ago today she fell into our lives from Sainte
Marguerite Island—or perhaps it was the sky, ’cause surely that one there’s an
angel.”
“Quit stealin’ his lines, John,” Lucille chided smartly
before he could go on.
The room roared with laughter.
“Aw sure look it. I did, didn’t I? Sorry, Son. Well then
here’s another stolen line while I’m at it: to women’s kisses, and to whiskey,
amber clear. Not as sweet as a woman’s kiss, but a darn sight more sincere!
Anyway, Cullen, don’t run away now.”
“Yea, thanks, Da!”
The laughter faded as Cullen pushed his chair back and
stood, pulling me gently to stand with him.
“Not sure how to follow that up, but how about: to
passionate people, beautiful futures, and lovely lasses who fall from the
heavens,” he said, knocking glasses with me. Clinks echoed all around, and I
smiled as he set his flute down.
Then he lowered to one knee.
He grinned up at me—so charming and gorgeous. His green
eyes, as always, were mesmerizing. They had flecks of gold in them that clung
to the edges and danced in the center, like they were on fire. My heart beat so
loudly in my ears that it almost drowned out the “awws” and “oohs.”
“Ye’re already mine, lass, in every way possible and I am
yers, but I want the world to know,” he said, taking my free hand. Someone took
the glass of champagne from the other one, as I was shaking so badly. The black
velvet box squeaked open, and his aunts gasped in unison, as if on cue.
“Will ye make me the happiest man in Ireland, Aevil, and
join our O’Kelley Clan?” He kissed my fingers as I stared down at him.
The marble-sized rock in the box swirled, and doubled in
front of my eyes. Deep purple amethyst with a thin frame of diamonds, set in
pink gold and accentuated with a slender shank and crescent details.
I looked past the ring, into his eyes, and found him still
staring directly at me. He’d removed the ring from the box and was holding it
out, ready to place it on my finger.
He cleared his throat. “It was my
great-great-great-grandmother’s and I thought ye might appreciate it, since ye
were so intrigued with her portrait.”
I nodded, trying to smile through the confusion, but my head
swam with random bursts of chatter, the fiddle, and all the thoughts flooding
me at once, mostly that Cullen had just proposed to me with the missing Purple
Delhi Sapphire ring. A bead of sweat ran down the side of my cheek as the ring
touched the tip of my finger.
Cullen’s face began to distort. A shimmery haze had fallen
over the room as if the desert were closing in. The vibration from the ring
traveled up my arm, and the room began to shift and blur at the edges. Another
room, a darker room, was coming into focus. I could still hear Cullen’s aunt
ordering someone to get me a glass of water.
There was something I should remember. Water. Rochus
said water was necessary to ease the pain of time travel. Maybe this was what
it felt like without. I tried to blink away the heat, tried to stop myself from
going, but I couldn’t. The edges of the room were burning away fast now, like a
Polaroid scorched by flames. I could hear the trickling of the fountain in the
corner. I ran for it, or at least I intended to, but it was too late.
Reviews:
“Ms. Stapleton's, The
Curse of the Purple Delhi Sapphire, is extraordinary! She brings us the story
of Sophia Marcil, a quiet librarian, who has found love in this life but is
haunted by and trying to break the trail of destruction and death that has
haunted her through many lives. If you want a great mystery, enjoy the idea of
time travel and/or like a wonderful romance - do not hesitate to delve into
this one.” — Book
Me Mel Paranormal Romance and Authors
that Rock
“Plenty of twists, a
sprinkle of humor and a whodunit with a surprising ending, Curse reminds me of
great old story telling, but with a fresh and vital voice.” —Author A.B.
Funkhauser
“Just barely surfacing
from her dangerous travel into the 1800’s…Sophia has become part of a lethal
adventure in the 1920’s. She is haunted by the same curse—the never-broken,
deadly hunt for the possession of the Purple Delhi Sapphire, which has been
plaguing her lifetimes over…Rachael writes in a way that is intriguing enough
to keep the pages turning. Each scene segues into the next with new
information, new conflicts, new prospects, new possibilities, new theories, and
new revelations…In Rachael’s storytelling, there is never a dull moment. Her
imagination is one of her greatest strengths as a writer.” —Lacey
Crowe Best Book Reviews and Edits
“Twists, turns, great
characters, and time travel ... what's not to love! This was a fantastic read!
Can't wait for book 3!” —Author Marissa
Campbell
Book
One Trailer: http://goo.gl/6vtX2r
Book
Two Trailer: http://youtu.be/VCeG9eA09Fg
About the Author: Rachel Stapleton lives in a Second Empire
Victorian with her husband and two children in Ontario, Canada and enjoys
writing in the comforts of aged wood and arched dormers. She is the author of
The Temple of Indra’s Jewel, Curse of the Purple Delhi Sapphire and is
currently working on the third and most likely final book in the Temple of
Indra series.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RaquelleJaxson
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