![\"Hunter](\"http:\/\/www.elenahan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/hunter.jpg\")
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Lord Duinel only returns home once a year, when something savage rides across his lands under a moonless sky. He’s resigned to the curse — until he meets Nimae, a young woman at ease in the stables and the woods. She intrigues him; she makes him laugh. And although she’s been marked as the dark hunter’s next prey, Duinel’s determined not to let her be taken.<\/p>\n
A fantasy erotic romance story of 8,000 words.<\/em><\/p>\n Released March 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n On sale at:<\/p>\n An excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n The knight rode into Morahan at sunset, and found waiting in the stables no grooms, only a young woman sitting with a distracted expression on her face as she studied something on her palm: seed pods, he saw, shaped like quails\u2019 eggs. He coughed and she leapt to her feet, cheeks blazing scarlet.<\/p>\n \u201cMy lord,\u201d she said, and although straw clung to her clothes and her hair was all askew, he noticed that she had kept hold of the seeds, which she slipped into a pocket. \u201cI\u2019ll see to your horse.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll stay to make sure he behaves. He doesn\u2019t take well to most people.\u201d Kir, his stallion, snorted as though to agree.<\/p>\n But she came to Kir fearlessly, somehow both forthright and gentle in her manner. \u201cI know horses, my lord.\u201d She took something out of her other pocket\u2014an apple\u2014and cut out a thin slice with quick movements. Kir accepted her offering, and even tolerated her touch as she ran her hands down his legs and picked up his feet to check for stones.<\/p>\n \u201cI can see that you do,\u201d he said in wonder. \u201cWhat are you, one of the wood-fae, to so effortlessly charm animals?\u201d<\/p>\n He caught only a glimpse of her laughing eyes before she bent to brushing Kir\u2019s hindquarters. \u201cNo, my lord. I work in the stables; that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou weren\u2019t here when I came last year.\u201d<\/p>\n She shook her head; more hair fell out of the hopeless, failing knot she\u2019d made of it at her nape. He resisted the urge to pull the rest of it free. \u201cI came to work here almost exactly a year ago, when I needed a place to keep Imri. She gets board, and I get to be near her everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked where she gestured: the corner stall. He walked over and saw a fine mare standing within, who gazed at him with a sleepy but intelligent eye. She was built for speed, for dancing on winds. She was no stable-girl\u2019s horse.<\/p>\n \u201cHow did you come by her?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Her back stiffened. \u201cI didn\u2019t steal her. She was gifted to me, by a knight I found injured near my cottage. His name was Lord Euwain. I tended to him in his last days. He had no kin, he said, so he told me to keep what I wanted of his, except his sword, which he wanted returned to the lord of Morahan. That\u2019s how I came to be here\u2014the steward gave me a place once he heard my tale.\u201d<\/p>\n He was quiet a moment, thinking of his fellow knight lingering near death. \u201cI didn\u2019t mean to insult you,\u201d he said, and her tense shoulders eased a bit. \u201cI\u2019m glad one of my comrades found peace under your care.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wish I could have done more,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I only know a small bit about herbs and healing. I\u2019m trying to learn as much as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThose seed pods,\u201d he said, remembering.<\/p>\n She smiled. \u201cYes. They\u2019re from the royal balsam plan. If you flick them open\u201d\u2014she demonstrated by pulling one out and tapping it hard with her fingernail, whereupon it split open\u2014\u201cthey\u2019ll scatter their seeds, which are useful for clearing fevers when ground and boiled with water. But if you manage to coax them open\u2026\u201d This time she stroked the felted skin with a delicacy that made him suddenly wish she was stroking something else. The seed pod slowly unfurled like a shy maiden blossom. \u201cThen the seeds can be used for clear sight, which is often just as useful, if not more so.\u201d<\/p>\n There was something about her delight in the discovery that drew him in as well. He\u2019d known ladies of argent blood and peerless beauty. This disheveled stable creature intrigued him even so. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNimae,\u201d she said, blinking.<\/p>\n \u201cI am Duinel,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the stallion you see to is Kir.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s beautiful,\u201d she said, stroking Kir\u2019s neck. Then she gave Duinel a sly look. \u201cHow did you come by him?\u201d<\/p>\n She surprised a laugh out of him. \u201cWe\u2019ve been companions for a long time, ever since he was born a foal here.\u201d He patted the stallion\u2019s muzzle affectionately.<\/p>\n It took her a moment to absorb this. \u201cYou\u2019re the lord of Morahan.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lord Duinel only returns home once a year, when something savage rides across his lands under a moonless sky. He’s resigned to the curse — until he meets Nimae, a young woman at ease in the stables and the woods. She intrigues him; she makes him laugh. And although she’s been marked as the dark […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-releases","tag-hunter-on-a-moonless-night"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.elenahan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.elenahan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.elenahan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.elenahan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.elenahan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.elenahan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200,"href":"http:\/\/www.elenahan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions\/200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.elenahan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.elenahan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.elenahan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n