IMMORTAL PROTECTOR

Book Name: Immortal Protector

Author's Name: Claire Ashgrove

Category: M/F

Main Characters: Iain & Catherine 

Series: The Curse of the Templars

Release Date: 03/12/13

Website:  Claire's Templar Webpage

Book Description: After the brutal murder of his seraph, Iain Donnelly's salvation is eternally lost. Damned to become a dark knight of Azazel, he can no longer embrace his immortal purpose as a Templar Knight. When the archangels send him on Sabbatical to find his faith once more, his quest leads him straight into the forbidden arms of a Benedictine Sister, whom Azazel is threatening.  But this woman arouses far more than his protective instincts.  He wants her as he's wanted no other woman, and he's willing to provoke the archangels’ fury to keep her safe.

Catherine Grady has devoted herself to the fellowship of faith and forged a path of eternal dedication to a higher calling.  But when a traffic accident forces her to accept Iain's aid, she discovers that her chosen path is not what her heart craves.  Iain awakens a buried yearning to be needed and loved in a way her broken childhood denied her.  As she struggles to reconcile her desires, she stumbles into the truth about her heritage, ancient secrets, and unholy danger.  Iain's immortality is all that can protect her.

For Iain, it's an impossible choice.  The archangels have decreed if he walks away from the Templar, they will reclaim his soul.  Yet returning to the Order only guarantees his inevitable death…

WENDY’S REVIEW:  Iain and Catherine meet by chance when he helps her after she was in a car wreck. Iain knew from the moment he met her that he wanted to be with her no matter the cost.  What Catherine doesn't tell Iain is that she can not get involved in a relationship with him because she has already committed herself to the church. In Catherine's eyes she should stand by her commitment to the church but in her heart she knows that Iain is the man she has always wanted in her life.  With evil breathing down her neck, Catherine turns to the only man she feels safe with and falls into his open and waiting arms. Iain knows that Catherine is not his seraph, the only woman that can save his soul from damnation,  because his was brutally murdered but that does not keep him from wanting Catherine. He's given two choices but does he choose Catherine or his Templar brothers?
What would you give up for love? Would you give up everything in your life just to be with the one person that loves you? Read this great novella to see if Catherine and Iain give up each other in the name of religion & responsibility or if they can work everything out to be together no matter what.  
My Review: 4.5

Purchase for only $1.99 at Amazon or Barnes and Noble

For more about The Curse of the Templars, discover all the books at Claire’s Templar Webpage

Excerpt: 

Certain Iain could feel the sudden, chaotic thumping of her heart, Catherine lowered her gaze to his hand. The sight of those short manicured nails, those strong fingers so near to her breast left her momentarily incapable of mental reasoning. She willed her voice not to tremble. “It was a gift.”

            “A gift?” He slid off the desk and took a step forward, bringing that big powerful body near to hers. The faint scent of soap from a morning shower tickled her nose. She fought the urge to set her hands on his narrow hips and steady herself. She would not lean away, although she should. Sweet blue heaven above, she should move now.

            “A gift from whom?”

            Her throat felt sticky, like she’d just eaten too much peanut butter straight out of the jar. She swallowed hard. Oh, he was too close, too devastatingly near.

            He tucked his fingers beneath the medallion a little more, the shift of his hand stirring her long-neglected flesh. To her shame, her nipples tightened beneath her bra, and a layer of gooseflesh pricked her breasts. She forced her eyes away from his fingers and stared at his belt. If she looked up, he’d know without a doubt how very much he affected her. And that was one bit of truth she didn’t dare reveal.

            “From the prioress at Mount Saint Scholastica,” she answered.

            “The prioress?” Surprise lifted the normal baritone timbre of his voice.

            “Yes.” Nodding, Catherine lifted her gaze, braving those warm, inviting portals of soft brown. As her thoughts slid slowly back into place, she leaned her shoulders away. The press of his knuckles against her breast lifted, but he refused to let go of the necklace. His stare penetrated into her, curious, intense, and . . . oh, dear heavens . . . lusty.

            With a twist of her shoulders, she terminated the link between them. Her necklace thumped against her breastbone where it laid heavily, a stark reminder of how it felt to have him touch her so innocently, and yet so intimately.