Hearts Aflame Collection V: 4-Book Bundle

By Melissa F. Hart

I'm proud to offer this fifth Hearts Aflame Collection. Thank you all for your continued amazing support.

Eye of the Beholder (Lynxar Series - A Star from Far Away, Book 14)
Apple Muldoon is an artist who has fought her way tooth and nail out of a difficult time, and finally, she has achieved the skill and the recognition to show her work at one of the finest art galleries in Colossal City. At the gallery showing, she rubs shoulders with some of the city's best and brightest, including members of the city's superhero force, but the person who commands all her attention is the handsome caterer who introduces himself as Alexius Bellaron.

After a charged encounter, Apple cannot believe what she is feeling, but she would have a harder time believing that the man she spoke to was the last alien prince of a destroyed planet!

Delylah Fayre - Part 1 (Delylah Fayre, Book 1)
Bold, beautiful and brazen, Delylah Fayre has the world at her feet. One of the most successful female performers of her time, her rise from a singer in a church choir to a legendary diva has fulfilled her wildest dreams, but fame has also claimed part of her soul. What was once an exploration of herself through her music and her sexuality has transformed her into someone she no longer recognizes.

When Delylah meets infamous celebrity photographer, James Branagh, for an intimate photo shoot, she has no idea of the new direction her life is about to take. After the harrowing death of a young woman at one of her concerts, Delylah reaches a personal nadir, but in the process, also discovers a side of herself she thought she had lost, and returns home to reconnect with herself and her future.

My Only Safe Place (Hunting Hearts, Book 4)
A year after she fled Mads and his war against the angels, Tara is making a life for herself in a large anonymous city. She is finally beginning to believe that there may be some kind of life for herself and her son, Fen, but then everything changes in a single terrible moment, and the war is on her doorstep again.

Mads has never forgotten Tara, but when he realizes what she has done and who she has hidden from him, can he ever forgive her?

The Secrets of Longfellow Castle (Longfellow Series, Book 1)
University student Sophia Marshall has always been fascinated with Longfellow Castle and the rumors that it was once the home of vampires. A shy and innocent virgin, she decides to make the historic old building the subject of her thesis paper and dares to ask the current resident for an interview. Logan Longfellow is handsome and charming, and invites Sophia in for a guided tour and possibly a bite. Passion, love, and lust abound as Sophia discovers the dark secrets that Logan has been hiding behind the walls of Longfellow Castle and he shows her a part of herself she never knew existed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MFH Ink Publishing
• Release date: Sep 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310961250

Melissa F. Hart

I started writing romance fiction since I was 16 years old. I'm now a published writer thanks to the wonderful world of ebooks.I live in Canada and I love the winter months. As you can see, I wrote several books related to the winter holidays.I'm not represented by an agent and I'm a proud indie. I have learned how to create websites and edit images, design book covers, etc. All my books and what you see on this website I have created myself.I'm currently a certified accountant but my dream is to be a full-time independent writer of hot erotic romance books.

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Hearts Aflame Collection V: 4-Book Bundle

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Copyright © 2014 by Melissa F. Hart. All rights reserved worldwide.

No part of this book may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written consent of the author/publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental

http://www.melissafhart.com/

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Table of Contents

Eye of the Beholder

L - Chapter One

L - Chapter Two

L - Chapter Three

L - Chapter Four

Delylah Fayre - Part 1

My Only Safe Place

The Secrets of Longfellow Castle

V - Chapter One

V - Chapter Two

V - Chapter Three

V - Chapter Four

V - Chapter Five

V - Chapter Six

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Eye of the Beholder

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Synopsis

Apple Muldoon is an artist who has fought her way tooth and nail out of a difficult time, and finally, she has achieved the skill and the recognition to show her work at one of the finest art galleries in Colossal City. At the gallery showing, she rubs shoulders with some of the city's best and brightest, including members of the city's superhero force, but the person who commands all her attention is the handsome caterer who introduces himself as Alexius Bellaron.

After a charged encounter, Apple cannot believe what she is feeling, but she would have a harder time believing that the man she spoke to was the last alien prince of a destroyed planet!

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Chapter One

Apple Muldoon stared into the eyes of the wolf, and she took a deep breath, drawing herself up to her full five-foot height.

All right, she said. Let's do this.

The wolf she spoke to was a metal sculpture almost eight feet high. Formed from twists of shining steel and wrought iron, it was enormous and menacing, an alien predator that glared out at the world from two bright green eyes of blown glass. It was an imposing piece of art, but Apple touched its cold nose with confidence, gaining strength from it as she had throughout the year she had spent working on it.

Miss Muldoon? The first guests are coming in...

She nodded at the gallery manager, tugging at her green velvet gown self-consciously. She had done showings before, of course, but most of them were student affairs where she had been able to wear the jeans and loose peasant tops that were her uniform when she wasn't in the studio. Those events had been full of her friends and her colleagues, and when the gallery managed a cheese plate, it was a really big deal.

Now, as the first guests made their way through the enormous echoing space, painted in shades of pale green and gold especially for her art, she knew that she was far out of her depth. The Hillman Center for Fine Arts prided itself on showcasing promising visionaries and artists, and the people who entered to look at her art now were among Colossal City's prime movers and shakers. The handsome man inspecting her copper woman statue could be none other than Mayor Mike McIntyre himself, and Apple's eyes widened when an Amazonian woman with a fall of lavender hair came up behind him, linking her arm with his. They conversed quietly for a moment, and Apple felt slightly faint at the idea of Lynxonna, one of the heroes of the city, stopping to look at her work.

Apple was momentarily distracted by the gallery manager asking her a quick question, and when she turned around, it was to find the tall heroine striding up to her. Apple almost squeaked in surprise. She had seen the heroes' battles on television and countless YouTube videos, but there was something awe-inspiring about the alien woman in the flesh. She was a full half-head taller than her husband, and in a quiet corner of her mind that was not consumed by nerves, Apple longed to sculpt the broad line of her shoulders, the dramatic sweep of her hips and the fine arch of her brow. Metal wouldn't do it, but perhaps clay...

Are you the creator? Lynxonna demanded, and her voice, a low contralto, vibrated with command.

Er... yes? I think... no, yes, I am the artist.

Lynxonna looked at her with narrowed eyes, then glanced at the copper woman statue again. It was an abstract form of a woman in mid-rising from a crouch and flinging herself forward. Apple had worked with martial artist friends to get the tension right, and she was rather proud of it.

You don't look like a warrior, Lynxonna said finally. That piece captures a warrior's spirit.

Apple started to stammer an explanation, of her friends Nidia and Laquesha who had tensed and leaped over and over again, laughing at her for her insistence on capturing just the right moment, but Lynxonna waved it away.

Where I come from, no one but a warrior could capture such spirit, but you seem like a small thing.

Apple frowned at that and thrust her chin up. And where I come from, it's rude to say that people can't do the things that they did.

Lynxonna looked momentarily taken aback, but by then, the mayor had caught up to her. Up close, he was a devastatingly handsome man with rather smooth good looks, but the smile he gave to his famous wife made his face come alive with love.

Dear, I think you're scaring Ms. Muldoon. She's done amazing work; we should see all of it.

Lynxonna eyed Apple for another moment, and suddenly her face broke into a surprisingly sunny smile. If I've offended, forgive, and if I am wrong about your warrior spirit, may you teach me better, she said. Truly, your work is captures something that sings to me, and I must see more.

With nothing more than that, she took her husband by the arm and led him off to look at another piece. The mayor smiled at Apple, calling, I'd like to talk with you again in a bit!

Apple let out a deep breath and tried not to sag with relief. She couldn't imagine that many people got away with talking back to a woman who could lift and throw cars, but she had done it. The rest of the opening should be a piece of cake, comparatively.

Chapter Two

Two hours later, however, she began to think she would rather simply go one on one against the lavender-haired heroine instead of discussing her artistic vision one more time. She was growing dangerously close to telling them that she chose the materials because they were the least expensive and the most durable, the colors because she had loved them since she was a girl and that the symbolism was based on her favorite television show.

Slowly and carefully, Apple made her way to the buffet tables, where there was a delightful repast laid out. The Hillman Center spared no expense, but she quickly realized what she had before only feared. She was a small town girl who loved fast food and boxed mac and cheese. If she couldn't eat it out of her hand while drawing plans for a sculpture, she had never had much use for it.

The table was heavy with beautiful foods, cheeses she couldn't name and a tray of delicate breads that looked frail enough to shatter at a touch, and she didn't know how to eat a single bit of it. Apple glanced around at the dignitaries circulating through the gallery, and she knew that she couldn't embarrass herself in front of them. Hell, as confused as she was, she might pick up an inedible table decoration and try to eat it.

Regretfully, she started to turn away from the table, promising herself a stop at her favorite fast food drive-through as soon as the event was over, but then her stomach betrayed her with a loud rumble. Mortified, she looked up to see if anyone had caught her, but instead, all she heard were two soft giggles.

Apple spun and found herself confronted with two small girls. They both wore beautiful dresses that likely cost a month of Apple's rent, but where one girl was simply a pretty blonde, the other had soft purple hair pulled back in a French braid.

You're hungry, the purple-haired girl pointed out. There's food right there.

It's... it's not that simple, Apple said, looking around nervously. Fortunately, they were in a sheltered place by a pillar, and no one could see her conversing with the two girls. She thought