Old Town Magic - Coming soon from The Wild Rose Press   Nomianted for TRS CAPA Award 2006 in the Fantasy Romance category Nominated for Ecataromance Reviewers' Choice Award... A futuristic tale set in Edinburgh's atmospheric Old Town... Thirty years ago, a virus swept through the United Kingdom, decimating the population and splitting the country into isolated city states. Even within Edinburgh, the city is divided into separate quarantined zones, with those at highest risk of illness herded into the overcrowded and crime-ridden Old Town, and treated as untouchables.

Catriona Davidson is a lawyer, part of the wealthy, low-risk elite who run the city. Unhappy in her marriage and bored with her dull life, she secretly takes an evening job singing in a rough Old Town bar. Here, among the colourful and aggressively independent regulars, she falls in love with an attractive young street magician who is more than he appears...

When she seeks his help to find her missing husband, she begins to see the injustices of the regime through the Magician's eyes. Determined to help and to seek the truth, however unpalatable, they both find themselves at a crossroads of impossible choices.

Reviews:

"Old Town Magic has truly captured the magic of finding new love.  The Magician is a mysterious and oh so sexy who finds himself experiencing feelings that he never imagined he would feel and in situations which could easily spiral out of his control.  Through it all, his attraction to Cat is obvious and heartwarming.  Cat is a woman breaking out of her shell and finding that she is more than she ever thought possible. Falling in love was not in her plans. I found myself drawn deeply into Cat and Magic’s tale and didn’t want it to end.  The love scenes, including the hot and heavy dance they share, were highly erotic and extremely sensual leaving this reader breathless and wanting more.  There are several secondary characters and each adds more definition and depth to an already engrossing story.  The many characters Cat encounters in Old Town are unique and interesting and I hope that Ms. Treanor has plans to go back to visit Old Town in the future.  I would love to know what happens with Dot, the Hacker, the Pianist, Clown and so many others. 

"I recommend that you log on to the Triskelion website and purchase Old Town Magic for yourself.  You won’t be able to put this one down until you’ve read every word.  Ms. Treanor has truly created magic with this amazing love story."  - 5 Red Roses, Robin, My Book Cravings

"Old Town Magic by Marie Treanor is truly a fascinating love story filled with laughter, passion, and intrigue. The concept of a virus spreading to an epidemic and the pharmaceutical companies gaining control of the country was intriguing and almost frightening when you think it might be able to happen. The characters are colorful, each with their own story of survival. Catriona is married, wealthy, respectable, and very bored. She had a low self esteem from the treatment she received from her parents and her unfaithful husband. She comes alive when she goes to the Old Town where the high riskers were kept. She sees people who know how to live life to its fullest in spite of their circumstances. Magic is a man of many talents. He was a highly skilled street magician. Handsome and quiet he had an air of mysteriousness about him that attracted everyone to him. Men and women both desired to be his friend and lover. He mostly kept to himself until you needed him and he was always a friend a person could count on being there. He was instantly attracted to Catriona but he thought she could not care for a shabby street magician. Through misunderstandings there comes a love that is romantic and highly passionate. He steals the heart of this reader. It is easy to see why Catriona falls so hard for him. The sex scenes are explicitly described in delicious details that are steamy and creative. The background story of the virus and what it is about is fascinating, intriguing and adds excitement to the story. A wondrously fascinating story filled with romance, passion and the excitement of intrigue, this story is highly recommended to all readers." - 5 hearts, Anita, The Romance Studio

"...Old Town Magic is a scintillating story about the magic of romance and discovering love in the most unlikely place. Catriona and the Magician steamed up the pages with their sexy and explicit relationship that at times I had to stop reading just to calm myself down. All the characters in Old Town Magic just seemed to suit the story, even the baddies and the storyline just seemed to flow from start to finish. Marie Treanor has written a book that has characters you will fall in love with and those that you just love to hate but all in all one of overcoming obstacles to achieve exactly what you want from life." - 4 stars, Sheryl, eCataromance

"...I really enjoyed this one. Cat is a very sympathetic and likeable character. Old Town Magic is mysterious and sexy and when The Magician and Cat get together, it is even better. The supporting characters are very colorful and add a lot to the story. The story is filled with action and suspense, as well as some sizzling hot love scenes." - 4 cups, Maura, Coffee Time Romance

"This story has some erotic love scenes. I enjoyed this story. Reading it made me think of what I might do if I'd been raised in those circumstances. Magic was such a hot male character, that I am a little envious of Catriona. This is a really good read. Buy it." - 5 magic wands, Night Owl, Enchanted Ramblings

Excerpts:

First, an early encounter, while Catriona is singing in the bar.  Scroll down to find out how things warm up in the second excerpt.

      That was when she saw the Magician come into the bar, his long coat swinging around him as he walked. The top-hat had disappeared, his untidy dark hair gleamed blue under the flickering neon light where he paused for a moment, looking toward the source of the music.

      Catriona’s heart jolted – stupidly she knew. She was over thirty years old, not a teenager. But there was something very attractive about the Magician. The way he moved within the enveloping coat, quick and lithe, was really an invitation to see what lay underneath it. She couldn’t help liking the way he smiled, crinkling all the skin around his dark eyes… and his straight, direct gaze was still on her as she sang.

      Catriona Davidson Whithorn, lawyer and privileged low risker, would have looked away, avoiding any unnecessary complications. Cat, the Old Town singer, was suddenly proud to have his attention. She even smiled at him, straight back into his eyes with quite conscious boldness as she sang the aching words, “Lover man, oh where can you be…?”

      The Magician moved slightly as someone brushed past him. Leaning one shoulder against the bar’s grubby walls, so that his face was half in shadow, he never once took his eyes off her. And so she sang to him, blatantly, because she wanted to, and it felt good.

       “Huggin’ and kissin’, Oh what I’ve been missin’…”

        More than good, it was exciting, almost like making love to him, this attractive, high risk stranger, through the song’s sensual longing - a disturbing thought that gave her voice an added breathlessness she hadn’t actually intended.

       So, because she was in control, she forced her eyes at last to wander past him around the bar-room as she came to the last line. He was no longer in her vision. Her voice plaintive, she made the song’s final plea unaccompanied, and bowed her head.

      A split second’s total silence, and then tumultuous applause nearly knocked her backwards with its force. Raising her head with a delighted smile at their shouts, she saw the Magician finally move his shoulder off the wall and begin to walk towards the bar.

      Then the Pianist was beside her. “You were amazing, girl,” he growled, readjusting his eye-patch. “For that, I’ll buy you drinks all night! Come on!”
Still breathless from emotion as much as the actual singing, Catriona laughingly allowed herself to be led off the slightly raised dais to the table from where Dot was already leaping up to hug her.

      “Mess up?” she squeaked, harking back to her friend’s earlier fear. “Was that you messing up?”

      “I don’t honestly know,” Catriona said shakily, thinking more of her behavior than her singing, and flopping gratefully into the nearest hard wooden chair.

      “Take my word for it,” Dot advised. “Wasn’t she wonderful?” she demanded of the patch-sweatered man who grinned, gave a quick cough and said hoarsely, “Best thing this bar’s ever seen.”

      “This is the Hacker, by the way,” Dot said. “Hacker, my friend Cat. Oh and the Magician we’ve met already tonight if you recall! Hey Magic, this is Cat!”

      Catriona looked up, her heart thumping, and there he was again, still in his long coat, a small glass of some amber liquid in his hand, which he raised to her in a silent toast, inclining his head as he did so. In the same spirit, Catriona nodded back. Though his lips curved slightly upwards, his expression was unreadable.

       In any case, he threw himself into the chair beside the Hacker, and laid his glass on the table. It seemed he was staying.

*

      To her surprise, instead of letting her precede him towards the other dancers, whose swaying shadows flickered crazily up the far wall, he casually took her hand, leading her in among them. His fingers felt strong, rough, capable. She knew they would have to be sensitive and flexible for his act. Perhaps it was that which made his touch so exciting. After all, she had never touched a high risker before…

     The Magician turned in the middle of the throng to face her, raising her hand to shoulder height while placing his other palm lightly in the small of her back. He was tall, broad-shouldered under the long coat, the lapels of which pushed against the silk of her dress.

      The Pianist had done with liveliness and rock. He was onto ballads and softer music that it was easy to sway to. So she did, relaxing and letting her body decide for itself how to move. The other dancers were very close, occasionally even brushing against her and Catriona, too used to the sheer space of the Low Risk Zone, was uncomfortably aware of their body-heat, their smell. Yet the novelty of it all only added to the strange excitement building within her.

     After a moment, very conscious of his warm hand at her waist, she lifted her eyes from the mesmerizing shadows to the Magician’s face.

     “You don’t say much, do you?” she challenged. And at last he smiled, the sort of smile he had given her with the flowers in the High Street. Annoyingly, it caught at her breath.

     “Well, you don’t say much yourself,” he observed. “Or at least not to me.”

     “What would you like me to say?”

     “That I’m the handsomest, sexiest man you’ve ever met. And the best magician you’ve ever seen.”

     Her surprised laughter was slightly breathless. “All right,” she said amiably. “You’re the handsomest, sexiest man I’ve ever met, and the best magician.”

     “That’s the stuff,” he approved. “For what it’s worth, you’re the loveliest, most intriguing woman I’ve ever seen – and one day I hope you’ll mean what you say.”

     Wildly, she realized that she had no idea if either of them meant what they were saying. Worse, she didn’t care. The music was sweet, she was Cat who could move people with her songs, and something strong and probably wicked was attracting her quite powerfully to the young man who held her so lightly.

     One day I hope you’ll mean what you say…

     Tilting her head with unconscious provocation so that her hair swung back from her flushed cheeks, she said, “What makes you think I don’t?”

     There was an infinitesimal pause, in which she realized she had actually surprised him: though his face gave nothing away, it had lost its faintly teasing expression. Then he smiled.

     “Innate modesty,” he said lightly. “But it’s not inexhaustible, so don’t tempt me.”

     As if to explain himself, his arm slid further round her waist, drawing her closer. Quite naturally, Catriona lifted her free hand to his broad shoulder. Now she could feel the warmth off his body.  The open coat had flopped to either side of her and within it seemed suddenly a very tempting prospect - hard and lean and fit…

     His thumb moved on her hand, brushing the soft, sensitive skin between her thumb and forefinger, sending unexpected little shivers up her arm and down her body. Oh dear she thought in sudden panic. How long since she had been this close to a man…?

     Then he spoke again, and for some reason his voice calmed the panic, even while his breath on her ear aroused a different disturbance.

     “Like your dress,” he said, moving his other hand subtly, caressingly around her naked back. “Where did you get it?”

     “Oh it’s just some old thing I found at the back of my wardrobe…”

     His body seemed to vibrate with silent laughter and Catriona, who realized belatedly that here in the Old Town such a remark was clearly a joke, tilted back her head again to search his face for genuine amusement. The movement brought her breasts in contact with his chest, forcing her to acknowledge the tightness of her nipples and their growing hardness.

     She knew he must feel it through the thin shirt he wore, but he just smiled at her and she felt quite unashamed of her arousal. Her body, still going its own way, swayed nearer him without quite touching below the waist. Then she swung her hips provocatively, this time just brushing against him. With a delicious shock of excitement, she felt his erection already huge and hard in the frayed jeans he wore, and knew a strange triumph that she could arouse him so.

     Emboldened, she slid her hand from his shoulder up around his neck, subtly swaying her body into his. She felt his breath catch and quicken and smiled into his neck, inhaling the warm, oddly clean smell of his skin, free of all the after-shaves and body sprays that were the fashion in her own world. As if he sensed the smile, his hand moved against her back, pressing her into him, making her gasp as their hips fitted together. The height difference didn’t seem to matter. His rock-hard erection was throbbing into her abdomen, the sensuous movement of his thighs and hips pressing against her crotch, blatantly arousing.

     And God, she was aroused. Between her legs, she was already hot and damp. Clamped into him, her hips following his in perfect rhythm without need of the guiding hand caressing her back, slipping lower across her buttocks, she felt as intimate as if they were making love. And that was the second time this evening…

     Breathless laughter caught in her throat. The heat of his thrusting crotch, the feel of his warm chest against her breasts was unbelievably sexy. Her mouth went dry with a desire stronger than any she had felt in years, and it was getting worse. Dancing like this was torture and delight, pain and pleasure, but my God, the pleasure was winning. She thought that with just a little more contact, a little more help, she would come all on her own…

     As if he heard the thought, he moved his leg deliberately, bending his knee so that the top of his thigh just touched the hot tenderness between hers. The silk of her dress, the cotton of her underwear between them didn’t seem to matter.

     Involuntarily, her fingers tangled in the soft hair at the back of his head, gripping. His head lowered towards her, his breath tickling her ear as he said low, “I see we both like to dance…”

     And something else, his tongue surely, flickered across her lobe, making her gasp.

     She said, “Dancing. Is that what we’re doing?” His hand released hers, coming to rest instead with its partner on her buttocks, gently kneading her into his hard cock.

     “You say,” the Magician suggested softly...

*

Excerpts are unedited and unproofed and may differ slightly from the published version.  Copyright Marie Treanor 2006.

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