BLOG TOUR with GUEST POST and EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT: Eli Easton of 'Tender Mercies'
Title: Tender Mercies
Series: Men of Lancaster County #2
Author: Eli Easton
Published: October 27, 2017
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Brooke Albrecht
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Erotic Romance
Length: 216 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Animals: Farm; First Time; Forbidden Love; May/December; Religion/Faith; Standalone; HEA; CW: Physical Abuse
About Tender Mercies
Eddie Graber’s dream of a sanctuary for rescued farm animals was about to come true when his partner backed out at the last minute. Now Eddie risks losing the twenty-five acre property in Lancaster County—and all the hopes he held for it—before the project even gets off the ground. He needs help, he needs money, but most importantly, he needs to rediscover the belief in a higher purpose that brought him here in the first place.
Samuel Miller worked hard to fit into his Amish community despite his club foot. But when his father learns Samuel is gay, he is whipped and shunned. With just a few hundred dollars to his name, Samuel responds to an ad for a farmhand and finds himself employed by a city guy who has strange ideas about animals, no clue how to run his small farm, and a gentle heart.
Samuel isn’t the only lost soul to serendipitously find his way to Meadow Lake Farm. There’s Fred and Ginger, two cows who’d been living in a garage, a gang of sheep, and a little black pig named Benedict who might be the key to life, love, money—and even a happily ever after for two castoffs.
A First Kiss
I’m celebrating the release of Tender Mercies, a romance set on a farm very much like the one I live on with my family. It’s the second book in the Men of Lancaster County series, though it features a new couple and can be read as a standalone. What each book in this series has in common is being set in Lancaster County, a rural area of Pennsylvania where there are a lot of Amish and Mennonite.
The protagonists in Tender Mercies are Eddie, a city guy who moved to the country to start a farm sanctuary, and Samuel, a young Amish man kicked out of his community for being gay. Samuel, having nowhere else to go, finds a job as a farmhand on Eddie’s farm.
As a reader, and a writer, my absolute favorite moment of any romance is the first kiss. That’s the moment when “maybe” becomes “yes”, when dreams become reality, and where the potential of a whole new future sparks to life. This is a moment not to be rushed. In most of my romances, it’s a moment of supreme longing and that’s especially the case in Tender Mercies.
Below is Samuel and Eddie’s first kiss.
I hope you enjoy this and the rest of Tender Mercies.
Eli Easton
The next few days brought a heat wave with temperatures close to 100 and nights that stayed cloyingly warm without even a thunderstorm to release the pressure. On one such hot night, Samuel couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t stand covers or even pajamas, so he allowed himself the luxury of lying naked in bed, his skin exposed to catch any trace of breeze from the open window. He could never have lain like this in his father’s house. His nakedness, in and of itself, was a temptation that sank its claws into him, making his groin heavy and full and denying him sleep.
He wanted. He was like a parched field of young shoots, dying for rain. He needed touch. Contact. Anything. Lord, please.
The want had grown worse since they went to Tally Ho three weeks ago. Samuel had hoped maybe…. But no. Eddie seemed uncomfortable that night, and ever since, he kept saying the word friends. Like I’m glad we can be friends, Sam.
Samuel didn’t have much experience with liking and being liked, but he was pretty sure Eddie was saying “friends” so much because he didn’t want Samuel to get ideas into his head. He didn’t know why Eddie didn’t want to lie with him, or even if that really was so. Eddie didn’t have someone else. Surely he had needs too. Surely he was sick and tired of wanting. Samuel thought about how he’d decided to take a lesson from Benny and not be so afraid to just… ask. Ask for affection and expect it to be answered. What was the worst that could happen?
Someone had to make a move. Or as the Mennonite they’d met at Tally Ho, David, had said, a man should follow his natural instinct. Why shouldn’t Samuel listen to his?
The want drove him from his bed. He put on a pair of pajama bottoms but nothing else. He slipped from his room in the middle of the night and moved to the front of the house. He stood in the hallway outside Eddie’s bedroom, where a night-light cast deep shadows on the wall. He crossed his arms, nervously squeezing his own biceps.
The want was strong enough to bring him here, standing outside Eddie’s bedroom with the toes of his good foot digging into the carpet and his bare chest prickled by the stillness of the night. His too-large cotton PJ bottoms hung off his hipbones and off the merciless bulge that would not let him have any peace.
But he didn’t have the courage to knock on the door and awaken Eddie from his sleep. What right did Samuel have to intrude on him that way? Even if Eddie were willing to take Samuel to his bed, even if, surely Eddie wouldn’t be in the mood if he was woken up.
Still, Samuel craved touch so badly he thought he might die. It didn’t even have to be sexual, just… he needed to feel like he was worthy of being held, that he was visible and real, young and alive. Not ugly. Not unlovable. Not forgotten.
He stood there for a long time, maybe ten minutes, kneading his biceps with his fingers, his mind dabbling in speculation, fantasy, and fear.
He imagined Eddie welcoming him.
He imagined Eddie turning him away.
All of a sudden, the bedroom door opened and Eddie stumbled out. He wore a thin undershirt and boxer briefs. In the dim light, Eddie looked half-asleep, hair rumpled, eyes half-lidded, face slack. His legs and arms had dark hair, and the sight turned Samuel’s need up a notch. Eddie took a step toward the bathroom before seeing Samuel and coming to an abrupt stop.
“Sam?” His voice was groggy. He shook his head and wiped a hand over his face, trying to wake up. “What’s wrong? Is something wrong with the animals?”
Samuel shrank inside, feeling foolish. “No! Nothin’s wrong. I just….” Confronted with the real Eddie standing there looking at him blankly, all of Samuel’s courage and irrational hopes deserted him. He had no idea what to say.
“Give me a sec.” Eddie vanished into the bathroom, and Sam heard the toilet flush and the sink run. When Eddie came back out, he seemed a lot more awake. “Now what’s going on?”
Samuel couldn’t say what it was he wanted. Benny might be brave enough to ask for affection, but Samuel found it just too hard. “Sorry,” he muttered. “It wasn’t nothin’.” He turned to go.
“Sam?” Eddie grabbed his arm. His grip lightened as soon as Samuel stopped but didn’t go away. “You can talk to me. Do you want to….”
Eddie trailed off awkwardly. What had he been about to say? Do you want to go downstairs and have some coffee? Do you want to talk? Do you want to come to my bed?
A shiver wracked Samuel’s body in a harsh little rush at the very thought.
“I’m not sick” was all he could think of to say. Good heavens, he thought. If animals were this dumb, they’d never have babies. He forced himself to straighten his spine and turn, forced himself to look Eddie in the eyes. He took a deep breath. “I like you.”
Eddie’s mouth smiled, but his eyebrows frowned as if he were confused. “Uh… I like you too?”
“No, not like that.” Samuel said, frustrated. “I want….” He couldn’t say it. Couldn't. He growled in frustration.
“Sam.” Eddie firmed his grip on Samuel’s arm. Samuel could easily have gotten out of his grasp, but he let Eddie pull him closer until they were facing each other in the dimly lit hall. Eddie studied his face as if hoping to find there the thing Samuel couldn’t say.
Eddie dropped his gaze to Samuel’s bare chest then lower, and his breath hitched as if he’d suddenly realized something. He took another step closer and looked into Samuel’s eyes, his gaze intent. He held Samuel’s wrist in a light hold that burned with heat.
All the air left the hallway.
Samuel swallowed, the sound loud in the quiet of the night. “I ain’t never been with anyone,” he whispered. “Not really. I fooled around a little. But not….”
The words dried up. Eddie was standing so close Samuel felt lightheaded. Without thinking, he grasped Eddie’s waist with his free hand to steady himself, soft cotton under his fingers. Eddie had hold of his wrist, and Samuel held Eddie’s waist, and it was like they were connected in a circle that coursed with energy.
“We can. If you want to,” Samuel whispered. “If you don’t want to, that’s okay. I know I’m not… not much of a prize. With my—”
“Stop.” Eddie tightened his grip.
Samuel was happy to stop since he didn’t really want to say it out loud. Normally he didn’t have a problem with his foot. But here, in this moment, when he needed so badly, he didn’t want to think about how he might fall short.
Lord, he’d just admitted it out loud. If you want to. He’d just told Eddie he could do anything to him. And even now, when he felt so nervous he wished the earth would open up and swallow him whole, even now, his body wanted. He was so stiff with lust. Surely Eddie had noticed.
He wanted Eddie to notice, he thought wickedly.
Warm breath ghosted his face. He felt Eddie sigh. “You’re so beautiful, Sam. You have no idea how beautiful you are.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.” Eddie let go of Samuel’s wrist so he could take his face in both hands, gentle as anything. His brown eyes were black in the dim light, but Samuel thought he saw warmth there. “You’re beautiful. And so young. Of course I want to, but…. Are you sure about this? I can’t promise you anything. I’m not sure how things are going to work out, and I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You don’t have to promise me anythin’,” Samuel assured him, even though his heart sank at the words.
Eddie was looking at Samuel like he was torn, like he was tempted but not sure. Eddie was always trying to do the right thing, and mostly that was good, but at the moment, Samuel wanted none of it. The trace of Eddie’s fingertips along Samuel’s jaw sent shivers through his entire body, like his were the hands of fate, his touches like stitches in the tapestry woven of Samuel’s life. And Samuel wasn’t going to let him pull away again.
He reached out, grabbing desperate handfuls of Eddie’s undershirt. “Never wanted anythin’ more in my life. And I’m not young at all.”
Samuel leaned forward and pressed his mouth to Eddie’s. From one heartbeat to the next, Eddie gave in. He pulled Samuel closer and opened eagerly to the kiss. Thank you, God.
Don’t miss Tracy and Annie’s Banter Buddies review recommendations of Tender Mercies where they talk favorite characters, scenes, endearments, quotes, and more!
Meet the Author
Having been, at various times and under different names, a minister’s daughter, a computer programmer, a game designer, the author of paranormal mysteries, a fan fiction writer, an organic farmer and a profound sleeper, Eli is happily embarking on yet another incarnation as a m/m romance author.
As an avid reader of such, she is tickled pink when an author manages to combine literary merit, vast stores of humor, melting hotness and eye-dabbing sweetness into one story. She promises to strive to achieve most of that most of the time. She currently lives on a farm in Pennsylvania with her husband, three bulldogs, three cows and six chickens. All of them (except for the husband) are female, hence explaining the naked men that have taken up residence in her latest fiction writing.
For more from Eli be sure and visit her website!
