ALL OF COURT'S MEN: DANTE

It's time for our weekly peek at Courtney Cole's delicious men! In this week's installment of All of Court's Men, we're taking a look at Dante Giliberti from Courtney's young adult contemporary novel, Dante's Girl. This sounds like an amazing book set in an incredible location.

Dante

Excerpt

“Why do you look sad?” I ask.  “You live in a beautiful country with the world at your fingertips.  Your dad is amazing and nice and you’re a billionaire.  What could possibly make you sad?”

Dante studies me, his cobalt eyes serious, his expression unreadable.

“Let’s go for a walk,” he finally says.  “Someplace quieter.”

A quiet place with Dante?  Yes, Please!

I scramble to my feet and walk with him through the crowd again, this time oblivious to the stares.  He has a huge stride and I find myself hurrying to keep up, two steps for every one of his.  He weaves us through the people and out the doors in record time.

Before I know it, we are on a terrace.  In the dark.  Under the stars.

With Dante.

This may as well be Heaven.

In fact, it might actually be.

Have I died and didn’t realize it?

I flex my fingers and poke at my thigh.

My mind is fuzzy and I feel like I am moving slower than I actually am.  Is life in slow motion right now or is it me?  I blink hard then poke myself again.

“Are you alright?” Dante asks, watching me curiously.  I nod.

“Yep. I’ve just never had three glasses of champagne before.  In fact, I’ve never even had one.  Until now.”

I giggle at the thought and Dante smiles.

“Okay, drunk girl.  Let’s sit you down.”

He guides me to a lounger and eases me onto it.  I clutch at his arm, not wanting to let him go.  He stares down at me.

“You really have had too much to drink, haven’t you, little sunflower?”

The name warms my heart and I decide that he is the handsomest person in the world.

“Is handsomest a word?” I ask him.

He looks at me blankly.

“I don’t know,” he answers slowly.  “Why?”

“You’re the handsomest person in the world,” I announce.  “I don’t care if it’s a word or not.  You are it, one way or another.”

Dante smiles and runs a hand through his hair, as though he’s trying to decide what to do.

“Oh.  Okay.  Um, thanks?  What am I going to do with you?  You’re adorable when you are drunk.  But I made you drunk, even if it was an accident.  How was I supposed to know that you’re such a lightweight?”

He sounds like he is waging some sort of battle with himself.

“Who exactly are you arguing with?”I ask, the champagne clouding my thoughts in a very thorough way. “You will get no arguments from me tonight.  No matter what.”

He sighs, a husky and ragged sound.

It’s sexy.

Dante's Girl, by Courtney Cole
Published June 24, 2012
Publisher: Lakehouse Press
Genre:  YA Contemporary Romance
To Buy: Amazon

(Synopsis) I have spent every summer since I was ten years old with my father in London. Every summer, since I was ten years old, has been uneventful and boring.
 
Until this year.

And this year, after a freak volcanic eruption strands me far from home, I have learned these things:

1. I can make do with one outfit for three days before I buy new clothes.
2. If I hear the phrase, “You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” even one more time, I might become a homicidal maniac.
3. I am horribly and embarrassingly allergic to jellyfish.
4. I am in love with Dante Giliberti, who just happens to be the beautiful, sophisticated son of the Prime Minister of a Mediterranean paradise.
5. See number four above. Because it brings with it a whole slew of problems and I’ve learned something from every one of them.

Let’s start with the fact that Dante’s world is five light-years away from mine. He goes to black-tie functions and knows the Prime Minister of England on a first name basis. I was born and raised on a farm in Kansas and wear cut-off jeans paired with cowboy boots. See the difference?

But hearts don’t care about differences. Hearts want what they want. And mine just wants to be Dante’s girl.

My heart just might be crazy.

About the Author

Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller coasters and hates waiting and rude people.
 
Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.

Learn more about Courtney --> Website / Facebook / Twitter

All of Court's Men: LUCA

Starting this week, and for the next eight, I'm focusing on the fabulous men that have been created by the amazing Courtney Cole. Our focus for week one is the dangerous and enigmatic Luca from The Minaldi Legacy, Courtney Cole's latest book. I have to admit, he's one of Court's Men that I haven't met yet, but lemme tell you. After this introduction, I'm DYING to experience him for myself. What about you?

Luca

Excerpt

“Miss, is everything alright?”

A deep voice is calling from outside of my house.  And before I can think about it and remember that I don’t know anyone here and that a stranger really shouldn’t be outside of my house, particularly in the middle of the night, I answer.

“No.  I’m not.”

In a scant moment, a man bursts into my bedroom.

He looks startled to see that I am alone.

And I am startled because he’s alarmingly handsome.

So it appears that we are both startled as we stare at each other.

He’s dark haired, tanned, and has dark eyes.  His bangs are hanging artfully in his eyes, although the hair on the back of his head is a little shorter.  It’s a style that works for him. He’s got broad shoulders, slim hips, chiseled yet graceful features and Sweet Merciful Mary, he’s beautiful.  He’s dressed in jogging shorts and running shoes and a bead of sweat trickles down his temple.  I don’t even have time to wonder why he’s out for a run in the middle of the night before I notice that he’s also got that sexy, day-old stubble that I so love on a man.

I swallow and realize that my mouth has gone dry.

“Are you alright?” he asks, his eyes skimming over me, assessing the situation.  It’s a valid question.  I had been screaming bloody hell, after all.

I nod.  Then shake my head.

“Spider,” I whisper.

His dark eyes widen and he follows my pointing finger with his gaze.

Then he laughs, husky and rich.

“Spider,” he confirms with a nod, his dark eyes sparkling in amusement.  “It looks like you’ve got yourself a perfect specimen of the Writing Spider.”

“Writing Spider?” I repeat, watching it nervously, making sure it doesn’t try to run across the bedroom floor and up my leg. “Is it poisonous?”

Handsome Running Guy nods solemnly.

“Oh, it’s a known killer, alright.”

I gasp and lurch even further away from the hairy creature on my bed and Handsome Running Guy laughs.

“I’m sorry.  I’m only joking.  I couldn’t resist. It’s not poisonous. I think its scientific name is Black and Yellow Argiope, or something like that.  They are all over here.  But you wouldn’t know that because you’re not from here, are you?”

I shake my head again, trying not to be overly enthralled with his charming accent.

“Is it that obvious?”

He smiles and suddenly it seems like all natural sources of light are pouring into my room, originating from this man.  He’s got such a strong presence that it makes my spine tingle.  And my stomach is fluttering in a way that it hasn’t fluttered since high school.  Interesting.

He shakes his head and then holds out his hand.

“Luca Minaldi,” he tells me and his fingers are cool as he shakes my hand.

“Evangeline Talbot,” I answer.  “But my friends call me Eva.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” and his eyes agree with him as he stares at me.  “The question now is would you like for me to kill your uninvited guest or should I release him into the wilds?”

“Kill it,” I say firmly.  Slight disapproval passes over Luca’s face like a shadow.

“Are you certain?” he asks.  “It’s an amazing specimen and they do eat bugs.  Bugs can get pesky here in Malta, Evangeline.”

“You can call me Eva,” I answer.  “And if we release it into the outdoors, he might come back in.”

I shudder again at that thought.

“True,” Luca agrees.  “And so might anyone else.  Your door wasn’t locked.  And I can’t call you Eva.  We’re not yet friends.”

The Minaldi Legacy, by Courtney Cole
Published February 6, 2014
Publisher: Lakehouse Press
Genre:  dark romantic thriller
To Buy: Amazon

(Synopsis) Luca Minaldi is rich, powerful and mesmerizing. He’s also a reclusive enigma. He lives in Malta, a fairy-tale place filled with sunshine and sea, beauty and secrets. And Luca’s darkest of secrets is the best-kept of them all.

Eva Talbot moves to Malta to finish her doctoral dissertation in Psychiatry. When she meets Luca, there is a very real and instant attraction that she has never felt before. But even still, she senses the darkness that lives within him.

Eva is hired to care for Luca’s mother, a woman who suffers from dementia. It is Luca, however, that Eva will eventually risk everything to save… as the legacy that plagues him continues.

As the darkness swirls ever more tightly around her, Eva realizes that no matter how hard she tries, she might not be able to save Luca without losing herself.

Eva and Luca are thrust into a world where their love is tested and darkness reigns. Amid chaos and treachery, love and hate, Luca and Eva learn one important thing.

Love is dangerous.

But it also might be the one thing that can save them all.

About the Author

Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller coasters and hates waiting and rude people.
 
Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.

Learn more about Courtney --> Website / Facebook / Twitter