THE CURRENCY OF TIME: FLORID FIRST COAST STORIES

by Daniel Quentin Steele

Michael McCarthy is a big Irish oilman. Raised in the business, at 25 he's got a sense for where oil can be found, which means he will never be poor, has never lost a bar fight and has loved and left women on five continents. He is a happy man, until he has the misfortune of meeting 18-year-old, flame-haired Deirdre Lancaster. Deirdre is the heiress to a $150 million oil empire and wild child daughter of oil Tycoon Orion I. Lancaster Despite his misgivings, Michael allows Lancaster to talk him into babysiitting his daughter home on college break. A series of adventures leads him to a drug and alcohol-fueled night of sex with the flame-haired temptress like nothing McCarthy has ever known. Fighting every step of the way, McCarthy finds himself falling desperately in love with a woman who is not his type in any way and who he learns is desperately in love with a Russan Mafia thug. McCarthy learns that Deirdre believes she is descended from the Fey, the ancient powers that ruled ireland before the coming of Christianity And that she has placed an Irish "Geas/Geis" or spell on him "that will make you my man until you die." McCarthy doesn't believe in spells but finds himself himself married to Deirdre in two years and dreaming of the family they will raise. Until the day he comes home to find her with her Russian lover and the entire Lancaster empire involved in a complex plot to destroy his marriage and to destroy him. Unfortunately McCarthy doesn't destroy easily. There are legal battles, a $10 million check that leaves bodies in its wake in Central America, gun battles with Latin gangsters, betrayal and murder. The problem is that despite her betrayal, McCarthy continues to love Deirdre Lancaster. He runs to escape her hold on his heart, as far as he can around the world for a decade but in the end he must face her back In Jacksonville Florid where their story began. In an instant she shatters his world and before their first night together in a decade is over, he learns that virtually everything he thought he knew about their past is a lie. And that you can never escape an Irish Geas, or love. I

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 31, 2019

About the author

Daniel Quentin Steele is a Jacksonville author and native Floridian. A former educator, he has been a journalist and public relations professional. He has covered and reported on crime and cops, courts and trials in several Florida cities. He has worked as a speech writer and political and media consultant. He has had one novel published in the U.S. and Great Britain as well as short stories published in the U.S., Canada, Australia and England.

Reviews

[Jill Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

Once I started I couldn't put it down!!!
Finished it in one day!
Keep writing !
Wished I was longer.

[Daryl Kunzmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Fairy Tale

The single part that made it less than what it could have been; they didn’t change after 10 years. People change and a life like theirs would have facilitated a lot of change. This led to a, in my opinion, a shortened ending. Keep a child hidden for 10 years and threaten when meeting again? Doesn’t fit the characters developed.
Like I said, it allowed a shortened ending.

[Michael Wangberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Currency of Time....

Really enjoyed reading the ending... great story, well written, great flow. Noted Gutman became Pavlya... ??? Any subsequent chapters in the offing?