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Contemporary Romantic Women’s Fiction – Margaritas at the Beach House Hotel by Judith Keim

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The Beach House Hotel Series, Book Five

Contemporary Romantic Women’s Fiction

Release Date: June 24, 2021

Publisher: Wild Quail Publishing

An upscale hotel like The Beach House Hotel sometimes attracts surprise guests….

Ann and Rhonda continue overseeing their Beach House Hotel along the Gulf Coast of Florida and providing guests with a lovely experience of good eating, relaxation, and the privacy many of them require. When Vice President of the United States, Amelia Swanson, asks them for a favor, Ann and Rhonda agree without realizing it means protecting Amelia’s sister from an abusive husband and a nosy public, including their nemesis, Brock Goodwin, who hopes to gain something from the knowledge. But once they’ve said yes, there’s no going back.

Life continues at a busy pace with their families growing baby by baby. Nell, Vaughn’s daughter, has a baby girl; Rhonda’s daughter, Angela, has her second baby, a girl; and Liz, Ann’s daughter, is desperately trying to get pregnant. With all the tension and activity taking place at home and at the hotel, Ann and Rhonda meet in the afternoon when they can for margaritas and private talk. Rhonda, especially, needs Ann’s guidance in how to handle Katherine Smythe, Angela’s mother-in-law, and one of the most irritating people they know.

After they have what Rhonda calls a “near-death experience,” they come to realize how lucky they are. And when another wedding takes place at the hotel due to what Rhonda believes is her matchmaking skills, they celebrate life and margaritas at The Beach House Hotel in a whole different way.

This is a light-hearted, fun beach read with characters readers love. Be sure and read all the other books in this series: Breakfast at The Beach House Hotel, Lunch at The Beach House Hotel, Dinner at The Beach House Hotel, Christmas at The Beach House Hotel, and the upcoming Dessert at The Beach House Hotel.

Other Books in the The Beach House Hotel Series:

Breakfast at The Beach House Hotel

ISBN: 978-0996435017

ASIN: B00YD5X6NG

Lunch at The Beach House Hotel

ISBN: 978-0996863766

ASIN: B01F6LRPAA

Dinner at The Beach House Hotel

ISBN: 978-0996863780

ASIN: B01MFCEC1Q

Christmas at The Beach House Hotel

ISBN: 978-0998282459

ASIN: B075CBZ21S

Amazon

Excerpt

“Ready?” asked my business partner, Rhonda DelMonte Grayson, on this early April morning on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

I stopped typing on the computer and turned to her with a grin. “As ready as I ever will be.”

Wearing a yellow caftan that went with her hair, Rhonda waved me up and out of my chair with a grin that lit her face and had her dark eyes sparkling. “Then let’s get this show on the road! It’s not every day a vice president visits The Beach House Hotel.”

I rose and looped my arm through Rhonda’s, and we headed out to the front lobby to greet the latest VIP to come to our upscale hotel.

As we stepped outside to wait for our guest, the spring day greeted us with a kiss of sunny warmth. A soft breeze bobbed the colorful blossoms on the hibiscus bushes that lined the front of the hotel, softening the edges of the pink-stucco, two-story building that stood like royalty at the water’s sandy edge.

“Seems like old times, huh?” said Rhonda, grinning at me as we approached the entrance.

“I’ll say.” Five years ago, when we’d first opened the hotel, Rhonda and I had greeted our guests like this at the front steps of the hotel, welcoming them personally as much as possible. Hospitality, discretion, and service were the three things we still relied upon to maintain the hotel’s fine reputation. A warm welcome to the property was a must.

I studied her. When I’d first met Rhonda, I’d thought the large, colorful, bossy woman, who said exactly what was on her mind and had no sense of private space, was completely overwhelming. I’d thought I’d never make it through my first visit to her seaside estate—a visit made to please my daughter, Liz, who roomed at college with Rhonda’s daughter, Angela.

Now, even though my strict upbringing with my grandmother in Boston sometimes made me shudder at what came out of Rhonda’s mouth, I loved her like the sister I never had. And I’d learned her heart was as big as her irrepressible spirit.

Rhonda nudged me. “Here she comes!”

I ran a hand through my shoulder-length dark hair, flicked a speck of dust off my bright-blue suit jacket that matched my eyes, and drew a deep breath.

We headed down the front stairs of the hotel as a black limousine followed a large, black SUV through the gates of the hotel and drew up to the front circle.

As soon as the limousine came to a stop, three different people, two men and a woman, Secret Service agents, I presumed, jumped out of the SUV and assessed their surroundings before the woman went over to the limousine and stood outside the back door. One of the men faced out to the road while the other climbed the stairs to the hotel and stood guard there. Then a somber-looking man stepped out of the front of the limo and stood a moment, scanning the area. Satisfied, he stood by as the female agent outside the limo opened the back door, and Vice President Amelia Swanson prepared to climb out of the car.

A tall, striking woman in her late 40s with chestnut brown hair and blue eyes noted for missing nothing, Amelia Swanson stepped out of the limousine and smiled as she walked forward to meet us.

“Welcome to The Beach House Hotel, Madame Vice President,” I said, holding out my hand. “I’m Ann Sanders, one of the hotel’s owners.”

Strong fingers gripped my hand. “Very glad to meet you and to be here.” She turned to Rhonda. “And you must be Ms. Grayson.”

“Yes. We’re honored to have you stay with us,” said Rhonda, looking as if she didn’t know whether to curtsey or not.

“Let’s go inside where we can talk privately,” Amelia said.

“Please, come in.” I took her elbow and led her up the steps. The security agent who’d stood by the door headed indoors while another followed at our heels.

Behind me, I noticed the female guard pacing outside the limousine and wondered who or what she was protecting.

We entered the hotel.

“Come this way,” said Rhonda.

She led us to the small, private dining room we used for confidential gatherings. Sound-proofed, it had housed many private discussions that never left the room.

The vice president waited for one of the agents to finish his visual sweep of the interior, and then she motioned both men to stay back before closing the door, leaving the three of us alone in the room.

“Would you like a seat?” I asked, a little confused by all that was happening.

“No, thank you,” she said, smiling. “I’ve been sitting for a while and need to stretch my legs.” She studied Rhonda and turned to me. “What I’m about to tell you can go no further. Understand?”

Rhonda and I glanced at each other and spoke together. “Yes. We do.”

“I won’t be staying here but will instead be secretly traveling to Central America to try and rescue a woman from a revolutionary group that’s been holding her prisoner. I made the reservation here at the hotel because you’re known for being discreet. Tina Marks, that fabulous actress, credits the two of you with saving her life. So, if newspaper reporters ask about my staying here, it won’t seem out of the ordinary for you to decline to give out any information. A woman running from domestic abuse will be using my reservation in my place.”

“I see …” I began, but she held up her hand to stop me.

“This woman is my sister and the wife of the president’s brother.”

About the Author

Judith Keim enjoyed her childhood and young-adult years in Elmira, New York, and now makes her home in Boise, Idaho, with her husband and their two dachshunds, Winston and Wally, and other members of her family.

While growing up, she was drawn to the idea of writing stories from a young age. Books were always present, being read, ready to go back to the library, or about to be discovered. All in her family shared information from the books in general conversation, giving them a wealth of knowledge and vivid imaginations.

A hybrid author who both has a publisher and self-publishes, Ms. Keim writes heart-warming novels about women who face unexpected challenges, meet them with strength, and find love and happiness along the way. Her best-selling books are based, in part, on many of the places she’s lived or visited and on the interesting people she’s met, creating believable characters and realistic settings her many loyal readers love. Ms. Keim loves to hear from her readers and appreciates their enthusiasm for her stories.

To sign up for her newsletter, go here: http://eepurl.com/bZ0ICX

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Mystery – Unscheduled Murder Trip by Elaine L. Orr

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Family History Mystery Series, Book 2

Mystery

Published: January 2021

Publisher: Lifelong Dreams Publishing

On Sale for $.99 – For a Limited Time!

Bodies turn up in the strangest places.

Digger found her late, now reinvigorated, Uncle Benjamin sitting on her kitchen table. His spirit is free to roam his former home, the Ancestral Sanctuary, and go where Digger goes. It’s complicated. Still, with the new graphic design firm she and her friend Holly started, things are looking up. But life throws her a curve when she trips over a body while she and her friend Marty are taking photos at an abandoned train depot. As she tries to piece things together, Digger begins to think the body she found is linked to a long-ago disappearance. Uncle Benjamin has a lot to say about all of it, but will Digger listen to his advice? Interesting times in the Western Maryland mountains.

Other Books in the Family History Mystery Series

Least Trodden Ground

Family History Mystery Series, Book 1

Published: October 2020

Least Trodden Ground. Digger Browning looked forward to spending time with Uncle Benjamin after damaged pipes put her kitchen ceiling on the floor. She didn’t expect to find his body at his Western Maryland home, the Ancestral Sanctuary. Who would kill the parsimonious octogenarian? Sure, some people were mad about him pushing the historical society to find a new abode, but they got over it, right? And then she finds out he had a new ‘foxy lady,’ and she’s not his usual type. Antsy before the funeral, Digger delves into family history, but makes an unexpected find. Between trying to figure out who keeps breaking into the Ancestral Sanctuary, avoiding an ex-boyfriend, putting up with cranky relatives, figuring out who busted her pipes, and losing her job, it’s a rough week. If she doesn’t watch out, Digger could end up next to Uncle Benjamin in the family plot. Spooky times in the Western Maryland mountains.

Amazon

Mountain Rails of Old

Family History Mystery Series, Book 3

Release Date: June 30, 2021

Digger’s mountain hides some aspects of its past. Rumor says it hosted a stop on the Underground Railroad, and it boasts remains of the first schoolhouse west of Cumberland. She never paid much attention to the abandoned cottage and its long-gone occupants until she accompanied her friend Marty, who wanted to photograph it for a potential news story. Everything changed when Uncle Benjamin made a huge discovery nearby. What really happened to Samantha and her ten-year old daughter fifteen years ago? If it hadn’t been for a growling raccoon, Digger might not have tried to find out.

Her friend Holly doesn’t like the ancestors Digger found for her, and Marty thinks she’s distanced herself rather than level with him about how she feels. She doesn’t realize that her search for the waystation for escaping slaves will cross paths with efforts to bring Samantha home. And that path doesn’t lead to a safe haven.

Join Digger, Marty, and Uncle Benjamin as they sometimes operate at cross-purposes to solve old mysteries and unlock the mountain’s secrets. Western Maryland at its elusive best.

Amazon

About the Author

Elaine writes four mystery series, plays, novellas, and whatever strikes her fancy. Her books take readers to the Jersey shore, Iowa river towns, an Illinois college town, and the Western Maryland mountains. She has also written family and local history books, including “Monett,” a pictorial history of a town in Southwest Missouri.

‘Behind the Walls” was shortlisted for the 2014 Chanticleer Mystery and Mayhem Awards and “Demise of a Devious Neighbor” was shortlisted for the same award in 2017. Her favorite book (of hers) is Falling into Place, a story of a family handling difficult times with humor and grace.

Elaine conducts presentations and classes on writing and publishing and other writing-related topics. Nonfiction includes “Writing When Time is Scarce – and Getting the Work Published.” Elaine grew up in Maryland and moved to the Midwest in the mid-1990s. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Indiana Writer’s Center.

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Epic Fantasy – Semper Indomitus by Robert W. Brady, Jr.

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The Fovean Chronicles, Book 5

Epic Fantasy

The surprising conclusion to the Fovean Chronicles – Randy Morden has taken on the world, and now the world is fighting back! Enemies must now become allies, and friends enemies, as Randy fights not just to appease the god War, but to keep his family intact and, no matter what direction he turns, it looks like he must lose it all.

About the Author

Robert W. Brady, Jr. is the author of ‘The Fovean Chronicles.’

Born in Connecticut in 1964, he graduated from University of Connecticut in 1986.

He worked his way through college as a construction worker, an infant swimming instructor, a bartender, a waiter, a secretary, the manager of a dry cleaning store and a security guard.

While in college, he began the first version of the ‘The Fovean Chronicles.’

After college, he lasted exactly three months in the insurance industry as an Assistant Annuities Analyst, and then enlisted in the Naval Nuclear Power Program.

He served in the Navy from 1987 – 1994, receiving the Navy Achievement Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Southeast Asia Service Medal, and Good Conduct Medal during the Gulf War. He was certified as an Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist, a Reactor Operator, a Radiological Controls Shift Supervisor and achieved a rank of Petty Officer First Class while serving onboard the USS Truxtun, CGN-35 and the USS Cape Cod, AD-43.

He has two children, Billy and Jennifer. He and both of his children are born on the same day of different months. Billy enlisted in the US Navy, following in his father’s footsteps.

Since leaving the Navy, he’s been in sales, pest control, auto repair and .Net programming. He ran his own company specializing in add-on software and then sold it to focus more on his writing.

He’s very involved in animal rescue, and has two dogs, a cat and several horses which he’s rescued and rehabilitated.

Although born in Connecticut, he has lived in Orlando, FL; Bremerton, WA; San Diego, CA; and then for fourteen years back in Florida. He currently resides on a horse farm in Tennessee.

Contact Links

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I tugged on Blizzard’s reins and we turned east toward the trail that would lead to the road. It was approaching noon, and we wouldn’t be moving at Blizzard’s speed any more. We’d be lucky to make camp before dark.

I expected my son, Eric to ride up next to me, but he hung back with Nina of the Aschire. It turned out that my daughter, Dagi, was the one who rode up next to me, that shield of hers over her back and her sword in a scabbard attached to her saddle. She looked for all the world like an Andaron warrior in Volkhydran clothes.

We stayed silent for a while. I think she might have been waiting either for Shela, my wife, to replace her or for me to send her back, but neither happened and Shela was actually pretty deep in discussion with our daughter, Lee.

“My mother married a Long Manes warrior,” Dagi said, finally. “She has two sons.”

I nodded. “Have you thought of adult names for them?”

She looked at me. “So you know our traditions?”

“Hard not to,” I said.

She nodded and was quiet for a while. We were coming up on the main road.

“Did she stay with Chesswaya’s mother after her tribe dissolved?” I asked. Chesswaya was my daughter as well, by another Andaron woman.

“After you destroyed it, and formed your Wolf Riders, you mean?” Dagi accused me.

“Yes,” I said, looking straight at her.

She met my eyes. Hers were every bit as cold as I knew mine could be. She was going to feel me out and decide if I was worth staying with. That’s what I would have done as a kid, too.

“No,” Dagi said. “Chesswaya’s mother went to the Sure Foot, then the Hunters when they had no women. I met Chesswaya at the Long Manes’ tribe last year, when she came to learn her craft. We didn’t know that we were sisters until the demigod Steel told us.

Whoa – didn’t see that one coming.

“Steel?” I asked. “The Savior. Steel came to you?”

Dagi nodded.

“In a dream?”

She shook her head. “While we were playing chunkee with Nanette and Thorna,” she said.

I looked back at Nantar’s daughters, riding side-by-side with spears in their hands, just ahead of Eric. If there were a fight, they were positioned to come charging into it.

We turned onto the road. The sun overhead gave me a little warmth, but not much. I was going to need to go somewhere and buy furs.

“What did Steel have to say to you?” I asked. “Can you tell me?”

Dagi was silent for a moment. She looked up at me from her horse and she said, “He came to see the daughters of the Daff Kanaar. I thought that He meant Nanette and Thorna, and He said, “No, the other daughters. He meant Chesswaya and me.”

I nodded and stayed quiet.

“He told us that it was a new age, and that we needed to go north and to learn a song from a Druid in Volkhydro. He warned us that nothing would be the same.”

That was news.

“We waited for the men to come back from Toor, and most of them did. We went north on strong horses and we found our brother, Agtani Chewla, and then our other brother and his wife.

“We saw the war come to our land, and we heard Eric, whom we named Usdi Waya, tell us that if Chatoos fell, then our land would never be the same.”

Usdi Waya meant ‘Little Wolf’ in Andaron. Eric had a lot of foresight.

“Then we met you, our father,” she said. She was looking straight forward now. “We would have known you, if Steel had never met us.”

“Really?”

She nodded, still not looking at me. “Chesswaya has your eyes,” she said. “I have your lips and your nose. Mother had described you without naming you – and Chesswaya felt your presence before she met you.”

“Chesswaya has great power,” I commented.

That got a look from Dagi. “As does Lee,” she said. “Vulpe can sing, and singing is important. Lupennen speaks with animals – I can’t imagine a more powerful gift.”

“And Eric is Daff Kanaar,” I said, “and you wonder, ‘What of poor Waya Daganogeda? What does she inherit from the Emperor?”

She looked up at me again, and this time I thought I could see some hurt in her eyes.

“Yes,” she said. “What of Dagi, who has nothing but her mouth?”

An Andaron who ‘has nothing but her mouth,” is usually a woman who’s a gossip, or a complainer. It’s a derogatory term for a spinster, or one who is going to be a spinster if she doesn’t change her ways, because no one wants a woman who’s always giving her opinion.

“Maybe you’re more my child than any of them?” I told her.

She regarded me but said nothing.

“I can’t speak to animals,” I said. “I can’t cast spells. I can’t stun a crowd with my song, and I had to go to Conflu to get the mark of the Daff Kanaar – no one clashed swords with me and put it there.

“I’ve never had anything but my mouth,” I said. “It served me well.”

“You forget the horse you ride,” she said. “The sword you carry. You forget the stories about you, sung in every language.”

I nodded. “But I got them without magic,” I said. “Without song.”

She wasn’t looking at me, so I reached down and I stroked her long, brown hair. She looked back up at me and I asked, “Do you want to learn these things?”

She frowned and looked forward.

Finally, when I thought I wasn’t going to get an answer, she said, “Yes. I want to know everything.”

Good enough, then!

Thriller – The Buzz Boys by Edward Izzi

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Coming of Age Thriller

Published: May 2021

Publisher: Cassino Publishing

Chicago Attorney Robert Mazzara has just been informed of the suicide death of his childhood friend, Marco Pezza. The two of them grew up together in a small suburb in Chicago during the turbulent sixties and seventies, when the issues of household violence were seldom ever addressed. Along with their best friends, Petey Rodriguez, Billy Kozar and Johnny Orozco, they all experienced the coming-of-age events that all young boys go through during grade school and high school, with one exception: They were all survivors of severe physical and sexual child abuse. As they all grow up into young adults, the demons of their past, along with their abusive fathers, play a significant part on each and every one of their young lives. They all grow up coping with their horrific childhoods, their violent fathers, and the long-term impact it has taken throughout their adulthood. Mazzara reflects on all of the tragic encounters and events that occurred during the last fifty years, culminating with his best friend’s suicide. He realizes that he is now…the only one left. Once upon a time, a long time ago, Robby and Marco, along with Petey, Billy and Johnny…were once called ‘The Buzz Boys’

About the Author

Mild mannered accountant turns thriller fiction author!

A native of Detroit, Edward Izzi was once a talented writer in high school, until he was derailed into a successful career as a CPA. Later experiencing his own personal demons, it was suggested that he take up writing again or end up on the ‘six o’clock news’. He has now written and published short stories, poetry, and several thriller fiction novels. Living a quiet life in Chicago, he writes his crime thrillers every night while fighting off his nocturnal demons…

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Children’s Book – Summer Camp March by Peter G. Vu

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Children’s Book

Published: May 2021

Publisher: Haynes Media Group

This book attempts to address some of the important issues for our children: from Covid-19 pandemic to global warming and climate change, from discrimination and bullying to welcoming and friendship, or from schooling to summer camp. All those issues can be resolved in an open-minded, creative, supportive, trusting, challenging, and fun environment like a summer camp. As someone who had a positive experience in camping with the young, I want to use a camp setting to bring the young together to resolve the important issues of their time. The camp helps foster a healthy bond of friendship that can give an individual strength to do incredible things and encouragement to overcome any life challenge. I hope this story will give the young confidence and encouragement to do the right things for themselves, people around them, and the world. We need them to make our world a better place. Happy camping, everyone!

About the Author

Rev. Peter G. Vu has served as a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan for 20 years and also a chaplain at Grand Rapids Home for Veterans. He was born in Saigon City (currently Ho Chi Minh City), Viet Nam. He was a young boy when the Viet Nam War ended. He witnessed the war and the end of it with great horror and deep appreciation for peace. He grew up with the Communist government system and endured significant hardships for more than a decade. After high school, he escaped by boat and came to the United States of America to begin his seminary training. He attended one year of high school here in the USA (Union High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan) to learn the language and new culture. He attended Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan for two years while staying at Christopher House Seminary. Then, the Seminary sent him to attend his last two years of college at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He graduated with a double major: Mathematics and Philosophy. He then attended graduate school at the University of St. Mary of the Lake and Mundelein Seminary in Chicago, Illinois for five years. He graduated and was ordained with the Master’s Degree of Divinity (MDiv) and the Sacred Theology Baccalaureate (STB)

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June 22nd – New Releases

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Regency Romance – The Hellion is Tamed by Tracy Sumner, Contemporary Romance – A Sea for Summer by Shelley Kassian, Romantic Suspense, Silent Target by A.K. Evans, Paranormal Fantasy – Celestial Magic by T.M. Cromer, Cozy Mystery – Diamonds, Pies & Dead Guys by Jennifer Fischetto, Cozy Mystery – Framed and Frosted by Kim Davis, Paranormal Fantasy – Girls of Might and Magic by Various Authors

Regency Romance $.99

Contemporary Romance

Romantic Suspense

Cozy Mystery

Cozy Mystery – $.99

Paranormal Fantasy

Regency Romance – The Hellion is Tamed by Tracy Sumner

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League of Lords, Book 4

Historical Romance, Regency Romance, Paranormal Regency Romance

Release Date: June 22, 2021

Time-traveling lovers navigate the sinister streets of London—while denying their enchantment and desire. If you like THE NEVERS, this series is for you!

He’s a viscount’s bastard who sees more than he wants to…

Rescued from the slums and molded into a gentleman, Simon Alexander lost the love of his life to a mystical world he’s always spurned. Still searching for the time traveler who stole his heart, he’ll stop at nothing to find her. When he does, he finds he can’t trust her—or his desire. Will he be able to tame his fear, and his hellion, once and for all?

She’s a time-traveling socialite…

Transforming Emma Breslin from a poverty-stricken termagant into an aristocrat is easier than anyone imagined. Nearly overnight, she delights society as a trendsetting sensation. Torn between her obsession with the man who’s never forgiven her for leaving and her fight to safeguard the magical gem she stole from him, Emma battles to survive without the man she loves. But when her life is threatened, Simon Alexander is the only person in any time she can trust.

Come along for a passionate story where passion defies time and love conquers betrayal.

Ready for Simon’s story of forbidden love, time travel, and intrigue? The Hellion is Tamed is #4 in the steamy Victorian paranormal romance series Publishers Weekly calls, “A superpowered twist on Victorian romance!”

Other Books in the League of Lords series:

The Lady is Trouble

League of Lords, Book One

He’s a viscount with a dark past who yearns for the one woman he can’t have. She’s a psychic firebrand! Rebellious, spurned by society and determined to change his mind.

The Rake is Taken

League of Lords, Book Two

A gorgeous psychic. An unwanted betrothal. A tantalizing compromise.

The Duke is Wicked

League of Lords, Book Three

Leagues and lives apart, Delaney and Sebastian navigate a world they’re not destined for together. Can she let down her guard and learn to trust a WICKED Duke?

Amazon

Excerpt

Although, he’d no clue what to do with her now that he’d found her.

Shouldering through the throng hovering around the hazard and vingt et un tables like London’s impenetrable fog, Simon ignored the shouts of patrons deep in their cups, the grasping hands of mistresses men liked to have by their side while they squandered their time and, often, their birthright. He disregarded the impulse to steal, then sighed and paused to filch a half sovereign resting on the baize before a boozy baron who had his hand tucked inside his paramour’s bodice. Sliding the coin beneath his sleeve, he waved off his guards with a rigid shake of his head that said, I have this. Like he’d handled the episode last night, though this time, he wasn’t expecting a fist to his face for his trouble.

But a fist to the heart was possible.

Emmaline Breslin was, like it or not, his problem.

She had been from the moment she stepped into his life, hushed presence before a lonely boy or not.

He forced aside the pinch of emotion in his gut, ignoring the emphasis he’d unintentionally placed on the very possessive his.

Halting before the cloakroom door, Simon glanced over his shoulder at the haunt who’d followed him down the stairs. An older gent, Henry, who seemed to want nothing more than someone to occasionally talk to. “No,” he whispered, “not now. Later.” Henry blinked his watery green eyes once, gave a sharp salute, then continued down the unlit hallway and out of sight. Simon snicked open the door and stuck his head inside, immediately spotting the toes of the grubby boots Emma had traveled to 1882 in peeking from beneath a puddled mound of wool and linen.

Clever time traveler, yes; able spy, no.

As he closed the door gently behind him, the air shifted, the faintest hint of rosemary and lemon capturing the dimly-lit space, shoving aside the baser fragrances of brandy, sweat and cigar smoke that had come in from the hall with him.

Halting two paces from the coat rack, Simon dragged a rickety stool over with the heel of his boot and sprawled on it. Braced his elbow on his bent knee, took a silver cufflink he’d lifted from a baron two hours ago from his trouser pocket and began to rotate it between his fingers, gaslight from the sconce above his shoulder winking off the tarnished metal. Releasing a shallow breath he cared little if Emma heard him release, he settled in. Just him, the Dark Queen of the East End and a thousand glinting dust motes. She had no idea, Miss Breslin, but he was the patient Alexander. The brother with the fiercest temper perhaps…but also the one who could wait.

He’d gladly sit all night in this stinky little room if that’s what it took to break her.

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long.

With a scrunch of wool and linen, her head gradually emerged from amidst the rack of coats, her muffled complaint echoing off the walls. The cufflink fell still in his hand. Her hair was a marvel, a wondrous surprise every time he got a look at it. Unbound and flowing across her shoulders. Gaslight sparked off the auburn tresses, hints of ginger like the inside of a chestnut, an unforeseen blaze in the darkness. Adding to the allure, those cobalt eyes traveling the length of him, leaving fiery eruptions in their wake.

She stepped out with an impatient huff and unladylike shake of her skirts, completely giving up her ruse. She gave a bashful tuck to her hair, placing the loose strands hanging in her face neatly behind her ears. Simon rocked back on the stool, his breath stuttering. Beneath her shabby brown cloak was a gown he’d never seen. New, created for an evening event, unfinished, the ragged hem trailing along the warped floorboards, the bustle yet to be added, the final piece of the alteration process. A plunging neckline, which he didn’t need to make his life or his cock harder at the moment. The curve of her hip highlighted as she stepped forward, her long legs enchanting beneath clinging silk.

He felt the surge. Lust, umbrage, sympathy. A crushing trifecta for any man.

Silly to feel indignation when the gown was everything current style dictated. In a glorious shade he would have pegged as plum or eggplant, so opaque it was almost black, a flash of violet in the murky light.

But it wasn’t the color, although that was a dazzling choice with her creamy skin and vibrant tresses.

It was the fit.

The rags he’d seen her in had been hiding a delicious body. He longed to strip that threadbare cloak from her shoulders and slide her gown in a deliberate exhibition to her feet. Then watch her step out of the puddle of material as she crossed to him.

Caught outside his fantasy, she smoothed her palm shyly down the bodice, her glorious lips curling in what could only be construed as delight. So, she liked the new clothing. Even if she protested, which Delaney had told him she’d done. Mightily.

They stared for a long moment before recognizing the pointlessness of such an endeavor. His shaft hardened a notch further, causing him to shift slightly to hide the reaction. Her eyes were wide, so damn blue, and amazingly easy to read. Layers of pain and sorrow, and like icing topping a cake, garnished with a glimmer of hope. His heart thumped once in his chest, his erection withering.

He’d never held someone’s happiness this close—or been truly responsible.

In a way he wasn’t sure he wanted to be responsible.

Compelling him, she stared. Right at him, right though him. He hoped like hell he’d cloaked the thoughts racing through his mind before they showed on his face. He hadn’t done well hiding what being this close to her had done to his body.

Then with a daring glance, she stepped out of the shadows and into his space. Into his life. Unapologetic, fearless Emmaline. And Simon realized with a surge of some deeply held emotion that she wasn’t meant to be tamed.

Not this girl.

She would run free until a man just as formidable was courageous enough to seize her.

About the Author

Award-winning author Tracy Sumner’s storytelling career began when she picked up a historical romance on a college beach trip, and she fondly blames LaVyrle Spencer for her obsession with the genre. She’s a recipient of the National Reader’s Choice, and her novels have been translated into Dutch, German, Portuguese and Spanish. She lived in New York, Paris and Taipei before finding her way back to the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

When not writing sizzling love stories about feisty heroines and their temperamental-but-entirely-lovable heroes, Tracy enjoys reading, snowboarding, college football (Go Tigers!), yoga, and travel. She loves to hear from romance readers!

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