In the long lost ancient past, two men fought over the girl with eyes like the Bosporus under a summer sky. It ended badly. She died. They died.
Since then, they have all tumbled through time, reborn over and over again. Now they are all here, in the same place, the same time and what began so long ago must finally come to an end.
Ask Helle Madsen what she thinks about reincarnation and she’ll laugh in your face. Besides, Helle has other stuff to handle, what with her new, exciting job in London and her drop-dead but seriously sinister boss, Sam Woolf. And then one day Jason Morris walks into her life and despite never having clapped eyes on him before, she recognises him immediately. Very weird. Even more weird is the fact that Sam and Jason clearly hate each other’s guts. Helle’s life is about to become extremely complicated and far too exciting.
Excerpt
“Hmm?” Jason Morris made an effort and returned his attention to Steve Darrow. His Mergers & Acquisitions manager gave him an irritated look, flipping his overlong hair out of his face.
“You’re not listening.”
“Yes I was,” Jason lied. He’d been miles away, his mind preoccupied with other matters. He bit into a pickle. “You were telling me why we should buy that little utility company.”
Steve’s cheeks went quite pink with enthusiasm. “It’s a great outfit! It—”
“Does high-margin service work, I know. But that’s not what I’m interested in.”
“It’s a bargain, you know it is.”
“Not for me.”
Steve launched into a monologue about why it made sense to purchase the company and Jason stopped listening. Instead, he took advantage of the opportunity to return to the matter that was constantly gnawing at him. Helle.
For weeks now, he’d felt her presence everywhere. At first, he’d tried to tell himself he was imagining things, but with every day he became more and more convinced that she was here, very close, and he vacillated between utter euphoria and the darkest of fears. What if he found her too late? Last time he’d felt her this close, he’d only seen her as a floating corpse. No, not this time. Fate would not be that cruel, not again. Three goddamn millennia searching for her, and never had he felt her presence as strongly as he did right now.
Steve elbowed him. Jason grunted.
“Sorry.” Steve didn’t look sorry. “You were miles off again. Are you sick or something? I’ve never seen you this distracted.”
Jason merely smiled. ‘Sick’ did not quite cover his affliction. But Steve was right, this constant preoccupation with Helle left him unfocussed and irascible. It hadn’t helped that he’d quarrelled with Juliet about it when she insisted it was time he stopped this futile, idiotic search for a woman he’d known and loved so many lives ago. As if he could. And Juliet knew, damn it, she was the only person in his life—or should that be lives?—who knew that once he regained the memories of his distant first life, he had had but one objective: find Helle. No effing choice; throughout his endless lives there’d been no choice—ever.
Jason twirled his empty glass around. Not only Juliet knew, he reminded himself. If Helle was anywhere close, chances were Samion was too. Jason’s body-hair bristled, a recollection of intense pain making his pulse race. Not this time, he vowed. This time, Samion would not kill him—or Helle.
“Here.” Steve set down a fresh half pint. “I think you need it.”
“Thanks.” He rarely drank during the day, but Steve was right. Jason made an effort and directed his attention to his companion. “Any news on the Turkish company?” Now this was something much more in line with Jason’s interests, a small high-tech company that desperately needed an investor to fund the next phase in their development.
“They’ve confirmed next week.” Steve dug out his phone – something of an effort given the tight cut of his trousers. Steve believed in slim fit and in ridiculously expensive tailored shirts. “Somewhere called Kadiköy.”
“Eastern Istanbul.” Normally, Jason would be over the moon to be heading for Istanbul to visit a potential acquisition. At present, it was an imposition, a drain on time he should be spending looking for her. Her. These last few weeks, every time he saw a woman with golden curls, his heart raced. Every time he saw a female jogger take off at speed, he narrowed his eyes, hoping this would be her, his Helle. No such luck.
They finished their beers in relative silence. Steve was busy with his phone, Jason was yet again lost in memories. He smiled to himself. She’d been a child the first time he saw her, all that wild hair tamed into a neat, thick braid.
They pushed their way out of the pub, now and then stopping to nod at acquaintances—well, Steve did, his background in one of the more well-known Private Equity firms ensuring he knew more or less everyone and their dog. Jason was not much of a networker, preferring to keep the low profile that allowed him to do his thing without garnering too much attention. But he smiled and shook hands, all the while making for the door and the faint patch of October sun outside.
Jason blinked at the sun, taking a moment to savour the light in his face. He could hear Steve, still inside the pub, laughing at something. Jason adjusted his waistcoat and shrugged on his jacket, tugging the cuffs into place. A tall man in a navy suit, one among the many in the City of London, except that he chose to wear his hair longer than most and refused to take off the little diamond ear-stud that adorned one of his ears. After all, a man had to stick out somehow.
He leaned back against the wall, watching the people around him. Pub patrons spilled out on the pavement, little groups of mostly men discussing the markets while sipping at their beer. On the opposite side of the street was a sandwich shop, an Italian place that did excellent business, to judge from the number of people going in and out. One of those people was blonde. One of those people stepped out into the sun holding a paper bag. One of those people was her. Jason’s stomach contracted so fast the beer he’d recently drunk came hurtling back up.
“Shit!” He steadied himself against the wall, swallowing repeatedly to rid his mouth of the sour taste of beer and bile. There, on the other side of the street, was Helle. For the first time in eons, she was within touching distance, and it made his vision blur, his breathing catch. His Helle—close enough to hail. She was standing in a patch of light, looking up and down the street as if undecided where to go. Sun gilded her curls, brushed her cheek, and when she turned her head, he caught a glimpse of her profile. The line of her jaw, the elegance of her neck, the contours of her breasts, pressing against the fabric of her shirt—she looked remarkably the same and yet totally different.
He debated whether to run across the street, make himself known to her, but resisted, his stomach lurching. Detachedly, he analysed his trembling hands, the sudden outbreak of cold sweat along his spine. He was scared—shit scared, to be correct. After all these years, he’d finally found her, and now he couldn’t quite work up the nerve to go to her. Jason licked his lips, watching her stride down the street. She still moved with that feline grace he remembered—back straight, legs gliding over the ground—and with every step her hips swayed, a gentle shifting from side to side that left him breathless and hot.
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About the Author
Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with three absorbing interests: history and writing.
Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England. (Medieval knight was also high on Anna’s list of potential professions. Yet another disappointment…)
With Jason and Helle, Anna has stepped out of her historical comfort zone and has loved doing so.
Find out more about Anna by visiting her website, www.annabelfrage.com, You can also connect with Anna on Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Goodreads.
