Spotlight: No Damaged Goods by Nicole Snow

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No Damaged Goods
Nicole Snow
Publication date: February 20th 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Fearless firefighter. Mesmerizing voice. Damaged single dad.
Stick a freaking fork in me…

There’s a reason he’s called Mr. Silver Tongue.
Blake Silverton could sweet talk an angel into sin.
Fierce small-town fire chief. Rough velvet voice. Drop dead gorgeous.
Don’t even get me started on the tortured single dad thing.

Wintering in Heart’s Edge isn’t a choice when my van goes kaboom!
Neither is gawking at the human bulldozer who keeps charging to my rescue.
If only we could stop butting heads.
But I’m a healer. What’s wrong with offering a grumpasaurus a massage?

I’m hardly obsessed.
I’m not tuning into his radio love line every single night.
That charred lump of coal he calls a heart isn’t that fascinating.
I can handle one itsy bitsy insta-wildfire kiss.
Those fires some arsonist punk keeps setting around town, though…

Fine. I know I don’t belong in Blake’s desperado world.
Only, he won’t let me go until I’m safe.
Some men wear Bad Idea on their sleeve.
But sometimes the heart falls hard for damaged goods.
Hold me.

From Wall Street Journal bestselling author Nicole Snow – cupid slaps some sense into one small-town protector who swore he’d never love again. Witness an ultra broody hero man coming back to life for the spitfire he can’t live without. Full-length standalone romance novel with a bold shot of Happily Ever After.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

Lines of age and maybe frowns, maybe laughter, trace wild history around his mouth, his eyes. He’s got cheekbones for days, a mouth like a cruel kiss, and his pulse ticks in stark highlight against his strong, firm throat as the light glides over him.

Oh. My. God.

He’s grimmer than I expected.

Harder.

An absolute stone of a man.

That softness I’d heard in his voice isn’t there in his face. Almost like his body’s a granite vault for holding the gentleness hidden away inside.

Why, Blake? I can’t help wondering.

But I think I get a little hint of an answer as he turns, striding toward me.

He moves like a man who knows how powerful he is.

Slow and controlled, smooth ripples of chiseled musculature trailing down from broad shoulders, over the sweat-darkened pull of pecs against his clinging black shirt. The tight line of his abs and narrow hips switch in a rhythm that’s as sensuous as a hunting panther’s slink.

But he also moves like a man who knows what hell is.

Somehow, I don’t think it’s just firefighting that taught him.

He’s favoring his left leg. Some kind of injury, the kind of walk that says he’s learned how to hide it, but he can’t always keep it down.

His strength fights against his own weight. He’s built to support that wall of a body, but every ounce of well-crafted muscle is also another ounce of pressure crushing down on the invisible wound, making him list just slightly to the left with every stride.

I probably wouldn’t notice if I wasn’t used to searching for pain.

That’s what massage therapists do.

Learn people’s pain, so I can tame it and chase it away.

But he’s stoic, withdrawn, as he stops in front of me, scanning my body with a critical eye that makes me feel kind of like one of those dummies they teach you first aid on.

Eep. So much for all those flutters. My butterflies just iced over.

“You Peace?” he growls.

I smile faintly, pulling my frozen fingers from my pocket to wiggle them at him in a little wave. “Only person out here with a burning wreck. Blake, right?”

He only grunts, giving me another one of those looks. “You’re not hurt?”

“No.” I shake my head. “I jumped out and got away as soon as I had the van parked on the side of the road. I’m just cold.”

“Lucky it’s not quite cold enough tonight for hypothermia, but you’ll still catch a chill.”

He takes a step back then, retreating to the fire truck, and digs out one of those massive, thick fire jackets from a side compartment. It’s deep grey with reflective yellow and orange bands on the sleeves and back.

Slowly, he returns to me and swings it around my shoulders.

For a moment, I’m almost wrapped up in his arms. He reaches around me to pull the jacket tight, draping it over my shoulders and then drawing it in to bundle me up.

Now, my butterflies are thawed.

And it’s definitely not the jacket leaving my face so hot my ears burn against the cold, the contrast bordering on painful.

Oh, no.

Why did he have to be so…so…

That.

All of that, including the faint whiff of cologne and Goliath I get as he straightens, still looking at me with this fierce, unmovable gaze.


Author Bio:

Nicole Snow is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author. She found her love of writing by hashing out love scenes on lunch breaks and plotting her great escape from boardrooms. Her work roared onto the indie romance scene in 2014 with her Grizzlies MC series.

Since then Snow aims for the very best in growly, heart-of-gold alpha heroes, unbelievable suspense, and swoon storms aplenty. With over a million books sold, she lives for the joy of making two people fight with every bit of their soul for a Happily Ever After.

Current fan favorites include her Enguard Protectors series, accidental love novels, plus long beloved MC romance thrillers like the Grizzlies and Deadly Pistols.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub


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Spotlight: Midnight Sons Series by Carmen Desousa

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Sam's Folly 
Midnight Sons Book 1 
by Carmen DeSousa 
Genre: Romantic Suspense 


When a bigwig fight promoter needs someone to search for his missing fiancée, he hires expert tracker Sam Belgarde and his search dogs. Sam is more than a little reluctant. His family’s company, Search and Rescue Alaska, is in financial trouble, though, so if searching for a spoiled socialite will save it, then he’s willing to break the rules—just this once.
​
After witnessing a murder, Nora Molina needs to get away—fast—and her best hope to escape without her passport is Alaska. A native of Argentina, Nora’s accustomed to harsh winters and high elevation, so she gets more than a little irritated when some tracker thinks she needs rescuing. Even if he is get-out sexy. And even if he’s the guy she stood up before leaving town. It’s going to be a long few days.

When an unexpected storm rolls in, Sam and Nora find themselves in each other’s arms—to keep warm. Things get a little too hot when it’s clear someone wants the two of them to stay lost—permanently. 


**Only .99 cents! **




Alex's Atonement 
Midnight Sons Book 2 


Alex Belgarde has carried the culpability of his father’s death for more than ten years. Every year, as his family’s company falls deeper into debt, the guilt eats away more of his soul until there’s only one answer. Prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to save his father’s legacy, Alex takes off on a frigid winter day with no radio and very little fuel in his seaplane. He’s using up the last of his reserve tank, preparing to drop from the sky, when he sees plane wreckage below.
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Irene Rose has spent her life chasing her dream. But after a possible terminal diagnosis, she realizes how lonely her life has become and is ready to forgive her sister and beg for her family’s forgiveness. Instead of arriving on the island of her birth, Irene finds herself stranded in the Alaskan wilderness. Unbeknownst to her, the pilot for the plane she chartered was a drug runner, so he didn’t alert authorities as they crashed.

While Alex’s illogical idea to save his father’s company is thwarted because of his obligation to help others, he finds purpose in offering aid to the beautiful and intelligent Irene. The attraction is mutual until Irene persuades Alex to tell her the real reason he can’t simply fly them to safety or call for help. Now the two castaways will have to fight the harsh winter elements, as well as the drug smugglers who lost their cargo in the wreck, if they want to make it home alive. Not easy tasks when Irene refuses to trust Alex to get her home safely. She simply can’t get over the fact that as talented, tough, and tantalizing as he is that he was going to throw his life away when hers will probably be cut short. For the first time in his life, Alex will have to face his demons instead of running from them in order to win the girl and prove to himself that he’s a real hero. 


**Only .99 cents! **




Vince's Chance 
Midnight Sons Book 3 


Vince Kolya inherited only one trait from his biological father: a need to be on the sea. The rest of his life he has tried to emulate what he learned from his unofficial adopted family, the Belgardes: dedicating his life to helping others instead of abusing them. Unfortunately, he’s yet to find a woman who wants the same things he does in life. It’s bad enough that his wife left him, but she also failed to make his boat payments while he was on a three-month stint. Giving up on relationships, Vince throws himself into working with his family’s search & rescue team. Highest on his to-do list, though, is saving money to buy another boat so he can get back on the water, away from the reminders of his abusive past.

Now that her father is dead and buried, Valery Yura is coming home to her beloved state of Alaska in hopes that moving her troubled son to the place where she grew up will transform him into the loving young man he once was. The last thing she needs is a distraction, especially when it comes in the form of the gorgeous man she’s loved her entire life—Vince. A few too many drinks and sexy dancing on the dock, and she’s repeating ancient history, a situation she can’t allow, so she runs from his bed. When her son goes missing after a fishing excursion, Valery feels that the authorities aren’t doing everything possible. Although she’s resigned herself to never seeing Vince again, she needs his help.

As much as Vince tries to hold onto his feelings of anger and abandonment, knowing it’s paramount to protecting his heart, he finds himself falling deeper and deeper for Valery as they search for her lost son. The only way to win her love is to be her hero and find her son, but that hope fades when the authorities call off the search. Determined to give Valery closure and win back her heart, Vince embarks on an all-out manhunt for the missing boy. What he discovers, though, might be a death warrant for him and the woman he can’t lose again. 


**Only .99 cents! **





Carmen DeSousa's stories overflow with romance, suspense, a hint of humor and, of course, a few Kleenex moments. After all, what would a great story be without an emotional event setting the stage? All of her novels are sensual but not erotic, gripping but not graphic, and will make you cry, laugh, love, and hope. Although some of her books include supernatural or ghostly beings, her stories dance on the edge of make believe. 

As most authors, Carmen blames her leap into a full-time career as a professional writer on her love of reading. She states that reading has always been an escape for her. When life was rough as a child, she could always disappear into a book. But she found something else too... She discovered that writing out her thoughts was therapeutic. Not only could she create hope for her protagonists, but she could also do away with her antagonists--legally. 

Carmen currently lives in "The Heart of Arizona" with her husband of twenty-nine years and a very spoiled "rescued" calico they lovingly refer to as "Baby Kitty," even though she's twelve years old. Carmen and her husband love to experience different areas, so they move a lot. They've lived on both of Florida's coasts: Cocoa Beach and Tampa Bay; Charlotte, North Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; Bullhead City, Arizona, the Northern Central Valley of California, and now Arizona's high desert. They're always looking for their next adventure, so they travel every chance they get. If you've read about a place in one of Carmen's stories, she's been there! 

Most of her novels share her favorite hobbies, mostly, anything to do with the great outdoors. Both Carmen and her husband not only write, but also love to read outside--or a coffee shop if it's raining. And if the weather is really nice, they enjoy kayaking and hiking. Carmen says they rarely spend their days off at a movie theater or the mall. In fact, she hates shopping, and her husband would rather do anything than take her to a movie when she's already read the book. 






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Spotlight: The Road to Delano by John DeSimone

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Jack Duncan is a high school senior whose dream is to play baseball in college and beyond―as far away from Delano as possible. He longs to escape the political turmoil surrounding the labor struggles of the striking fieldworkers that infests his small ag town. Ever since his father, a grape grower, died under suspicious circumstances ten years earlier, he’s had to be the sole emotional support of his mother, who has kept secrets from him about his father’s involvement in the ongoing labor strife.

With their property on the verge of a tax sale, Jack drives an old combine into town to sell it so he and his mother don’t become homeless. On the road, an old friend of his father’s shows up and hands him the police report indicating Jack’s father was murdered. Jack is compelled to dig deep to discover the entire truth, which throws him into the heart of the corruption endemic in the Central Valley. Everything he has dreamed of is at stake if he can’t control his impulse for revenge.

While Jack’s girlfriend, the intelligent and articulate Ella, warns him not to so anything to jeopardize their plans of moving to L.A., after graduation, Jack turns to his best friend, Adrian, a star player on the team, to help to save his mother’s land. When Jack’s efforts to rescue a stolen piece of farm equipment leaves Adrian―the son of a boycotting fieldworker who works closely with Cesar Chavez―in a catastrophic situation, Jack must bail his friend out of his dilemma before it ruins his future prospects. Jack uses his wits, his acumen at card playing, and his boldness to raise the money to spring his friend, who has been transformed by his jail experience.

The Road to Delano is the path Jack, Ella, and Adrian must take to find their strength, their duty, their destiny.

AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY | INDIEBOUND

About the Author

John DeSimone is a published writer, novelist, and teacher. He’s been an adjunct professor and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. His recent co-authored books include Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan (Little A Publishers), and Courage to Say No by Dr. Raana Mahmood, about her struggles against sexual exploitation as a female physician in Karachi. His published novel Leonardo’s Chair published in 2005.

In 2012, he won a prestigious Norman Mailer Fellowship to complete his most recent historical novel, Road to Delano. His novels Leonardo’s Chair and No Ordinary Man have received critical recognition.

He works with select clients to write stories of inspiration and determination and with those who have a vital message to bring to the marketplace of ideas in well-written books.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

Spotlight: Great And Precious Things by Rebecca Yarros

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How do you define yourself when others have already decided who you are? 

Six years ago, when Camden Daniels came back from war without his younger brother, no one in the small town of Alba, Colorado, would forgive him—especially his father. He left, swearing never to return.

But a desperate message from his father brings it all back. The betrayal. The pain. And the need to go home again.

But home is where the one person he still loves is waiting. Willow. The one woman he can never have. Because there are secrets buried in Alba that are best left in the dark.

If only he could tell his heart to stay locked away when she whispers she’s always loved him, and always will…

Great and Precious Things is a heart-wrenching story about family, betrayal, and ultimately how far we're willing to go on behalf of those who need us most.

Grab Your Copy

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2HKNm4E

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2lFPbHL

Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/2lxZDBp

Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/2kksUPO

Apple: https://apple.co/2m0VTZk

Nook:  http://bit.ly/2kwozZD

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2lzrfGa

About the Author:

I’m a hopeless romantic and adore all things chocolate, coffee and paleo. No, seriously, I need to have a caffeine IV put in. I’ve adored reading all my life, and writing naturally evolved from my love of late nights and promises of one more page.

I’m also a military wife of sixteen years. During my husband’s deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, I was devouring a book a day, and during his third deployment, I finally wrote my own. With a somewhat ironic timing, I received my book deal for Full Measures during his fourth deployment, and published a month after he returned home. We’re currently preparing for his fifth deployment, so check out the blog for the latest!

On the homefront, we have six kids. Yes, you read that right—six. If I’m not writing or playing guitar, I’m usually tying hockey skates for our four boys, or sneaking in John Hughes marathons with my two daughters. We fostered and adopted our youngest daughter from the foster system and we’re passionate about helping others do the same through our non-profit, One October! We’re always busy navigating the winding road of our daughter’s recent autism diagnosis, getting our boys to hockey, prepping for a deployment, and generally trying to stay sane. We’re die-hard Mets fans, but our hearts call Colorado home.

If you’ve read all of that, haven’t fallen asleep, and still want to know more about me, check out my blog: http://www.rebeccayarros.com/blog! 

Connect with Rebecca Yarros:

Website: http://www.rebeccayarros.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaElizabethYarros

Facebook Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RebeccaYarrosFlygirls

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Spotlight: Every Breath by C.J. Burright

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She wants the full fairy tale. He’s no prince offering a happily ever after. True love may have met its match this time.

True love… Happily ever after… The full meal-deal fairy tale… Glamour girl Gia Hellman almost had it all until death stole the love of her life. Two years and a string of dead-end hook-ups later, she’s through fooling around. Love will be hers again, but sexy, one-night-only lawyer Ian O’Connor doesn’t fit into the equation. No matter how charming or tempting, he’s neither knight nor prince, and she’s done kissing frogs.

Prestige… Power… A pristine reputation… Ian O’Connor allows nothing to derail his goal of becoming the next partner in the most distinguished firm in town, not even Gia, the curvy vixen in sparkles and pink stilettos who haunts his fantasies. With a past full of long-buried secrets, he never breaks his rule of only one night with any woman. But when the case to propel Ian to the top requires working with Gia, and a slip-up results in a fake engagement, keeping his distance may be the trial of his life.

As the passion between them builds and rules break one by one, Ian must decide between protecting a secret that could destroy him or risking it all for Gia’s dream of happily ever after. If only Ian believed in fairy-tale endings…

Excerpt

“This wasn’t part of my ultimate, diabolical scheme, I assure you.” Ian planted his butt on the arm of the opposite chair, the casual pose probably meant as some sort of peace offering. “I don’t mix work with pleasure. Ever. Finding Frankie at the stables simply came back to bite me.” He shrugged. “It happens.” 

“Bite you?” She snorted. “What about me? Pretending to be engaged to you for an indefinite amount of time is not part of my quest. I don’t want a chapter in my new life book titled Trashy by Association.” 

“The suffering will be mutual, Ms. Hellman.” He smiled, the jerk. “Once our client is in the clear, we call off our engagement and move on with our lives. Easy come, easy go.” 

“I am not ‘easy come, easy go’. If you want me to postpone my personal life mission and sacrifice months to play along with this charade, I have conditions.” 

His eyes glinted dangerously. 

“Since I’ll be required to spend my very precious free time with you, everything after five p.m. is overtime.” She lifted two fingers, holding his gaze. “While posing as your fiancée, I choose where we go, what we do.” Finger number three flicked up. “When the case is over, I get to break up with you—in a really public, creative way.” 

At his cold look, she batted her eyelashes. Glitter Girl wasn’t her only nickname. There was a solid reason her family and friends sometimes referred to her as General Gia, affection not always included. She studied the pink glitter on her acrylic fingernails while he sorted it out. 

What had started as the makings of a nightmare had morphed into an unexpected challenge. Resisting Ian’s undeniable charms would test the devotion to her decision to wait for love, but with the extra money, she could buy the luscious, overpriced stilettos with the killer bling she drooled over every time she walked by the shoe store next door. She’d be the one girl in town who had managed to win Ian O’Connor’s black heart—falsely, but no one else would know—then stomp on it. To every woman who’d hopelessly pined for him, she’d be a hero. But more than that, if pretending she’d fallen for Ian meant helping a woman escape her scumbag abusive husband, she’d do it for free with a huge smile on her face. 

Ian didn’t need to know the last part. 

“I doubt Mr. Hamilton will approve overtime while we pretend to be happily engaged,” he said at last. His smooth voice clashed with the fire in his eyes. 

“Overtime is nonnegotiable.” She folded her arms over her silk blouse. “You didn’t consult me before throwing around the F word, so this is all on you.” 

His mouth tightened, an almost imperceptible move she would have missed if she hadn’t been nailing him in place with the Hellman stare-down. “Very well. Overtime.” 

Gia smiled sweetly. 

“But you don’t get to choose every detail of our courtship, Ms. Hellman.” He straightened from the chair and loomed over her, and her annoying pulse jumped. “This situation, after all, is partially your responsibility.” 

“Mine? In what possible way?” 

“You and your sexy, spun-sugar perfume.” He leaned closer, and his eyes held a predatory gleam. “You and your man-killer heels. I couldn’t possibly manage to present you as a family member. People would think I’m pervy.” 

“You are pervy.” She ignored the heat curling through her. “What I wear is my own business. If you can’t handle it, that’s your problem”—she smiled again—“Mr. O’Connor.” 

“Ian,” he corrected, easing even closer, his gaze unabashedly fixed to her mouth. “We’re engaged now, love.” 

“I don’t recall any proposal on bended knee.” She waggled her fingers in his face. “Oh, and look… No ring.” 

His smile was all bite, his eyes fierce as he smoothly knelt before her and took her hand. “Be my one and only accomplice for the next few months, Gia Hellman.” Without breaking her gaze, he pressed his lips to her fingers, a soft disparity to the unyielding grip. “I promise not to ruin your reputation in the process, and I’ll concede to a break-up in the manner of your choosing.” 

“Do you even know how to date?” She refused to squirm beneath his intense scrutiny. “We both know you don’t do relationships, at least not real ones. To be clear, I’m 

certainly not going to be paid for any questionable activities, particularly with you.” 

His right eyebrow twitched. “Questionable activities?” 

“Exactly. The stuff real couples do together behind closed doors.” 

“Like talk and eat dinner?” 

“Don’t be obtuse, O’Connor.” She tried to pull her hand free with zero success. “You know I’m referring to all the things that are constantly slithering around in the gutter that’s your mind, all the questionable activities you do in your free time with whatever woman is dumb enough to agree. I’m not that girl.” Anymore.

“I’ve never once thought you were dumb, Gia.” His voice was matter-of-fact, none of the seductive purr he used when going for the throat. 

One truthful compliment wasn’t enough to make her melt. “What about PDA?” 

“Private time with me isn’t part of the negotiations.” Oh, he was definitely smirking now. “I believed I made it clear that I never mix business with pleasure.” 

“Public displays, psycho.” Gia wrestled her hand free as his smile widened. “How much pawing and slurping in public from you will I have to endure?” 

“The bare minimum to make it believable.” Leaning over her again, he rested a hand on each armrest, caging her. His tie swung gently between them, a silken noose. “But feel free to paw and slurp me as much as you wish.” 

She rolled her eyes, even as his clean, spicy cologne invaded her lungs and warmed her blood another degree. “Pretending to be engaged to you is in direct opposition to my personal goals. What if my true love shows up, thinks I’m with you and keeps on going?” 

“Then he wasn’t yours in the first place.” His voice lowered to a husky whisper as his gaze dipped once more to her mouth. “No man deserving of you would surrender without a battle—or at least a siege.” An odd expression softened his features, there and gone so fast that she couldn’t peg it. He suddenly straightened, all cool courtroom composure. “Do we have an agreement?”

Buy on Amazon | Barnes and Noble

About the Author

C.J Burright is a native Oregonian and refuses to leave. A member of Romance Writers of America and the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal special interest chapter, while she has worked for years in a law office, she chooses to avoid writing legal thrillers (for now) and instead invades the world of paranormal romance, fantasy, and contemporary romance. C.J. also has her 4th Dan Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and believes a story isn’t complete without at least one fight scene. Her meager spare time is spent working out, refueling with mochas, gardening, gorging on Assassin’s Creed, and rooting on the Seattle Mariners…always with music. She shares life with her husband, daughter, and a devoted cat herd.

Website: http://cjburright.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CJ-Burright-362988090450604/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CJBurright

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Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cburright/

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Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/C-J-Burright/e/B00IRT3972

Spotlight: Fair Weather Enemies by Sawyer North

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The Hancocks and Ashfords have had a long-standing feud between their families long before Miss Jane Hancock couldn’t stand the sight of gentleman farmer Adam Ashford. But after both families fall on hard times and an unscrupulous creditor forces Jane and Adam to sign a devil’s bargain, they’ll finally understand the true meaning of keeping your enemies close at hand.

The terms of this bargain? Locate a lost treasure shrouded in deception and mystery.

The catch? Only one can claim it to win…the loser is left to ruin.

As Jane and Adam embark on a trek throughout England they plan to hate their adversary, no matter how attractive, generous, and kind they are.

Sometimes, plans change…

Excerpt

Adam settled into distraught silence as the full force of the quandary hit home. Ashford land had remained intact for nearly two centuries, and he would be the one to lose it. His head fell into his hands and he squeezed his temples. Why hadn’t his father, apparent giver of sage advice, prepared him for this? Why had he not been more forthcoming about the family’s tenuous financial position?\

“If only the letter had been right,” he mumbled mournfully. “Glasgow and Edinburgh, indeed.”

He heard Miss Hancock rise from her chair but didn’t lift his head until a touch on his shoulder caused him to flinch. He looked up to find her peering at him with narrowed eyes and a fine crease between her sweeping eyebrows.

“Mr. Ashford. What do you mean regarding Glasgow and Edinburgh?”

The question perplexed him further. How could she not know his meaning? What was her game?

“Glasgow and Edinburgh,” he repeated with mild mockery. “From the first line of the letter.”

The surprise that lit her face erased some of his doubt. She appeared thoroughly confused. He stood to face her.

“What is it, Miss Hancock? What do you know?”

She stared at him for several seconds before reaching into her reticule. Her hand emerged clutching a familiar folded paper.

“Your copy of the letter?”

“Perhaps not a copy.” She opened the document. “Mine is entitled ‘Initium’. The first two lines read, ‘Liverpool, Leeds, a fortress unseen. A cross to denote the point to set sail.’”

Adam’s breath caught. Without thinking, he reached into his jacket to produce his family’s copy of the letter. He carried it with him always since the day his dying father had bequeathed it to him. He opened it carefully and read the first two lines.

“Mine is entitled ‘Sequitur’. It reads, ‘Edinburgh, Glasgow, the castle between. An arrow revealing the start of the trail.’”

He glanced up to find Miss Hancock’s features wracked with injured betrayal. She shook her head slowly. “The letters are a lie. A ruse intended to keep us from the gold.”

Adam numbly agreed with her assessment. “It would seem so. We have been duped twice over and ruined as a result.”

Mrs. Byrd’s whispering drew his attention. She stared fixedly at the ceiling, her lips mouthing the lines from the letters. Then she erupted to her feet.

“No! Not a lie! Not a ruse!” Her voice quivered with epiphany.

Miss Hancock grabbed her hand. “Auntie. What do you mean?”

“Don’t you see, Jane? The letters are not fabrications. They are two parts of the same letter! In Latin, initium means start and sequitur means follow.”

Adam’s curiosity drove him toward Jane’s aunt. “Please explain, Mrs. Byrd.”

Hester began reciting breathlessly, interleaving lines. “Liverpool, Leeds, a fortress unseen. Edinburgh, Glasgow, the castle between. A cross to denote the point to set sail. An arrow revealing the start of the trail.”

Adam’s stomach flipped as chaotic thoughts rampaged through his mind. The lines rhymed. Two parts of the same letter. Four cities, not two. Dared he hope? Miss Hancock seemed just as taken with the notion as she whispered the lines. Then her hand flew to her mouth in astonishment. She knew something. He gripped her wrist most indecorously.

“What are you thinking, Miss Hancock?”

She peered up at him with wide eyes. “A map. We need a map of Britain.”

Barlow pointed to the wall. “Just there.”

Without a word, she stripped away the pair of ribbons holding her hair in place. Long locks unwound to drape across her back and shoulders, full and soft, the color something akin to intractable mud. No, he amended. More like freshly turned earth left in the wake of the plow before spring planting. He shook his head vigorously to remind himself that she was still a Hancock, and therefore, quite beneath his attention. Meanwhile, she hurried to the map.

“Mr. Barlow, if you please.” She offered the solicitor a ribbon. “Stretch this between Edinburgh and Liverpool.”

Barlow accepted the ribbon and did as she instructed. Adam stepped nearer, his curiosity raging. Miss Hancock wove her arms between Barlow’s and stretched the other ribbon between Glasgow and Leeds. Then she cocked her head toward Adam triumphantly.

“Where do the ribbons cross?”

He stepped toward the map, incredulous. “Carlisle.” He glanced at her and then the map again. “A cross to denote the point to set sail!”

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About the Author

After self-publishing science fiction novels over a period of years, I made the truly odd move into historical romance. Although romance is a strong thread in nearly all my works, I came to straight-up, nothing-but-romance only after turning fifty. Since then, I am plagued by the question, “What took me so long?” My awakening began rather innocuously when I casually watched the 2015 version of Poldark. Before I knew, I was falling headlong into the abyss of historical romance and read fifteen such novels over a three-month span. However, no number could sufficiently scratch my itch for more, so I did what any writer would do and began constructing stories of my own. In April of 2019, I received my first contract with Entangled Publishing.

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