Romantic Suspense / Contemporary Romance
Date Published: September 17, 2019
She’s in love with her sister’s killer...
Lauren has loved Luke since first grade. They planned to marry—until he murdered her sister. The moment he was sentenced to prison, Lauren fled with her secret baby and made a new life. Now she’ll do anything to keep their daughter safe. But her hard won peace shatters when Luke is exonerated, and it sets her on a path of mixed emotions to discover the truth. Letting a killer into their tightly knit family is out of the question. Or is it?
She almost destroys her life by threatening his…
Prison stole his future with Lauren and twelve years of Luke’s life, so the last thing he needs from her is a knife in the back or a gun in his face. Lauren believes he killed her sister, and he has no plans to pick up where they left off. Luke can’t afford to trust her, but he wants nothing more than to convince her he’s worth fighting for.
Their daughter is in danger…
Luke is heartbroken when he learns they had a child together. Now his daughter is in danger. Lauren trusted the wrong person for far too long, but he hopes she’ll now trust him. Luke will risk everything to keep them safe. And Lauren will risk everything if she lets him into her heart.
Excerpt:
Adapting to
the openness had taken awhile. In prison, he’d been alone, despite the crowd.
But here, he was out in the boondocks with the crickets croaking and the
coyotes yapping, echoing and prolonging the eerie silence afterward.
He loved it.
But after his release, he dreaded every moment. The silence. Feeling incredibly
alone. He’d considered a pet, but the upkeep was more than he was willing to
handle at the moment.
He jumped
when the door slammed and Lauren waltzed out.
“I love
jalapeno poppers,” she said. “Can’t remember the last time I’ve grilled some of
those.”
“I’ve got
the makings if you want to do it.”
She clapped
her hands together. “Yes, let’s do that.”
“I picked
enough jalapenos this morning, but we can always grab more from the garden if you
want.”
“Too dark
and I’m afraid of snakes. I’m sure you have plenty.”
She prepped
the poppers and he prepped the fire, and they drank another margarita while the
food cooked. They sat around the fire under the stars instead of the deck, near
a large oak tree that had been the focal point of many parties with friends and
family. They chatted about the weather, the river and the current news. Once
the poppers were done, they ate a few and chatted more, but nothing too
serious.
“You wanna
just eat jalapeno poppers and margaritas tonight?” he asked, never wanting this
night to end.
“Sounds
wonderful.”
He grabbed a
stick and thrust a wiener on it. “How about we at least roast wieners?”
Laughing,
she seized the stick and jabbed it in the fire. “I thought I had already
roasted yours.”
His loins
jumped. “That you did.”
She removed
the burning wiener from the fire and blew on it. As she took it from the stick
she muttered. “Hot, hot, hot.”
He grabbed a
paper plate and placed it under the wiener, where she let it fall. “Of course,
it’s hot silly. It just came from the fire.”
She set the
plate on the table and blurted, “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”
“You didn’t
trust that the hot dog was hot?” He took his from the fire and blew, but laid
it across the plate before sliding it from the stick.
“No.” She
swept her hand through the air. “About everything else. For years I thought you
had slaughtered my sister. How can I step away from that and remember what
things were like before?”
Shadows
skimmed Lauren’s body. The dim light from the fire and from the deck’s lighting
flickered around her, enough to discern most of her features. He leaned closer
and brushed a finger across her cheek. “Knowing me the way you did, how could
you even think I would do something like that?”
Lauren
shrugged. “Maybe I had a few doubts, but I called it wishful thinking. Then I
went through such pain and heartache I didn’t have room for doubts. Everyone
convinced me. Your cap. Your knife. Your motive. Clint…” Her voice bubbled, a
tenuous thread of something he couldn’t name. Regret? Remorse? Confusion?
Luke jerked
away. His muscles tensed, gut twitched.
“We became
friends. Not like you and I were, but he was there for me—”
“Of course
he was.” His voice was harsh, hot like the fire steaming from his pit.
“As Laramie
grew up, he became her godfather. But she didn’t like him and never wanted to
be alone with him. She never accused him of anything, but she steered clear of
him. Even her instincts were right and I couldn’t see through my pain.”
He stood.
Yes, they should have this conversation. They needed to have this conversation
at one point. And now was as good a time as any. But it was too hard to sit.
Too hard to face the demons that Lauren’s mistrust in him had stirred.
“If I had
doubts, I…I—”
“You had too
many people lying to you.”
She stood
and planted her palms on his chest. “But you never lied, did you? You were the
only person who didn’t.”
About the Author
Angela Smith is a Texas native who, years ago, was dubbed most likely to write a novel during her senior year in high school. She always had her nose stuck in a book, even hiding them behind her textbooks during school study time. Her dream began at a young age when her sister started reciting 'Brer Rabbit' after their mom read it to them so often. She told her mom she'd write a story one day and never gave up on that dream even though her mom was never able to see it come to fruition. By day, she works as a certified paralegal and office manager at her local District Attorney's office and spends her free time with her husband, their pets, and their many hobbies. Although life in general keeps her very busy, her passion for writing and getting the stories out of her head tends to make her restless if she isn't following what some people call her destiny.
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