BETRAYAL: THE AWAKENING

Tristan Williamson waited four hundred years for her blood. Believing it holds his cure, he’s ready to end her life and retake his humanity. Present at her birth, he finds killing her is not as easy as he planned. As she grows, befriending her was a dangerous mistake. And when she comes to him as a beautiful woman, falling in love with her could be her ultimate demise.

As a child Anna Carlson worshiped the ground he walked on, believing in his existence as a vampire wholeheartedly until the day he left her. Her bitterness grew over the years, leading her to believe he was nothing but a con. Now, to fulfill the dying wish of her father, she’s destined to find his whereabouts and help him discover a cure she knew nothing about. But when she falls in love with him all over again, she’ll find danger she will never forget.

EXCERPT:

He knelt before her. The coolness of his palm gently caressed her wet face. When she looked at him with tear-filled eyes, she felt calm, her thoughts less clouded than just a moment before.

“There will never be night and day in my world. Only darkness.” He breathed a sigh. “I am a monster, undeserving of your heart. But believe my words, I never desired to leave you. I only left to protect you.”

“Protect me from what?”

She sniffled, desperate to hide, embarrassed she’d cried so hard in front of the man she despised for so many reasons. She allowed him to hold his palm to her face, to gently thumb another tear away.

“I would have turned on you if I’d stayed.”

“Turned on me?” she whispered.

“Your blood calls to my senses, Anna. It is unbearable.”

She saw her reflection in his eyes and shuddered, whispering thoughts aloud as if reminding herself why she hated him.

“I can’t believe in you anymore. I won’t. You killed my parents. And your lies sent Mac to his grave.”

“I swear to you, Anna, on my eternal life. I did not murder your loved ones.”

She pulled her face from his touch. “You’ve taken your story too far, Tristan. Vampires are fiction.”

“I am but one diseased man.”

“I know a psychiatrist at the hospital. He can help you get better.”

She watched intently as he showed his teeth, beautiful—whitened and perfectly straight. No bloodstains or blemishes tainted them. But as she watched closely, his canines began to move.

At first she thought it her imagination, a trick he mastered for his act, as they began to curve down, slowly bending into a sharp point just below his other top teeth. She reached out, apprehensive to touch them, fascinated over the possibility. She hesitated, hand still in the air before her.

“They can’t be real,” she whispered.

A flicker of light caught her attention. She looked up from his teeth to his eyes. Flame danced in their darkness. His brows lowered as he leaned in close to her face and growled as if ready to tear her apart.

“Do you believe now?” His surly voice sent icy chills through her veins. He gnashed his teeth wildly and then grabbed her by the shoulders. He pulled her close, and though his touch was gentle, it frightened her beyond words.

The bloodcurdling scream she let out echoed around his fallen castle, literally crumbled at her feet. The truth showed in his unnatural human face. She believed in him again. This time the silly vampire crush she carried as a young girl became a woman’s nightmare, for his intentions were clear—he yearned for her blood.

 

ASSASSIN'S FALL

Code name: Shane Sin.
Mission: Capture the assassin’s heart.

When undercover police officer Shane Hawke is sent to infiltrate one of the world’s most cutthroat international crime rings, he finds more than he bargained for. While the woman chosen to be the crime lord’s personal body guard is in far over her head, Shane might also be in over his head … over her.

Plucked from the streets and groomed for a life of high stakes theft, Haley has become the most trusted in her team of jewel thieves, never guessing how deep the level of evil around her goes—and without a way to escape it when the truth comes out. Can she trust the mysterious Shane Sin to protect her? The alternative could cost her her love—and maybe even her life.

He was very much a bachelor.  The bottle of cologne, shaving cream, and razor seemed part of the décor on his dark stained wood dresser.  She knew it was wrong to be relieved he wasn’t married.  It really shouldn’t matter since there could never be anything between them.

But curiosity got the better of her as she opened the top drawer, half expecting, and hoping, to find some hint he was involved with someone.  She found his underwear, rolled perfectly and tucked with organization of color.  Unable to fight the oncoming grin, she let it slip and then searched the drawer with her hand.

Just as she figured, she found something hard inside.  She pulled the item out of its resting place and let out a short gasp.

A semi-automatic, holstered in a black leather glove, shined brilliantly in the dim light of the room.  She unsheathed it and studied it carefully.  This definitely wasn’t standard issue for a cop.  What was he doing with something so powerful?  And more importantly, why was it dressed with a silencer?

She studied the weapon in fascination.  It was beautiful, black metallic like the shine from a car.  It was easy to grip.  The scope was waxed, perfectly aligned as she stared down the line and fingered the trigger.

“I could stand here and watch this all day,” his voice called from the doorway.
Startled, she stuffed the gun back inside the holster and then the drawer.  She turned to face him, the guilty look on her face won over the shyness of being caught completely naked.

He walked to her, reached down, and then closed the drawer as if telling her in a nice way to stay out of it.  Maybe he was.

“You don’t have to ask,” he said, eyeing her body with a look of intent.  “It’s my undercover weapon.”

“I was only looking for soap,” she said nervously as she folded her arms across her chest.

“You were snooping.”  He chuckled.  “There’s soap in the linen closet, where most soap is normally kept.”

He pushed a strand of her hair over her shoulder making her shiver slightly.  He groped her body with his eyes and she thought for sure he was going to pull her into his arms, throw her onto the bed and make mad passionate love to her. 

1080 KISS

The "God of Snow" has met his match.

He never followed the rules. Vince Evans, professional snowboarder, is a black-haired, green-eyed charmer no woman can tame and no man can match on the slopes. Followed by a flurry of bad publicity and a trail of ex-managers, his Olympic dreams teeter on the brink unless he can orchestrate a career turnaround. And fast.

Her rules were unbendable. After a year-long hiatus, public relations extraordinaire Morgan Price is ready to resume her high-profile job resurrecting musicians fallen from grace. A bad-boy athlete is not the type of client she expects—or wants. But then she sees a side of the “God of Snow” no one has seen before, a side she just might break all the rules of business for.

            Morgan paced the room, walking along the window in her office with a scowl. “I’ve called him four times already, Regina.  Where the hell is he?”

            Regina sat in the chair with a worried look.  “He’s an hour late.  I don’t think he’s going to show up again.”

            Morgan puffed out a sigh.  “You’d think after two weeks of setting up this same appointment I would get the hint.”  Grabbing her purse underneath the desk, she dug through it and found her car keys.  “I’m going out to find him.”

            Regina walked with Morgan to the elevator. “I’ll hang out here.  If he shows, I’ll give you a call.”

            “Thanks.”  Morgan smiled from the elevator before the doors closed.

Every day for the past two weeks she had called him numerous times to set up the consultation.  Unsure if it was fear of seeing him, or the fact she was going to wring his neck for doing this to her, she had refrained from going out to find him. 

            “Jerk,” she said aloud as she rode the elevator to the lobby.  “He’s not getting away with this.”  She took out her cell phone and dialed Emma’s number.  “I’ve resorted to telling his mom on him.”  She laughed with an irritated glance as the elevator doors opened.

            It was an immediate forgiveness when she saw him.  Dressed in a tight-fitting black T-shirt that showed off his well-built arms and chest, jeans that were filled out marvelously, and those bright green emerald eyes staring at every curve of her body, Vince stepped inside the elevator beside her.

            “Good morning,” he said grinning at her mischievously.

            Morgan still held her cell phone to her ear with her mouth agape.  Trying to control her trembling lips, she stuffed her phone back inside her purse and straightened her thoughts.

            “I’ve been trying to contact you for two weeks now.”  She frowned as she pushed the button to the office floor.

            “I know.”

            “So what made you decide to show up all of the sudden?”

            Vince chuckled.  “I think I was tired of hearing ten messages a day asking me to come in so we can talk.”

            “Your professionalism is lacking,” she growled.  “At least try to make a legitimate excuse.”

            The elevator opened to the office floor and they both stepped out.  Vince followed her to her office, making eyes at all the women gawking at him as he walked through. 

            “Regina, hold my calls.”  Morgan smiled as they passed. 

“Yes, Ms. Price.” Regina’s eyes were wide, staring at the beautiful man walking by. 

Morgan understood completely.  She too felt the same way as all the other women in the room, wanting to stare at him.  Too bad his personality didn’t match his looks.

She shut the door to her office when he sauntered into the room.  “Have a seat,” she said as she sat down in her chair. 

Curious, Vince walked to the window with a smile.  “Nice view.” 

“So tell me, what are your goals for the future of your career?” she asked, getting right down to business.

Vince paced the window leisurely without taking his eyes away from the view of the river.  “Near future or distant?”

“Let’s start with near future,” she answered, trying to keep her eyes on the back of his head, rather than the way he filled his jeans out perfectly.

THE SEA'S EMBRACE

Her heart would guide him home.

Architectural mastermind Katherine Shaw has left her career in the States behind to follow a passion for antiquity to The London Museum for Art and Archeology. During a museum excursion, a controversial relic is pulled from the ocean depths—a relic containing a mystery to which she is inexplicably joined.

His home might claim her life.

Born of the old gods, punished and locked away from love, Derrick has crossed seas of time to find Katherine. Chosen as the guardian of his land’s magic, he knows what Katherine doesn’t: her own mysterious origin and the danger she faces because of it. As they travel together in a place only heard of in legends, enemies and darkness surround them—until an unthinkable decision threatens the very magic that has brought them love.

Paradise—a meeting of a clear blue sea and soft white sand underneath a cloudless sky was just how it was supposed to be in Bimini.

According to the photos Katherine found on the internet, she should be lying in a hammock between two palm trees, soaking comfortably in the heat of the sun.  She should be sipping on a tropical drink from a coconut cup decorated with vibrant colored umbrellas while a warm breeze played in her hair.  She should be relaxing.

But paradise wasn’t what this trip was supposed to be about.  If only it had held up its bargain of being perfectly serene, a retreat worthy of taking, this unworldly task would be a little easier to understand.  Dark clouds refused her the glorious rays from the heavens and only offered dreariness worthy of the misery she was now in.

As she stood in the pouring rain listening as Derrick went on about controlling the flame she’d somehow conjured in her hand, tears formed in her eyes.  Tiredness had set in a long while ago, but he’d only pushed her harder.  They’d been at this for more than ten hours without a break, and she was only now beginning to realize a fragment of this extraordinary magic she supposedly carried.

She wished he’d go back to how he presented his first words.  They’d been calm and encouraging. Like a professor at a university he’d lectured, brows stern, eyes only on the matter at hand.  But now his impatience was evident, as if this torrential rain had dampened his mood, which was exceedingly possible, for it had definitely turned hers for the worse.

Through soaked strands of hair, she watched this strange fire oddly staying lit in the downpour.  It had begun with a flicker, igniting from the depths of her soul.  And with an emotional conjugation of sorrow, anger, and love beyond anything she’d ever experienced before, it grew into a roaring flame.

Now swirling around in her palm like a slow moving twister, it patiently waited for her to set it loose across the water, just what the first one she’d conjured was supposed to do before it sunk like a rock.  She only hoped Derrick wouldn’t lose his remaining patience and scold her again for not listening to his direction.  One more harsh word and she knew she’d break down into an exhausted sob.

“Feel your emotions,” Derrick yelled, his serious tone stabbing the angry air.  “Let them boil inside you as you concentrate on where you want them to go.”  He pointed out over the raging sea.  “There.”

Katherine stretched her arm out in front of her, holding her blazing palm upright.  She held her breath in hopes this time she’d succeed.  And as if she were letting go of all the tension inside her, she exhaled and released the flame.

With her eyes open wide, she watched as it quickly flew out over the restless waves, bringing her a smile she hadn’t found since they began training.  And when it flew up into the air and disappeared into the clouds, Derrick finally cracked a grin.

“Very good,” he said with a nod.  “Now see if you can do it again.”

As tired as she was, her success brought her an instant second wind.  Confidence brought forth an immediate flame, one much brighter than the other.  And as she held it up before her, she could feel a little more control.

Concentrating on the flame, she breathed in deep through her nose.  “I can sense it now,” she said as she exhaled and let it go.  It skimmed the waves, creating a parting of water with its speed.  It lifted up into the sky, but this time created a gaping hole in the clouds.

Sunlight beamed magnificently on the water, casting a blue reflection.  A rainbow appeared in the rays, but only for a short moment as the clouds began to gather again.

“Beautiful,” Derrick whispered, smiling abundantly.  But he wasn’t looking out over the ocean.

Katherine turned to find him staring at her, eyes lit up magnificently.  It took her a moment, but she finally realized it wasn’t his eyes glowing, but a reflection of her own aura.

“It’s beautiful,” he said, palming her wet cheek.  “If only you could see it.  You bear the color of diamonds in phenomenal sunlight, for you have finally found the magic within you.  Katherine,” he continued as he pulled her into his arms.  “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.  You are light.  You are magic.”