Title: Desperate
Author: Athena Daniels
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Cover: Jay Aheer
Category: 111K word, Contemporary Suspense
Blurb:
‘He was
everything she needs and everything she can never have.’
Meticulous
planning sees Ivy half way across the world, with a new identity. But
Blake is no ordinary ex-husband, he is a corrupt private investigator with
links to London’s underworld.
Eric
Prescott, a handsome and successful property developer knows Ivy is hiding
something, and from someone. At first Eric only wants to help, but soon
finds himself falling for this beautiful woman with the haunted eyes. In one
night of explosive passion, Ivy finally gives in. And discovers love, the way it’s meant to be.
Ivy
finally dares to believe she is free, but soon faces losing all that she has
come to love the day when her ex-husband is released from jail. She knows it is
only a matter of time before he will return to serve the full force of his
deadly vengeance.
Excerpt:
At precisely seven o’clock, the
intercom sounds, and I press the button allowing access to the inner building.
I cross the room to unlock the latches on the front door, leaving it slightly
ajar.
Dashing back into my bedroom, I
grab my clutch, phone and lip gloss. Quickly, I apply a light spray of my
favorite perfume. When I return to the lounge, the front door is closed but the
room is empty.
The picture on the wall is now
hanging straight.
My heart gallops irregularly in
my chest as I realize I didn’t check that it was Eric before I pressed the
button.
Could Blake be here?
Breathe. In … out … in … out. I
order myself to calm. The horror of my marriage with Blake returns in a single,
sickening rush. What will he do when he finds me?
“Hello?” I call out, but my
voice is raspy, barely a whisper.
I desperately hope for Eric’s
easygoing greeting to ring out, but there is nothing but silence. My blood runs
cold, and I can’t breathe.
My mobile slips from my shaking
fingers. The thud as it hits the floor startles me out of shock, and I bend
down to retrieve my phone. My lifeline.
Gripping my bag tightly, I
estimate there are ten steps to the door. Silently I take the first few steps.
On my fifth step, a shadow moves to my left, and I bolt the last distance and
fling the door open with enough force that it bounces off the wall. I run to
the elevator instead of the stairs, hoping it will be faster.
I jab frantically at the button.
The screen indicates it has just left the ground floor.
“Ivy!”
It’s not going to arrive in time. I bounce up and down on the
spot. Do I have time to take the stairs?
I’ll have to run past my front door to get there. Can I even run down
the stairs in these shoes? I won’t have time to take them off; they have
tiny buckles. Irrational thoughts flood through my mind, and I imagine myself
stumbling and falling down the stairwell,
only to land in a crumpled heap at the bottom.
Hurry up, damn it. The elevator has reached the second floor. There
are six more to go.
Perhaps I should take the
stairs?
“Ivy.” The voice permeates the
fog of panic in my mind. It doesn’t sound like a sword being drawn out of a
scabbard, sending cold shivers down my spine. It sounds soothing, like a cup of
warm chocolate. The voice is calling for Ivy, not Sarah.
My mind blanks, and slowly, I
turn towards the voice. The elevator rings, signaling its arrival. I can escape
now. I look at Eric’s concerned face and realize there is no need to run. He
puts a bottle of wine and a glass down on the ground just inside my apartment
door and stands in front of me, grasping my shoulders.
“Ivy, are you okay? What is it?”
I realize how I must appear,
like a wild animal that has just been through the throes of a chase from a
predator. Eric pulls me to him in a powerful crush.
“Jesus, you are shaking like a
leaf.” He runs a hand up and down my back, and I can hear his heartbeat,
strong, calm, and reassuring through his chest.
Relief that Eric is here and not
Blake, hits me with a powerful rush. Pulling away, I try to stand, but my knees
wobble then buckle beneath me. When I hit the cold floor, I start to cry from
the reminder that this is still far from over.
I still live with extreme fear
that Blake will find me. And of what will happen when he does.
Strong arms lift me and through my sobs, and I hear the door shut.
Finally, I begin to quiet enough to hear his soft, soothing words murmuring
against my hair.
As my strength begins to return,
I wriggle out of his arms. “Did you straighten that picture?” I demand.
Eric shrugs. “It was crooked.”
“Well, don’t … just don’t touch
my things, all right?”
“Okay.” His face falls, and I
immediately feel bad. He can’t possibly know that every day for years I lived
with Blake’s obsessive compulsion to have things absolutely straight, and
ordered the way he wanted it, right
down to the cutlery in the drawer and the type of food we kept in the fridge.
I glance uneasily over to the
vertical strip on the kitchen blind, and a shiver rolls down my spine. I still
think I would have noticed it at some point before tonight. I have been living
here for months now.
I can’t shake an instinctual feeling that he has been
here, and it’s what caused my apparent over-reaction tonight. No matter how
hard I try I can’t dislodge the thick and heavy sense of foreboding that has
settled over me.
“Can you tell me what put that look
of terror on your face and caused you to run for your life just now?”
My eyes take in the bottle of
wine and empty glass on the floor. I realize Eric probably went straight to the
kitchen when he arrived, casually straightening the picture on his way past. I
cringe at how I must appear to him.
“You thought it was him. You
thought he found you.” It wasn’t a question, but I nod anyway, not trusting
myself to speak past the constriction in my throat.
“And the picture, straightening
it is something he would do.”
Once again, I nod yes, and tears
roll silently and unchecked down my cheeks.
“Oh Eric, I am so sorry.” A huge
sob escapes, resounding loudly in the small room. I look away as embarrassment
heats my cheeks.
“Sweet Jesus, what has that
bastard done to you?”
Evernight Heat Level: 3
Warnings: Bondage
Buy Links:
Evernight
Publishing: http://www.evernightpublishing.com/desperate-by-athena-daniels
Amazon (USA): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S8KZ3GK
Bookstrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/desperate-mf
Allromanceebooks:
http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html
Author Bio:
Athena
Daniels is the pseudonym of a wife, mother and business partner who takes any
opportunity she can get to disappear into the world of fantasy. When not reading she writes romantic
suspense. Hot, steamy romance where
complicated and damaged characters are thrown together in suspenseful drama.
One
day, she hopes to fulfil her dream to write full time. In the meantime, she hopes you enjoy her
debut novel, Desperate. If you follow the scent of coffee and
chocolate, you will find her busy working on the sequel. Desperate: The Price of Freedom.
The
first novel of a new series, Sage
will be coming in 2015. It’s a steamy romantic
suspense with a paranormal twist.
Website
– http://www.athenadaniels.com/
Facebook
– https://www.facebook.com/AthenaDaniels11
Twitter
– https://twitter.com/AthenaDaniels11
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