To win a copy of LOST IN ITALY, share an adventure you experienced during vacation in the comments section. I'll post the winner's name in comments on Wednesday!
Lost In ItalyGenre: Romantic Suspense
Heat level: Hot
Available at Amazon, Barnes &Noble (soon!), and other online retailers.
The best laid plans…
Halli Sanders spent two years
planning the trip of a lifetime to Italy. Her itinerary did not include being
stranded by her siblings, kidnapped by a sexy American movie star, dodging
bullets, or fleeing criminals in a car chase around Lake Como. And that’s just
in the first three hours.
…often go awry.
Trent Tomlin put his movie career
on hold to investigate his brother’s murder-ruled-suicide at his Italian villa.
He’s closing in on the suspects when an American tourist unwittingly films the
murder of the retired cop helping him. The killers will stop at nothing to get
the evidence—including holding Halli’s family as collateral.
Life’s
a little different unscripted.
Thrust into
the role of real-life hero, Trent finds himself falling for the Plain Jane
whose beauty blossoms with every challenge they face. But how can he keep the evidence from falling into the
wrong hands and get justice for his brother and friend without betraying Halli and her family?
She stopped the video and swiveled to take a seat on the
cool ledge of stone that held the lake water at bay. It was the
perfect vantage point to keep the loitering man across the street in
sight. A glance over her shoulder
located where the other swans had landed a good distance from the villa’s dock.
She frowned and faced the lake. Strange how that person had burst so suddenly
from the villa.
The noon sun sat at a point that she had to squint and shade
her eyes to see the structure’s stone walls across the small inlet of
water. Even then, it was too far away
for the naked eye. Flipping open the
viewfinder as she lifted the camera, she waited for it to focus, then tried to
zoom. The low battery indicator flashed
as she maxed the zoom.
She studied the picture.
Something was different—one of the windows looked odd. Her attention snagged on a tall figure in the
corner of the pane. Longish dark hair
above a square jaw with a severe slash for a mouth. He raised a pair of binoculars to look across
the bay. Her pulse jerked when he zeroed
in and stared straight at her—
Tires squealed and an engine revved loud to her right. Halli jumped about a foot. Ben and
Rachel! An uncharacteristic spurt of
anger doubled her anxiety as she whirled around.
“I can’t believe you guys left—”
Words disappeared with the heart-stuttering realization that
the shiny blue convertible half pulled onto the cobblestone sidewalk was not
her brother and sister. And the man in
the driver’s seat most certainly was not
her brother.
Plain was the first
word that came to mind when Trent Tomlin got a good, close-up look at the girl
dressed in baggy black pants and an oversized black T-shirt. Except for her eyes. Almost the exact color of his car, they
blazed with anger—if the shrill tone of her voice were any indication.
Because he couldn’t afford to waste a second, he slipped
into his carefree, celebrity character while pushing up his Ray Bans to flash
his trade-mark, million dollar grin past the two day’s worth of camouflaging
scruff on his jaw.
“Hi.” Usually that’s
all he needed. One…two…
Astonishment replaced anger.
…three.
“Oh my God. You’re Shain West.”
“Only in the movies, darlin’.”
That always got ‘em, too, the good-ol’-boy, southern
drawl. Didn’t matter he’d been born and
raised in northern Oregon, he had a natural talent for mimicking any accent.
After just a few words, he easily placed her in mid-west United States
Her cheeks flushed.
“Of course. I know your real
name. Sorry. It’s just—I’m…ah…I’m…”
Hell, he’d better speed this up. “Can I give you a lift?”
“W-what?” She craned
her head around, as if he might be speaking to someone else.
Resisting the urge to check over his shoulder, he kept his
gaze trained on her. “You look
lost. Hop in and I’ll give you a ride.”
Her throat convulsed, and though he wouldn’t have thought it
possible, her blush deepened to crimson.
A fleeting smile revealed even, white teeth.
“Oh, no. I mean, um,
thank you, but no.”
She lifted a hand to tuck a strand of straight brown hair
behind her ear as she searched back and forth along the road.
Pushing
up to sit on the headrest, he prepared to turn on the superstar charm that had
brought him such success at the box office.
“I’m waiting for my brother and sister,” she said before he
could speak.
So that’s who’d driven off as he watched the scene unfold
from one street above and behind her. He
lifted a tense shoulder in a careless gesture.
“Quick spin around town, and I’ll bring you right back. They’ll never know you were gone, sugar.”
Her eyebrows drew together above those deep blue eyes. Damn. He fought his own frown. Based on previous experience with star-struck
women, she should’ve jumped in at the first invitation. Wasn’t it just his luck, this one had common
sense.
Leaving the car running, he swung his legs over the door and
rounded the front of the convertible.
His heart thumped with each step as he tried to figure out the best way
to get her out of this mess. It was one
thing when he was following a script, but how the hell did one orchestrate a
rescue in real life when the rescuee wouldn’t cooperate and he had no time to
explain the danger? It’s not like he
could play her the recording tucked in his pocket.
The girl backed away from his approach. He fought back rising apprehension and forced
an easy smile.
“Look, I appreciate the offer, Shain, but—”
“Trent
“Right.” Her blush
deepened. “I know. Trent
“I need you to get in the car.” As an afterthought, he added, “Please.”
“Um…”
He used her glance down the road as cover for his own. Still time, yet his control slipped. “Seriously.
Get in.”
The sharp command widened her eyes. Suspicion darkened them to navy, and she took
another step backward. Then her
shoulders squared while her gaze narrowed with determination. “No.”
The right taillight on his Alfa Romeo exploded. Trent Trent
“Hey—let me go!” She
pulled back with surprising strength.
He picked her up and shoved her head first into the passenger seat, then
vaulted over her to slip behind the wheel.
Heartbeat thundering in his ears, he gunned the gas with a sickening
grinding of gears before the convertible shot out into traffic amidst
screeching tires and blaring horns.
~*~
So, now that you know my most exciting vacation adventure from the top of the post, time to share yours!
Thanks so much for reading and have a great week!
Stacey Joy Netzel
I was visiting York, England, with a group of high school students, and we took an evening ghost tour. York is a medieval city with a wall and a 2,000 year history, so there were plenty of spooky stories. It was early April, dark, cold and damp, and we had walked through yet another narrow, dark alley to stand outside the library in the light of a single lamp post, and the guide had arrived at the suspenseful moment in the story about a ghost who kept moving a book in the library, when, just as he paused, an unearthly scream ripped the air. It was a peacock on the other side of the wall, but I swear it sounded like a woman screaming. I'll never forget that story or that experience.
ReplyDeleteStacey,
ReplyDeleteI went to the Costa del Sol in Spain to celebrate my divorce. The trip was a UW sponsored one and I was a student. As an add-on trip I went to Tangier, Morocco for two days. We went to a night spot the first night where my roommate met a guy who asked her to his villa to see the moonlight beach. She left me alone and never returned that night. The next morning I found a note saying she was in love and I could got back to Spain without her. She would see me at the airport for our return home. Needless to say I worried about her for the rest of the trip and was very relieved that she did eventually arrive-late- at the airport. That experience ruined the rest of the trip for me. MJ
Ooh, Helen, that sounds really nice and creepy. :) If you like that kinda thing.
ReplyDeleteMJ, that sucks that she left you in such a position. Glad you were both safe and sorry you had to worry.
Those are both great experiences for books!
I left the comments open for a few extra days...
ReplyDeleteMy hubby drew from a hat and MJ is the winner of Lost In Italy!
Congrats and thanks for stopping by!
I'm thinking you are to quiet. I talk enough that I would have been missed sooner. That does not mean I would not have been left behind. They would have missed my talking sooner.
ReplyDeleteCrystal, that's too funny. My husband would probably say I talk too much, but my brother and sister, maybe not so much compared to them. :) Then again, that was almost 15 years ago and now I might just be their equal in the talking department.
ReplyDeleteHі! This post couldn't be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this post to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Many thanks for sharing!
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