Book Cover, Blurb,
Buy links and Excerpt 1 can be found here:
Excerpt 2
Ego gave the thumbs up as shame strangled him. His
knees buckled at the power of its invisible rope; but the wood of the bed
stopped his fall.
“Lissy.” Her name hung on his lips, but he couldn’t
say more in his own defense. His father’s face kept flashing before his eyes,
tormenting him.
Finally, he admitted, “You deserve better.”
A muffled sound and she tentatively reached for his
cheek, a gesture that brought with it a tide of relief.
She smiled weakly in a gesture of reassurance.
“Should I agree?”
His courage bolstered, he sat down next to her, his
back to the footboard, legs crossed, an arm around her shoulder.
“Remember the time I had to work sixteen hours a
day for a month to finish a company-wide project before the end of the
financial year?”
He felt her more than saw her smile as she leaned
into his arm. “Dallas, and the VP from Nutty-ville.”
“Bingo,” he chuckled.
“I had the hardest time coping with that.”
“It wasn’t all bad. You brought dinner to me every
evening because you knew I wouldn’t make it out of there before midnight . That was the highlight of my
day. It’s what I looked forward to.”
“Now I can laugh about it,” she said with a grin.
“I just wanted it to be over.”
He squeezed her. “You and me both. What I mean is,
sometimes you get used to something so much that you can’t live without it even
if it’s not perfect. Ya know, like the thing about old couples slinging insults
or grumbling at each other. It’s twisted but the heck I know why, it works.”
“Marriage is not only about getting used to things.
There’s a lot more to it than that, mainly to do with compromise.”
She covered his hand with hers where it rested
below her shoulder – at-ease affection in that act.
“I guess when it ended, we stopped being husband
and wife, we stopped being lovers. It meant we were nothing to each other
anymore. I didn’t feel okay with that.”
“Then why didn’t you say so? I had my faults but we
didn’t have to go through hell, you know.”
He paused to gather his thoughts. “I guess… I
thought you’d be better off forgetting about me.”
She sat up, her face curious, searching. “I don’t
remember you being this honest in all the seven plus years I’ve known you.” She
tilted her head. “But that doesn’t change reality, or the fact that you’ve shut
me out of your past.”
“Why should the past affect who we are now? It’s
not that important,” he argued. “We can make it work best by looking forward,
into the future.”
With vehement shakes of her head, she got on her
knees and hooked a finger under his chin. “Look at me now,” she demanded.
“You’re a stubborn ass and you know it. There are things that are stopping you
from moving on. You’re afraid to leave this race you’re in. I’m no fool. I can
see it, and until you face it nothing’s going to change.”
“Thank you
for the compliment,” he jested.
“That’s another thing. We get serious for a moment
and you have to turn it into a joke. Hang on,” She sat back on her haunches and
waved her hands. “Let me rephrase that. We speak about your past, and you
dismiss it. Are you afraid I’d understand too much? Too little? Tell me,
because I’m dying to solve this puzzle.”
“You make it sound as though I have some sick
problem. I don’t.” The razor-sharp edge in his voice was a warning mostly to
himself to cool it down.
“Then what?”
Excerpt 3
Lisbeth got out of bed where they’d moved
from the carpeted floor, while Dane slept the sleep of the dead. She covered a
yawn and contemplated the beautiful creature beside her. Twilight had arrived
but there was still enough light to afford her a good look at him without
having to switch on the bedside lamp.
His head rested sideways on his hand. The
hard planes of his face had softened; the lines at the corners of his mouth and
between his eyes eased into youthful evenness. It was true what she’d heard
once – sleep reveals what a person should be.
At this angle, the corded veins in his neck
spread like slender tree branches embossed on his taut skin. She wanted to
trace each one with her fingers first and then with her mouth, to learn and
taste him once more.
She desired nothing more than for him to
touch her again.
Biting hard on her bottom lip, she turned
away from that sight and thought, and drifted to the kitchen.
She switched on the pendant lamps with the
dimmer. The yellow diffused lighting allowed her to pick her wits, one at a
time, rather than rudely jar her into wakefulness.
The box of Earl Grey called her name so she
filled the kettle and switched it on, then popped a tea bag in her vintage
Norman Rockwell coffee mug. Another memory of him she would never dispose of.
She and Dane had picked it up at a garage sale in Florida Tampa
Like what she’d just done in the last few
hours.
What the hell was she thinking? After what
he’d put her through, she just followed the yellow brick road to madness.
FUN STUFF
1. This is what the restaurant “Rhapsody” looks like
in “Everything to Lose” – and is located on the same street, too – http://www.leopoldus.it/
Something very important happens in this
location. If you click the “Street view” tab on the map provided on this link
- http://www.originalitaly.it/ristoranti/marche/ap/ascoli-piceno/leopoldus.html - you will be able to see the actual streets and
surroundings via Google. Although I actually visited this restaurant many years
ago with my Italian friend Laura, I couldn’t remember all the details. I do
remember I had the most divine chocolate mousse :). It was such fun to actually
see it online and refresh my memory!
2. Dane was born and raised on a ranch in Smiley,
Texas - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiley,_Texas
3. This is close to the area where Lisbeth lives (in
Richmond, a London suburb) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/doug88888/2822929570/
4. This is where the mysterious Jeanette Lagrange
lives - http://www.shropshire-barn.co.uk/market-drayton.html - Isn’t it cute? :)
5. Quaint cafés and shops. The main square in Ascoli
Piceno, Italy, the pulse of the city - http://www.flickr.com/photos/rinofazzini/3996120340/in/set-72157614523057796
6. Recipe for “Olive all’Ascolana”, a typical dish of
the Marche region in Italy, which Lisbeth orders at Bottega Trasi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtKdymsTO-0
TRIVIA – For a chance to win a copy of any
of my books (reader’s choice), answer the following:
“What type of cheese is used in the stuffing
of olive all’ascolana according to the given You Tube recipe?”
Please provide your email address and state
the preferred format for your prize.
I will draw a winner from the correct
answers and announce it on my blog a day or two after this event (www.nataliegowens.com).
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