by Madelle Morgan
In North America the party starts at 7 p.m. Eastern (EST). That's 4 p.m. Pacific (PST).
I'm excited! This will be my first ever Facebook event. My time slot is 8:30 p.m. EST (5:30 PST).
I understand giveaways are the norm. Oooooh, gifts. Well, it is the season!
I've been waiting for a special occasion to give away a pretty set of faux "diamond" jewelry in honor of my debut romantic suspense Diamond Hunter.
Set at a diamond mine in Canada's isolated sub-Arctic, here's the scene in which headstrong geologist Petra Paris reveals to the undercover cop masquerading as her boyfriend that she's being set up by diamond smugglers.
“Good morning,
honey.”
Petra lurched as
Seth’s arm swung casually across her shoulders. She’d been too preoccupied with
the search to hear his approach along the corridor. Defenses at low ebb, her
eyes unaccountably welled with tears.
“You feeling okay?”
He attempted to search the face she angled away from him.
“It’s been a long
night.”
“What are these
yahoos doing?” He frowned at the chaos generated by the diamond mine’s security
guards over the previous twenty minutes.
“Searching for
diamonds,” she choked, wishing for once that their relationship was real and
she had the right to turn into Seth’s arms for a bolstering hug.
As if reading her
mind, he pulled her to the other side of the corridor, still in plain sight of
the guards, and drew her close to growl under his breath. “Tell me what’s going
on.”
“Seth, I’m being set
up.” She unwrapped her arms, slid them around his waist and nestled her head into
the curve of his shoulder, the better to whisper into his ear, she told
herself. Part of the act. “I found three rough diamonds in the coffee tin last
night.”
“Where are they?”
His arms tightened, pinning her close enough to feel the accelerated heartbeat
beneath his navy blue T-shirt.
“Carter got rid of
them.” She winced, appalled a fellow geologist had been so cavalier about
valuable stones belonging to his employer.
“Lucky break you
discovered them before someone alerted security.” His tone roughened. “Any
unauthorized visitors yesterday?”
“Seth, this office
is Grand Central Station. Anyone could walk in here.”
The shorter, swarthy
guard approached. “What are you two doing out there?”
“Spending some time
with my girl, sir,” Seth replied. He cupped the back of her head and brushed
his mouth over hers.
She leaned into the kiss, starved for the comfort he
offered unaware, glad down to her toes for the opportunity to experience one of
Seth’s marvelous kisses. But as his lips captured hers she remembered Kate and
pulled away. Seth dragged his mouth across her cheek, rubbed one hand the
length of her spine, tangled the other in her hair, caressing, keeping up the
pretense.
The guard backed
off. “Take five minutes, then I want you in this office.”
“We’re on camera,”
she breathed.
“Let’s give them a
show.” He nibbled his way toward her earlobe.
As private time to
talk, this would have to do. Under the circumstances, she played along, tipping
her head to give him better access to her neck. Exquisite tingles rippled down
stress-taut nerves. She breathed deep, tried to focus. “As a suspect, Scott
won’t allow me to view yesterday’s digital video recording. Can you get access
to them?”
“Not without blowing
my cover.” Seth quickly sifted through his options. The last thing an
undercover cop wanted was to attract attention to himself. By hooking onto
Petra, he’d unwittingly stumbled into an entirely different drama. Or perhaps
the smugglers had a reason to prevent her from completing her job. Either way,
Petra’s situation put him in the spotlight instead of in the background, and he
didn’t like it one bit.
Well, he amended, he
enjoyed the interaction with this beautiful woman. She trembled in his arms,
uncharacteristically compliant. He attuned his senses to her shallow breathing,
the fingers digging into his waist, and tension radiating from neck muscles
under the soft, soap-fragrant skin beneath his lips.
In short hours word of the early
morning search would have spread to the entire camp. He had no business staying
on undercover. Procedures dictated he call in for a replacement.
Yet he couldn’t
bring himself to abandon Petra to these vultures. Experience taught him that as
the perps became more desperate, the danger to those in their way escalated.
“You need to leave
this place. Get out fast. Fly to Yellowknife with me this morning.”
“No.” She tilted her
heart-shaped face up to him, a stubborn frown marring her clear brow. “I need
the cores.”
“Listen, woman.” He
wanted to shake sense into her. Instead he crooked his arm to swing her away
and down such that his back blocked them from the camera’s view. Mouth grazing
her ear, he spoke quickly. “You’re in danger. These guys won’t stop at trying
to frame you. They want you gone, one way or another.”
She squirmed,
supremely irritated at being rendered off balance. “I can take care of myself.”
He ground his teeth
and clutched her firmly against his chest. “I can’t protect you,” he explained
with a patience he didn’t feel. “My cover, as you know, is a pilot for Northern
Lights Air—a real job. My boss has me booked on three flights today, bringing
me back to camp by dinner, if I’m lucky. I have to leave.”
“I never asked you
to protect me. You’re using me to get access to the employees here, remember?”
she hissed.
“Are the cores worth
your life?”
“You’re
overreacting. Let me go.” She twisted forcefully from one side to the other
until he relented and released her, cursing softly.
“Why are the cores
so damn important?”
She cast him
defiance spiced with determination. “That’s my business. You attend to yours,
and leave me to mine.”
Before Seth could invent a suitable rejoinder to such a hell-bent-for trouble attitude, more trouble erupted behind them.
****
I hope to connect with you on December 15 on Facebook!
Happy Holidays!
Madelle
Bio:
Madelle writes romantic suspense and contemporary romance novels set in wild, beautiful Canada.
Diamond Hunter is available in ebook format on Amazon and Kobo for $0.99 USD and £0.99 GBP.
Madelle tweets and posts about dogs, Hollywood, film-making, the settings for her stories, and, of course, writing. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter, or subscribe to her blog at MadelleMorgan.com .
2 comments:
I'll be at the party, too! These events are so much fun!
Loved your excerpt from Diamond Hunter! Left me wanting more.:-)
I'll be at the party also! My time is 4:30 Pacific time. Still have a bit of time to decide what I'm giving away. Most likely a copy of one of my books or maybe two? Hope to see you there!
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