Summer Heat Warning: certain scenes are hot enough to heat up the Arctic!
Diamond Hunter, my geologist-in-peril romantic suspense, is set at a fly-in-only diamond mine in Canada's far north in July.
I decided to post an excerpt to bring it to the attention of Kindle Unlimited subscribers who are keen to try a new author.
Petra Paris has agreed to share her mine camp bedroom in exchange for bodyguard services from Seth Cooper, an undercover cop with the Diamond Protection unit.
In this scene, they share a bed for the first time.
“I won’t touch a
hair on your pretty head. I’ll lie on top of the blankets.” When she began to
protest further, Seth admitted, “My back will give out if I sleep in an awkward
position.”
Sympathy dimmed the
agitated lights sparking her irises. “Back pain is the worst. I’m not keen to
sleep sitting up myself.” Petra made a decision. “Very well. We’ll share the bed
for tonight only, due to the extenuating circumstances. Tomorrow night we’ll
alternate.”
There wouldn’t be
another night, but he didn’t want to rile her. Regret tugged briefly that he’d
never see her again after placing her on a commercial flight the next day. His
line of work meant personal relationships warranted no place in his life.
Too bad, though, in
this instance. Petra, spirited and unaffectedly beautiful, lit an explosive
chemical mix in his mind and belly that excited and occasionally frightened
him. An undercover detective had no business allowing sexual attraction to
interfere with his assignment. Petra’s safety, not her curvy body, rated his
attention. End of story.
He deliberately readjusted his upper body, forcing her to withdraw to
the very edge of the mattress where she remained rigidly quiet. To his pleased
surprise she didn’t insist he move over. It reassured him to feel her safe and
close. Perhaps she experienced a similar comfort.
After several
minutes, a slight smile playing on his lips, he closed his eyes and relaxed in
anticipation of a restful night.
“Who is Kate?”
The verbal jab
convulsed his abdominal muscles. He’d never mentioned his ex-wife to anyone up
north. His friends and co-workers back in British Columbia considered the
divorce forbidden territory. No one dared raise the subject in his presence for
fear of lighting a very short fuse. “What are you talking about?” he managed.
“Last night you
called me Kate. Your exact words were, ‘Kate, come to bed.’”
“I must have been
dreaming.” His firm statement broadcast a desire to end the discussion.
“Are you married?”
Dammit. He rolled
onto his side away from her. “No.”
“Girlfriend?”
“No. Go to sleep.”
A small hand seared
the flesh on his forearm. “Seth, in spite of my, ah, participation in this
little romantic show we’re staging, your girlfriend has nothing to worry about.
A few kisses for appearances doesn’t make you unfaithful.”
Seth gripped the
side of the mattress and ground out, “I’m not unfaithful. There is no
girlfriend. Leave it alone, will you?”
“That’s a relief.
Men gossip, you know. Eventually word spreads to the—”
Seth reversed his
body to pin Petra’s chest with his. “I’m a single man. Got it? Kate is my
ex-wife. We divorced two years ago. Three paroled drug smugglers I’d put away
attempted to kidnap her. I couldn’t guarantee her future safety, so she left.
Satisfied?”
The tightly
controlled admission belied the ugly truth. He’d failed at the most important
job a man had—to protect his woman. He’d given her the divorce she’d asked for
and thrown in the house and the car, but guilt ate a hole in his heart he
refused to ever let another woman fill.
“But they didn’t
kidnap her, did they?” Petra persisted softly.
“No thanks to me.”
Bitterness shook his voice. “She escaped when their car stalled.” He began to
pull away. “She’s alive today because the perps forgot to fill the gas tank.”
“Wimp.”
The insult stung
like a slap. “Excuse me?”
“A woman who’d dump
the man she loved due to an attempted kidnapping is a wimp. Marriage is a
partnership.”
“Our marriage put
her life in danger. She did the smart thing by leaving.”
“Cluck. Cluck.
Cluck.”
Dammit all to hell.
He raised his upper body on one arm, rigid with a fierce anger that erupted
from a dark place in his soul that didn’t bear visiting. The woman insisted on
pushing his buttons.
Careful to rein in his temper, he replied evenly, “Any
sane person in Kate’s place would have done the same thing. I didn’t protect
her. Yes, she was scared. She had every right to be.”
“I would have
stayed.”
The stalwart
declaration speared his solar plexus like a needle into a balloon, allowing the
anger to escape. A sheen of moisture glistened on serious burnt gold eyes
staring up into his. She meant it.
He didn’t know what
to say.
***
Have a wonderful July!
Madelle
About Madelle Morgan
Madelle Morgan is a
Canadian author who writes romance with heat, heart and humor. Her new
release, Caught on Camera, is a
Hollywood wedding romance set in Muskoka, Canada—summer playground of the rich
and famous.
Subscribe to her blog at MadelleMorgan.com and
follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Wattpad.
