His name and his money are the only things war hero, Tye Jamieson, can offer Jenny McKenzie and their unborn child.
Tye is an expert at making babies, but not of the human variety. His babies are sophisticated fighter planes. Now that he has made a real baby, he is desperate to protect it if his secret mission into war-torn Iraq goes bad.
When tragedy strikes, will Jenny be able to forgive him for the way he has deceived her?
EXCERPT 3 – PG 13
“God, you’re beautiful.” Feather-light, his fingers stroked her cheek.
“If I’d met you ten years ago, I might have married you.”
“I,” she nearly said love you,
“think you’re incredibly attractive.”
“Yeah, well, I’m too selfish and
cynical for someone brought up the way you were. You’re a giver, a sincere, compassionate
person. You feel things for people. Me, I take what I want and to hell with
everyone else.”
“It isn’t true. You risked your life flying that plane out of
the residential areas.”
He gave a short, sharp laugh,
devoid of humor. “I weighed the odds, took my chances and it paid off. It was
dangerous.” He shrugged. “But I’ve always been reckless. I’m addicted to the adrenalin rush. A quiet
suburban life isn’t for me; that’s one of the reasons why there’s no future for
us together. You couldn’t live in my world, and I
wouldn’t want to live in yours. Let’s
face it, the only thing we’ve got going for us is sexual chemistry.”
She almost told him that for a
start, it would be enough, but stopped herself in
case she sounded desperate.
He suddenly stood up. “Goodbye, Jenny.” He strode from the room,
forcing himself not to glance back.
Too many things had happened to
him in the past that he couldn’t tell her about.
Too many things might happen in the future that he dared not tell her. He
couldn’t expose her to danger. He cared
too much. There – he finally admitted it
to himself.
He wanted sex with her. Oh, God, to feel that soft white body trembling under his. To taste and smell the scent of her arousal. To fire up the passion he knew she was capable of with the right man.
She didn’t have much experience,
a few fumbled, unsatisfactory sessions with some youth in the back of a car,
most probably. He wanted to show her
what it could be like between a man and a woman. Wanted to pet and play with
her. Make wild, rapturous love for hours
on end.
He couldn’t break her heart, and
heartache was all he could offer. He wanted to yell out with the regret for what might have been,
before he became mixed
up in the dangerous, murky world of espionage.
EXCERPT 4 – Adult
She hadn’t even reached the
letterbox when there was a tremendous bang. She swung around and a shocking sight met her eyes. It was horrific. The Littles’ ramshackle house had erupted
into a fireball. She raced back but the flames were fierce, all consuming, the heat so intense it stopped
her dead in her tracks.
“Mrs. Little, George.” She started screaming and couldn’t stop. She ran back and forth in front of the
burning house like a crazy woman. She had to get in. Had to do something.
Suddenly there was a massive explosion and the house was blown to smithereens.
Pieces of burning rubble shot upward and outward. Mesmerized, she
watched what looked like the burning leg of a table hurtling toward her. For a
split second she froze. The sudden pain in her forehead was
excruciating, felling her instantly and
she felt her head slam onto the concrete path.
***
“What’s your name, Miss?” A voice
kept repeating.
She tried to open her eyes but
couldn’t. Who was she? She didn’t know and didn’t really care. All she wanted to do was keep her eyes closed, and shut
out the sight of a fiery inferno. Maybe she had died and gone down to hell. To
burn for all eternity, but she couldn’t remember being bad, couldn’t remember
anything much.
She felt herself being lifted up.
Perhaps she was on her way to heaven instead.
Heaven or hell she thought, wondering why she hovered between the two
places. The Devil and God obviously
couldn’t decide which one of them wanted her most. She started laughing, strange having two such
deities fighting over her.
Finally, she opened her eyes and
the world no longer appeared topsy-turvy, but her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth, her throat
parched.
“You awake now?”
“Mm.” It was hard keeping her
eyes open when the lids felt like they were
glued together. “Am I dead?”
“No, but you’ve sustained severe
head trauma,” the disemboweled male voice said.
“We’re keeping you in the police hospital for observation.”
“Oh?” She blinked several times
until her eyes focused. “You’re a
policeman? Did I break the law?”
“You tell me, Miss.”
Two others suddenly joined the
one policeman.
“This chick’s off her face,
probably high on drugs?” one of the newcomers said.
Did she take drugs? It was all
too much effort, she would rather close
her eyes and go back to sleep.
“Wake up,” an irate male voice
snapped in her ear. “We’ve got some
questions for you, lady.”
She opened her eyes and an older policeman started jabbing her
in the shoulder. “We’ve wasted enough time. Who the hell are you? Who paid you
to do it?”
Who was she? She grappled to
remember, but couldn’t. “I, I don’t know.”
“Crap,” her interrogator
snarled. “A night in the cells with the
other junkies might jog your memory and loosen your tongue.”
Author Bio
Margaret Tanner is an award winning, multi-published Australian author, who writes Contemporary Romance, Historical Romance and Western Romance. She loves delving into the pages of history as she carries out research for her historical romance novels. No book is too old or tattered for her to trawl through, no museum too dusty. Many of her novels have been inspired by true events, with one being written around the hardships and triumphs of her pioneering ancestors in frontier Australia. She once spent a couple of hours in an old goal cell so she could feel the chilling cold and fear.
Her favorite historical period is the 1st World War, and she has visited the battlefields in France and Belgium, a truly poignant experience.
With the encouragement of friend and Western Romance author, Susan Horsnell, she has fallen in love with writing Western Historical Romance. Frontier Australia and frontier America, have many similarities, isolated communities, a large single male population and a lack of eligible women.
Margaret has a short story published in the Western Romance Anthology, Rawhide ‘N Roses which was a 2015 Rone Finalist.
Margaret was also thrilled and excited to be invited to contribute a novella in the ground breaking series American Mail Order Brides. 50 brides from 50 different States in America, from 45 different authors. Her contribution is Edwina – Bride of Connecticut, Book No. 5 in the series.
Margaret is married and has three grown up sons, and a gorgeous little granddaughter.
Outside of her family and friends, writing is her passion.
Author Links
Tour Schedule
2/15
Sensuous Promos
2/15
Nic’s Book Nook
2/16
Nicki Day
2/16
Colleen S. Myers
2/17
Get Cozy
2/17
The Book Pub
2/17
Darkest Cravings
2/18
Nicole Morgan
2/18
All My Book Finds
2/19
Taylor Brooks
